Chona Bernardo

Teacher & Reiki Healer

Ani tries to create an inclusive environment for all people, regardless of age or ability. It's a safe space, but not necessarily a serious one. She strives to be inviting, challenging, and aware of the changing needs of her students. Above all, she hopes people leave class just a little more at home in their bodies.

Ani Raya-Flores

Teacher

I consider myself a movement and self esteem teacher. Yoga has been an important part of my life from my late teens onwards. When I was 30 I went to India for the first time, broadening my understanding of Yoga’s roots. I practiced for 20 years before formally training in Los Angeles. I am certified in Trauma Informed yoga, which holds a special interest for me. My classes are accessible, playful, and unintimidating. I hope you leave feeling more yourself.

Sofia Mella

200 HR YTT
Certified Katonah Yoga teacher
Trauma Informed Yoga
Yoga For Youth (a program that teaches yoga to incarcerated youth)

Naima loves teaching yoga that encourages people to be soft and connect with their bodies in a gentle and loving way. In a world that often hardens us, softness can be a form of resistance that helps us become more resilient. Naima is passionate about teaching yoga in an accessible way. Specializing in restorative yoga, yin yoga and gentle vinyasa; as well as having experience teaching chair yoga and prenatal yoga. Naima teaches in a trauma-informed way acknowledging that it can be difficult to be in our bodies. The yoga practice can be a chance to check in with our bodies, meet them where they are today and listen to what it is that they are trying to communicate with us, using that as feedback to better understand how we can care for ourselves. Naima is passionate about supporting QTPOC communities in particular and acknowledges the ways that systems of oppression affect our health and our ability to care for ourselves.

Naima Merella

Alignment Based Vinyasa 200hr
Yin Yoga
Trauma Informed Yoga
Teaching Fat Affirming Yoga
Reiki Level 1&2
Thai Massage Level 1

Raised by a yoga teaching mother, yoga has been a part of my life from the start. I enjoy continuing practicing and learning. Yoga allows me light hearted exploration, fun with movement, observing what’s happening in my body, with the goal of uplifting my individual consciousness, the community and our environment. I hope to welcome you and give encouragement on your path.

Nicole Reynolds

Front Desk

Born and raised in the wine country of eastern Slovakia, Vanda reveled the planes of the old continent in tune with the seasons. Interested in the earth and sky, reiki attuned, Ayurveda trained, Vanda brings playful intuition, ongoing star alignment, and the energies of the season to the yoga room.

Vanda is passionate about life in rhythm with nature, yogic and Ayurvedic lifestyle. Having spent the last decade studying Yoga and Ayurveda, Vanda opened Namaste to help others on their self-care and self-actualization journeys.

Vanda founded Namaste Highland Park in 2012. In 2017, while pregnant with her first, Vanda felt the flow of boundless creation, she added a second location in Downtown LA, along with a Healing Space offering feminine care, pelvic steams, massages & energy healing; plus started Namaste's very own Teacher Training with the goal of shaping new teachers equally in Yogic Philosophy as well as Asana instruction. 2017 was a fruitful year indeed.

As a predominantly Vata person, Vanda’s main challenge remains staying put, focusing on one thing at the time and prioritizing self-care. She admits that creating Namaste is her daily reminder to take care of herself and walk the talk.

Besides being a lay practitioner of numerology, astrology, tarot, and herbalism, Vanda holds a Masters Degree in Hospitality & Tourism. She now lives in Colorado with her husband Dave, their two children.

Vanda Ciceryova

Namaste Founder & Teacher

Growing up as a dancer, I developed a keen sense of body awareness from a young age. My journey with yoga began as a teenager at the YMCA in Buffalo, NY, but it wasn't until my professor recommended yoga to help manage stress and focus my thoughts that I truly became hooked.

About a decade ago, I moved to LA and struggled to find a studio that resonated with my practice. This led me to fall out of practice and into the party scene where I tried to find connection and a “higher state of being” through substances and altered states. Seeking a fresh start, I moved to Colorado, where I rediscovered my love for yoga and was able to find mindfulness through posture and breath.

