:: VIRAYOGA staff ::


	lynn hazan
			Lynn is the co-owner of VIRAYOGA. She has practiced yoga since 1985, studying Anusara Yoga since 2001. Lynn derives great joy from helping to build the flourishing community at Virayoga. Lynn has been teaching yoga informally to her friends and family over the last couple of years, and completed her first Anusara teacher training with Amy Ippoliti in 2003. She would like to extend her gratitude to Elena, her teachers past and present, and her family for always supporting and encouraging her growth.
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	ashleigh altman
			Raised by a yoga teacher, Ashleigh began her dedicated exploration of yoga at an early age, and is honored to be the youngest Certified Anusara® Yoga Instructor in the world. Throughout 2008, Ashleigh travelled with and assisted the Anusara staff on tour with John Friend, accruing hundreds of study hours, which empowered her exponential growth. Ashleigh has been designated the 2011 Global Yoga Ambassador for adidas, teaching the methodology of Anusara to sponsored instructors worldwide through the program pioneered by Elena Brower in 2010. Through years of Ayurvedic study, Ashleigh blends this ancient therapeutic understanding into her teaching, and often specializes in therapeutic yoga with elite athletes. Ashleigh's classes are fun yet powerful invitations to connect to your heart, your strength and your vision. Grateful to John Friend, Zhenja La Rosa, Dr. Douglas Brooks, Bill Mahony and of course her first teacher, her mom, most of all.
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	donna bouthillier
			Donna is very grateful for having found the path and community of Anusara yoga. This yoga has opened her eyes to the limitless possibility within all of us. Through a light-hearted and inquisitive approach, she aims to inspire in her students the wonder and joy of self–discovery. Donna brings to her teaching many years experience exploring the workings of the body/mind as a massage therapist and dancer. She completed the 2007 teacher training at Virayoga with Zhenja LaRosa. She is deeply grateful to all of her teachers.
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	lindsey buttles
			Lindsey is a recent addition to the East Coast Anusara community. She and her husband made the bold move to switch coasts from Los Angeles to New York. She has studied with many wonderful teachers from City Yoga in Los Angeles that fuel not only her personal practice, but also her teaching. She looks forward to bringing her light and playful class to the "kula" of Virayoga.
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	nikki costello
			Nikki Costello is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher. She has been teaching yoga for 16 years and was previously certified in Jivamukti yoga and Anusara yoga. She has studied with extraordinary teachers such as Sharon Gannon, David Life, John Friend, Kevin Gardiner and Mary Dunn. In 1997, she met Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, the spiritual head and meditation master and teacher of the Siddha yoga path. For 8 years, she taught exclusively for the SYDA Foundation, as a Siddha yoga Hatha yoga and Meditation Teacher. As part of the organization she conducted over 100 yoga retreats and events in North America, South America, Europe, India and China. She has returned to New York City with the intention to share the transformative and uplifting power that the path of yoga offers to each one of us. For more information and teaching schedule visit www.nikkicostello.com
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	dana covello
			Dana was drawn to Anusara Yoga because it always offers more. Her teachings weave her love of the Rajanaka Tantra with clear and precise knowledge of the principles of alignment into an engaging practice. Dana is a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher and continues to deepen her understanding by studying with John Friend, Douglas Brooks and the many inspiring and intelligent teachers and students she meets.
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	lisa danbrot
			A Certified Anusara® yoga teacher, Lisa has been teaching since 1999. She teaches to inspire conscious participation in the ever-expanding universe and to rejoice in the diversity of artistic expression. Endless thanks to John Friend, Lois Nesbitt, Elena Brower, Amy Ippoliti, Jonathan Gordon and all of the truly exceptional teachers in her life, yoga and otherwise.
