Festival Teachers

Rebecca Sturgeon

Rebecca Sturgeon (she/her) founded the Evanston Conscious Movement Festival in 2024. She is a writer, bodyworker, and DANCEmandala facilitator whose lifelong mission is to love on people until they realize their worth.

Rebecca will facilitate the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and offer DANCEmandala on Friday, April 4 at 6:30pm.


Stacia DeSalvo

Stacia DeSalvo is a teacher and facilitator specializing in process painting as a tool for self-expression, healing, and personal growth. With a background in yoga and meditation, she integrates mindfulness, embodiment, and presence into her approach, helping students explore the creative process without attachment to outcome.

Stacia's journey with process painting began in 2011. As a lifelong creative, this practice deeply resonated with her, and she quickly saw how it complemented her passion for intuitive, body-centered practices. She has spent over a decade practicing under multiple teachers, giving her a dynamic understanding of the process. Drawing from her training in Yoga and Yoga Nidra, Stacia believes creativity and healing are inherently connected.

Through simple techniques, she encourages participants to let go of expectations and allow their bodies and intuition to guide the process. Stacia fosters a supportive space where students can release judgment, tap into their inner wisdom, and explore creativity freely.

Stacia will offer Process Painting on Saturday, April 5 at 2pm


Arlene Faulk —Arlene Faulk is a teacher, writer, storyteller, and accomplished businesswoman. She is well known for her inspiring Tai Chi teaching, where she supports and uplifts students, helping each to be in the moment and relax from the stress and pressures of the day. Students end each class craving more. More calm. More centeredness. More coping ability.

Arlene has captured her dramatic personal story in her book, Walking on Pins and Needles: A Memoir of Chronic Resilience in the Face of Multiple Sclerosis. After a years-long struggle to understand and conceal debilitating symptoms as she ascended the corporate ladder, a life-changing zigzag led her to find comfort and healing through Chinese medicine and Tai Chi. She discovered her calling with Tai Chi and has been teaching for more than 25 years.

Arlene Faulk founded Faulk Tai Chi in 1999. Arlene has studied in California with Troyce Thome, Master Abraham Liu, Master Henry Chueng and at the Taoist Sanctuary and Pacific School of Tai Chi; in Chicago with Hau Kum and Per Kneip; and across the U.S. with Paul Lam, M.D. She continues to teach Tai Chi regularly in Evanston and Chicago.

Arlene will offer Tai Chi on Saturday, April 5 at 10:30am, and be on the Sunday panel discussion.


Dawn Grdinic —Dawn Grdinic is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and Level 1 iRest® Yoga Nidra instructor. With nearly two decades of experience, Dawn has been a compassionate guide for clients navigating anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, grief, relationship barriers, and various other mental health challenges. Through her work, Dawn has come to understand the profound importance of the mind-body connection in fostering overall well-being. Witnessing firsthand the transformative power of iRest® Yoga Nidra, she is passionate about its ability to offer a uniquely trauma-informed approach to healing. She believes in its capacity to help individuals shift from being entrenched in their thoughts to fully inhabiting their bodies, fostering empowerment, restoration, and self-regulation.

Dawn is eager to share the enriching experience of iRest® Yoga Nidra with others, recognizing its potential to facilitate profound personal growth and holistic wellness journeys.

Dawn will offer iRest Yoga Nidra on Sunday, April 6 at 1:15pm


Becky Paulin-Liston graduated from Bradley University with her physical therapy degree in 1997 and completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2001 at the Temple of Kriya Yoga in Chicago IL. Since then, she has been working to integrate her yoga training with her background and training in physical therapy. She states: "I feel mainstream physical therapy can miss the boat if you don’t step back to consider the entire person and how everything interrelates. Yoga provides a framework to do that." Becky is happy to bring yoga to the north shore through her many class offerings at her own studio and through Grateful Yoga, as well as through collaborations with other experienced yoga teachers.

"I believe that every body has a story. If we slow down and listen, we can help people move with more freedom and ease." -- Becky Paulin-Liston

Becky will offer Yoga at the Festival Preview Event, Tuesday, April 1 at 5:30pm



Hi, I’m Shira Vardi (she/her).  I have spent the past 25 years practicing ways of accepting, softening into, and relishing living in a body.  It is my work and passion to experience life as it is as fully and truthfully as possible, and to help others do their version of that process. I was fortunate enough to have a mentor in Social Work school (2005) who began each class with a meditation practice and have been meditating ever since (at retreats, on my own, and later, teaching others).  I deepened my access to my body and all facets of my experience through Internal Family Systems therapy training (IFS), and the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Education.  Personally, immersing myself in nature, and the expressive arts (especially painting and West African Dance) have been equally instrumental in helping me integrate mind, body and spirit.  I now combine my personal and professional knowledge in the therapy room and in workshops to help other humans remember, trust and relish in who they are in this world and the ways that we are all connected.   

For more information about me and my practice, go to www.shiravardi.com

Shira will offer Embodied in Community on Sunday, April 6 at 10am.


Clay Henley is a certified/accredited 5Rhythms teacher. He offers the practice three times a week in Evanston. He brings over 30 years experience as a student in the 5Rhythms. Gabrielle Roth’s first words to Clay in 1989 were “You cannot do this wrong.” Clay believes that this is not about learning to do a dance correctly, but rather about learning to bring who you are on the inside out into the light and into all aspects of your life. Other significant words from Gabrielle that continue to influence Clay’s work include Aliveness, Freedom, Fascination, Playful, Investigation, Sacred, Mystery, Soul, Inner-World, Heart, Spirit, Bliss, Connection, Authentic, Elegance, Empty Space and GRATITUDE.

Clay will offer 5Rhythms on Saturday, April 5 at 7pm


Courtney Winkler — While living and traveling in India and Nepal in 1990, Courtney was fascinated to experience yoga in its birthplace. She has been a lifelong student and teacher of many different styles of yoga since that time.

Courtney has taught students from all walks of life and of all different ages and abilities throughout the years. From preschoolers to teenagers to mid-lifers to ninety-year-old students, Courtney believes that yoga is for everybody and every-type-of-body. It is a functional toolbox of practices that can bring strength, balance, and respite to the mind, body, and spirit.

As a practicing astrologer and educator, Courtney looks to the daily planetary alignments to inspire her classes. As students arrive to class, she checks in with them to see what requests they may have. She then personalizes the class focus to fit both the day’s energy and students’ needs. Asana (Shapes), Pranayama (Breathwork), Mantra (Chants/Focus), Mudra (Hand gestures), and Meditation are all included in Courtney’s classes.

When Courtney is not teaching yoga, she enjoys travelling the world, live music, studying astrology, and spending time with her hubby and 4 (adult) children. Her personal life mission is to “spread love and self-acceptance one person at a time.” (Courtney can be found at chartyourheart.com)

Courtney will offer AstroYogaGroove on Saturday, April 5 at 12pm