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Teachers ~
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Our diverse group of teachers is what makes Yoga People so special.
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Director
~ Wendy Chanelis (click here
to see bio)
Jay
Brown ~
J. Brown has been teaching yoga in New York for the last 10 years. He
is studied in the Ashtanga-Vinyasa, Iyengar, Sivananda, and Viniyoga
forms of Hatha practice. His teachers include Richard Freeman, Alison
West (Yoga Union Certified), Swami P. Saraswati (Rishikesh,India), Katchie
Carlson, Robin Janis, and Mark Whitwell (Heart of Yoga Certified.) Member
IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapists.)
CLASSES WITH JAY: Tuesday 6:30-8pm Basic
Tara
Glazier ~
Tara Glazier was introduced to yoga at a modern dance festival about
10 years ago and has been practicing ever since. She has been teaching
yoga for the past 4 years and is certified through Yoga Alliance. Tara
completed her first teacher training at Atmananda Yoga Center in NYC.
Before that, Tara was an avid Jivamukti and Astanga yogi. In recent
years, Tara has been drawn to Anusara yoga and it's deep, therapeutic
qualities and has now completed her second Anusara teacher training.
She has studied extensively with John Friend. Tara teaches an Anusara
class that incorporates her love of flow. This alignment based style
of yoga teaches the proper principles to optimally place the body, while
keeping a deep connection to the heart. Tara also infuses her invigorating
classes with the life enhancing philosophy of Tantra. When Tara is not
teaching yoga, she is performing on the various NYC stages. She is a
modern dancer/ dance theater, performing artist. She is also the artistic
director at Ballet Tech, a non-profit organization that brings dance
to public school children.
CLASSES WITH TARA: Anusara on Fridays 6:30-8pm & Sundays 10:00-11:30am,
Teacher Training Program
Julia
Haramis ~
A New York native and a practitioner of yoga for more than 10 years,
Julia Haramis has studied many different forms of yoga including Anusara,
Vinyasa and Jivamukti. She was first drawn to yoga while in college,
seeking stress relief and a complement to playing various sports. Today,
Julia looks to her practice to help attain harmony and balance between
the mind and body. She completed her RYA teacher training at Yoga People.
CLASSES WITH JULIA: Wednesday 8-9:15pm Basic II and Intro to Yoga
Courses
Saysha
Heinzman ~
Hailing from Detroit, MI, Saysha received her BFA in Performing Arts
from Wayne State University. After touring with several theater companies,
she eventually landed in NYC. Sparked by a yoga gym class, her yoga
practice culminated from a lifelong love of movement and creative expression.
Saysha teaches an Anusara-influenced Vinyasa. Her classes are built
upon alignment and breath awareness principles. Her influences include
experience in Thai Yoga Massage, Ayurveda, Martial Arts and Traditional
Chinese Medicine.
She continues to enrich her teaching through the guidance of senior
teachers of Anusara, Iyengar and Vinyasa, studying comparative spirituality,
ancient texts, and her daily life. She received her teacher training
certification through Virayoga under her teacher, Zhenja LaRosa. She
intends to become fully Anusara certified by next year.
Off the mat, Saysha works as a personal trainer and is cultivating a
daily sadhana, which includes a balanced diet, meditation, mantra, Sanskrit
studies and gratitude.
CLASSES WITH SAYSHA: Monday Lunchtime Yoga 12-1pm, Thursday 9:30-11am
Anusara
Mitra
Katz ~
Mitra has been studying yoga for 8 years beginning at the Integral Yoga
Intstitute where she eventually did her first teacher training. She
incorporates the balance of asana, pranayama, and meditation as well
as some chanting in her classes to provide a holistic experience of
yoga. She has also studied Vinyasa, Ana Forrest Method, Iyengar and
Therapeutic Yoga and incorporates aspects of these in her classes. She
spent a year in India in 2006 studying and teaching.
She studied meditation with Bharat Thakur in Banagalore and Sanskrit
chanting with Mataji (Sadhvi Abha Sarasvati) in Rishikesh. She is grateful
to be a guide in the experience of yoga for each of her students.