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	sarah davis
			Sarah is delighted by the joyful heart of Anusara yoga. She teaches her students how to tap into their innate strength through kindness and patience with themselves and others. Sarah first found Virayoga in 2003 and fell in love with the teachers and students. She completed the winter 2007 teacher training with Zhenja LaRosa. Sarah is eternally grateful to all the teachers and students she has met (and will meet) on this path. www.sarahdavisyoga.com
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	geoff "gator" devaul
			Anusara Inspired™ yoga teacher Geoff hails from Miami, swimming distance to the Florida Everglades. Several years ago he commited to an asana practice as a therapeutic way of navigating some necessary shifts in his life. Geoff embraces the art and science of the Anusara and Rajanaka Yoga traditions; in his experience, major physiological changes are the direct result of the implementation of the principles of yoga. He offers his insight and understanding through challenging sequences infused with levity and precision. Geoff thanks his teachers - WJD (RIP), AI, EBL, ZL, LN, JF and LMHD.
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	michael fergot
			After beginning yoga in 1982, Michael was introduced to Anusara through Jackie Prete in 2001. A certified RYT Teacher working towards Anusara certification, Michael is deeply grateful to John Friend for his caring and inspiration, as well as Jackie Prete, Ellen Saltonstall and Elena Brower for their teaching and guidance. Michael shares his respectful studentship through his teaching, offering reverence and understanding toward your deepening experience of the currents of Grace.
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	andrea frade
			Andrea infuses her teaching with poetry; through each pose Andrea highlights the power and beauty that unveils and extends itself when you meet each moment fully. Interweaving the Universal Principles of Alignment with a vibrant sensitivity, Andrea invites and encourages you to step into the current of your own heart and expand the infinite boundary each time you practice. Andrea is tremendously grateful for all her teachers, including her students, who continually provide the ever-expanding sphere of discovery, creativity and illumination.
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	taylor garrabrant
			Taylor Garrabrant connects deeply to Anusara® yoga in its ability to always offer more. By weaving the principles of alignment with an invitation to step into one’s heart, Taylor offers a playful and precise approach for students to feel expansive through their own possibilities. Her enthusiasm to teach grew from a teaching background in dance to completion of an Anusara teacher training at Virayoga with Zhenja La Rosa. Off the mat, Taylor works for an NGO that provides small grants for grassroots projects that empower women and children in developing countries. She has enormous gratitude to all of her teachers who support her along this journey and is excited to serve in the Virayoga kula!
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	robin gillies
			For Robin, the steady practice of yoga leads her to live each day fearlessly and deliberately. As a teacher, she challenges her students to explore the practice with a light heart and steadfast self-respect, offering ways to recognize their limitless potential, both on and off of the mat. Robin is grateful to her teachers who have taught her to observe and trust herself.
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	holly horvath
			Holly is a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher with more than eight years of experience. What started as a physical practice for rehabilitation of a foot injury soon became a life long journey of inner connection and wholeness. Holly’s passion, fun loving style, sense of humor and deep connection and commitment to the practice is at the core of her teaching and life. She is a master of weaving the philosophy of Anusara yoga with life in the every-day. This spiritual way of being and teaching combines with her sharp eye and kinesthetic awareness, allowing her to connect, engage and help her students.
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	ellen johnston
			Ellen discovered Anusara® yoga through Virayoga in 2003. For her, Anusara's Tantric philosophy and Universal Principles of Alignment™ offer a vehicle of empowerment, self-discovery and bliss. Her teaching is inspired by her daily experiences and the adventure of continual discovery. Through teaching, she hopes to connect students with their innate excellence and create classes that are challenging and fun. Ellen completed the teacher training with Zhenja LaRosa in 2009. She's is deeply grateful to the community at Virayoga for their support, encouragement and wisdom.
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	leslie journet
			Leslie Journet danced in the 1980’s with Paul Sanasardo, Gary Goodwin and Nancy Alfaro. She began her study of yoga in 1985 with Julio Horvath at White Cloud Studio, where she taught Yoga and Gyrotonics from 1990 until 1998. Leslie began her study of classical yoga at the Iyengar Institute, New York City, in 1999, where she completed the teacher training and traveled to Puna, India in 2005 for a five week intensive training with the Iyengars. Leslie also studied with Dr. Naina Marballi to earn a certificate in Ayurvedic Nutritional Counseling in 2006. She completed a teacher training course in Anusara Yoga with Zhenja La Rosa in ’09 and recently received her Anusara Inspired status.
