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Our Amazing Teachers
We couldn’t be more grateful to be in the presence of so many wonderful teachers.
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We couldn’t be more grateful to be in the presence of so many wonderful teachers.
“How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Yoga has helped me approach anything and everything with a calmer spirit, a more open heart, and a quieter mind. I’ve been practicing for almost 15 years, having found yoga while on a health-kick vacation. The seed was planted, and as soon as I returned home I immediately started studying as much as possible, with as many different teachers I could find. This was in the midst of the yoga boom in Los Angeles, so I was fortunate enough to ride the wave and study with a lot of amazing teachers in small rooms that would soon be bursting at the seams. I recently returned to my roots in NY and completed my RYT 200-hour training at Hudson River Yoga.
I’m a firm believer that change is not only good, but necessary. My practice has changed a lot over the years. I went from a Vinyasa practice to Ashtanga, but I’ve also come to love a yummy Yin and Restorative class. As my practice has changed, so has my perspective, and that change is reflected in how I teach. I teach for all levels, all ages and a variety of classes: Beginner, Ashtanga Primary, Yin & Restorative, Chair Yoga, Yoga Sculpt, and Yoga for Seniors.
Yoga should be accessible for anyone and everyone who wants to practice. It’s as simple as if you can breathe, you can practice. Yoga is for every body, and while I may not be the teacher for everybody, I hope that you find the practice for yourself, and yourself in your practice.
B.K.S. Iyengar wrote that health “is a state of complete equilibrium of body, mind and spirit.” With this intention, Amy bases her yoga and wellness offerings.
Understanding the importance of integrating all aspects of oneself to achieve true wellness, Amy’s classes, retreats, and workshops are highly customized, dynamic, and comprehensive–students can choose from a variety of yoga options, including free-style vinyasa, yin, restorative, gentle, beginner, and pair each with meditation, pranayama, biomechanical and postural alignment assessments, and integrative wellness coaching. Amy’s passion lies in making wellness universal and rooted in deepening, both oneself and within one’s community. The result: A rich and invigorating experience designed to maximize holistic health and endure long after the student leaves class.
But what is most compelling about Amy is her warmth and sincerity. With a near-tangible appetite for self-study and a gentle sense of humor, Amy immediately makes those around her feel welcomed, valued, and inspired to action. She is as accessible to her students as are her classes. This fosters a safe and encouraging environment where students are moved to approach their individual practices with a light-hearted and self-accepting point of view.
Leigha teaches breath-centric, artfully sequenced Vinyasa classes that encourage deep body listening. She emphasizes fine-tuning sensory awareness and plugging in to instinctual knowing in an effort to clear the mind, ease the body, and liberate the spirit. Since 2011, she has been building a library of free online classes on YouTube. Find hour-long Vinyasa classes each week on her member site LeighaButlerYoga.com.
Felipa teaches in an invigorating and fluid Vinyasa style, while encouraging folks to honor their bodies and discover the possibilities within each pose in the way that feels right for them. A Montessori teacher in her other life, Felipa believes yoga can be accessible to all and she offers multiple levels of challenge within various options for poses. In her classes, she enjoys exploring the relationships between poses while steadily building to a fun challenge. Felipa loves the supportive, fun-loving community at The Yoga House and is excited to be a part of it.
Felipa completed a 200-hour YTT at The Yoga House, where she enjoyed connecting with kindred spirits with whom she could happily ‘geek-out’ on anatomy and ancient yogic texts.
Lori, an Ulster County native, began practicing yoga over 11 years ago in an effort to control stress and to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In 2015, she visited The Yoga House and decided to embark in their 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training program to improve her own home practice and to become educated in yoga philosophy. After graduating from the program in 2016, she realized that many people feel that yoga is not accessible to them for multiple reasons. She wants to tell them, “YOU CAN do it!” and she wants to help generate confidence so those skeptics can discover how to balance the mind and body in order to accept oneself and others. She believes the best method is through a lighthearted and practical approach. Lori is dedicated to helping her students feel good about themselves and their practice. She is currently continuing her education at Shakti and is enjoying her life-long yoga journey.