CLASSES WITH MITRA: Gentle Yoga 2-3:15 Sundays
Morgen
Love ~
The path of Yoga is one that has unfolded organically in my life - each
door opening unexpectedly and offering up a new permutation of this
sacred practice. An inquisitive seeker since childhood, I have always
felt the intrinsic vibration within, but could not fully understand
it's meaning or potential. Yoga has helped me to tap into this energy
and begin to understand it's ability to heal and transform, to create
balance, and to cultivate trust.
In 2007, after four years of devoted practice,
I ventured to California to study Prana Vinyasa Flow with Shiva Rea.
Following my 200 hour certification, the same mystical path that began
here at Yoga People many years ago, led me back to my home to share
this practice with the people I love.
I offer a practice that helps students begin to find the balance between
grace and body awareness, alignment and flow. Serving as a guide along
this path, I offer a safe environment for beginning students to develop
and grow, and for experienced practitioners to experiment and play.
Through creative sequencing and inspired music, I invite students to
tap in to their feeling, fluid bodies, to enter the flow, embrace movement
as meditation, and love in each moment!
My continuing studies include classes with many inspiring teachers in
various NYC studios, Vinyasa workshops with Shiva Rea, Twee Merrigan,
and Simon Park, AcroYoga with San Francisco yogis Jenny Sauer-Klein
and Jason Nemer, and various Yin and Restorative Yoga workshops across
the Tri-State area.
CLASSES WITH MORGEN: Monday 9:30-11am Basic
II & 8-9:15pm Basic, Saturday 2-3:30pm Vinyasa, Intro to Yoga Courses
Jordan
Mallah ~
Jordan Mallah is an Anusara-Inspired Yoga teacher from Brooklyn, New
York. He has studied and taught yoga since 1996 both in the US and internationally.
His uplifting, life-enhancing teaching style inspires students of all
ages and levels of experience to live fully from their heart and celebrate
life each day.
Jordan’s powerful hatha yoga classes challenge students to infuse
every pose with a meaningful intention connected to the grand purposes
of yoga, while maintaining awareness of specific postural alignment,
and balanced action between steadfastness and freedom. Jordan empowers
each student to reach their fullest potential, while inspiring light-heartedness,
playfulness, and joyful creativity within the yoga practice.
From 2006-2007, Jordan had the honor of working as the Global Productions
Manager of Anusara Yoga. He toured the world and studied extensively
with one of the most charismatic and highly respected hatha yoga teachers
in the world, Anusara’s founder John Friend. From 2007-2008, Jordan
served hundreds of students as he assisted internationally recognized
senior certified Anusara teacher Sianna Sherman.
Jordan is immensely grateful to all of his teachers, friends, family,
and students worldwide, who continually inspire him to live with Steadfast
Freedom.
CLASSES WITH JORDAN: Wednesday 6:30-8pm Anusara
Stacey
Matthews ~
Stacey discovered vinyasa yoga in 2000 and has been practicing ever
since! As a professional dancer & musical theater performer, she
was originally attracted to the the physical aspects of yoga, but soon
realized the many benefits to working with the mind as well as the body.
She was certified through OM Yoga and recently completed the teacher
training program at Karma Kids Yoga in NYC. Stacey is grateful to her
many teachers and hopes to share the benefits of yoga with adults and
children for years to come!
CLASSES WITH STACEY: Weds 12-1pm Lunchtime Yoga, Weds 4:30-6pm Vinyasa
Rebekah
Morin~
Rebekah Morin was guided to the practice of yoga by older, wiser dancers
who promised increased strength and flexibility and fewer injuries.
When she found that those benefits extended to strength and flexibilty
of mind and emotion and in general made her less irritable she decided
it was an important thing to share. Rebekah received her certification
to teach vinyasa style hatha yoga from Laughing Lotus in 2002. Since
then she has been bringing the practice to studios, schools, businesses,
and parks all
around the city. She currently teaches public classes at Yoga People
in
downtown Brooklyn and Levitate Yoga in midtown Manhattan. She also brings
yoga to the workplace through Balance Integration and offers private
lessons. Rebekah continues to perform with both Jody Oberfelder Dance
Projects and The Equus Projects.
CLASSES WITH REBEKAH: Lunchtime Yoga 1:00pm-2:00pm on Tuesdays and
Thursdays
Andrei
Ram ~
Born in Holyoke, MA, USA, Andrei Garzon grew up in Colombia (S.A.).
