Sag Harbor Yoga Classes - Yoga Classes in the Hamptons
Colleen Saidman Yee, Director
Colleen’s introduction to yoga was at the urging of a roommate who convinced her to attend a class at a loft space in New York City. It was not long after that first class, that her worn out running shoes, her basketball and her boxing gloves became relics of the past. And in 1994, after enduring back surgery, Colleen’s commitment to her yoga practice deepened.
A graduate of Jivamukti’s Teacher Training program in 1998, she has been teaching ever since. Colleen has been featured in Vanity Fair, New York Times, USA today, New York Magazine, Oprah, Marie Claire, Allure, and has been on the cover of yoga journal, fit yoga and natural health. Colleen is featured in the PBS special called The Practical Power of Yoga. She has also been a guest on the Good Morning America Show. She is co-writing the masters class column for yoga journal for 2009. A consummate student, Colleen’s thirst for yoga knowledge is insatiable. Colleen has taught several teacher trainings, both 500 and 200 hour programs. Colleen holds a certification in Shiatsu and lived in Calcutta, India working with Mother Theresa at the Homes for the dying destitute.
Colleen owes tremendous gratitude for her studies of bhakti and vinyasa to David Life and Sharon Gannon. She studies with Richard Rosen and Richard Freeman as frequently as possible. She also offers thanks to the many other teachers with whom she has studied, as well as to her husband Rodney Yee, who remains her principal teacher.
Together with Rodney, she presents the Gaiam Yoga Club as well as several popular Yoga DVDs. In recent years, they helped to create and now co-direct Urban Zen's Integrative Yoga Therapist Program, a world-wide initiative of Donna Karan. Colleen lives in Sag Harbor where she is the director of the famous Yoga Shanti yoga studio. She and Rodney are raising 4 wonderful teenagers, and are teaching Teacher Trainings and retreats worldwide. facebook.com/colleensaidmanyee
Patricia Padma Borrego
Patricia Padma Borrego is a yoga instructor and body worker with a passion for intergrated wholeness. She is deeply inspired by meditation, deep listening and cultivating intention and clarity in movement and in life. When we participate in our practice on as many levels as we can: physically, emotionally, and spiritually, it has a profound affect on our whole life.
dhruva corrigan
Dhruva began practicing yoga with Corey DeRosa in Sag Harbor. He received his certification to teach Ashtanga yoga from It’s Yoga in San Francisco in the summer of 2007. He is unboundedly grateful to his incredible teachers, including Corey DeRosa, David Swenson, Saraswathi Rangaswami, and Dr. M.A. Jayashree. He honors the memory of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and is honored to be a part of sharing the teachings of Yoga which come directly from the lineage of Pattabhi Jois. While Dhruva’s passion lies in teaching and educating teenagers and adolescents, his love for and faith in the Ashtanga system is certainly evident in any class that he teaches as he strives to make the practice available to bodies and minds of all ages and constitutions.
steve eaton
Steve Eaton has been experimenting with music all his life! He began at the age of 5 with the piano and now plays a number of instruments including the guitar, djembe, harmonium, tambura, melodica...(the list goes on and on). Steve graduated from Princeton University with a Degree (BA) in Music. There he was able to explore many musical forms and ensembles. Steve also began his studies of buddhism and veganism while attending Princeton. It was at a yoga class in Amagasnett where Steve fell in love with the practice. Since then Steve has studied many forms of yoga including Hatha, Kundalini, Iyengar and Bhakti, or devotional, Yoga. In 2008 Steve traveled to India where he immersed himself in the sounds of the country.
Steve is very excited to be collaborating with his partner Jennifer by accompanying her class with a number of instruments. His attempt is to deepen the experience of yoga through sound, vibration and chanting. He welcomes all feedback relating to this experimental yogic experience.
Eve Eliot
Eve Eliot is a psychotherapist, meditation teacher, yoga practitioner and author of “Insatiable,” its sequel, “Ravenous,” and “Attention Shoppers: The Woman’s Guide to Enlightenment.”
She is a contributor to the journal “The Annals of the AmericanPsychotherapy Association” for which she has written two articles: “Yoga Off the Mat: Motivating Clients to Surrender to Discomfort” and “Meditation Off the Cushion: Helping Clients Using Mindfulness.”
Her unique way of using metaphors to guide students to inner body awareness makes meditation exceptionally accessible, even to beginners. Read this great interview with Eve Elliot!
