Alecia: Alecia began practicing yoga in 2000. She found a love for the connection of body mind and spirit that it brought to her life on and off the mat. Her goal is to help her students find that connection.  She completed her yoga certification in the Ashtanga tradition at Greenpath yoga in San Francisco and is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. She has taken workshops with Tony Sanchez, David Swenson, Rodney Yee, Aadil Palkhivala, and Julie Gudmestad. Her class integrates the different styles of yoga she has studied to combine holding postures with flowing vinyasa. She likes to frame the beginning and end of her class focused on the breath to allow students to be completely focused, at peace, and reach their full potential both physically and mentally.

Allan: Certified Ashtanga Vinyasa Instructor from It's yoga in San Francisco in 2002, Allan is also a registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance. Allan has been practicing yoga since 1999. Allan has practiced yoga at various places including the Omega Holistic Institute in New York, 7th Heaven in Berkeley, It's yoga in San Francisco and Claremont Club in Berkeley. Allan's yoga instruction is intended to weave breath (pranayama) with poses (asanas) to aid yoga students in listening to their inner teacher, bridging the connection with the Sacred.

Alice:Alice’s classes flow with grace, are alignment focused, and balance
effort and ease. She is currently studying Anusara yoga and uses the Universal Principals of Alignment. Alice's yoga journey began in 1997 with Iyengar yoga, and then years of Vinyasa flow yoga while getting her degree at Bennington College in Vermont. She completed two teacher trainings in Seattle and began teaching there in 2006. She offers something for every level of student, and she loves to bring yoga to all ages and abilities. Alice is thankful to many wonderful Certified Anusara teachers in this area, such as Stacey Rosenberg, Kenny Graham and Sianna Sherman.

Azra: Born in the Philippines, Azra relocated to California in 1979. Realizing that yoga helped her to live a more balanced life, she has immersed herself into the practice of yoga since 2000. She completed a teacher certification program with Avalon Yoga in Palo Alto, California and has taken workshops with Shiva Rea, Bryan Kest, Rod Stryker, Elise Miller, Sean Corn, Baron Baptiste, Rodney Yee and Sarah Powers. Azra's passion and mission is to encourage her students to challenge themselves while respecting and remaining aware of their physical limits. She guides her students to the technique of Vinyasa (flow) yoga which incorporates fluidity, strength and meditation in motion while combining discipline with intention.

Barbara: After practicing several styles of Hatha Yoga for years, Barbara came in contact with Kundalini Yoga and embraced it. She is now a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher taught under the guidance of Dr. Hari Khalsa and Sat Santokh Khalsa and is also member of The International Kundalini Yoga Teachers Association, IKYTA. As a mother of three adult boys, Barbara understands the necessity to bring Yoga to as many people as possible to help them to go through life's fluctuating moments. She strongly believes in the combination of movement and breathing, chanting Mantras and meditation to energize your body, balance your glandular system and strengthen your nervous system to open your heart and tune your intuition so that you may attract opportunities that match your soul.

Charles/Ekabhumi: Charles is an award-winning poet, teacher/coach, and community organizer who fell in love with the practice of Yoga. He brings to his classes a rich background in creative and physical arts: poetry performance, painting, music, martial arts, and modern dance. He also has extensive experience in outdoor sports such as surfing, sailing, snowboarding, and skateboarding. In Yoga, he found a practice that combines elements of all these activities, and so much more! He has a BA in Studio Arts and completed his Teacher Training at Yoga Mandala in Berkeley. He has been coaching poetry at schools and in workshops for over a decade.

Colleen: Colleen brings a unique approach to her classes with an emphasis on enjoying and creating a peaceful experience. In teaching, Colleen incorporates her interest in restorative yoga with breath and gentle, flowing postures that increase vitality, deep relaxation and self-awareness. She encourages her students to adapt an attitude of self-acceptance while encouraging them each to listen to the needs of their own particular body. She is a certified ViniYoga instructor and certified in Restorative Flow Yoga after studying with Judith Lasater and Donna Belk. Colleen is a member of the IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists) and a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. Colleen originally came to yoga with a chronic back injury and discovered its profound healing benefits for herself. After becoming frustrated when she couldn't find yoga in our community, she decided to open Healthy-Human Yoga in April of 2003; now operating successfully as LIFESTRETCH YOGA.