Returning to LA in 2017, I soon completed my 200-hour training with Sian Fujikawa and Kyle Miller, at Love Yoga, initially in exchange for helping out at the studio. This role evolved into a full-time management position after I graduated. This position allowed me to truly dive into the industry. While I no longer manage Love I am deeply appreciative for the skill set I developed and opportunities it presented me with.

My passion for Katonah Yoga blossomed after studying under Abbie Galvin at The Studio in NYC. With over 200 hours of Katonah training, I've found it to be a transformative practice that offers new perspectives and encourages self-accountability. Its unique and wild approach is what I love sharing with my students, bringing this extraordinary knowledge and sprinkling it into life in each class.

My strength as a teacher derives from my ability to observe and empathize. This allows me to guide students to truly feel connected to their body and breath.

Chrissy Constable

Zoe is a lifelong student of yoga, honored to share the transformative power of this ancient practice. She is passionate about creating a safe and inviting space for all students, regardless of experience level. In her classes, Zoe blends creative flows, somatic movement, and sound with breathwork and meditation, guiding her students to explore their innate ability to heal and regulate their nervous systems.

With a focus on cultivating a deeper connection between our inner and outer experiences, Zoe encourages her students to shift their attention from how yoga looks to how it feels. She invites them to investigate their inner landscapes through movement, fostering a profound understanding of themselves and their unique journeys. Each class is an opportunity to embrace the calming, restorative aspects of yoga, helping students return to a state of balance and homeostasis.

Zoe Weber

200 hour YTT Highland Park Yoga
100 hour holistic breath work
50 hour yoga nidra training
10 hour advanced breathwork training
20 hour yin yoga training
Tantric meditation training with Tracee Stanley
40 hour Katonah training with Abbie Galvin

Jess believes in the transformative power of a yoga practice. She believes it can give you the tools to create change from the physiological which translates to the psychological. Her classes combine breath, mindfulness and asana with western therapeutic methods for a practice that is holistic and accessible.

Jessica Tanzer

200 HR YTT, RYT - Yoga Vida, Spring 2014
SKY TING Yoga Mentorship Program - Krissy Jones and Chloe Kernaghan
30 HR Restorative Yoga - Abby Paloma and Ally Bogard
50 HR Advanced Training - Colleen Saidman Yee and Rodman Yee
200 HR Katonah Yoga Certification - Abbie Galvin and Nevine Micchan
10 HR Meditation Training - Ally Bogard
100 HR ThreesPhysio Yoga - Diana Zotos Florio and Emily Tomlinson
6 HR Trauma Informed Yoga - Exhale to Inhale

Nora loves teaching yoga. She has a masters degree in philosophy, and has done numerous yoga trainings; some here in LA for a more current approach, and some in the high Himalayas for a more classical approach. She values the thought and spirit of yoga as much as the physical practice, and her classes try to thread the needle through all of yoga’s teachings.

Nora Brank

200 hour at Namaste Highland Park 
300 hour at Rishikesh Yogpeeth

Matthew is a professional drummer, yoga instructor, chef, edible gardener and nature enthusiast. He has toured all over the US and Europe with various bands and finds a similar meditative space in music as he finds in yoga.

Trained in India and in the US Matthew combines the two worlds in his classes, the spiritual east and the physical west. Matthew often plays records in his class. Come to his hatha yoga class for some good music, a steady, mellow stretch, some core work and detoxifying twists, guided by the rhythm of your breath.

Matthew Clark

Mari is an endlessly curious explorer of the human experience. She was born and raised in nature in upstate NY and found yoga at 17 when she would skip high school to attend classes at a local gym. Two years later, she’d attend a 1,000 hour massage training that initiated her onto a deeper path of self awareness and growth with a focus on the connection between the body, mind and heart.

She is an expert in multi-sensory ambiance and loves creating beautiful and comfortable environments that support catharsis and relaxation. At her quaint and magical sanctuary home in Glassell Park she offers craniosacral therapy, guides exploration of expanded states of consciousness, facilitates intimate group circles, and stewards a community sauna in her backyard.