Heidi Fokine
Born the daughter of an atheist, Heidi’s spiritual awakening happened around the age of 14 when she began to pursue her passion for dance.
The transcendent experience of dancing; moving on the earth with other people, and the rich insights the art form offered was fertile ground for the development of self and sense of community. She received a BFA in dance from North Carolina School of the Arts in 1981.
Somewhere along a happy and always surprising fifteen year dance career, (touring internationally with Mark Dendy, David Gordon, and Susan Marshall), she found yoga. In the first Jivamukti class Heidi attended in 1991 she had the quiet revelation, “this is my future”. Since then Heidi has studied many styles of yoga but finds the teachings of Genevieve Kapuler and Rodney Yee most enduring. She also studies Light Body Meditation with Diane Goldner. Her classes combine precise knowledge of anatomy and alignment, reverence for the intelligence and mysteries of the body-mind- spirit with a quest for freedom and fun.
Yoga stripped away all the extraneous from dance, revealing in new ways what continues to fascinate her: space, light, rhythm, form, energy and the pulsation of the life community on this earth. heidifokineyoga.com
jennifer frasher
Born in Germany and raised in Sag Harbor, Jennifer has studied intensely with Mark Whitwell, with whom she became certified with, as well as completing the 200-hour Nosara teacher training in Costa Rica. Jennifer is also certified to teach yoga to children through the Shakta Kaur Khalsa “Fly Like a Butterfly” certification program.
Inspired by the clarity of Iyengar yoga, the expression of Anusara yoga and the fluidity of Vinyasa flow, Jennifer creates a unique yoga practice allowing one to find their “inner teacher”. Believing in the Krishnamacharya lineage in that you "adapt the yoga to the individual" Jennifer strives to develop a unique yoga practice for each person. Forever a student, Jennifer is continually furthering her spiritual exploration with daily practice both at home and in the classroom. She has taken numerous courses with exceptional teachers such as, Angela Farmer, Patricia Walden, David Swenson, WAH, Genny Kapuler, Gurumukh, Manorama, Rodney Yee, Elena Brower, Richard Freeman and many others. In 2008 Jennifer traveled to India with her partner Steve Eaton, where they completed the level 1 course at the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore with his holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
Jennifer incorporates, live music, chanting and yogic philosophy into every class. You will find her teachings fresh, inspirational and ever surprising! She would like to thank the many beings that inspire her teachings and her life.
Melora Griffis
Melora Griffis has practiced yoga for the past 20 years. Currently, her primary teacher is Genevieve Kapular. She is Om and Sivananda certified and has taken numerous teacher trainings with Rodney Yee, and John Friend. Other influences include workshops and classes with Dharma Mittra, Anna Forrest, Tias Little, Erich Shiffman, David Life, Sharon Gannon, and Charles Muir. She has completed the Shambhala graduate levels in meditation. Melora has taught at Urban Yoga, Om, Hayground/ One Ocean, Mandala, St.Marys church on Shelter Island, Crunch, Chelsea Piers, David Barton, The Peninsula Spa, and privately. Melora has a dance background in ballet, modern, African, and improvisational movement. Melora is a painter and professional actress. She brings her creativity and love of people to her teaching. Continually a student, Melora remains humbled by the yoga experience.
Erika Halweil
Erika Halweil was born and raised in New York City. Her first experience with the yoga practice was close to one decade ago, although, it wasn't until 1997 that she focused her attention on the endless journey into the present moment. Recognizing the importance of a playful spirit and limitless curiosity, Erika tries to challenge herself, and others, through a unique vinyasa practice (inspired by the many traditions to which she has been exposed). She has furthered her knowledge of the human body through the study of nutrition (with a degree from NYU), anatomy and physiology and reflexology. She is, wholeheartedly grateful for all of her teachers; to Manorama D'Alvia and Uma Nanda Saraswati for helping her to find her inner bhakti; to Colleen Saidman and Jessica Bellofatto for their open hearts and thirst for knowledge; to Krishnamurti and Pema Chodron for their insight, honesty and courage. She is also indebted to the many people who have shared their practice with her, as she honors that each student is her guru.
Sarah Halweil
Sarah Halweil graduated from the Yoga Shanti Teacher Training Program in 2004. Previously she had practiced Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Jivamukti Yoga, but knew that she had found something special when she moved to Sag Harbor and started practicing at Yoga Shanti. "I was in awe in every class," she remembers. "The chanting. The intelligent sequencing. The focus on anatomy. The spiritual education and guidance. It satisfied all of my yoga expectations, and all in a tiny, whaling town."