He studied Marine Biology, Dance and Anthropology at Colombia’s
National University. In 2001 he co-founded and co-directed the Foundation
for Contemporary Dance in Colombia, DANZA COMÚN. From 2000 to
2003 he worked as director of the National University of Colombia’s
Contemporary Dance Program. After many years of Yoga practice Andrei
moved to New York in 2004, and devoted his life completely to the path
of Yoga under the guidance and service of Sri Yogi Dharma Mittra. He
has become the senior teacher next to Dharma Mittra at Dharma Yoga Center
and teaches Dharma's classes whenever he is away. He has been teaching
Yoga internationally for the last 5 years and at Yoga People for 2 years
where is also a senior teacher in the Yoga People teacher training program.
Andrei lives his life in absolute dedication to his beloved Guru, the
consolidation of the Universal Sangha (spiritual community), and for
the sake of liberation for all Living Beings.
CLASSES WITH ANDREI: Monday 6:30-8pm Vinyasa, Teacher Training
Program
Jorja
Rivero ~
Anusara yoga, rajanaka yoga, and gestalt psychotherapy are
the core of my teaching. You are a pulsing changing process, not a permanent
fixed structure! Deepen your practice as you cultivate your awareness
and presence on the mat. You are empowered, free, responsible, and constantly
choosing and setting boundaries. Connect to your breath and body to
create your physical, mental, and emotional EXPANSION.
CLASSES WITH JORJA: Saturday 12-1:30pm Anusara
Marisa
Sako~
Marisa has dabbled in all sorts of movement
throughout her life, but nothing has been able to inhabit a space in
her heart like the moving meditation that is Vinyasa practice. It was
this love that brought her to Laughing Lotus where she completed her
teacher training with Dana Flynn and Jasmine Tarkeshi in 2006. Her teaching
style reflects her own practice, in which she seeks to maintain balance
by attending super-sweaty vinyasa classes as well as highly detailed
and nuanced classes with a workshoppy feel and plenty of props. Her
on-going studies in anatomy and kinesiology blend well with her encouragement
to flow with grace. She believes that breathing and moving with mindfulness
and compassion for oneself on the mat leads to moving about the world
in the same manner
CLASSES WITH MARISA: Monday 4:30-6pm Vinyasa, Thursday 6:30-8pm
Basic
Jax
"Shakti" Schott~
Jax was introduced to yoga 10 years ago, and fell instantly in love
with the movement and inner-strength she felt during her practice. She
received her first certification with Sivananda, & has since trained
with Shiva Rea & Twee Merrigan learning the dynamics of Prana Vinyasa
Flow; Finding the Prana (Energy) inside of you. She believes in Yoga
as a way of life, which inspired her to expand her trainings in order
to teach Pre/Post Natal Yoga; Mom & Baby; Children’s Yoga;
and Ayurveda for Yoga, and teaches all styles throughout Manhattan.
Jax is committed to serve others by teaching the healing properties
of Yoga, using dynamic movement, and opening the body to allow you to
begin to develop your own practice starting with your own inner teacher.
She brings a lot of heart, inspiration, and creativity to her classes
encouraging to unite both the body and the breath, moving past the mind
and moving into your own center of truth.
CLASSES WITH JAX: Sat 12:30-1:45 Prenatal, Sat 2-3:30pm Vinyasa
Matthew
Seidman ~
Matthew Seidman was has been teaching yoga - ashtanga vinyasa - for
about 9 years and was OM certified in 1998. His practice began in the
early 90's at the 'original' Jivamukti, moved through OM & mysore
studios in NYC, and is now a more personal investigation of the practice
without an absolute master or style. He began and headed the OM Yoga
Ashtanga Limb for 3 years until it was dismantled and has taught in
various other studios around the City including Yoga Sutra, Yoga Jivana,
and LA Sports 61 St. He was the yoga teacher for monks and laypeople
at Dai Bosatsu Zendo in the Catskills for three years running, and over
the last few years has taught free classes for high schoolers, and yoga
& theater-studies workshops at NYU & in Trinidad, West Indies.
Matthew’s classes offer students physical challenge, fine-tuned
hands-on skills, precise verbal adjustments and a dogma free zone.
