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Joan Budilovsky has been studying and practicing Yoga for approximately 30 years. Her first class was in 1976 at the College of Dupage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. After graduation in 1979 from Northern Illinois University with a degree in Social Sciences, she went on to complete a second degree in 1980 from Columbia College Chicago in Broadcast Communications. From there she moved to California and continued her yoga studies with the Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in the Pacific Palisades. She also studied with the Sivananda Yoga Center in Santa Monica.
Before her career in yoga and massage, Joan worked extensively as a Professional Musician. She headlined numerous clubs in New York City and Chicago as a Jazz Vocalist and Big Band Singer. From 1984-1993 she was the recipient of numerous ASCAP Popular Awards for her many recordings and performances. In addition to music, Joan worked extensively as a professional actress, having appeared in numerous daytime serials ( Another World, The Young and Restless, etc.), many motion pictures (New York Stories-Woody Allen, Director, Working Girl-Mike Nickols, Director, etc.), and a vast array of Off-Off, and very Off Broadway stage productions. In 1989, she released her first original musical album "What Color is Grey." During this time she began teaching what she had been studying for years - yoga. She also began developing her interests in massage. In her travels as a performer, she studied at various yoga and meditation centers on both coasts.
With these continual studies, her career began transforming from the performing arts to the healing arts. In 1993, she began a 14-month Teacher's Training Program at the Temple of Kriya Yoga in Chicago.She graduated from this program in 1994 and joined the College of DuPage Faculty. There she created a whole new series of credited classes for the Physical Education Department in various levels of hatha yoga and meditation. She also developed several Massage Classes for the Continuing Education and Allied Health Departments. During this time, she wrote and self-published numerous books and tapes on yoga for her classes. One day in 1997, a fabulous New York editor named, Gary Krebbs, found Joan on the internet and called her to write The Complete Idiot's Guide to Yoga. Joan
did not like the word "idiot," but has since grown to love it. The editor teamed her with a wonderful writing partner named, Eve Adamson. Multiple editions of the book have followed. The second edition came out in 2001, the third illustrated edition in 2003, and the 4th came out in May of 2006.
Joan served on the College of DuPage Faculty for eight years (1994-2001). In 1996, Joan wrote and appeared in a series of seven video tapes of yoga classes produced by Bonnie Farnon of the College of DuPage Video Department. These tapes are now available through the College of DuPage library system to students and community members. She has also written and performed a video series of "Yoga Minutes" for the Library Association. This series was specifically tailored toward the relaxation and stress reducing needs of librarians and is now used as a featured video for college library conferences. Joan also has served on faculty for the Dance Department of Columbia College Chicago (2001-2006).
Joan is a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist and graduate of a two-year massage certification program from the Wellness and Massage Training Institute in Willowbrook, Illinois. She is an active member of Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals (ABMP). She incorporates her thorough understanding of the muscular system into her yoga classes. She is also a professional Reflexologist (foot and hand massage). She is the expert author, with co-author, Eve Adamson, of the 1998 released book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to MASSAGE (Spanish Translation in 2001).
In 2000, The Complete Idiot's Guide to MEDITATION, the third Idiot's Guide by Joan and Eve was released. Three times the charm. This book is about pulling up all the stakes that hold us back. It is a manual on living life fully. It explores the
history of meditation and its vast association with numerous cultures and traditions. It also gives an indepth look at how you can incorporate meditation into your life. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Medition, second edition was released in 2003. Since then numerous translations have been released in various countries - Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Polish are all out there now and Chinese is under way! All for one, and om for all! Dios Mio! Dziekuje! Spasibo! Çok tesekkür ederim!!!
Joan's Yo Joan Advice Column appeared in Liberty Suburban Newspapers for nine years (1999-2007). The column was syndicated throughout the various chicago neighborhood papers with a circulation of well over 100,000. Her last column for these papers appeared the month her baby, Ben, was born.
As of today... The 4th Edition of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Yoga," has recently come out with a new translation in Polish.
Visitors to 'Yoyoga' can not wear black...well, they can, but they'll be leaving in white. Mufasa is not a vegetarian. 
Joan is now Doctor Joan, having recently completed her doctoral studies in Education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. She is taking things a bit slower this year of 2008, watching her baby grow and pausing with him more often to rediscover snowflakes or to smell a flower for the first time.
When Joan is not watching snowflakes or smelling flowers with Benny, She is putting the finishing touches on a new book of yoga stories stemming out of her doctoral dissertation. She continues to study the harp and hopes to someday come out of the closet as a Harpist.
And, yes, as of Valentines Day 2004, Joan said, "I do forever and ever" to her soulmate, Ben Kuzniar. After
so many lifetimes, she finally found him and has requested that he find her sooner the next time around. Together they share the Yoyoga headquarters with a small white lion named, Mufasa.