Sarah strives to push the yoga practice beyond the classroom and into everyday life. "I feel grateful to be able to study with Colleen and Jessica, Rodney Yee and Manorama, and to share this powerful practice with others," she says.
Sarah holds a BA in Environmental Science and Latin American Studies from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a BSN from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She is a labor and delivery nurse at Southampton Hospital.
Kari Harendorf
Kari discovered yoga in 1996 while recovering from a knee injury suffered during the Off-Broadway production of "Tony 'n Tina's Wedding". Inspired, Kari has been practicing ever since, becoming certified through the Integral Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2002, the Bhava Teacher Training program in 2003, and founding her own studio, East Yoga Center in New York City’s East Village in 2004. (http://eastyoga.com) Kari’s passion for yoga continues through her continued study with John Friend in the anusara tradition of yoga and Rodney Yee, who never fails to change her practice again and again.
Kari is also an accomplished dog trainer, having merged her passion for yoga and dogs with a monthly Dog Yoga class at East Yoga. This has led to features in numerous publications, including Yoga Journal, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal as well as the 2005 Animal Planet television series, “K9 Karma” which followed Kari and her dog Charlie both in and out of the yoga studio.
Kari hails from Toronto, holds a BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and splits time between New York City and Sag Harbor with her husband, baby daughters, and 4 dogs. She would like to thank Jessica and Colleen, her primary teachers and constant source of inspiration. eastyoga.com
Leah Kinney
Leah began a regular yoga practice during her last year of college, finding that savasana provided the perfect respite from the brain overload of thesis writing. While home for Thanksgiving, Leah took a VERY crowded class at Yoga Shanti! Not sure what to expect and totally nervous about falling on someone, she unfolded her mat onto the uneven, creaky, wood floor and took her seat. As the first OM reverberated throughout the room, she was wholly intrigued.
In 2003, during an extended winter vacation in Costa Rica, Leah completed the Nosara Yoga Institue’s 200 hour teaching training program. Upon returning home, she enrolled in Yoga Shanti’s teacher training program where her heart grew full of love and gratitude for this practice and her truly wonderful teachers.
Born and raised in Montauk, Leah has a deep appreciation and love for the East End. She is so pleased to be sharing and participating in the practice of yoga within this community. Leah graduated from Georgetown University in 2001 with a BA in Women’s Studies and Spanish.
Lisa Langer
Lisa Langer is passionate about sharing her love for yoga and a yoga lifestyle with all levels of students, from the brand-new beginner, to the more experienced practitioner. It is her experience that regular yoga practice is grounding, uplifting and transformational and Lisa is skilled at creating these experiences for her students.
In her group classes, Lisa teaches an energetic and comfortably challenging Vinyasa yoga practice. She is known as a compassionate, authentic and charismatic teacher who seeks to bring out the best in her students. Her classes weave body alignment, music, yogic philosophy, flow, and humor into an experience that connects students to their soul and reminds them to follow their inner guide. A lifelong student of the body, mind and spirit, Lisa continues to study Anusara Yoga, Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga, Yee Yoga, Pilates and Meditation. She also has more than 20 years of dance training. Her experiences as a Mom, a health care attorney, and working with clients with injuries allow her to relate to a broad clientele. In addition to her private practice, Lisa teaches at Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City and she is the founder of Central Park Yoga. Lisa is also a Reiki practitioner and a photographer and she is thrilled to become part of the Yoga Shanti community this summer.
Heather Lilleston
Originally from Northern California, Heather has been living and teaching Jivamukti Yoga in New York City since 2003. She completed the Jivamukti teacher training with Sharon Gannon and David Life while finishing her bachelors at New York University. She then completed her 800-hour Advanced Certification in 2008. She currently teaches Jivamukti at Pure Yoga New York City.
Her classes integrate creative vinyasa sequences with meditation, visualization and chanting, honeyed with uplifting music. Interweaving scripture from both the Yoga and Tibetan Buddhist traditions, her goal is to create a space for practitioners to realign themselves with conscious intention and physical presence, leading to both an inner and outer transformational experience. She is known for her sweetness, passion and authenticity.
