Instructors
Instructors
Catherine Shank
Catherine has developed her creativity and strength in teaching from her formal training and from her deep connection with nature and mysticism. She holds both a Bachelors of Arts Degree from Wittenberg University along with a Masters in Intercultural Management from the School for International Training. Seasonally she worked as a Ranger with the National Park Service. She also spent 10 years working at community colleges advising and teaching cultural minorities, women, and people with disabilities in life skill development.
In 1992 her life took a new direction into the world of healing and internal arts. In 1995 she became Nationally licensed in Massage Therapy(NCTMB), and Jin Shin Do Acupressure. She currently is an Advanced practitioner of Ortho-Bionomy® and is in the instructor training program. She was introduced to Taichi, Qigong, and Kungfu, by Dr. Don Leathers and Grand Master Ron Lew in the system of Tibetan Internal Arts. In 2003 she completed her first degree black sash in the TiAiki system. She also trains with Master Li Jun Feng and has also studied with Dr.Lui Dong, Kim Ivy, and Madame Lui He.
In 1998 she Co-Founded the Phoenix Rising Center with her husband Dr. Don Leathers. In their wellness clinic she has a private pracitice in Ortho-Bionomy®. For more than 20 years, she has participated in Native American and Shamanic ritual. She is apprenticing with Doug and Victoria Allen in the Toltec tradition and makes regular pilgramages to Teotihuacan Mexico. She currently teaches Qi Gong, Toltec wisdom, and meditation in the local community.
Location: Moab, Utah
Classes Taught: Sheng Zhen Healing Qigong, Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong, Teacher Training, Seminars
Donald Leathers, ND
Donald Leathers was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had an interest in physical health, well being, and sports since the age of twelve. At eighteen years old he started studying martial arts and at twenty three years old he entered into formal study. He started by studying Issynrhu karate (three years), then Hapkido where he obtained his first black belt (five years), then Taiqi, Baqua, Shing-I, and Qigong for four years.
In 1986 Don left his career as a mining engineer and went back to school to study naturopathic medicine at National College of naturopathic medicine in Portland, Oregon. During his time at College he continued his study of the internal arts. He spent five years studying Aikido with the Ki Society, started studying Qigong with Dr. Lilly Siou, and later met Master Ron Lew.
Don spent four years studying with Dr. Lilly Siou learning qigong from the Tai Shuan Monastery system of Qigong in China and hands on healing Qigong. He has spent 16 years studying with Master Ron Lew learning a Tibetan form of Qigong, later formulated into the TiAiki system by Master Lew, Steve Frison and Don Leathers.
After graduating from naturopathic college, Don settled into practicing naturopathic medicine and teaching Qigong, Taiqi, and martial arts. In continuing his studies, he obtained a second degree black belt in Hapkido and a fifth degree black sash in the TiAiki system of internal arts.
In 1998 Don met Teacher Li Jun Feng and started to study the Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong form of Qigong. After three years of practice he became involved with the International Sheng Zhen Society by becoming a certified teacher and assisting in setting up an international teacher's training program.
Don has been practicing medicine for seventeen years and teaching for twenty two years. He presently resides in Moab, Utah and has co-founded the Phoenix Rising Center with his wife, Catherine Shank. The Phoenix Rising Center offers health and healing services as well as classes in Taiqi, Qigong, martial arts, and teacher training.
Location: Moab, Utah
Classes Taught: Tiaiki Martial Arts, Tai Chi, Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong, Teacher Training
Judith Lee
LMT, Certified Acutherapist, Professional Relaxation Therapist
Judith has been exploring alternative lifestyles and other ways of being in Southeastern Utah for over 25 years. She has a rich and colorful background, ranging from degrees in men's hairstyling and creative arts to intensive studies of Homeopathy and Herbalism. She has been playing with the artless art of meditation since 1973. After many long years of calling out to the desert skies she started her Qigong journey in 1995 with Catherine Shank. In 1996 Judith met Dr. Leathers, ND and started to train and study with him as well. She began teaching Tibetan Taiqi and Qigong in 1999 with Dr. Leathers, ND. Judith has had the honor of studying with Master Li Jun Feng in Zhen Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong since 1998 and Grand Master Lopon Siting Ron Lew of TiAiki, Tiger Eye Claw Center since 1999. She continues her studies with both of them. She is a graduate of Myotherapy Institute of Massage and is Nationally Certified in Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Judith also facilitates women’s classes in Tibetan Taiqi and Qigong. She believes in laughter, imagination, she sees herself as an undergraduate student of life, continuing to explore, listen, learn, evolve and most importantly laughing with the universe. Come play with the Laughing Dragon.