Her passions are ever-expanding and currently include NVC (nonviolent communication), digital minimalism, and cultivating courage and creativity. Next up she wants to learn about fermenting, veggie gardening and encaustic painting. :)

Mari Mu

Studio Manager & Advisor

Hope came to yoga after a youth full of athletics, seeking a movement practice that could bring her calm in addition to vitality. Yoga led her down a spiritual path, centered in the endlessly interconnected healing of the body, mind, spirit, the earth, the collective, and the individual. Beyond yoga she is passionate about herbalism, gardening, reproductive health, feminism and community. Her favorite part of yoga is how it is a practice that merges the physical with the etheric- her classes seek to take advantage of this quality and create an offering for students that leaves their body and soul relaxed and uplifted.

Along with teaching yoga she is a birth and postpartum doula and considers building sacred space around new parenthood a necessity for a healthy, thriving world. As a result she is especially passionate about teaching prenatal and postnatal yoga. Her prenatal classes emphasize alignment for preparing the body for labor and seek not just to provide relaxation but also the strengthening and movement that a pregnant body craves. She weaves archetypal themes and tools that aid in the transition to parenthood into the asana practice. Her postnatal classes are anchored around gently and thoughtfully helping the body to come into a new balance and to spiritually close the container of birth. Hope believes these spaces for new and expecting parents are especially important for developing community around this epic and challenging rite of passage. There is always space made to share and make connections!

Hope Roehrs

Namaste Highland Park 200 YTT
Yogakoh PYTT

Birthing From Within Childbirth Educator and Doula
Sacred Window Studies Conscious postpartum care

Lydia has been studying yoga in different forms since before she knew what it was. When she was 18 she found yoga asana — since then her practice has been a constant through-line through the ups and downs of life. Lydia grew up in Minneapolis, MN, moved to New York just after college to pursue her career in graphic design, and relocated to Los Angeles in 2018. Soon after she arrived she found a yoga studio on York Blvd. called Namaste, and felt so at home. She completed her first 200 hour teacher training there under the guidance of her teachers Hannah Skye, Sondra Sun, Nora Brank and Vanda Ciceryova. A couple of years later, when Vanda approached her with the idea of taking over ownership of the studio, something clicked. Lydia now owns and runs Highland Park Yoga alongside her partner (in business and life) David. Lydia sees her work caring for and evolving the studio as an extension of her yoga practice.

Lydia's self study and curiosity around consciousness is the inspiration behind her teaching. Her intention is to offer classes that are creative, challenging and spacious — to nurture an environment within ourselves that is safe and vibrant, and to make way for insight. Lydia is inspired by a variety of lineages of yoga and teaches from her own continual study and practice. In addition to teaching asana and running the studio, Lydia is a certified Integrative Health Coach and continues to work as an independent graphic designer.

Lydia Stone

Co-Owner & Teacher

RYT 200 Namaste Highland Park
200hr Katonah Yoga Certification
85hr Prenatal Yoga with Silverlake Yoga


Hannah was born and raised in Colorado, and spent much of her childhood camping, skiing, and exploring mountains. The Natural world continues to be her greatest love and fascination, and she feels that the practice of yoga is an extension of that.

Hannah first discovered yoga as a stressed out college student in upstate New York. She completed her first training in 2012 in Los Angeles, and began teaching full time the following year. Hannah went on to study and train with various schools of yoga, and eventually participated in a 300 hour training with the Mazé School of Yoga.

For Hannah, yoga is an ongoing conversation with our mysterious, miraculous bodies, and our ever evolving consciousnesses. Yoga helps to bring us back into relationship with ourselves, in all our natural complexity, in order that we may show up more fully in relationship to the world around us.

Hannah’s classes are intelligently sequenced and take into consideration how we move through space, and how the muscles, joints, connective tissue, and the nervous system can work together in order to effectively prepare for success in more challenging asanas and transitions.

