a little about us ....
Daniel Grippo PhD
ÖSEL
Ösel Dan was introduced to Buddhist thought at the age of 16 and it has been a part of his life ever since, especially during the past several decades of consistent study and practice. Alongside his study of Eastern spirituality, and movement practices such as Yoga, Kenpo Karate, and Tai Chi, Dan has extensive background and training in Western Spirituality, notably as a religion editor and writer, spiritual director, pastoral associate, and hospital chaplain.
Dan first took Buddhist precepts in 2008 with the Triratna community at the Centro Budista de la Ciudad de Mexico, under the guidance of Kavindu, a member at that time of the order. After a number of years training in the Soto Zen tradition, Dan has focused more on Tibetan Buddhism in recent years. He was ordained in the Nyimgma / Dzogchen Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri, given the name Ösel (luminosity) by Nima Janet Taylor, student of Lama Surya Das.
Dan incorporates a wide range of spiritual traditions and trainings into his teaching and is grateful to all the great wisdom teachers and traditions for sharing of their storehouse of treasures. He teaches from a broad and inclusive perspective where followers of all traditions (or none at all!) can feel welcome. We’re climbing the mountain from all sides to the same great peak.
Having been involved at the International Friendship Club as a Board Member and Lecturer in Mexican History since the early 2000s, Dan with assistance from Josue Santiago initiated the IFC Mindfulness Meditation Sangha in January 2012. A few years later he was blessed to meet Yogini Rebecca and he knew that he had met the Yoga Teacher he had been waiting for, and together they have expanded the mindful movement and meditation offerings of the Sangha.
Rebecca Bruce E-RYT
YOGINI
Yogini Rebecca Bruce is a certified and experienced Yoga Teacher, registered with the Yoga Alliance. She trained and is honoured to be certified with Anna Laurita of davannayoga whose three pillars are Hatha , Raja and Bhakti and whose lineage is Krishnamacharya.
Rebecca is also certified in : Senior Yoga , Integrative Yoga for Seniors Professional Training with Carol Krucoff and Kimberly Carson, Chair Yoga for Seniors, Restorative Yoga with advanced practices, Yin Yoga and Yoga Nidra. She is also a qualified Brain Longevity Specialist with the Alzheimers Research and Prevention Foundation.
Rebecca has continued to embrace her study and practice in both the Yoga and Buddhist traditions. She offers a spiritual yoga practice and concentrates a big part of her study and learning on the ageing body. She focuses on how she can best serve as a Yoga teacher to the 50-plus age group; for this focus she is grateful to have learned so much from Kimberly Carson, Carol Krucoff and their team of medical experts.
Her own journey with her personal health challenges has been a driving factor to help others to work towards maintaining a healthy balanced lifestyle. She aspires to offer tools and practices to keep the body moving and breathing well, to help with flexibility, to maintain freedom of mobility, and to have the tools to navigate life’s ups and downs. She has found Yoga and meditation to have been so beneficial that she wishes to offer these wonderful practices and tools to others in hope they too will feel the benefits.
Becca says ..
“ My interest in Yoga developed from a personal search for physical and spiritual wellbeing, following a serious illness in my late 20’s. Diagnosed with cancer and told that also as a result of the treatment I wouldn’t be able to have children, my life as I knew it or how I thought it might go, changed in a moment.
For the next year or so I would spend most of my time in the hospital having radical and invasive treatment. As the result of the treatments I also had one kidney removed. Incredibly, while in the hospital , I was introduced to the practice of Meditation and Reiki by a wonderful lady called Ruth. I felt relaxed visiting with her, and the pain would begin to ease, and on those nights I would, at last, fall into slumber for just a couple of blissful hours.
I learned about the power of the breath through pranayama practices, about meditating and living in the moment, and the importance of allowing your body to relax to help balance the nervous system to aid recovery.
My journey of discovery continues and Yoga continues to calm and sooth my mind, my heart and my body.
I am blessed to be guided by Bhakti Yoga teacher Raoul Diaz de la Garza whose Kirtan chanting and music is a balm for the soul. Ösel Dan Grippo continues to be a source of great wisdom , inspiration and luminosity to me .
I am beyond happy and full of gratitude , to be offering mindful movement and meditation practices and teachings with Ösel ( big bows!) , in our joint community offering ‘Yoga Space Vallarta’.”
The community space that is .....
Yoga Space Vallarta (YSV) is the second generation of the independent Sangha that Dan and Rebecca officially launched at the outset of the COVID pandemic in May, 2020 as Asraya Sheltering Spirit. We were ably assisted in creating our first website by the generous donation of time and talent of our friend Larry Schuh.
After offering online classes during the pandemic, we decided in February, 2022 to update our community name to Yoga Space Vallarta, and we begin work on the new website you have before you: YogaSpaceVallarta.com. The gifted Vallarta based web designer Dante Sanchez has skillfully and patiently guided us every step of the way as we developed the new website.
What we all learned during the pandemic is that a “gathering space” can be either physical or virtual, equally real as a means of authentic connection. Our generous donors all along the way have made it possible for us to expand and update our offerings. We offer a deep bow of gratitude to each and every one of you for your great generosity and trust.
Ösel Dan and Yogini Becca