Courtney: Courtney has been practicing yoga since 2003 and has experience in Hatha, Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga while receiving her official yoga teaching certification in 2007 through the Avalon Teacher Training Program in Palo Alto. Courtney continues to closely study with her mentor, Anirudh Shastri from the teacher training program. She teaches a strong and vigorous class that focuses on all areas of the body and prepares the student for meditation. Courtney enjoys teaching students of all levels. Incorporating asana, pranayama and meditation, she encourages her students to maintain the principle of ahimsa (non-violence) during their practice.

Dawn: Dawn emphasizes the use of breath in guiding the body through a flowing sequence of postures that balance the need for strength and flexibility. She brings special awareness to the alignment of the spine while incorporating a challenging flow of postures that are strongly influenced by the Ashtanga, Yin, Kundalini, Iyengar and Restorative yoga traditions. She encourages students to surrender to their natural state of balance that is incredibly relaxing, deeply rejuvenating and that serves in promoting overall good health. In the over 10 years Dawn has been studying yoga, she has completed teacher training programs with both David Swenson and It's Yoga San Francisco in the Ashtanga tradition and Judith Lasater in Restorative Yoga and in June of 2006 she became a certified Kundalini Yoga Teacher. In addition, Dawn has also studied the Iyengar and Yin systems of yoga for several years and is a certified massage therapist and a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

Dina: Dina has been practicing yoga since 2001 and received a 200 hour certification from Atmananda Yoga in NYC and a 300 hour certification from B Yoga in NYC. She also has certifications in Therapeutic & Pre/Post Natal Yoga and in Spinning from Mad Dogg Athletics. Since 2004 she’s been teaching yoga for private clients, in health clubs, yoga studios and at public events. She also teaches exercises to audiences all over the world on her weekly video podcast at getexercised.com. Dina’s classes move in a vinyasa flow to find power and flexibility while encouraging practitioners to engage their mind as well as their body.

Heidi: Heidi has been stretching and enduring intense athletics throughout her life. Finding traditional Hatha yoga in 2001, led her to believe that yoga is a life long practice to quiet the mind and find your true self. Soon after, she fell in love with the Ashtanga/vinyasa style thanks to Laura Camp and Tim Thompson of the Monkey Yoga Shala in Oakland. In July of 2008, Heidi became a certified yoga instructor through the Yandara Yoga Institute in Todos Santos, Baja, Mexico, where she studied alignment based Hatha, Kirtan/chanting, philosophy and Pranayama. Currently her yoga practice is shared with surfing, rock climbing, running and dance. Throughout her classes she incorporates fluid breath, graceful movements, and light-hearted fun into her teachings. As a yoga and elementary school teacher she is constantly acknowledging her students needs and giving them encouragement in a caring environment. Heidi wishes to challenge her students in a positive way allowing each student to find their true potential spiritually and physically.

Himmat: Himmat has been practicing Kundalini Yoga & Meditation for the past 10 years. She is a certified Kundalini Yoga & Meditation teacher for adults as well as a Radiant Child Yoga instructor for children. She has also been practicing Pilates for the past 13 years and teaches both reformer and mat pilates. Over the years, she has practiced Buddhist mindfulness meditation, Reiki, mantra healing, Ayurvedic Pancha Karma, art therapy, spiritual psychology and Sat Nam Rasayan healing. Himmat has taught and practiced in NY, India, Italy, France and CA. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.A. from New York University. After spending 9 years of critical and creative investigations of the body-mind-spirit triad through visual art, Himmat spent 2 years studying spiritual psychology with Buddhist psychiatrist, Mark Epstein. She was the Project Coordinator of a pioneering yoga study conducted with breast cancer patients at The Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY). Thereafter, while living in India, she taught Kundalini Yoga & Meditation and studied Ayurveda, specializing in Pancha Karma healing. Himmat views all the above practices as tools for the lifelong journey of cultivating awareness, balance and graceful transformation.

Lynn: Lynn began her love and study of yoga over 20 years ago and has been teaching for since 1997. While her formal training is mostly in the Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions, her classes are eclectic, incorporating aspects from her teachers, intuition and personal study. Lynn’s teaching style emphasizes the importance of body alignment combined with the natural movement of the breath, inner awareness and the vision of the mind-body-spirit connection. Her hope for her students is to not only achieve their physical goals (strength, stamina, flexibility, coordination, stress relief…etc.) though asana (postures) and pranayama (breath techniques), but to also come to know, understand and incorporate other aspects of yoga in their lives. She is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-200) with Yoga Alliance.