Because every body is unique, you can expect plenty of layers and opportunities to “choose your own adventure.” Students are encouraged to claim their agency within the practice, seeking out challenges when appropriate, and resting when needed. As someone who has dealt with chronic health issues since young adulthood, Hannah is conscientious of the different needs and considerations that individuals may bump up against in the practice space. Hannah encourages compassion and curiosity over the “tough love” approach.

When not in the studio or out on trail, Hannah can often be found tending her garden while surrounded by her menagerie of pets, or experimenting in the kitchen. Hannah is a part-time commissary director for retreats and outdoor education excursions. She is an herbalist, certified through the School of the Sacred Wild, and forever a student of different movement styles and healing modalities.

Hannah Wenzel

Senior Teacher & Yoga Teacher Training Lead

500 hour ERYT: Mazé Method
200 hour & Level 2 training: Corepower Yoga
Advanced Sequencing & Yoga with Chairs: Mukti Yoga School
Skills & Drills: Rocky Heron
Kids Yoga: Yoga Works
Sacred Plant Medicine, Holistic Healing, and Traditional Herbalism: School of the Sacred Wild

Steven is an Echo Park native. Born and raised here, his teaching style reflects the LA lifestyle: equal parts relaxing and adventurous. As someone who practices many different styles of yoga, he loves to keep classes fun and challenging by incorporating those styles into his teachings. His motto is Sapere Aude or Dare to Know. He believes that by keeping an open heart and mind you will never stop growing. Always looking for new ways to push himself, Steven found yoga. After it changed his life by connecting him to his more spiritual self, he became eager to share his passion with the rest of the world. He teaches that yoga, although an amazingly effective physical activity, is in reality so much more. When he is not teaching he remains very active. Steve is an avid runner, cyclist, as well as personal trainer and believes in healthy living through physical fitness.

Steven Arcos

300 hr: Anusara School of Hatha Yoga w/ Keric Morinaga
200 hr: Earth's Power Yoga w/ Steve Metz
Advanced Sequencing & Yoga with Chairs: Mukti Yoga School w/ Bethany Eanes
Art of Adjustments w/ Joam Hyman
Adjustments Workshop w/ Amalia Gardner

Sondra first discovered yoga practice as a stressed out office worker suffering a variety of health issues. Through high-pressure careers in public health and the NYC fashion industry, yoga helped her feel more at ease in body and mind. Yoga has helped her navigate life with greater mindfulness and compassion.

Sondra became a teacher in 2012 to share the life changing power of yoga with others. Her classes are informed by her 20+ years of personal practice, Vipassana meditation, a nerd's love of anatomy, and a musician's intuition for steady pacing and harmony. When taking her classes, expect to find a focus on alignment and breath.

As a teacher, Sondra welcomes all bodies and all experience levels. She is passionate about meeting students where they are, and about introducing yoga to absolute beginners. In 2018, she co-created and continues to co-lead the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification for Highland Park Yoga.

Sondra's other passions include rock climbing, Buddhist psychology, creating music and poetry, connecting people, fostering community, leading yoga retreats and workshops.

Sondra is grateful to have studied with Leigh Evans, Summer Deaver, Annie Carpenter, Leslie Kaminoff, Jason Ray Brown (anatomy), Alison West, and Jason Crandell among many others.

Sondra Sun

Senior Teacher & Yoga Teacher Trainer

Miquela has been immersed in movement for as long as she can remember, but it wasn’t until she found yoga that she knew it would be a part of her life forever. She incorporates intelligent sequencing so that students feel prepared to lean into challenges and find their full potential. For her, it’s important that students feel like they can bring all of themselves into class so that the time spent on the mat feels authentic and will give them the tools to live an embodied life off of it. There is space for everyone, always.

Miquela Shipley

Jacque Souza is a prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher, doula, and childbirth educator with over a decade of experience supporting women and families through pregnancy, birth, and the tender postpartum period. Originally from Brazil and rooted in her Afro-Indigenous heritage, Jacqueline weaves together mindful movement, breathwork, and holistic practices to create classes that are grounding, nurturing, and empowering.