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	laura tulumbas juell
			Laura Tulumbas Juell loves teaching; unleashing a quality of playfulness in her students, leaving them empowered, strong and loving themselves. Laura dedicates herself to yoga by creating an environment that allows her students to grow, live their truth, and expand and open their hearts. A student of yoga for the past 12 years, she is a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher. Coming to the practice of Anusara yoga has allowed Laura to find her voice and develop a teaching style that reflects her open heart. She is grateful to all of the teachers that have played a part in leading her along this path especially John Friend, Dr. Douglas Brooks, Amy Ippoliti, Elena Brower, Naime Jezzeny , Sianna Sherman, Ross Rayburn and Mitchel Bleier. "It is all about self-love. It starts by taking care of yourself; nourishing and embracing everything that you are, and moving forward from there. I want to create a place for people to have fun in their bodies, honoring themselves, reconnecting to the light that shines within them," says Laura of her approach to teaching yoga. Laura is a native New Yorker, and currently lives in Queens with her beloved Christopher and their son Luke.
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	sharon kenney
			Certified Anusara® yoga teacher, Sharon, encourages students to recognize their inherent freedom by approaching the practice with playfulness and dedication. With precise alignment instruction she weaves Tantric philosophy, mythical stories and tales of the everyday to remember and celebrate the boundless capacity of the heart. Sharon holds deep gratitude to all of her teachers, especially John Friend, Douglas Brooks, Zhenja LaRosa and Vishali Varga, and the abundance of blessings that Anusara Yoga has brought to her life. www.empoweredheartyoga.com
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	zhenja larosa
			Zhenja's teaching encourages students to explore the vast potential of their own hearts and bodies by emphasizing the transformative and therapeutic aspects of Anusara yoga. Zhenja joyfully shares the insights from her dedicated personal practice as well as from her study of Rajanaka philosophy with Douglas Brooks and the revelations of everyday experience. Zhenja is a Certified Anusara® yoga Instructor who has studied extensively with John Friend, Amy Ippoliti, Sianna Sherman and Mitchel Bleier.
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	jordan mallah
			Teaching since 1996, Jordan Mallah is a certified Anusara yoga teacher. With an uplifting teaching style that incorporates dynamic self-inquiry, Jordan guides each student toward their individual balance, yielding more conscious alignment, both in yoga and in daily life. Jordan's passion for social change has inspired him to design unique retreats to bring yoga, wellness services, education and development to underserved communities worldwide, including villages in Peru, Rwanda and Kenya. Retreat participants experience radical transformation as they work to break cycles of poverty, helping communities achieve sustainable and productive futures. www.steadfastfreedomyoga.com.
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	catherine mccarthy
			Catherine is a native New Orleanian and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, living in New York City since 1993. While pursuing her MFA at NYU, she started studying with Senior Anusara Yoga teachers Amy Ippoliti and Elena Brower at Om Yoga in NYC. As they segued from Vinyasa to Anusara, so did she. Catherine is now a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher. Since August 2005, Catherine has been balancing her time between NYC and New Orleans (NOLA), serving her post-Katrina community via teaching yoga and making documentary films. She would like to thank her family, friends, teachers, and students for their playful support and radical amounts of inspiration. Thanks to such life-affirming encouragement, Catherine is helping rebuild her hometown of NOLA, on and off the mat, one practice at time.
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	nancy mercado
			Nancy's entire goal in teaching is to remind people to breathe and have a good time as they put their bodies in strange and challenging shapes. A practitioner of yoga for the past nine years, Nancy completed her teacher training with Amy Ippoliti in 2003 and continues to train and study with her teachers. When not teaching yoga, Nancy is editing children's books...and she loves how the two practices inform and enrich one another. Nancy credits her teachers Amy Ippoliti, Elena Brower, John Friend, Jonathan Gordon and all of her gurls in the Anusara yoga community for providing ridiculous amounts of inspiration and insight.