She has studied with a myriad of teachers: Sharon Gannon, David Life, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Gurumayi, Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally. heatherlilleston.com
Stephanie Livaccari
Stephanie first experienced the healing power of movement while leaping across a dance studio. Being 5 years old at the time, she was unaware of how profoundly this would impact her life and work. The need for movement - as a means to heal, release, express and communicate - became a natural part of her self and spirit. To have the opportunity to bring yoga into children's lives and awaken this part of their spirit is deeply gratifying for her.
Stephanie first discovered yoga in 1996 and has been practicing ever since. Her interest truly deepened when she became pregnant with her daughter Miachesca in 2004. In the prenatal and kids classes at Yoga Shanti she observed the natural link between yoga and children. Watching them slither like snakes and jump like frogs around the studio, she was inspired to learn how to share this wonderful gift with others.
Stephanie is certified to teach children's yoga through Neney's Yoginis and through the Karma Kids studio in Manhattan. She is deeply grateful to Sheryl Hastalis, Ann Fristoe, Subhadra Fleming, Jessica Bellafatto and Colleen Saidman for their wisdom, support and encouragement. She brings a light-hearted and playful approach to each class and is an encouraging teacher who believes in a respect for all students . . . no matter the age.
April Martucci
Named “most in demand” yoga instructor in New York Magazine’s Best of New York issue, April Martucci is a native New Yorker with a singular understanding of movement and the connection between mind and body. She has danced with the Joffrey Ballet School, Eglevsky Ballet, and at the Martha Graham School. She began studying the yoga discipline at the Jivamukti Yoga Center and later received her teaching certification from Om Yoga Center and prenatal certification from YogaWorks. April is a graduate of the Swedish Institute of Massage Therapy, whose programming is known for its emphasis on anatomy and physiology. She incorporates her experience from the Institute in her unique form of bodywork. Her signature style involves technical aspects of anatomy combined with a thoughtful philosophical approach, making the practice fully integrated: mind, body, and spirit. April is the former Director of Yoga at the prestigious Reebok Sports Club/NY, MindBody studios. She has taught a wide range of students from A-list celebrities to toddlers, artists, and high-profile professionals. April is presently gearing up for her 2010 world tour at destinations including Miami, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Peru. She has been teaching retreats for almost a decade and has guest taught at yoga conferences and international events. April draws from her movement and life experience, creating classes that are fun, dynamic, and challenging, both physically and mentally.
She regularly contributes to Rodale’s iYogaLife.com, providing instructional video content and answering mind body lifestyle questions, and to MensHealth.com, writing articles and columns. April has participated in community work with Lululemon Althetica, Ltd. As a Lululemon ambassador, she teaches community classes and performs at the annual Barefoot Ball. April is the founder of FireDragon Yoga and conducts yoga Teacher Trainings in the method in NYC twice a year. For more information, please visit yogawithapril.com.
Claudia Matles
While attending my first yoga class at University of Hartford as part of my Elementary Education degree, I fell in love with yoga and began the path of profound personal transformation and the birth of a lifelong journey of exploration. As my relationship with yoga developed, I found the courage to end a personal relationship that I had been struggling with for some time, and without much trepidation, I replaced my cigarette habit with pranayama, asana and meditation. During which, I moved to Hawaii, taught Elementary school full time, and studied Viniyoga privately with Gary Kraftsow. I began to see the benefits of using yoga techniques with my Third Graders in the classroom and learned the value of sequencing asana practices for each individuals needs.
When I returned to the mainland and living in California for five years, I practiced extensively learning Vinyasa with Julie Kleinman and Shiva Rea at Yogaworks in Santa Monica. Still an academic school teacher, though began to infuse yoga in the Magnet Performing Arts School where I was teaching Elementary Education to inner city children. In 2003, after receiving my Masters of Multi-Cultural Education, my intrigue in the Pilates method lead me to become certified in this technique, and I then began teaching both yoga and pilates classes as well as privately. I completed my Yoga teacher training with Rodney Yee & Colleen Saidman Yee in 2004 and continue to study with them closely.
I find value and insight in these different approaches, and tether myself to moving from sincerity, mindfulness and an open heart. My role as a teacher is to create the space where students feel inspired to cultivate these qualities through asana, pranayama and meditation. ~ Stirham Sukham Asanam.... Om Shanti Shanti Shantih. For more information please visit claudiamatles.com
Alexandra McLaughlin
A native to Sag Harbor, Alex fled to New York City to pursue a degree in fashion at FIT. It was not long before she became exasperated by the endless whirlwind and began to search for more meaning. She knew that she needed to slow down and become more present. Her love of yoga and dedication to her own practice awakened a desire to further her study and humbly pursue the possibility of teaching. And once she began, there was no turning back!