Jacque’s teaching invites expectant parents to connect deeply with their changing bodies, cultivate resilience, and prepare—physically and emotionally—for birth and parenthood. Her classes are inclusive, community-oriented spaces where students feel seen, supported, and celebrated.

Jacque Souza

200-Hour RYT Yoga Inbound Escola de Yoga Sarasvati - Medellin 2016
130-Hour RYT Yoga Kids and Family Happy Yoga Medellin - Medellin 2016
85-Hour RYT Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Doula - Medellin 2021

Cat Meyer (She/Her) is a restorative yoga and meditation teacher with over a decade of experience, known for her gentle yet profound approach to healing through yoga. Specializing in restorative and gentle yoga, Cat’s classes focus on creating safe, supportive spaces where students can release tension, calm the nervous system, and connect to their inner wisdom. With extensive training in hands-on adjustments, reiki, fascia flossing, and therapeutic touch, she integrates subtle, effective techniques that encourage deep relaxation and recovery for students of all levels.

Formerly based in Brooklyn, Cat now resides in Los Feliz with her partner, John. Alongside her yoga teaching she offers intuitive guidance and transformational conversational hypnotherapy helping clients find clarity, alignment, and deeper connection to themselves.

Cat Meyer

200 YTT Yoga Works with Chrissy Carter and Jess Blake
Love Yoga mentorship with Sian Gordon and Kyle Miller
Thai Yoga Massage Level 1 at Integral Yoga, NYC
Restorative Training Level 1 & 2 with Jillian Pransky
Minimal props and hands-on adjustments with Jillian Pransky
Guiding students into deeper states of Relaxation with Jillian Pransky
Reiki Level 1 Certified with Guillaume Gathereau
Katonah Training with Alex Sherry
Therapeutics for yoga with Jillian Pransky
Privates Katonah yoga for self-empowerment with Dages Juvelier Keates
Practical Touch for Vinyasa Classes with Chloe Kernaghan and Christopher Golden
Restorative Training with Abby Paloma
Chair Yoga with Joanna Ross-Tasch
Yin Yoga Training with Emily Feinberg and Faye Rex
Katonah Adjustments with Rita Murjani
Fascia Flossing Level 1 with Bonnie Crotzer

Serita Colette

Monica Montoya is a community-oriented administrator, arts + culture strategist, and systems-minded professional with a deep commitment to care, clarity, and human connection. She brings years of experience creating welcoming, organized, and responsive environments across arts, nonprofit, and community-based spaces.

Born and raised in LA, Monica is fluent in Spanish, and values creating inclusive, accessible spaces where people of all backgrounds feel welcome. As an early yoga student and engaged community member, she is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to a space that supports rest, healing, and connection - especially during tender seasons of life. When she is not at the studio, she enjoys cooking and building structurally unsound lego houses with her 2 year old son.

Monica Montoya

Christina Marie Karr

Prenatal Teacher

Emily has been practicing yoga for 30 years and teaching for 20. Her classes incorporate a blend of both Hatha and Vinyasa work; combining breath and movement for energy and finding stillness in posture for strength. Her class is suitable for all levels of practitioners.

Emily MacLean

Jeni received her initial yoga certification in the diverse border town of El Paso, TX with continued Ashtanga certification in Los Angeles.

Jeni believes yoga should be accessible to all. She has experience with prenatal, ptsd, and special needs students. Her mission is to share the gift of grounding and pure joy that yoga has brought to her life with you. Her practice invites mindful stillness as well as playful exploration.

Jeni Robins

RYT 200, Casa de Yoga, El Paso, TX
100 hour Ashtanga immersion certification

Jenessia’s teaching style is accessible, grounding and explorative. She blends traditional yoga philosophy and theory with intuitive, playful sequencing. Her classes flow at a mindful and measured pace leaving plenty of room for personal excavation, while also building in opportunities for some signature “slow burn” moments.