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	marjorie nass
			Marjorie is a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher who discovered Anusara yoga's life affirming philosophy, universal principals and supportive community when she sought stress relief after a decade working in corporate environments. Her life dramatically shifted for the better as she explored and intensified her yoga practice. The path of teaching followed to offer others the gift of yoga. She offers gratitude to Amy Ippoliti, Elena Brower, Julie Dohrman and Zhenja LaRosa for their encouragement and support, and is honored to teach at Virayoga where she experienced her very first Anusara yoga class.
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	lois nesbitt
			Before teaching yoga, Lois was a professional writer, editor, and internationally exhibited artist. She holds degrees from both Harvard and Princeton universities. She has studied extensively with Sharon Gannon and David Life of Jivamukti and spent a decade practicing Mysore-style Ashtanga yoga under Eddie Stern of Patanjali Yoga Shala in New York and Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. In 1997, she met John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga. Lois credits John with transforming her yoga practice and entire outlook on inspired living. She is now a Certified Anusara® yoga Teacher serving on the Anusara Yoga Teacher Training Committee, where she helps shape the path toward Anusara certification. Lois also studies yoga philosophy under Professor Douglas Brooks, a world-renowned scholar of Hindu Tantra. Lois travels to offer workshops, retreats, and programs for teachers, weaving vinyasa-style yoga into the exquisite alignment of Anusara to invigorate and uplift her students. For more on Lois' work, visit www.blueskyyoga.com.
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	siri peterson
			Siri Peterson met her first yoga teacher, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, when she was eleven years old and has been a devoted yogi ever since. She is an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher who empowers practitioners to connect with their inner teacher through inquiry and exploration. Siri’s classes combine precise physical instruction with practical, grounded philosophy. Students can expect a vigorous asana practice that combines flowing, dance-like sequences with long holds to cultivate the balance between effort and surrender, on and off the mat. Siri’s teaching is deeply informed by her continuing studies with John Friend, Dr. Douglas Brooks, Sally Kempton, and the many incredible members of the vibrant New York Yoga community. In addition to teaching yoga, Siri and dances and choreographs, presenting her work in various venues throughout NYC.
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	jennifer pettit
			Jennifer's study of yoga began fifteen years ago, having journeyed through a range of traditions before she found her home in the Anusara style. Her own experience with yoga during her pregnancy and postpartum fueled her desire to become a yoga teacher, in order to serve other women experiencing the incredible journey into motherhood. She earned her certification for this specific interest through Baby Om as well as Mary Barnes Yoga for Two, and has been teaching prenatal and baby and me yoga for 5 years. Her teaching has been deeply influenced and kindly guided by John Friend and Professor Douglas Brooks.
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	tom o'brien
			Tom completed his Teacher Training with Lois Nesbitt at Virayoga. He began studying yoga with Elena Brower at The Movement Salon about eight years ago when he overcame acute arthritis through the practice of Anusara and has been pain free for almost seven years. Tom's teaching is a mix of vinyasa with long, strong holds, focusing on alignment inspired by Anusara yoga and breathing to reveal a deeper awareness on and off the mat.
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	jorja rivero
			Jorja Rivero is endlessly fascinated and inspired by Anusara yoga, Rajanaka yoga, and gestalt therapy, she intends for you to live your expression, healthy engagement, and EXPANSION. She completed her teacher training with Zhenja LaRosa in 2007 and in 2009 has become an Anusara inspired teacher. Jorja can also lead you into EXPANSION through Holistic Life Coaching. This involves dialogue and asking the questions you don't dare ask yourself. You will be seen, acknowledged, heard, and challenged. We’ll brainstorm and work with your opposing views to expand your perspectives, awaken your possibility and intuition, and translate these into meaningful actions. Clarify what is important to you as you awaken inherent resourcefulness, wisdom, and your creative expression expands www.mindbodyexpansion.com.
