The MogaDao Teachers
currently certified (2020)
(In order of MogaDao certification seniority.)
MogaDao is a transmissional practice tradition, meaning that the vast arc and intersection of knowledge, spirit, and embodiment that is MogaDao is represented not in forms of information alone but in the MogaDao teachers themselves. Therefore, teacher certification in the current tradition of MogaDao is an extraordinarily rigorous process.
Individuals who are MogaDao teachers bear naturally various aspects of the ETHEA of the tradition through the devotion of their study and continued personal practice. For a MogaDao teacher is a cross-section of many different archetypes, and to offer this work to the world is to exist as a unique example of existential intersectionality, weaving the worlds of spirit, health, movement, art, intellection, emotion, and wisdom into a recognizable transmission.
MogaDao's Daoshen are the leaders of the tradition, the lineage bearers who embrace, nourish, protect, abet, and carry the spirit or zeitgeist of the entire tradition as a sacred vocation. As such they are the most comprehensively certified MogaDao teachers. All MogaDao teachers are teachers of the ETHEA, one or more of the Ethos Programs of MogaDao, which programs are thematic concentrations of human care that these teachers have decided to focus upon as their vocation.
The MogaDao teacher training program is a rigorous, 2-year low residency program. (2021 teacher training details will be arriving soon on this website). Because MogaDao is an international practice community, with a living founder and a living tradition, MogaDao teachers are required to re-certify and/or to attend a programmatic study of continued education every two or three years, depending on one's certifications. In this way, anyone seeking the work of MogaDao can rest assured that the teachers listed below are up-to-date with Zhenevere Sophia Dao's latest teachings in Post-Daoism and in step with the highest refinements of the vast vocabulary of MogaDao forms and practices.
Daoshen Sunny Smyth
Sunny Smyth is a Daoshen (meaning “blade of a sword”) and is one of three lineage carriers in the MogaDao tradition. She began her intensive study with Zhenevere Sophia Dao in 2011 and has attended, with very few exceptions, every class and intensive that Zhen has taught since that time, holding the unique position of having trained for more hours with the founder than any other student.
She is certified to teach Ethos Programs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which comprises all the existing codified forms and practices of MogaDao Qigong, MogaDao Depth Sexuality and the Erotic Basis of Being, MogaDao Yoga and MogaDao Meditation within the framework of Post-Daoist philosophy. Her background includes 6 years of offering this work full-time at Life Healing Center in Santa Fe, a residential treatment center for behavioral health, trauma, and addiction, and three years at Christus St. Vincent Holistic Health and Wellness Center, specifically working with individuals navigating health challenges.
Sunny has been on the staff of the MogaDao Institute since 2013 as the Business Manager and part of the “think tank” of the tradition. She currently teaches weekly classes online and in person, mentors students and teachers privately, and offers in-depth trainings on the journey from trauma to sexual vitality as well as the exquisite beauty of the topic of sexuality and aging.
For more information on Sunny and to register for her classes, please visit her website.
She is certified to teach Ethos Programs 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, which comprises all the existing codified forms and practices of MogaDao Qigong, MogaDao Depth Sexuality and the Erotic Basis of Being, MogaDao Yoga and MogaDao Meditation within the framework of Post-Daoist philosophy. Her background includes 6 years of offering this work full-time at Life Healing Center in Santa Fe, a residential treatment center for behavioral health, trauma, and addiction, and three years at Christus St. Vincent Holistic Health and Wellness Center, specifically working with individuals navigating health challenges.
Sunny has been on the staff of the MogaDao Institute since 2013 as the Business Manager and part of the “think tank” of the tradition. She currently teaches weekly classes online and in person, mentors students and teachers privately, and offers in-depth trainings on the journey from trauma to sexual vitality as well as the exquisite beauty of the topic of sexuality and aging.
For more information on Sunny and to register for her classes, please visit her website.
Daoshen Nikesha Breeze
Nikesha Breeze is one of three Daoshen (lineage bearers) of the tradition of MogaDao. Nikesha is certified in every techne of the tradition of MogaDao. Nikesha trains both students and teachers in the tradition and maintains a Northern branch of the MogaDao Institute in Taos NM. Nikesha currently teaches MogaDao and Post-Daoist Philosophy in workshops and classes nationally and internationally. Nikesha’s work as a Daoshen focuses on POC and LGBTQIA+ communities and seeks to bring the depth of MogaDao’s expansive Post-Daoist teachings to a wider audience with marginalized environments. Alongside teaching MogaDao, Nikesha is also an accomplished Visual and Performance Artist working within the history and reclaimed narrative of the African Diaspora.