Jenessia Nájera-Navarro

RYT 200hr YTT — Namaste Highland Park
50hr Traditional Tantric Hatha Yoga — The Practice Bali
200hr Katonah Yoga Certification

Amina, born and raised in Cairo, Egypt grew up dancing ballet and was exposed to yoga at a young age by her aunt, a dedicated ashtangi. Yoga became a daily practice for her when she moved away from home, to Boston, for the first time at the age of 18. She needed it as a way to ground herself in the one thing that felt familiar, a connection to her body. Off the mat you will find her riding waves on her longboard or getting her hands dirty making and creating. She strongly believes in the practice as a tool to fuel creativity and to cope with difficult situations. Amina is committed to a lifelong study of yoga. Her goal is to share the ways that this ancient tradition continues to transform her life everyday through history, safe movement and breath. She aims to bring people closer to their intuition and help them explore the full potential of their mind and body.

Amina El-Sheikh

Mercy, originally from Mexico, is a yoga and meditation teacher passionate about movement, the infinite possibilities of the body, and physical, mental, and emotional well-being. A former contemporary dancer with training in dance therapy and stress management, Mercy is a firm believer that movement can be healing for the body, mind, and soul, and strives to create a learning environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. Mercy has had the opportunity to work with children in different contexts for over 10 years, which has greatly influenced her way of seeing life, and she aims to integrate what she has learned from this work into all her classes, creating a safe space for self-discovery, curiosity, and, above all, play and joy.

Mercy Jauregui

200 hr YTT with Hatha Yoga Mexico
200 hr YTT with Highland Park Yoga, Los Angeles, CA
Certification in Mindfulness
Certification in Meditation
Certification in Stress Management
Certification in Energetic Medicine
Performing Arts Degree by Universidad de Sonora, Mexico

For Cassandra, the practice of yoga is an incredibly hopeful one, because the material of the body is a wonderful canvas to create change. It uses tools we all possess; body, mind and breath, and is grounded in the present moment. Yoga is a practice aimed at self cultivation both on and off the mat.

Cassandra found yoga through her training as an actor, while receiving her BFA in musical theatre. Having been a lifelong dancer, the asanas became a welcome technique to maintain and tune the instrument of the body. Alongside her theatre career, Cassandra found the practice of Katonah Yoga in 2016 and completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training at YogaWorks in 2017. She returned to The Studio for her apprenticeship with Abbie Galvin, which would go on to greatly impact her teaching style.

Cassandra’s teaching weaves together pragmatic forms to organize the body and esoteric dialogue to keep the imagination engaged. In her classes, each pose is set up with great attention to detail, so whether you are new to yoga or an advanced practitioner, there is sure to be something for every student.


Cassandra Simons

200HR RYT - YogaWorks
200HR Katonah Yoga Certification - Abbie Galvin, Nevine Michaan
Katonah Yoga Mentorship - Abbie Galvin

Mamert began his yoga adventure as a means to deal with cycling related soreness. It worked! To his surprise, he also discovered gains in mental clarity and an awakening of his spiritual side.

Mamert cherishes his daily asana practice and would love to encourage you with yours as well!

Mamert Paykart

Front Desk Manager & Teacher

Paul is a holistic bodyworker and somatic teacher with a private practice in Pasadena. Since 2003, he's supported people to recover from injury and trauma, move more freely and efficiently, and develop more upright and adaptable bodies. With a foundation as a Certified Advanced Rolfer® and craniosacral therapist, he integrates multiple modalities to help people get unstuck and build new levels of ease and somatic organization.

Paul has been an avid student of Yang-style Tai Chi (tàijíquán) for over a decade. He approaches teaching with a sense of fun and curiosity, exploring the depths of practice from multiple angles to accommodate students of different abilities, interests, and learning styles.

Paul Wirth

Tai Chi Teacher

Certified Instructor - William C. C. Chen Tai Chi Chuan
Certified Advanced Rolfer® - Dr. Ida Rolf Institute
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy - Carol Agneesens and Ray McCall
Art of Yield, Spatial Somatics - Hiro Tahata and Carol Agneesens
Osteopathic techniques for bodyworkers, various - Ron Murray
Biomechanics of Adaptive Alignment - Liz Gaggini
Visceral Manipulation - Liz Gaggini

Erica Adamson

With a life-long passion for music and years of a dedicated yoga practice, Jasmine discovered the power of combining yoga and music during her first Kirtan chant – where she reached her deepest meditation. As a certified Mukti Yoga teacher, and with a past in music business, sound and movement constantly inspire Jasmine. Yogis believe that something sacred vibrates within us, and that vibrations are the source of life and the Universe. She feels the most powerful way to quiet the mind and experience this vibration is through the combination of asana and sound. 