Alex has received certifications from Sivananda, Jivamukti and most recently at Yoga Shanti, in a 10 month residency program. Blending the many traditions that she has studied, Alex brings flowing sequences, chanting and mindful instruction to all of her classes. She is grateful to all of her extraordinary teachers: Sharon Gannon and David Life, Manorama, Patricia Borrego, Mary Buffo, Jessica Bellofatto and Colleen Saidman, her family, as well as the many others who bring inspiration to her life daily.
Rupa Mehta
Rupa’s entrepreneurial vision, Nalini Method, was born at New York University’s Stern School of Business. After receiving her MBA, Rupa further cultivated her teaching style and passion through intense fitness training, most notably at the Lotte Berk Studio, Yoga Works, Yin Yoga, and Baron Baptiste.
Called a “pint-sized guru” by VOGUE Magazine and the “Rachel Ray of Fitness” by the New York Post, Rupa has and continues to foster a solid knowledge of specific teaching and exercise techniques that reap the best results. Her signature Nalini Method class combines her enthusiasm and experience within a challenging and results-driven atmosphere.
Known for her attention to detail, Rupa is extremely focused on each client’s form, providing instruction and hands-on guidance throughout the hour. Like a personal trainer, her continuous feedback and attentiveness enables each client to achieve his/her individual goals. Rupa’s unique personal teaching style, energizing atmosphere, and small-class size ensure an informative and truly rewarding experience for her clients. Visit the Nalini Method website to checkout the schedule of classes throughout the summer at Yoga Shanti!
Jenna Minardi
Jenna Minardi is a certified Integral Yoga instructor. She has been doing yoga for 21 years and teaching for the past nine. Jenna directed the yoga program at Naturopathica Spa in East Hampton and in 2005 opened the Minardi Training and Route 114 Yoga Center with her husband Jimmy Minardi in East Hampton NY. She also started a kids yoga program with her friend and college Kate Rabinowitz at the Springs School in East Hampton where yoga is taught to children kindergarten thru 6th grade through out the year.
Jenna teaches her students, with a deep yearning to inspire them with the spark of compassion and devotion that propels her love of yoga. Her classes put emphasis on BREATH, as a way to “reprogram” patterns in the body and mind that keep us from reaching our human potential, BALANCE, between action and surrender, ALIGNMENT that is reached by listening to your intution, and chanting and meditation. Jenna has recently become very involved with Shidda Yoga which is now headed by Guru Chidvilasananda, in this lineage of yoga there is an emphasis on meditation and chanting as a way to connect with God within ourselves.
Her years as a yoga student have lead her to study many different lineages of yoga including Ashtanga Yoga with Danny Paradise, Integral Yoga and Iyengar, and most recently Heart of Yoga with Mark Whitwell. Jenna has also studied nutrition, herbalism with Arcus Flynn in NYC and shiatsu at the Ohasi Institute in NYC. She has also had the honor to work with the South Fork Breast Cancer Coalition in teaching woman chanting and meditation.
Mayan Montanari-Perez
Mayan Montanari-Perez was lucky enough to begin her yoga experience under the guidance of Megan Chaskey, while attending The Ross School. Upon graduation in 2004 she worked as a Mother’s Helper to many lovely families, cementing her love of children. While pregnant she began taking prenatal classes with Kate Rabinowitz. Astounded by Kate’s incredible style of teaching, she hoped to one day be able to educate people in the same loving manner. She is trained to teach children through Karma Kids Yoga and is currently looking into their prenatal teaching program.
In October 2006, after having the privilege of welcoming her first child, Miloe Reef, at home, she began to educate herself on all aspects of motherhood. She was especially interested in educating families on childbirth choices, gentle childbirth, natural parenting, and alternative education. She began by starting her own company called Yemaya, which primarily makes one of a kind baby slings and organic onesies. Mayan, along with her friend, currently directs an Enki style playgroup/school in her home, which educates children through the interconnectedness of the world around them.
Mayan is inspired everyday by her growing boy, being in his presence is a constant reminder to pass on all the knowledge she has picked up along the way. She would like to thank her many yoga teachers and friends for their clarity, encouragement and teachings.