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	susanna harwood rubin
			Susanna views yoga as a joyful celebration of body, heart, and mind, and embraces Anusara’s graceful balance of elegance and playfulness. Susanna interweaves myth and metaphor, poetry and philosophy into her classes, offering a multiplicity of ways for students to experience their inner power and beauty. Susanna is a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher who completed her training with Amy Ippoliti in 2002, and continues to study extensively with John Friend, Sianna Sherman, and Dr. Douglas Brooks, one of the world’s leading scholars of Hindu Tantra, and her guide into the heart of Rajanaka yoga. She is continually grateful and amazed to have such brilliant beings as friends and teachers. Susanna combines her life as a yoga teacher with an active career as an artist, exhibiting internationally, and represented in collections including the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Berkeley Museum, and the Addison Gallery of American Art. She has been reviewed in the New York Times, FlashArt, and other publications. She was profiled by FIT YOGA magazine in Expansive Expression, for her art/yoga connection. She has also been written about by SocialWorkout.com. For more information, please visit www.susannaharwoodrubin.com and Susanna's blog The Strangeness of Beauty
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	lorraine shea
			Lorraine began her asana practice in 1998 and knew she was home when she found her teachers, Elena Brower, Dr. Douglas Brooks, and John Friend. Today, she blends her love of Anusara yoga with her life as a writer and executive editor for FIT YOGA magazine. Teaching in New York since 2002 and with a special love for restorative yoga, Lorraine combines refined alignment and breathing for a meditative focus, creating a tranquil environment that invites students to engage more fully in their experiences. She joyfully thanks Douglas, Elena, and Lynn Hazan for their love and friendship.
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	jonathan shoemaker
			Jonathan is an Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher. His classes are infused with loving care for his students as well as mindful attention to the greater context of the devotional practice. Building on the wisdom of the great teachers who precede him, Jonathan strives to teach from his own experience and from his own heart. Jonathan is a graduate of the Virayoga Teacher Training program and holds the RYT 200 certification from Yoga Alliance. He has studied extensively with Anusara Yoga founder and master teacher John Friend, logging over 250 hours of workshops and teacher trainings with John. Find him on the web at www.centrestreetyoga.com
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	vanessa spina
			Vanessa is a Certified Anusara® yoga teacher and has been teaching yoga for nine years. She completed a year long intensive teacher training in the Anusara style of yoga, in New York City. She continues her studies of yoga, philosophy and therapeutics with her beloved teacher John Friend. She began practicing yoga as a teenager with Ellen Saltonstall. She resumed her studies as an adult and now teaches yoga in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, New York City, and Westchester. She has taught yoga to children and teacher’s at Fieldston School in Riverdale, N.Y. and students and faculty at New York University as well as production crews and stage crews on film and TV sets. Vanessa’s teaching encourages self-exploration and self-acceptance through playful, inspiring, practice. For more on vanessa's work visit www.vanessayoga.com
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	olynda spitzer
			Olynda Spitzer creates a nurturing and empowering space in which you will discover and celebrate your strength, wisdom and beauty. Her fluid teaching style blends Tantric philosophy, precise physical alignment, and playfulness to encourage a deepening of self-awareness and move beyond perceived limitations. After many years of studying dance and Capoeira, Olynda came to yoga and was drawn to the clarity and elegance of Anusara Yoga. She completed John's Teacher Training in 2005, is an Anusara-inspired teacher and is working toward her Certification. Olynda offers gratitude to Paul and Sommer Sobin, Lila Pierce Brown, Cynthia Hughey and John Friend.