Whether it’s a gentle yoga flow, or a restorative yin class, Jasmine intuitively guides her students with a practice focused on alignment, meditation, and breath, and including elements of sound either through live music, meditations, mantras, crystal bowls, or unique playlists. Her classes provide a balanced and spiritual experience with an emphasis rooted in Yoga philosophy. 

Jasmine is also writer, and spends her free time hiking or swimming in the Eastern Sierra with her husband and son.

Jasmine De La Paz

RYT 200, Mukti Yoga School
Sound Healing Immersion
Chakra Energy Immersion
Advanced Asana Module
Master Your Class Plan Immersion

Amalia Gardner

Maya crafts imaginative sequences, grounded in knowledge. She leads energetic classes that build strength. She aims to cultivate a sense of creativity and joy in every person who comes to the mat.

Maya’s practice first began in 2015, when she’d started powerlifting and her body felt rundown. While yoga certainly improved her mobility, what she fell in love with most was how she could build strength without external objects like weights. Through yoga, some of the most satisfying challenges can be found all within our own bodies.

As an artist and storyteller off the mat, Maya strongly believes that moving our bodies is essential to the creative process. She sees yoga as both a form of creative expression, as well as a means of breaking through creative blocks.

Occasionally, she incorporates her training as a voice performer into her classes. She works in the Linklater and Lucid Body methods, which take a holistic approach towards the body to free our natural voice.

Maya Lin Sugarman

Abbie Galvin is the owner of The Studio, a NYC based yoga studio, teaching Katonah Yoga. She has been honing this practice for the past 25 years and has a strong student-base from all around the world. Abbie's instruction is informed by her own creative process as a filmmaker and from her exploration of the therapeutic process as a psychoanalyst. She has learned over and over that truly participating in any formal process of self-exploration leads to transformation whether it be physical, psychological or intellectual. Her goal is to engage students of yoga in the dialogue between their conscious and their unconscious selves because it is through that effort that we potentiate ourselves. It is her intention as a teacher to cajole each student in that most rigorous effort to be grounded, to grow upwards, and to participate in the creation of their best self.

Abbie Galvin

Anna Aguirre

Hi! I’m Elyssa. I’ve been practicing yoga for over a decade and have been a member of the studio for a few years. I’m excited to now be a part of the team! Outside of yoga, I work in film/TV, and otherwise spend the majority of my time hanging out with my dog, Moshe.

Elyssa Budd

Veronica is a former ballet/modern dancer and aerialist. She worked professionally with companies both nationally and internationally. She has performed on and off Broadway as a singer, dancer, and aerialist as well. During her career as a performer she began to get deeply involved in yoga and it became the new love of her life. Over the years in a highly competitive field, the intrinsic philosophy of yoga has helped her maintain joy, compassion, and a lust for life. 

She holds 200 hr certifications in Kundalini yoga, Power Vinyasa, and AIReal Yoga. Veronica has been teaching for over 20 years and is thrilled to be a part of the Highland Park Yoga team. Her passion for movement in all its many forms has inspired her to share her knowledge, be creative with her style of teaching, and continue to follow her bliss and share it with her students.

Veronica deSoyza

Julia is a philosopher, scholar, and yogi based in Los Angeles, California. Drawing together the functional, spiritual, and communal aspects of the yoga practice and philosophy, as well as forging connections to diverse belief systems, Julia offers practices that encourage self-inquiry and exploration and aims to create a space where the most serious and most silly manifestations of the Universal can coexist. She holds her Masters in Eastern Classics from St. John's College and a 200-RYT certification from Highland Park Yoga (formerly Namaste Highland Park).

