MARCUS BERARDINO has been enthusiastically practicing Yoga since 1995. In 2008, he decided to combine his professional skills as a massage therapist with his deepening yogic practice and attended the Laughing Lotus School in San Francisco, where he received his 200-hour certification in Vinyasa Flow. He has also studied with Tias Little and Richard Freeman in New York City. His classes combine movement, breath, spiritual philosophy, alignment, music and humor to awaken and enliven life-giving energy. Pranams to Lesley Desaulniers for her mentorship and support... Namaste!
LESLEY DESAULNIERS has been studying yoga and meditation since 1996, taking her practice to New York, Russia, India, and back. In her early twenties, Lesley was a resident at Ananda Ashram in upstate New York, where she intensively studied Sanskrit, meditation, philosophy, and Hatha yoga. She was later certified by Sharon Gannon and David Life and went on to teach at the Jivamukti Yoga Center in downtown Manhattan. Lesley continues to study, practice, and teach daily. Her classes are imbued with a rare blend of scholarly study, spiritual awareness, and good humor. To find out more about Lesley, please visit her website: www.authenticityproject.com
ADITI DHRUV first came to yoga through her study of classical Indian dance forms, and has been practicing for over ten years. She is Yoga Alliance certified at the 200-hour level, and completed her yoga teacher training in 2006 with Alison West (Yoga Union) in New York City. Aditi has studied with respected teachers including Alison West, Deborah Wolk, Jonathan Fitz-Gordon and Estelle Eichenberger. Her light-hearted classes are informed by her extensive ongoing dance training and practice in the Vinyasa, Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions; and focus on teaching students a series of poses while integrating the physical, subtle, and spiritual bodies, through precise alignment and breath-focused movement.
AARON DIAS has been practicing yoga daily for over 10 years. Her enthusiasm for teaching is inspired by a firm conviction that yoga can help anyone discover, uncover and nourish her truest, most satisfying self. A lifetime of dance and theater, in combination with her academic background in Philosophy (BA Vassar College), endow her with a special ability to connect students deeply to their bodies and to the yogic teachings. She is certified by the Conquering Lion Yoga school of Kelly Morris, which powerfully combines the yoga asana style of Jivamukti with Tibetan Buddhism. She is now proudly on their faculty, preparing current CLY teacher trainees in how to lead a great yoga class. Set to thoughtful instructions and dynamic playlists, Aaron’s classes encourage proper alignment, steady breath and a quiet, focused mind.
MONJA ECKER started her yoga practice in Germany in 2002 and feels blessed to this day to know and be part of the great yoga tradition. Her interest in yoga led her to pursue teacher training and she completed her 800 hour advanced certification at Jivamukti NYC in 2010. In her classes, Monja helps her students to find that feeling of pure love and to strike a balance between breath, intention and movement. Her teachings are guided by her sincere passion for yoga and a desire to share that experience with her students.
DAVID FIGUEROA teaches in the Vinyasa (flow) style, with traditional yoga postures linked to the breath through movement. He has been teaching adults and children from a wide range of backgrounds and abilities for over 20 years. His approach is light hearted with a strong attention to detail. David is certified by the Om Yoga Center in New York, and has studied with Rodney Yee, Richard Freeman, Donna Farhi and Cyndi Lee. He is influenced by the Iyengar, Anusara and Vinyasa Yoga traditions as well as his experience as a professional modern dancer and choreographer. He has taught throughout New York including beginner, intermediate and advanced classes at Om Yoga. In 2005 David founded Movement Arts of Provincetown, a non-profit movement and wellness center in Cape Cod.
JONATHAN FITZGORDON began practicing yoga at Jivamukti in 1995 and started teaching in 2000 after receiving his certification from Om Yoga Center. After studying extensively with John Friend, he owned and operated the yoga center of Brooklyn until the fall of 2009 and is now happy to be joining the staff at Prema. Jonathan’s classes are imbued with the love of anatomy and the moving body. He is the creator of the FitzGordon Method Core Walking program that has been featured in the New York Times and on Good Morning America.