Monica: Monica’s classes integrate breath centered movement and asana with meditation, visualization and relaxation. Her creative and engaging teaching style weaves together influences from contemplative traditions, western medicine and mind-body science. Beginners to experienced practitioners will find the opportunity to connect deeply with themselves during this mindful practice. Monica is a Certified and Registered Yoga Instructor (RYT) specializing in the therapeutic application of yoga to cultivate health and healing. She is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and part of the Editorial team for the International Journal of Yoga Therapy. Her specialized training includes: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as taught by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Therapeutic Application of Yoga, Duke University Integrative Medicine Center. Monica leads group yoga classes in public and corporate settings. She also offers personal instruction for beginning to advanced yoga practitioners and for people with health challenges.

Priya: Priya completed her teacher training at Avalon Yoga Center in Palo Alto after beginning to learn yoga in the Iyengar tradition in 2002. Later, she discovered the Ashtanga style and since then has tried many different styles of yoga. Priya believes that each style adds a unique dimension to her practice and teaching. She now practices and teaches Hatha yoga in the dynamic style of her mentor, Anirudh Shastri and believes that working the body hard is the simplest way to quiet the mind.

Rick: Rick believes that everyone can create true expressions of yoga from the inside out by aligning with our true nature and flowing with grace. His teaching style has evolved from personal practice inspired by traditional Hatha, Ashtanga, Kundalini and Anusara traditions. With compassion and support, Rick helps every student build the foundation for a strong and fluid practice providing a safe and liberating experience to realize greater strength, endurance and flexibility while honoring the individual. Rick is dedicated to living the Yogic path, the eight limbs of Astanga Yoga and reflects this in his teaching. Rick’s exploration and journey of yoga began in 2003. His eclectic teaching style inspires each student's practice to evolve with grace and strength from the heart. From this fertile ground, Rick helps each student grow and realize the present moment where body, mind and spirit unite for our greater good by creative fusion of pranayama, (breath work), chanting, meditation, and yoga philosophy about life on and off the mat with a sense of humor and a smile. Rick is a graduate of the Avalon Yoga Teacher Training and Certification Program in Palo Alto California where he mentored with Anusara Certified Instructor, Samantha Shakti Brown. Rick is registered with the Yoga Alliance and continues to explore and learn as a student. He is grateful to have worked with other Certified Anusara teachers including Kenneth Graham and Laura Christensen to expand the study of asana, pranayama, meditation and Tantric philosophy.

Shashi: Shashi has been studying yoga since 1998 and teaching yoga since 2006. Her approach to yoga intuitively incorporates various styles of yoga from the dozens of different yoga teachers she's had the fortune to study under, with her love of Modern Dance, Philosophy, Mindfulness and Mat Pilates. Primary to her classes is a focus on mindfulness of movement, sensation and breath. She is a Yoga Alliance 200 hour Certified teacher through Yoga Educational Seminars, a teacher training developed by Senior Yoga Therapist, Iyengar Yogi and Intuitive Healer, Joyce Anue, and has mentored with Michelle Duguay, for the last year, gleaning insights from her 40 years of yoga experience and tutelage under Chinese Medical Doctor and esteemed Shadow Yogi, Scott Blossom. Shashi hopes that the supportive yet challenging environment for self-exploration in her yoga classes will empower others to feel more deeply alive and to sense the interconnectedness of creation. It is her dream that the spread of yoga will allow a greater number of people to experience present awareness of a deep seeded peace, and that this peace will enable the human species to effectively unite interpersonally to address the global challenges we all face.

Soma: Soma has been immersed in the Hindu culture since childhood where she grew up in a community of yoga practitioners. Her name was given to her by Baba Hari Dass, the spiritual teacher at Mount Madonna Center, and means life giving goddess*. Although she has been practicing yoga through out her life, her commitment to her own personal practice and to others was affirmed when she became a certified yoga instructor in the Ashtanga tradition, at Greenpath Yoga Studio in San Francisco. She has studied many different styles of yoga including Ashtanga, Bikram, Kundalini and Hatha as well as other forms of Karma, Bhakti and Raja Yoga. It is her passion for yoga that has inspired her to share the benefits with others and to deepen her own personal practice and immersion. Her teaching style is gentle and challenging at the same time. The breath is the foundation of the asana practice and will always be emphasized. She will encourage you to find your edge while respecting your evolving abilities. The holistic approach of connecting and healing the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual aspects of your being will be the natural evolution of your practice. Knowing how transformative yoga can be she is dedicated to providing a truly "life giving" experience for all those who come attend her classes.
*there are many different definitions for the word Soma, this is only one of them.