Julia Bembenek

David is a musician and web developer that now finds himself co-managing a vibrant yoga studio with his life partner, Lydia. In a past life as a touring keyboard player, David performed internationally with career highlights that include appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman (before Dave's retirement) with MNDR and at Coachella with HAERTS. Music he created as a founding member of duo Home Video music has been featured in Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, and CSI, among other TV shows and movie trailers from the mid-to-late `00s. He's also composed original scores for several films, one of which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2019!

While David considers himself a novice at asana practice, he's no stranger to wellness rituals, philosophy, and spirituality. As someone who lives in his head, yoga and meditation help to clear out endless calculations of the mind and come back to wisdom of the body.

David Gross

Co-owner & Front Desk

Bree VanZutphen is a yoga and meditation teacher, reiki practitioner, breathwork facilitator, creator, and dancer. She is the founder of Clarity & Calm.

Bree started her healing journey after her former life as a dancer. It was then that she found yoga which helped heal her body, mind, and soul. After years of practicing yoga and meditation, Bree discovered active breathwork. This served as a catalyst to help her start to process the repressed emotional energy that still lived in her body. Bree combines somatic techniques in all of her teachings and is passionate about addressing the physical, mental, emotional, energetic, and spiritual aspects of Self in everything she facilitates. The intention at the core of her classes is to hold space for others to deprogram their bodies and minds of conditioning from upbringing, society, and the collective consciousness that inhibits the unique soul essence of each individual. She values freedom, authenticity, truth, conscious choice, community, and connection to the Self & the divine above all else.

Bree teaches workshops online and at studios throughout Los Angeles. All of her programs help facilitate connection to truth and soul remembering. She leads several healing retreats locally and internationally every year that combine deep self inquiry, connection with community, and tapping back into the sacredness of nature. Her greatest passion is helping others come home to themselves and recognize the magnificence they already possess.

Bree VanZutphen

OFF THE MAT LEADERSHIP TRAINING; with Hala Khouri, Suzanne Sterling, and Seane Corn
30 HR KATONAH YOGA TRAINING; with Abbie Galvin
REIKI 1 & 2; with Lara Elliot
BREATHWORK HEALER TRAINING; with David Elliott
BREATHWORK HEALER TRAINING; with Erin Telford
RESTORATIVE TRAINING; YOGAWORKS with Jillian Pransky.
500 HOUR YOGA ALLIANCE PROGRAM; DHARMA YOGA CENTER NYC
PILATES MAT CERTIFICATION Mat Certification through Equinox. Studied with Lesley Logan.
200 HOUR YOGA ALLIANCE PROGRAM; YOGA TO THE PEOPLE NEW YORK

Rabiah’s greatest teachers have been silence and stillness. The hours and days she has spent in silent meditation have not only taught her the nature of the human mind but also allowed her to release or soften deep patterns. Rabiah has sat or served over twenty 10-day silent meditation courses. She feels very strongly that the deepest healing comes from an individual’s commitment to go inward and listen. Over fifteen years of experience following the path of practice, along with intensive training, has primed Rabiah into an intuitive facilitator of health and healing.

Rabiah is a Reiki Master and Sound Healer offering deeply rejuvenating Earth Medicine sessions. With the use of sound, scent and healing touch, Rabiah will guide you into your subconscious mind, strengthening your connection to your intuition and higher self, all the while clearing the energetic debris from the physical and auric bodies. Rabiah’s clients are active participants in their healing through breath awareness, intention and meditation.

Rabiah Troncelitti

Meditation & Breathwork Teacher

Tessa is a RYT with Yoga Alliance, certified from Kripalu School of Yoga. In addition, she has completed 900 hours of massage therapy education at the National Holistic Institute. Tessa’s passion lies in the facilitation of healing through yoga, meditation, massage and mindfulness. Tessa focuses on the importance of breath and body awareness, with her practices firmly rooted in compassion.

Tessa Jade

Substitute Teacher

Yoga classes for all bodies and ability levels on York Boulevard in Highland Park, Los Angeles.