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	eric stoneberg
			Certified Anusara® yoga Teacher, Eric Stoneberg first discovered yoga during a college course called The Religious Art of India. Intrigued by the mythic narratives and evocative depictions of the Divine, he followed his new interest further by trying a local meditation course. Hooked on this "inner yoga," he explored a variety of meditation techniques before trying his first asana class in the 1994. An exploration of the myriad philosophies and styles of yoga flourishing here in New York City led him to Anusara Yoga through Elena Brower. He became a teacher of this potent style, known for its progressive biomechanics and celebration of the heart, in 2002. Eric's classes skillfully blend the empowering alignment techniques of Anusara Yoga with an artful, evocative celebration of embodiment. He encourages his students to intelligently engage their inherent freedom while playfully revealing a depth of ever-expanding experience. Eric's classes are infused with practical teachings applied from his dedicated study of Rajanaka Tantra with friend and mentor Dr Douglas Brooks, to whom he is eternally grateful. He extends extra special blessings of love to his wife Heather and their son Jasper.
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	mary telesco
			Mary happily discovered Anusara Yoga on a beach in Mexico after struggling with repetitive stress injuries for ten years. Through practicing Anusara's Universal Principles of Alignment and experiencing the life-affirming philosophy of the method, Mary has healed her injuries and now teaches supportive, spacious classes. She completed Virayoga's Teacher Training with Zhenja Larosa in 2007.
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	harshada wagner
			David Harshada Wagner is a meditation teacher, writer and group facilitator classically trained in the wisdom traditions of Yoga, Vedanta and Tantric Shaivism who has walked the spiritual path for over 21 years. He has spent the last decade teaching meditation and self-empowerment to people all over the world. Harshada's teaching style is known to be dynamic and unique, approachable to people from all walks of life. He has a way of making meditation easy, pleasurable, and even fun. He sees meditation as a means to an end - the end being a happier, more connected, heart-centered life. He has shown thousands of students throughout the world how meditation can be an essential part of their life and sees these weekly classes as a way for new and old students to come together and encounter the inner living energy that pulsates within all hearts. No two classes will ever be the same and each promises to be a profound experience. Harshada is the founder of NY based Banyan Education www.banyaneducation.com
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	ola widera
			For Ola, how we approach our practice is a metaphor for how we approach our lives. Attracted to the joyful spirit of Anusara and its elegantly effective approach to therapeutics, Ola is committed to sharing her experience of alignment and expansion as a teacher. She completed teacher training in 2007 under the guidance of Zhenja La Rosa.

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580 Broadway [betw Prince & Houston] Suite 205 New York, NY 10012 212.334.9960 [map] Check for latest Substitute Teacher updates Sign Up for Our Newsletter	staff

	elena brower \| lynn hazan ashleigh altman \| donna bouthillier \| lindsey buttles \| dana covello \| nikki costello \| lisa danbrot sarah davis \| geoff devaul \| michael fergot \| andrea frade \| taylor garrabrant \| robin gillies \| holly horvath ellen johnston \| leslie journet \| laura tulumbas juell \| sharon kenney \| zhenja la rosa \| jordan mallah \| catherine mccarthy nancy mercado \| marjorie nass \| lois nesbitt \| tom o'brien \| siri peterson \| jeniffer pettit jorja rivero \| susanna harwood rubin \| lorraine shea \| jonathan shoemaker vanessa spina \| olynda spitzer \| eric stoneberg \| mary telesco \| harshada wagner \| ola widera

	elena brower
		Elena Brower, Jonah's mama and Certified Anusara® Yoga Teacher, is the founder and co-owner of Virayoga. A student of John Friend, Dr. Douglas Brooks and Hugo Cory, teaching 13+ years, she's been featured in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, FitYoga, and the Element Yoga Beginner DVD series. Elena collaborates with Flavorpill to offer large-scale yoga classes worldwide, most recently at the Standard Hotel NY for EarthDay, the Museum of Modern Art, and at the Great Lawn in Central Park. Elena is the 2010 Global Yoga Ambassador for adidas, teaching the methodology of Anusara yoga to their instructors worldwide. Currently she supports Yoga Gives Back, the Acumen Fund, Women for Women and Pamela Miles' Institute for the Advancement of Complementary Therapies. Elena is also an original member of the YogaEarth Yogi Leadership Board, an accomplished corps of yoga teachers coming together to pioneer yoga nutrition. Elena offers online classes in HD at yogaglo.com. Check Elena's page for current events.