Kelli finds joy in challenging her students while reminding them to remain humble. It was in 2013 that Kelli was searching for some clarity in life and a physical and mental awakening. Turns out yoga was the answer to all her questions! Her love and passion for the practice was growing rapidly and it only made sense to take the journey from student to teacher, completing her YTT in 2016 at The Yoga House. Kelli comes to her mat to find herself and her inner peace. She hopes to transfer these energies to each and every student she encounters. In a typical class, students can expect modifications & props, Kelli’s favorite yogic readings, and always an intentional playlist to accompany the practice.
Pamela Lyn is a movement artist, considering all of her artistic expressions to be inspired by motion and the flow of energy. Through movement, we can find peace and connection to ourselves and each other. Pamela offers strong alignment cues to assist in asana development and injury prevention, but believes it doesn’t matter what shape you take, it only matters how that shape makes you feel physically, emotionally, and energetically and how you can integrate those discoveries positively into your life. She is an advocate of happiness and love and shares her yoga so others can discover theirs.
Pamela is a RYT-500 Yoga Instructor, earning her certifications in NYC and India. She holds a BFA in Dance and an MA in Secondary English Education. Pamela is a dance educator and choreographer, visual artist, writer, and sound practitioner. She also offers intuitive body work to facilitate healing, utilizing Reiki and Thai Massage techniques. Pamela is super grateful to be a part of The Yoga House community, sharing in this wondrous practice together!
Scott came to yoga in middle age as part of a lifestyle change and spiritual quest. He first practiced with his brother, an actor in LA and gradually broadened his practice. He completed his Teacher Training at the Yoga House. Along with having been a MetLife Insurance professional at his office in Kingston for 35 years; Scott is also a Ski Instructor at Belleayre Mountain in the winter, Crew Coach for the Kingston High School Varsity Crew, Rowing Coach for the Rondout Rowing Club and a Cycle Instructor at the YMCA of Kingston and Ulster County.
He finds yoga to be liberating and fun on its own but also loves the feeling of strength, flexibility and balance it allows him to bring to his other athletic endeavors. He enjoys offering the practice to people of all ages and believes it can be especially beneficial to those of middle age who want to return to a higher level of activity or continue to be active throughout their lives. “Yoga should be practiced in a spirit of lightness and fun! Like all of life, Yoga is a practice, not perfection.”
Yoga has been a passion of Deb’s for many years and the ability to share that passion with others is a dream come true. What inspires Deb about this forever humbling practice is the integration of movement, breath and the joy of being present into a beautiful dance. Through her teaching, Deb emphasizes the non competitive nature of the practice by honoring how the body feels each time one steps to the mat and by finding mental and physical balance. And she never forgets that the practice should be joyful experience to simultaneously increase strength and flexibility. She encourages her students to find that wonderful balance of peacefulness and energy in each class. With the incorporation of yoga philosophy, Deb also embraces the ever important spiritual lifestyle that a yoga practice can unveil.
In her career, Deb has been dedicated to the non for profit sector, particularly with people who are challenged with a developmental disability which has deepened how she view compassion and equality. Deb shares her life with her husband and their four children.
Coming soon…
Melissa Lee prides herself on planning, learning and changing course throughout life. A graduate of Duke University and a 13-year veteran Finance Director at an iconic American retail brand, Melissa prides herself on her ability to balance her love of family and career with her passions, which include fitness and nutrition, political engagement and activism, and self-care and spiritual growth. Prior to starting and completing her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Stonewave Yoga in 2020, she was the Chair of the Civics & Economics Committee of the New York Urban League Young Professionals, and led that chapter to win back to back National awards in the area of civic excellence. Now at almost 41 years young and with a full house of support, Melissa is excited to be able to redirect some of her time and energy leading a more balanced and healthy lifestyle. She currently teaches vinyasa yoga classes weekly with her company’s wellness exchange, and is enrolled in her 500-hour total certification as a yoga instructor. She also recently started a home yoga studio, Dutchess Yoga Soul Lifestyle or DYSL Studio, and has a YouTube channel by the same name where she posts yoga routines, guided meditation and other offerings.
