ABOUT OUR INSTRUCTORS
Our teachers are highly respected and well educated in various styles of yoga. Many of them have a blend of backgrounds that may include Ashtanga, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Anusara, Restorative, and Yin while some of our teachers focus on just one of these styles.
Come experience several of our teachers and you will find that each one will provide a different experience personalized from their own studies and experiences. We believe that our teachers are all compatible, and that the student will benefit from everyone of their classes.
INSTRUCTORS |
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Baxter Bell, MD Baxter has been studying Hatha yoga since 1994 and teaching since 1999, both public classes and specialty back care classes. He is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio's Advanced Studies 2000 program, and has studied regularly with Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden and Erich Schiffman. He teaches a nurturing style of yoga, with a strong emphasis on re-awakening our innate curiosity about ourselves and our world. Baxter offers periodic workshops and retreats, with more info available on his website at www.bellyoga.info. He also offers private yoga instruction, as well as incorporates yoga asana and pranayama in his medical acupuncture practice. |
Keith Borden, E.R.Y.T. Keith is a bhakti, an interfaith minister and a Senior Laughing Lotus Teacher (New York & San Francisco). In addition to teaching asana classes, Keith continues to study, lead kirtan, and mentor and teach in the Laughing Lotus College of Yoga at Laughing Lotus in New York and San Francisco. He also provides private yoga and workshops. Keith strives to live, breathe, and happily teach the devotion-rich yoga that comes out of his own daily practice. He offers an energetic and balanced asana class, infused with playfulness and creativity. As a classically trained singer, Keith emphasizes the importance of breath, chant and mantra. His goal is to help his students develop a content mind, a strong body, and a healthy, joyous spirit - to re-unite with their true self. |
Carolyn Brown Carolyn has been practicing hatha yoga since 1989 and teaching since 2003. She leads a lively, heart-centered practice that builds core strength, flexibility and ease. She teaches the Anusara principles of alignment with a focus on individual discovery and expression. Over the last 15 years, Carolyn has found yoga to be the most powerful way to develop and maintain physical vitality, mental clarity and a joyful engagement with life. She has trained extensively with John Friend, Noah Mazé, Carlos Pomeda, Hanneli Francis and other senior Anusara teachers, and previously with Barbara Voinar and Manouso Manos. Grounded in Anusara principles, Carolyn's teaching is also influenced by Iyengar method, Vinyasa/flow, somatic healing, transformative dance and authentic movement, as well as her experience with back/neck pain, scoliosis, office ergonomics and active sports. Carolyn meets each student where he or she is, and helps each person find their own ideal alignment and unique beauty. |
Sadie Chanlett-Avery Sadie Chanlett-Avery is a certified yoga teacher with several years of experience. She received her teacher training from Ana Forrest and participated in the Glenn Black Yogi Training Project in the jungles of Costa Rica. Having taught novice to advanced students, she can adapt the class to a range of ages and a variety of abilities. She has a playful approach that applies the ancient practice of yoga to individual needs and modern lifestyles. Sadie is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Holistic Health Education from JFK University. |
Michelle Cordero Michelle brings over ten years of yoga, bodywork and fitness experience to her yoga teaching. Her teachers include Ana Forrest, Maty Ezraty, Lisa Walford, Shiva Rea and Roger Cole. She is a graduate of both the Yogaworks, Los Angeles and the Ana Forrest Teacher Trainings. Over the years, Michelle has taught several styles of hatha yoga including Ashtanga, Vinyasa and Iyengar based. Today, her primary influence and inspiration is Ana Forrest and the Forrest Yoga method. Deeply commited to high quality instruction and to evolving her practice, Michelle continues to study with and assist Ana at workshops around the West Coast. In her classes Forrest Yoga techniques, core strength and breath awareness combine to help students of all levels develop greater strength, flexibility and inner awareness. Michelle's classes are dynamic yet mindful, challenging yet fun. "I hope I can inspire students to deepen their relationship to their spirit, and offer a space for physical and emotional healing through the practice of yoga. I am propelled by my own fascination for the gift of yoga and grateful to be able to share this powerful practice." Michelle is also a Level 3 certified Yamuna Body Rolling Therapist/Educator and Teacher Trainer. She had the good fortune to apprentice with Yamuna Zake, creator of Body Logic and Body Rolling, for a year in New York City. |
Cynthea Denise, R.N. Cynthea is passionate about yoga as a discipline for the body and soul. She has practiced with Rodney Yee at Piedmont Yoga for over a decade. In 1996, she graduated from the Piedmont Yoga Studio's Advanced Studies program and has since taught in the Bay Area. Since childhood, she recalls the urge to twist and fold her body into 'funny' poses. As an adult, she personally witnessed yoga's transformative power while using it as a means to rehabilitate a broken arm. Cynthea delights in sharing the insights of her practice with students of all ages. Visit Cynthea's web site at www.shaktimoon.com. |