Daoshen Thomas Jaggers
Thomas began his study of qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine in the mid-90’s in the U.K. He met Zhenevere Sophia Dao in early 2012 and has been studying, practicing and teaching intensively ever since. He is certified in all levels of MogaDao Qigong and in Sacred Sexuality. He teaches regular qigong classes in Santa Fe, and has taught workshops on MogaDao Qigong and Sacred Sexuality around the USA and internationally. Thomas offers regular online MogaDao Qigong courses, and is available for one-on-one sessions in MogaDao Qigong and Sacred Sexuality. Since 2016, he has been leading workshops for men in the USA and in Europe in order to support males in their embodiment of the true masculine, each in one's own unique form, and thereby helping to heal the world and society. Thomas was on the staff of the MogaDao Institute from 2013 to early 2020, and he was also a player in SACRA THEATER's performance, EROS THE FUGITIVE.
truemasculine.org
truemasculine.org
Eve Bradford
Eve Bradford is honored to be a teacher and carrier of the Mogadao practice lineage, an immense body of teachings that have utterly transformed her life and work as an educator, artist, activist and ritualist. She is also a staff member of the MogaDao Institute and a principal player in the SACRA Theater Company, currently training deeply to be voice and vessel for Ophelia in the upcoming SACRA production of HAMLETTE AND OPHELIA, an original re-adaptation of Shakespeare's classic drama. Eve is certified in ETHOS 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 and currently teaches online both in daily drop-in classes and focused longer term thematic courses. She has also been a long time contributor to west-coast underground culture, and offers the work at carefully chosen gatherings and private retreats. Additionally, Eve works one-on-one with private clients both in-person and online, utilizing the Mogadao techne and the philosophy of Post-Daoism, as well as a lifetime cultivation of counseling, ritual arts and oracular technologies, to develop customized personal practices that call upon the full capacity of our most authentic selves in service of full-spectrum health, liberated embodiment, radical expression, and deeply rooted ecstasy.
Jaye Marolla
Jaye Marolla moved to Santa Fe in April of 2017 to study with Zhenevere Sophia Dao and gain teaching certification in the expansive modalities (techne) of MogaDao. With years of Qigong, Thai Bodywork, Martial Arts and Improvisational Dance experience, Jaye brings a wide breadth of somatic exploration to her teaching. The atmosphere is one of deep inquiry, unique transmission and reverent holding for the sacred practices of the MogaDao lineage. Please visit Jaye's website for further information on weekly classes in Santa Fe and future workshops.
Carl Baccellieri
Carl began studying MogaDao's techne in 2015 with MogaDao teacher Sarah Byrden. In 2018 he moved to Santa Fe to immerse myself in the practice and philosophy of Post-Daoism during the final immersive semesters of Zhenevere Sophia Dao’s in-person semester-based curricular teachings at the MogaDao Institute. Carl is certified to lead group classes and individual sessions in Ethos I, II, and III, encompassing: The Hieratic Stance Series, 3 Pillars Qigong, Morning Medical Qigong, and the Essential Yin and Essential Yang Qigong forms. His approach emphasizes authenticity, awareness, imagination, embodiment and the direct experience of our essential goodness. Students learn to cultivate these precious resources in the service of what they value most. Along with teaching, Carl works as a contemplative psychotherapist and leadership coach.
Jackie Weber
Jackie found MogaDao in 2017, following a series of open doors to New Mexico. She had not yet heard of the MogaDao practice tradition, but was actively praying for a somatic-based, spiritually-minded community with whom to train. She stepped into a MogaDao martial arts class, called Jingshen Gongfu in the MogaDao tradition, and knew she had found her calling. For the last three years she has trained extensively with Zhenevere Sophia Dao in MogaDao Yoga, MogaDao Qigong, Jingshen Gongfu, and MogaDao Meditation. Her radical application of 5 Realms Theory began to inform her existing yoga practice of 15 years, as both traditional and original asanas became enriched with elemental relationships and diagnostic applications, providing an incredible architecture from which to practice and teach. Off the mat, she works as a home-scale organic farmer, herbalist, wholistic chef, and bodyworker, bringing a saturation of grounded energy and open hearted presence to her clients and the practice space. She is currently one of the few MogaDao teachers certified as an Integral MogaDao Yoga teacher (certified in all applications of MogaDao Yoga). She is also one of the six certified MogaDao teachers chosen to teach at the MogaDao Institute for the fall semester of 2020 (postponed due to COVID-19). Offerings in La Madera, NM, and online begin Fall/Winter of 2020.
Amy Baker
Amy was introduced to MogaDao during a talk by Sarah Byrden, a first generation MogaDao teacher, in 2016. It was, at that point, the most life-affirming hour of her life. She studied everything Sarah offered, and studied with Zhenevere Sophia Dao whenevere possible, finally moving to Santa Fe in March of 2019 to immerse herself in study with Zhenevere Sophia Dao at the MogaDao Institute. She is honored to be a carrier of the MogaDao tradition, as well as a player in the SACRA Theater Company, an experimental theater project affiliated with MogaDao and directed by Zhenevere Sophia Dao. Her nearly 40 years of movement exploration through dance, athletics, yoga and somatic study inform both her practice and teaching. She teaches MogaDao Qigong both online and in person in Ashland, Oregon. In addition to teaching, she is a board-certified Functional Medicine Practitioner, helping individuals one-on-one both in person and online.