With her roots and practice firmly grounded in the Ashtanga lineage, Jacquelyn’s classes draw from the foundational principles of that practice but also incorporate the softer and therapeutic applications of yoga that she has absorbed through various trainings. Jacquelyn teaches with the intention to make yoga accessible to all people and to demystify the “secret language” of yoga. Inspired by the light-heartedness but also sincerity of many of her teachers, Jacquelyn’s approach to sharing yoga is nurturing, compassionate, and seasoned with a touch of humor.
Jacquelyn also owns and manages Hudson Valley Wedding Yoga, which organizes yoga classes for weddings, bachelorette parties, and special events.
John began teaching in 2015 and enjoys using yoga for people to tap into their bodies, connect to their breath and find peace within their mind and heart. He incorporates a sense of humor into a welcoming style that invites you to stretch, strengthen, balance, move energy, release stress and tension and sometimes chuckle at yourself.
John is E200-RYT and 500-RYT which he completed in 2018.His classes will mix elements of Vinyasa, Alignment, Yin, and Restorative. Bringing a sometime challenging, well rounded but unique flow to each and every class.
Roxanne Alexandra Sharif (Jaya Roxi) grew up in Texas, lived and worked in California, Utah, Washington, and most recently, moved to New York almost five years ago. She’s been in Hudson Valley for two years and doesn’t see herself leaving the Catskills anytime soon. Her practice and instruction of Yoga began in 2005, and in 2015 Jaya Roxi completed several intensive trainings and earned her teaching license from Sivananda Center in Northern California. She has a background in food/agriculture, Ayurveda medicine, and her style in class is generally to focus on syncing breath with movement. Jaya Roxi is passionate about dance, music, and activities such as kirtan that bring people together in sangha.
Michael Stein has been practicing yoga for many lifetimes but still hasn’t quite figured it out. During his most recent incarnation he has been teaching for thirty years. His parents first introduced him to the asanas at the age of five and then tricked him into joining them on multiple yoga holidays by promising that they were en route to Disneyland. He was the Director of Ashtanga Yoga of New Paltz and then co-Director of Yogalive where he led many workshops, teacher trainings and the like. Nothing makes Michael happier than imparting his love of yoga to students. His classes blend traditional Hatha Yoga with Ashtanga, Pilates, Restorative and some truly awful anecdotes. He has taught workshops in NYC, New Jersey, New Paltz and Bath, England but still has not made it to Disneyland.
After many years of sporadic practice, Mel recommitted to yoga after moving to Saugerties in 2011 and discovering Shakti Yoga’s sanctuary classes. Two years later, she completed Shakti’s 200 hour teacher training and has been teaching yoga to students of all ages ever since. An educator since 1998, Mel has taught 4th grade, co-authored a strategy book for teachers and served as a tutor and Director of Education for several NY learning centers. Mel’s varied educational experiences have taught her to remain flexible in the face of teaching and learning challenges and receptive to new ways of sharing and receiving information.
Her classes focus on understanding the fundamentals of asana (poses) through the use of props (blocks, blankets, straps, chairs, bolsters) and movement exploration, while emphasizing the discovery of personal alignment, balance and relaxation. After many years of chronic injuries and pain related to scoliosis (curvature of the spine), Mel has found great relief through the practice of gentle and restorative poses and is passionate about incorporating both into her classes. By encouraging students to respect their physical limitations while exploring what’s possible, Mel aims to help each individual learn how to serve the unique needs of the body. She is forever grateful to her first yoga teacher, Jill Gnassi, whose expert Iyengar instruction taught her how attending to small details could make a huge difference in life.
Scrap Wrenn (RYT-200, R-CYT) draws upon experience with many teachers for her meditative restorative flow practices. She studied with Sondra Loring (2014-2015) for her 200 level yoga teacher training, and her dedication to study and practice of the dharma includes participation with the Mountains and River Order sangha and regular Zen Mountain Monastery residencies. Scrap also teaches mindfulness meditation