AMANDA HARDING was raised in a family of Broadway gypsies where yoga became a natural progression after a lifetime of dancing. Certified through NYC’s OM Yoga Center, she has been teaching privately for over 10 years as well as group classes at Prema Yoga, Equinox, The Shala, Park Slope Yoga, Yoga Center of Brooklyn and many others. Amanda teaches a vigorous and dynamic class incorporating the fluidity of dance and music with heavy emphasis on alignment, breath, patience and fun. Her wish is to impart to her students the many gifts she has received through her ongoing practice and studies – a greater sense of awareness, inner peace, strength, compassion and much joy. www.karunanyc.com
RAMIT KREITNER has been a devoted practioner of yoga since meeting her first yoga teacher Jennifer Grims at the Yoga Lab in 2004. Certified in 2007 at the Laughing Lotus, Rah-meet has studied with Angela Farmer, Richard Freeman, and Shiva Rea as well as Sharon Salzberg. Certified in Thai Massage from the Lotus Palm School in Montreal, Ramit brings delicious adjustments into the classroom. Recently completed Judith Lasater’s Rest and Restore Certification at Om, Savasana will always be taken seriously.
Combining love of music, poetry of the mystics, passion for the 8 limbed Ashtanga Raja (royal) path laid out in Patanjali’s yoga sutras, attention to alignment, sprinklings of philosophy and bhakti, Ramit brings a lively lighthearted spirit to all her classes and a sincere desire to share with others this beautiful practice. Forever indebted to her very first teachers who taught her how to engage daily with mystery and awe, Amy Bart, the music teacher and her Mom, Ruth Kreitner, from whom the light bounces off the walls.
So very happy to be part of the wonderful Satsang that Lesley and Mary have created at Prema.
MARY LONG founder of Prema Yoga, is a long-time resident of Brooklyn and a devoted student of yoga. She is honored to be on this journey with the community of Prema Yoga students, teachers and friends.
JOETTA MAUE was first introduced to yoga by her mother at 15 years old. She quickly found a strong connection to the need to slow down and breathe. She has been a serious practitioner for over 13 years and a devoted teacher for over 9. Joetta’s true commitment to yoga began when she turned to the practice during a difficult time in her life. The process of slowing down, accepting, and letting go helped her heal and changed her outlook. Eventually she decided to spread the gifts of practice through teaching. Joetta’s dynamic and vigorous style of teaching is inspired by maste r teachers, with whom she has studied, including Shiva Rea, Richard Freeman, and Barbara Benaugh. With continuous study her style has continued to evolve into her own unique teaching voice. Joetta is an artist living in Carroll Gardens, with her hus band, 2 cats, and a goldfish. “With practice all is coming” Pattabhi Jois
KILLIAN O'BRIEN discovered yoga in 1997, and continues to uncover its benefits. She holds two 200-hour certifications in Anusura Yoga, an alignment oriented and devotional tradition, is certified to teach prenatal yoga through Ma Yoga, and is honored to have apprenticed with the flowing grace of her mentor, senior Jivatmutki teacher, Lesley Deslauniers.
Killian teaches a dynamic class, linking movement to breath awareness, with particular attention to proper alignment. Her aim is to challenge and inspire students to restore themselves. Uplifting philosophy is also woven into class to elucidate yoga as an holistic experience, incorporating chanting, meditation, and teachings from yogic texts. Killian is eternally grateful for this transformative practice, as well as for the opportunity to share it. She bows in loving thanks to all her teachers, who come in many inspiring forms, and for their guidance in unveiling yoga’s gifts.