Geoffrey Nimmer
Geoffrey discovered yoga while living in New York, working as a modern dancer, performing in New York City, and around the world with choreographers Lucinda Childs, Robert Wilson, Peter Healy, and Joann Fregalette-Jansen. He discovered the Jivamukti Yoga Center while looking for an alternative to the routine of dance class. He was instantly attracted to the physicality of the yoga practice and by way of some great teachers, he found the spiritual aspects of yoga sneaking up on him through the physical. This was in 1990, he has been practicing regularly since.
Geoffrey has studied with diverse teachers such as; Mary Dunn, James Murphy, Dharma Mittra, Rodney Yee, Sri R.P.S. Symbollah, and Cyndi Lee. He moved to the east end of Long Island to pursue a career as a garden designer, and discovered a vibrant yoga community there. He continues to be inspired by Colleen Saidman Yee, and his other fellow teachers at Yoga Shanti, as well as Corey Derosa, and Patricia Borrego.
In 2003 Geoffrey was certified as a teacher through the Om Yoga Teacher Training program in NYC. As well as practicing and teaching, he continues to design gardens, and marvels at the relationships between Yoga, the community, and the connection to the earth and all living things. Check out Geoffrey's trip to Mysore India, as he pursues his interest in Ashtanga Yoga, at geoffreynimmer.com
Susan 'Lippy' Orem
(Yoga Shanti Teacher Training Faculty)
Susan 'Lippy' Orem has taught yoga for seven years. Her checkered past as a dancer in Las Vegas revues, Off-Broadway actress, Ringling Brothers clown and sign language teacher left her with no choice but yoga. She was first certified by Cyndi Lee of OM Yoga and then after, training with Rodney Yee for six years. She is grateful every day that what she loves is what she does!
Eric Pettigrew
Originally from Quebec, Eric began his career as a professional dancer and continues to pursue his passion for movement and healing through yoga, massage and homeopathy. He earned his yoga teaching certificate while studying with Cyndi Lee at OM Yoga Center in New York City. Then, combining his love of yoga & dance and to increase his knowledge of the human body he studied at Finger Lakes School of Massage, achieving his license in massage therapy. His studies also include: Yoga for cancer survivors, pilates, polarity, reflexology, applied kinesiology, cranio sacral therapy and herbal medicine. Eric recently graduated from School of Homeopathy New York, a 4-year course in homeopathic medicine which, in addition to his yoga and massage training, allows him to heal in a truly holistic manner. Eric’s unyielding gratitude, deep commitment to his yoga practice, and years of experience contribute to an increased awareness and quality in his yoga instruction. To contact him for private yoga instruction, massage and homeopathy visit holisticlifeworks.com
Stacey Platt
Stacey Platt has been practicing Ashtanga yoga since 1995. She has made seven trips to Mysore, South India, spending more than a year there in total studying yoga philosophy, Sanskrit, Ayurveda and of course, yoga. In 1999, she received authorization from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois to teach. She was featured in “Ashtanga New York,” a documentary which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003. In addition to teaching yoga, Stacey runs DwellWell, a NYC-based professional organizing and lifestyle management firm. Her first book, “What’s a Disorganized Person to Do?” purports that organizing, like yoga, is the practice of taking the mind from a distracted state to one of clarity and that clarity is the foundation for a joyous and accomplished life.
It is with her deepest gratitude and devotion that she acknowledges and thanks her teachers for their continued guidance, and for their precious contribution to her life... Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Eddie Stern, Sharath Rangaswamy, Saraswati Rangaswamy, Vyaas Houston and Dr. M.A. Jayashree.
kate rabinowitz
Kate Rabinowitz has been studying and practicing yoga since 1972. She has trained extensively with BKS Iyengar, his son Prashant and daughter Geeta in India, and senior teachers in Europe and the USA, including Dona Holleman, Karin Stephan, Patricia Walden, Rodney Yee, Mary Dunn, Judith Lasater, Mark Whitwell and many others. Kate has taught for twenty five years refining the therapeutic aspects of yoga teaching adults, seniors, pre natal and treating injuries. After birthing her own children, now 10 and 12 she trained in Yoga Ed, becoming certified to teach children and school teachers in yoga and wellness. She believes yoga for children is essential for this new generation, to give them tools to navigate the challenging times.