Kristin Goldsmith Kristin began her career in movement at the age of six in tap shoes and a pink tutu, and took her first yoga class at eighteen. She considers her own personal pilates/yoga and Vipassana meditation practice as her foundation for living mindfully and becoming a more compassionate human being. She has been teaching movement full-time since 2001. Kristin recently completed the 200-hour Ana Forrest Yoga Teacher Training and is an Associate Forrest Yoga Teacher. She is certified in Pilates Mat and Equipment by the Ellie Herman Studio, Mat and Standing Pilates by the PhysicalMind Institute, and Elvis "the Pelvis" and MasterStretch by Bodycode. For over five years, she worked at Center of Balance in Mountain View, CA (Voted "Best Yoga Studio 2007" by the Mountain View Voice and "Best Pilates Studio 2004" by San Francisco Magazine) under the mentorship of master Pilates, Ashtanga Yoga and Franklin Method teacher Tom McCook. Her style is also heavily influenced by many years of study with beloved San Francisco Vinyasa Yoga teacher Steph Snyder. She enjoys working with students of all ages and abilities, and has had great success with acute and chronically injured clients and pre- and post-natal women, as well as a younger, more athletic demographic. Kristin is committed to helping all of her students gain focus, grace and awareness of breath for improved strength, coordination, posture and balance. Her soulful and challenging yoga classes will make you breathe, sweat and laugh! When not teaching, she is often hanging out with her friends and loved ones in the East Bay or performing with her 1960's go-go dance troupe, The Devil-Ettes! For more information, visit www.kristingoldsmith.com. |
Sean Michael Hall Sean began his practice of yoga in 1996. Inspired by the dramatic shifts that took place in his life as a result, he quit his career as a software engineer to embark on his path as healer. In 2000, after a year-long private apprenticeship, Sean began teaching Warrior Yoga - a vigorous, heart-filled approach to yoga based on vinyasa yoga, capoeira, and the martial arts. In 2002, Sean continued his education as a student in Piedmont Yoga Studios Advanced Studies program with Rodney Yee and Richard Rosen. This program was largely inspired by Iyengar yoga, with an emphasis on alignment and mindfulness. Currently, Sean studies with two of his favorite teachers, Kofi Busia and Ramanand Patel as often as possible. Sean's classes blend the full spectrum of approaches he has practiced and studied. They tend to be physically challenging and vinyasa-based, but with a strong emphasis on correct alignment and cultivating the mindfulness needed to find and experience the deeper states of awareness that proper alignment allows. Sean is also a licensed acupuncturist specializing in musculoskeletal complaints and women's health, and is co-owner of On Point Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine. More information about Sean can be found at his website, www.onpointacu.com. |
Naushon Kabat-Zinn Naushon has been a student of yoga since she was a little girl. Her challenging, yet compassionate Power Vinyasa classes are a wonderful way to cultivate strength, serenity, flexibility and balance. Inspired by her studies with Baba Hari Dass, Baron Baptiste, Shiva Rea, and the teachings of Vispassana (Insight) Meditation, Naushon 's all levels classes emphasize the linking of movement with breath, cultivating our ability to awaken to the present moment. Please visit her www.naushonyoga.blogspot.com for more information. |
Vickie Russell Bell Vickie has been studying yoga since 1990 and began teaching in 1994 in Ohio. Her teaching style emphasizes body awareness, alignment, and the integration of mindfulness and ease in Hatha yoga practice and daily life. Vickie sees yoga as a direct way to manipulate the nervous system in a world full of stimulation and stress. Her intention is to help her students to increase their level of daily awareness and consciousness, so that they might begin to unearth the Truth of who they really are. She is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio Advanced Training Program and a certified "Relax and Renew Trainer" through Judith Lasater's accredited program. Vickie is also on the core faculty for the Advanced Training Program at PYS. Find more information on Vickie at her website www.yoga-vickie.com. |
Melanie Salvatore-August Melanie recently relocated to the bay area from New York City and Los Angeles where she taught for both the NYC and LA Yoga Works studios. She is a certified Yoga Works Teacher as well as 500hr Certified ISHTA Teacher under the mentorship of Alan Finger (ISHTA is an acronym for the Integrated System of Hatha, Tantra and Ayurveda). Along with the strong clear alignment of the Yoga Works style and the Tantric flow of ISHTA Yoga, Melanie's teaching is also greatly influenced by the breath based asana of Desikachar taught by Mark Whitwell. These three dynamic styles foster a transformative experience of breath and flowing asana (vinyasa), athletic sequencing (Ashtanga) and anatomically- based alignment (Iyengar) for a safe and supportive exploration of breath and body. Melanie teaches a well-balanced class exploring strength building asana as well as healing opening poses to balance work and relaxation, she is sensitive to an individuals needs, encouraging each student to find their own yoga with acceptance, curiosity and humor. Her prenatal yoga classes explore the above yoga styles as well as the Bradley Natural Birthing Method to help prepare a mother-to-be for the most natural, healthy and ecstatic birthing experience possible. |
Kimber Simpkins Inspired by the beauty and grace of yoga, Kimber Simpkins teaches fun, heart-centered Anusara classes, vigorous but nurturing. Kimber has studied extensively with Katchie Ananda and has been strongly influenced by the Anusara principles of alignment and their use in helping students fully experience the balance between freedom and strength. She integrates music and self-exploration into her classes, emphasizing the vital connection between breath and movement in every pose. For more information, see Kimber's web site. |
Domonick Wegesin, Phd, RYT, LMT Domonick is a yogi-neuroscientist-dancer with a bent towards meditation and the healing arts. He recently moved to the Bay Area from New York City with his husband and their schnoodle. In New York, Domonick conducted neuroimaging research focused on the aging brain, as a Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at Columbia University. Domonick now trains the brains and bodies of his yoga students, helping them wake up to their mental, emotional and physical experience in a way that cultivates awareness, acceptance and ease. Domonick is also the creator of Yoga Hikes. To read more about Domonick and Yoga Hikes, visit www.YogaHikes.org. |
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