ROBIN PICKERING first discovered yoga at an NYC gym in 1996, and knew she’d found something amazing. When one of the teachers there gave her a pass to Jivamukti Yoga Center, she realized she’d also found something life changing and never went back to the gym. She became a certified Jivamukti teacher in 2000, with the grace of David Life and Sharon Gannon. Robin has taught public, corporate, and private classes consistently for almost ten years in Park Slope and Manhattan. She has furthered her studies with Donna Farhi, Lois Nesbitt (Anusara Yoga), Jasmine Tarkeshi, Leslie Kaminov, Eddie Stern, and Josh Korda (Dharma Punx), among others. In the spring of 2005 she became a licensed Massage Therapist at the Swedish Institute, and is now a Reiki Level II practitioner. Robin’s yoga classes include focus on meditation and the breath, philosophical teachings from yogic scriptures as well as recent master teachers, and asana in the Jivamukti Vinyasa style (with alignment inspired by Anusara principles). She is interested in intention before form, release instead of grip, vigorous attention to the present moment, and finding the perfect edge on which to balance yogic effort. She is also aware of the importance of making the yoga practice applicable to and resonant with daily life. Robin dedicates all of her teaching and studies to her primary teacher and guide, Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma).
TAMAR SAMIR was born in Michigan, but grew up in Israel, with the dual cultural influences of an Israeli father and Scottish mother. She moved to New York in 1997 to pursue a career in fashion design and later, broadcast design. It was in New York, at the Jivamukti Yoga School, that she discovered yoga as an all-encompassing system of transformational practices for spreading happiness and freedom to all beings. Tamar has been blessed to study with Jivamukti Yoga founders Sharon Gannon and David Life, and Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga teacher Narayani (Nicole Nichols). Tamar is an Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher with over 800 hours of training. In her classes, Tamar aims to pass on the teachings she has received through practical insights, compassion and humor. Many thanks to Lesley Desaulniers for creating a loving space for devotional practice. www.tamarsamiryoga.com
LEAH THOMAS came to NYC in 2000 after completing her B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University. She was immediately drawn to a breath- centered, therapeutic approach to yoga, which she discovered with her first yoga teacher, J.Brown. In 2007, Leah completed 200 hrs in the advanced studies program at The Breathing Project, with Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews. She continued studies through the professional training program at Abhyasa Yoga Center in Brooklyn with J. Brown (2008). In June 2010 Leah became certified through Integral Yoga Institute to teach prenatal yoga, where she studied with Beth Donnelly Caban and Lara Kohn Thompson. In her classes, Leah guides students to finding intimacy with their body, breath, and practice that releases tension and reveals wellness.
SARAH WILLIS has practiced Yoga since 1997 and has been a daily practitioner of Ashtanga Yoga since 1999. She traveled to the city of Mysore, in India, in order to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois for an extended period in 2001. In 2000 she was certified as a Jivamukti Yoga instructor, has completed advanced teacher intensive certifications with Richard Freeman, and has also has received much guidance from honored Ashtanga teacher, Eddie Stern. Sarah is the director of Nava Yoga in Zagreb, Croatia, and its accredited teacher-training program.
SHYAMA CHAPIN started singing before she could talk. After many years as a performing songwriter in New England and California, she loves most of all to chant the Divine Names—in big halls full of the intensity of many chanters together, in intimate gatherings where every voice and heart shines, in her guru’s beautiful temples in Northern India or alone in her little garret mandir—and feels lucky and blessed to be able to center her days around this ancient, profound, deeply human practice.
Shyama has been singing in Krishna Das’ Posse, both on-stage and on his recordings, for many years. She is also featured in the response vocals on Diana Roger’s kirtan CD, Love Reigns.
PREMA YOGA SUBS
LESLEY ALDERMAN has been practicing yoga for nearly two decades. Her passion for Vinyasa yoga grew out of her early love of modern dance. Lesley graduated from OM Yoga Center's teacher training program in the winter of 2009. Since then, Lesley has augmented her OM education by taking workshops with Judith Lasater, Rodney Yee, Roger Cole and Tias Little. Lesley’s Vinyasa classes are dynamic and spirited, incorporating fluid movements and precise anatomical directions—all paired with lively, uplifting music. When she is not doing Yoga, Lesley is writing about health and wellness; she currently co-writes the Patient Money column for The New York Times. Lesley A is very grateful to Lesley D for her encouragement, support and wisdom.