CLASSES WITH MATTHEW: Weds 9:30-11am Vinyasa, Sat 4-5:30pm Ashtanga
Variations, Sun 5-6:30pm Ashtanga, Teacher Training Program
Lisa
Starr ~
From the age of 3 through young adulthood Lisa practiced Cecchetti (classical)
ballet. In 1999, she took her first yoga class was instantly hooked--Vinyasa
style yoga felt like dancing! After many years practicing yoga, in 2005
Lisa received her teaching certification at Be Yoga in the Integrated
Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda (ISHTA) style of yoga. This style
of yoga draws from the alignment principals of B.K.S. Iyengar and focuses
on individualizing the asana practice for each student. Also certified
in prenatal yoga, she enjoys working with mothers-to-be and new moms
to connect with their bodies and babies. Lisa’s classes incorporate
yoga philosophies of Jack Kornfield, Patanjali, Mark Whitwell and other
great yogis that have inspired her and are taught in a challenging yet
accessible way, making yoga fun for everyone!
CLASSES WITH LISA: Weds 6:30-7:45 Prenatal
Yiannis
Andritsos ~
Yiannis, originally from a small village in Greece, began his study
of yoga after coming to the US in search of higher knowledge and freedom.
Yiannis completed the teacher training at Atmanhada studio in Manhattan
in 2003. After meeting Sri Dharma Mitra he began practicing Asana and
Meditation full time with this great master teacher. He now teaches
a variety of Vinyasa classes in Manhattan and Brooklyn. His previous
work in professional dance, fitness training, and his current work in
Thai yoga massage enlighten his teachings and knowledge of the body
dynamics. He has also studied extensively the raw vegan diet as part
of a completely spiritual lifestyle. His warm hearted humor and sincere
devotion make every class a unique and pleasurable experience.
CLASSES WITH Yiannis: Fridays 9:30-11am Vinyasa, Saturdays 8:30-11am
Vinyasa
Wendy
Chanelis ~
Wendy Chanelis, the matriarch and maha yogini of the Yoga People clan,
has been living Yoga since 1989. The nineteen eighties were all about
fitness for Wendy; the endorphin rush of running, the low-impact allure
of step aerobics, or whatever the workout program de jour was then,
with a spirit for adventure she gave it a try. With her finger eternally
on the pulse of what’s hot she very quickly found herself flowing
through her first Sun Salutations. Names like sputa-baddha-konasana
and shavasana soon flowed effortlessly from this Brooklyn native’s
tongue and chanting OM like a seasoned kirtan singer was only a few
lotus poses away… she was hooked. Fitness soon took a backseat
to yoga practice and life for Wendy Chanelis was about to get very interesting.
For two years she explored the various yoga offerings in New York City:
Dharma Mittra, Integral, Iyengar, and Sivananda. In 1991 she settled
into studying with then new-kids-on-the-block, David Life and Sharon
Gannon, of Jivamukti. There her practice deepened. She’s fond
of mentioning how in 1994, David and Sharon, not so gently cajoled her
into practicing with Ashtanga yoga guru, Pattabhi Jois, visiting from
Mysore, India. Very soon thereafter she traveled to Encinitas, California
for one month to intensify her Ashtanga studies, again with Pattabhi
Jois. A solid foundation of Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga has--even until
today--paved the way of practice for Wendy. A great deal of sweat and
some very sweet pain turned slowly into a labor of love. In 1998 she
gave birth to her pride and joy… Yoga People.
Yoga People Brooklyn Heights reflects Wendy’s love of all things
shree (that’s Sanskrit for profoundly beautiful and prosperous)
from the beaming clientele gathering in the reception area awaiting
class, to the radiantly smiling and highly skilled teachers, right on
down to the enchanting design and the whimsical colors of Yoga People’s
two open and airy, Elizabeth Hardwick (Jivamukti & Laughing Lotus)
designed, practice studios. Wendy embodies the name Yoga People with
her effulgent character and her Cirque du Soleil worthy balancing act
of juggling the roles of wife, mother and grandmother, businesswoman
and yogini as well as being a devoted friend to many and a deeply solitary
and inspired person. Each class taught at Yoga People has built in happy
energy… and shining through every facet of this loving environment
is Wendy’s heart and soul.
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