Location: Moab, Utah
Classes Taught: Tibetan Style Tai Chi, Tiaiki System
Lisa Katz
Lisa brings an extensive background in dance and theater to her current work as a qigong instructor, Facial Rejuvenation practitioner and the creator of Movement Project. She began dancing as a young girl, studying international folk dance and ballet. She holds a BFA in choreography from the University of Utah, Department of Modern Dance and was a professional lighting designer, stage manager and theater electrician before moving to rural Southern Utah in the late 1980’s.
Lisa’s focus shifted in 1999 when she began her study of Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong with Dr. Don Leathers and discovered the healing and spiritual qualities of movement. In 2002 she enrolled in the Ling Gui International Healing Qigong School where she completed her teacher certification in Liu Dong’s Method of medical qigong, training with founders Dr. Liu Dong and Master Liu He, as well as Master Chen Hui Xian and Kim Ivy. She continues her training in Sheng Zhen with Master Li Fen Jung and has studied tai chi and qigong with Master Ron Lew.
Her exploration of the relationship between dance and energy grew into the creation of Movement Project, a process utilizing body movement as a pathway for authentic expression and self discovery. She has led both individuals and groups through this process since 2002, helping to nurture participants’ creative expression and intuitive connections in a playful and safe environment.
Location: Moab and Castle Valley, Utah
Classes Taught: Liu Dong's Method of Qigong, Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong, and Movement Project
Bruce Keeler
Bruce comes to Phoenix Rising Center from a diverse background and a life-long love of sports and the outdoors. He has competed in running, skiing, cycling and wildwater canoeing and was a professional mountain bike and river guide, as well as a certified whitewater canoe instructor. After retiring from 35 years in the film and theater industry and 15 years as owner/operator of a river outfitting company in Moab Bruce became a certified instructor of ChiRunning and ChiWalking in 2006. A practitioner of Tai Chi and Qigong, he incorporates the principles at the heart of these practices into his personal recreational activities as well as his teaching.
Bruce trained with Danny Dryer, the developer of ChiRunning and ChiWalking. His Tai Chi teachers include Dr. Don Leathers and Master Ron Lew and studies Qigong with Dr. Don Leathers, Master Li Jun Feng and Lisa Katz.
Location: Moab and Castle Valley, Utah
Classes Taught: ChiWalking, ChiRunning
Diane Greene
Diane Greene has been studying external and internal arts since 1988. She has studied Isshinryu and other Karate styles, Aikido, Judo and Wing Chun in the external styles. In the internal styles she has studied Yang, Wu, Sun, and Tibetan styles of Taiqi, Buaqua, Hsing-I and the TiAiki system of internal arts. She has most recently been studying under Si-Ting Donald Leathers, ND and Grand Master Ron Lew.
Diane has also invested herself in the study of Qigong. She has been studying Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong from Master Li Jun Feng and Donald Leathers, ND since 2004. Along with this Qigong study she has been studying qigong healing for 2years plus some other related energy healing arts.
Diane has been teaching Karate, Self Defense and the Internal arts since 1990. She currently teaches children’s self defense at the Moab Charter School and at the Helen M. Knight Intermediate School. Diane is also teaching Taiqi, Internal martial arts, Nei Gong and other martial arts to adults in Moab, Utah.
Since 2001, Diane has also been teaching Devapatha, a dance form combining sacred and energetic movement derived from Yogic, Persian and cultural dance forms.
Location: Moab, Utah
Private classes are available.
Drew Roots
If you looked at his library you would realize that Drew Roots has a very wide range of interests, too numerous to mention here, often having to do with alternative health and healing.
Drew first stared learning external martial arts at the age of 19. He first studied Shotokan Karate and the Shito-ryu Karate. After serving in the Navy and receiving his BFA, he became interested in therapeutic bodywork and massage while doing a cross-country walk. He started practicing bodywork professionally in 1989 (see http://smwr.abmp.com for his full range of bodywork services).
In 1998 he began studying Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong under Catherine Shank. Then shortly after starting this study he began to study the TiAiki Internal Arts System under Donald Leathers, ND. Through these two teachers he has met and studied with Master Ron Lew and Master Li Jun Feng.
Drew currently teaches private and group classes in Tibetan Taiqichuan and TiAiki Internal Martial Arts. His calling in Life is to health and healing as a giver and receiver. Drew’s teaching style is a mix of intelligences; spatial, interpersonal, linguistic, and body kinesthetic combined with intuition and humor.
Location: Moab, Utah
Merry Palmer
Location: Blanding, Utah
Classes Taught: Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong
Theresa Breznau
Location: Bluff, Utah
Classes Taught: Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong, Tiaiki System of Qigong
Lisa DeRees
Location: Moab, Ut.
Classes Taught: Sheng Zhen Wuji Yuan Gong