Ananda Zambrano
Ananda is a certified Mogadao teacher of Ethos I: Human Fragility: Anxiety, Trauma, and Grief, and Ethos II: Mythopoetics: Emotion, Archetype, and Imagination. He began his Mogadao practice with Zhenevere Sophia Dao in November of 2018 and continues to be her student as well as a player in SACRA Theater, Zhenevere Sophia Dao’s theater company associated with MogaDao. Ananda's purpose is to be a queer, non-binary body through which Existence dances, and to share all of the techniques which can allow bodies to become emptyfull vessels. He is also a Gurdjieff Movements teacher and an Osho sannyasin, with a background in latihan, sacred movement, active meditation, and meditative therapies. Ananda teaches private Qigong sessions in person in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM and facilitates meditation and queer soul quest counseling online and in person.
Don Freeman
Don Freeman began studying with Zhenevere Sophia Dao in 2005 at the Te School in Portland, Oregon. In 2017, Don moved to Santa Fe, NM to study full time at the MogaDao Institute and to train in MogaDao’s Jingshen Gungfu, meditation, and study Post-Daoist philosophy in depth. He is certified in Ethos I and Ethos II, and continues to train and study in Ethos VII: The Heartmind Warrior and the Sociopolitical Dimension. Formerly, Don managed his own financial advisory firm, for 20 years, and worked as a design Mechanical Engineer for NASA. The MogaDao techne helped bring him down to earth (out of the rational thinking mind) and back into his body, instincts, emotions, imagination and his heart. This reunion of the intellect and body fuels his passion for teaching MogaDao. His training at the MogaDao Institute began with Qigong but has sparked his love of mythology, Jungian Psychology, and Post-Daoism. Don’s goal is to train others and to share the potential of personal transformation, healing, and connection to one’s true authentic power. Don lives in Hawaii on the island of Kauai where he teaches in person group classes and offers one-on-one coaching through Zoom.
Ellie Dolgin
The first time that Ellie experienced qigong in 2004 she felt that she had come home. Upon moving to Santa Fe in 2014 she discovered the MogaDao practice tradition and immediately knew that she had entered into a world of immense potential for embodied physical and emotional growth. Her deepening reservoir within this sacred tradition has opened up a reverence toward all of life. As a certified teacher in Three Pillars Qigong for Trauma, Anxiety and Grief, Hieratic Stances, Morning Medical, Floating Heart Meditation and The Immunity Form, Ellie teaches online and in-person, in classes and one-on-one. Her desire is to create a sense of safety in which each student fosters, through imagination and sensitivity, the living expression of their original essence. Her experience as a sculptor for many years has helped her to appreciate the value of authenticity within relationships and toward each person’s unique blueprint.
Brian Roberts
Brian Roberts has always been curious and fascinated by how things work. From the smallest electrons floating around an electrical circuit, to the immense philosophies of existence and spirituality. He enjoyed years of intense physical activity: running marathons, technical rock climbing, sea kayaking...until Lyme's disease crippled his body and spirit. Some physical recovery was possible, but it wasn't until he studied at the MogaDao Institute in 2019 that a deeper understanding of trauma and grief initiated a healing process in his spirit, and reimagined his conception of health. Post-Daoist philosophy, in conjunction with the MogaDao techne of physical practices, captured Brian's attention from the start, and he continues to train and study in the practices of MogaDao Qigong, MogaDao Yoga, and Depth Sexuality, at the MogaDao Institute. Brian is a certified MogaDao teacher in Ethos I and II.
Helene Minot
Helene has been a student and practitioner of many Daoist practices for over 30 years. She came across the MogaDao tradition in 2017, in Santa Fe, NM. Intrigued by the depth of the MogaDao practices, she understood immediately that these spiritual methodologies, “techne,” and Post-Daoist philosophies produce a deeper result than most traditional practices. For the techne (practices) of the MogaDao tradition motivate one toward deep personal examination, oftentimes resulting in the transformation of one’s lifestyle, which lead to a deeper connection with one’s true nature and inner self. Helene has been studying regularly with Zhenevere Sophia Dao for several years, and became a certified instructor in the Ethos I (Hieratic Stance Series, 3 Pillars for Trauma and Anxiety, and Morning Medical Qigong forms) in February of 2020. Helene has also studied in the techne of MogaDao Yoga, MogaDao Meditation, and Depth Sexuality, and is on the path toward certification in these Ethea. She is honored to teach these profound MogaDao Qigong practices, and to inspire students to evaluate their own potential for transformation. Helene is an avid outdoor enthusiast, and often finds intriguing places in parks, in the mountains, and by lakes and rivers to offer qigong practice.
She currently teaches in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM.
She currently teaches in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM.