Artist & Yoga Teacher Ellen Kalmenson – Practices ‘The Art Of Wellness’

Whole Life Times 2014  
 

Ellen Kalmenson is an incredibly intuitive artist and healer, born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She defines her all encompassing life philosophy as ‘The Art Of Wellness’, and it’s something she lives and practices every day as a Painter, Healing Masseuse and Yoga Teacher.

Ellen’s paintings emerge from the space where all of her artistries overlay and intersect, creating healing art from healing hands. Her aligning touch in her yoga class is the same gentle caressthat brings light to the eyes of her masterpiece Buddha painting “Stillness In Stone”. It’s this calm that sets the tone for her work; each brush stroke is fueled with the purpose of touching the viewer on an emotional level.

Ellen has a vivid visual imagination, there is a huge sense of freedom within her work but it’s grounded with a deep sense of control. This focused intention has also made Ellen an extremely successful fitness entrepreneur. For the last 37 years, Ellen has owned and ran several extremely successful San Fernando Valley studios and businesses. As a retail buyer and design consultant, she also made the Barry’s Boot Camp brand cool before the celebrities did.

An introspective child, art was Ellen’s own personal space; the creative process was always a great comfort to her. Born with a gift for physical expression, by the time she was 16 she was teaching classes in her Mothers fitness studio; ‘The Naked Truth”. It was here, 30 years ago, she first met pioneer Indian Yoga teacher Bikram Choudhury. A few years later when reintroduced to Yoga, in a class with Power Yoga’s Brian Kest, Ellen started to open up to the possibility of Yoga as a way of life. Much like her art; it was creating personal space and Yoga gave her a sense of comfort that regular fitness never did.

She was awarded a Scholarship to Cal State Northridge arts based program and became exposed to different creative methods, from illustration to sculpting, but it was the allure of the white canvas, acrylic paint and rich layers that made her feel the most satisfied. She also studied the healing art of Eastern medicine Tui na; a hands-on body treatment that uses Chinese martial arts principles in an effort to bring the body into balance.

The Art of Wellness is truly Ellen’s calling;; it’s her life work and her art on and off the canvas. After several years scaling the corporate ladder in vein, she has matured and is finally able to incorporate all her gifts into a productive life dedicated to kindness. Ellen’s paintings adorn the walls at many Yogaworks locations, in addition to her teaching Yoga basic fundamentals, Level 2 and 2/3 Vinyasa flow and the healing strength of Yin Yoga at the Yogaworks in Tarzana and Westlake, California. She still teaches fitness classes with many of her loyal students in their 80’s. She also teaches Yoga at a six bed living facility for eating disorders in Calabasas, CA. She works carefully with the emotions and energy levels of her students, in mixed classes of anorexia and bulimia sufferers. Ellen teaches ‘ownership of personal power’;; it influences everything she does and infuses her art with an ethereal serene quality.

The Whole Foods greeting card line was created to give people the same sense of peace and calm as a healing touch. Whether sent to a sick relative or to a friend with joy, these are ‘comfort cards’ for those that you love.

The images are also available as fine art museum quality giclee prints on canvas.