Besides yoga, Kate is a certified Natural Gourmet Chef from Ann Marie Colbin in NYC, and is a practitioner of Healing Arts from the IM School of Healing Arts. She has studied at the Ayurvedic Institute with Dr Vasant Lad in New Mexico, at the Kushi Institute in Boston with Michio Kushi, and currently completing training in Shiatsu therapy at the Ohashi Institute in NYC. She is at heart a traveler and adventurer, for years studying traditional arts and teaching yoga in Japan, immersing in India, living in a monastery in Thailand, trekking the Himalyas in Nepal, and walking alone across Tibet to Lhasa from Southwestern China. She visits India regularly to visit her teachers and the temples in the Himalyas.
She now lives in East Hampton with her husband and two children running the Integrated Wellness Program at Springs Elementary in East Hampton for grades K-6 and teaching private and group classes in the Hamptons and New York City.
Mitten Wainwright
Mitten was introduced to Yoga at the age of 55 and in her very first class realized that the asana practice is a special gift to the body, mind, and spirit. She believes that it gives one the opportunity and ability to move with greater harmony and grace through the rhythms of life. Having lived in NYC for 60 years, of which 30 of those years she taught early childhood education at Park Avenue Christian School, Mitten was more than delighted to move east and continue teaching here, this time Yoga to adults as well as children. With practical insights, she encourages her students to take a playful but carefully aligned asana practice on the mat out into their daily life. Mitten honors her many Anusara teachers and John Friend’s tradition, gives gratitude to those who have encouraged her to teach, and appreciates the many students who continually open her eyes to new possibilities.
Elle Worth
Ellen (Elle) Worth, certified 500 hr YA Certification from Yoga Shanti-Sag Harbor, NY 2004. Focus is on the breath, technique and alignment based on the studies and influences of B.K.S. Iyengar, and Anusara yoga. I am grateful for the influences of my teachers, Jessica Bellofatto, Colleen Saidman-Yee, John Seeley, Rodney Yee, Lippy (Susan Orem), Manorama and Edward Clark of Tripsicore Yoga. Present owner/director of Beach Yoga in WHB.
Rodney Yee
Rodney Yee has been curious about the mind and body for as long as he can remember. He was a gymnast, a ballet dancer, and a philosophy and physical therapy major. Following the thread of curiosity about mind and body, he took his first yoga class in 1980. He went to yoga in search of flexibility and found a practice that would turn into his life-long passion and career. In 1981, Rodney began to study yoga full time at the San Francisco Iyengar Yoga Institute and at The Yoga Room in Berkeley. In 1987, after becoming a certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, he opened the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, with Richard Rosen and Claire Finn.
Presently, in addition to teaching at Yoga Shanti, Rodney leads teacher trainings, workshops, and retreats nationally and internationally with Colleen. In Spring 2007, Rodney and Colleen were co-chairs and panelists for the Urban Zen Initiative, a forum dedicated to integrating eastern healing arts into the western medical paradigm. They are now co-directing Urban Zen's Integrative Yoga Therapist Program. Rodney has also been featured in over 30 Yoga DVD titles and numerous audio recordings with Gaiam. He has written two books, Yoga: the Poetry of the Body and Moving Toward Balance: 8 Weeks of Yoga with Rodney Yee, both in collaboration with Nina Zolotow. Rodney and Colleen also present the Gaiam Yoga Club online.
Most importantly, Rodney and Colleen are raising and being raised by four awesome children, Evan, Adesha, Rachel, and Johanna. At this point in his life journey, Rodney realizes that Colleen and the kids are the real source of all of his yogic growth. yeeyoga.com
Lisa Zaloga
Lisa’s formal certification was with Sivananda but that doesn't really reflect her style of teaching. She has been inspired by the Jivamukti, Ashtanga, and Iyengar lineages. She is studied in Om, influenced by Yee Yoga and Anusara. She has had the privilege of studying with, and access to some of today’s modern master teachers. Her vinyasa style of teaching is a cohesive eclectic blend of it all. Her vinyasa class (zalogayoga) is "a seamless experience" not just a class, and includes a theme, rockin' music, concentration, and focus on breath being the leader through a flow of intelligent sequencing. In class Lisa encourages students to challenge their 'edges', to honor their bodies but to remember that being complacent or comfortable doesn't always teach us the more profound life lessons. Her classes include a psyco-spiritual element including yogic philosophy and 'real life' tools to guide students toward developing a stronger moral compass. Lisa’s classes are challenging for every level but with a gentle force.