KATE DULCICH has been practicing yoga for over a decade, and holds a 200 hour certification from Sonic Yoga and an 800 hour Certification from Jivamukti Yoga. Kate's classes often include deep asana to energize the body and quiet the mind, an emphasis on breath awareness as a tool to stay present, inspiring and fun music, and practical spiritual teachings. One of her first and formative teachers was Lesley Desaulniers, and Kate is honored to be teaching under the same roof as her as well as many other talented and dedicated teachers at Prema Yoga.
BENITA HUSSAIN, J.D., RYT-200 With degrees from Cornell University and Fordham Law School, Benita has been practicing Vinyasa and Ashtanga yoga since 2001, studying with Sarah Willis for the past six years. Based in Brooklyn, she has sought refuge through her practice, as well as in surfing, swimming, and rock-climbing, during her stressful legal and now freelance writing careers. She draws on her love for physical activity to demonstrate that with the proper use of breath and alignment, and with a dose of confidence and humor, everyone can enjoy yoga. Benita received her certification at the Yoga Society of New York's Ananda Ashram under the guidance of David Hollander. Find more information at benitasana.
MEGHAN GRADY is lucky to have a yoga teacher as a mother, so she developed a passion for the yoga practice at an early age. To better share this passion with others she received her 200-RYT certification through Yoga to the People in NYC. She teaches the vinyasa flow style with emphasis on cultivating an open heart and a calm mind. Meghan is also a personal fitness trainer certified through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and an actor/dancer with a BFA in performance from Virginia Commonwealth University.
ALICIA MARRIN took her first yogic breath 8 years ago at Integral Yoga and has been devoted to the practice ever since. She has studied Vinyasa, Hatha and Ashtanga yoga throughout NYC and in Singapore and completed her training with Jeff Migdow and Priti Robyn Ross in Prana Yoga in 2006. In her classes, expect to move and flow with the breath, to build strength, find softness and to surprise yourself. Alicia currently resides in Brooklyn and is also trained in and teaches western herbal medicine.
EMILY MCDONNELL has been teaching yoga in New York City for the past seven years. She is a jivamukti-certified teacher and has studied with Eddie Stern, Shri K. Patahbi Jois in New York and India, and with Richard Freemen in Boulder, Colorado. Emily likes to teach a class that is focused on the breath, a steady rythmic flow where the mind can relax, a class that feels both challenging and sweet.
MELISSA PASCHKE, LCSW, RYT-200 After a 15 year career in medical social work and the births of two sons, she was seeking a path of wellness that would allow her to slow down and connect with her own spiritual path. She discovered asana and devotional practice as a vehicle for amazing transformation and personal growth. Paired with motherhood and a smaller social work practice, yoga enriches her life in a way that is grounding, joyful and empowering. She is 200-hour certified in Vinyasa Flow from The Laughing Lotus College of Yoga and teaches a vigorous style of practice that originates at the breath and celebrates form, strength, energetic flow and movement that is your own. Melissa lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two boys, and is profoundly grateful to her many teachers for their inspiration and support.
CAROL TESSITORE was born in Long Island, New York and moved to NYC in 1996 to pursue her BFA in Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design. Her experiments in art often incorporated the human form in movement as Sculpture, which eventually led her to intensive Indian dance and yoga studies. Carol has been studying Bharatanatyam since 2006 with Sonali Skandan (New York) and Guru Sharad Pandya (India). She holds a 200-hour yoga teaching certification from Yoga to the People, is certified to teach Masala Bhangra® through fitness star Sarina Jain (NYC), and is Mini Yogi’s® kids yoga certified. Her asana classes are infused with the graceful alignment cues of classical dance, a deep but non-intimidating approach to spirituality, and with the positive intention of bringing out the brightest light in every one of her students. She is supremely thankful for the great community and teachers at Prema. www.caroltessitore.com
FELECIA MARIA has studied yoga since 2001, receiving her certification in 2008 from Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC. Before that she earned her BFA from the University of Montana in Dance and Choreography. As a dancer she understands the body-mind connection as well as proper alignment. She believes that yoga is a fantastic physical practice and a wonderful form of exercise, and has also found a spiritual outlet though the practice.
