Our Instructors

Calie Candia

Calie has been practicing and studying Yoga for over 30 years. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the National Yoga Alliance. Her Vinyasa (flow) style blends yoga postures with well chosen music, and sprinkles the class with humor and wisdom. Herclasses always address the body mind connection that can turn daily stress into a tool for self discipline and growth.
Her knowledge of the body creates a wisdom practice for all levels and as she states, “Iam the queen of modifications.” She has also taught workshops in: “Flow into Meditation,” where Vinyasa is combined with seated meditation using the Tibetan Buddhist teachings of Natural Meditation Practice.

Christina

Christina's style of teaching focuses on a deep study of the connections between body, breath, and spirit, blending instruction on Anusara Yoga's® Universal Principles of Alignment with the thematic exploration of various spiritual teachings into an experience that affirms for each student the idea that simply being who and how they are is already enough. Her classes often incorporate dynamic flowing sequences to create inner heat along with held postures and partner work to facilitate alignment. She brings a calm presence and uplifting style to encourage each student to explore him or herself more fully on all levels.
As a student of yoga since 1998, Christina has had the incredible fortune to have studied with many outstanding teachers. She is currently most impacted by certified Anusara Yoga® teachers Sianna Sherman, Desiree Rumbaugh and Maritza. Her notable past mentors include Andrew Eppler and Sri K Pattahbi Jois, with whom she studied in Mysore, India.

ChristinaForth.com

Christy Brown

Christy has been teaching vinyasa and yin yoga since 2000. She has studied in India with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and S.N. Goinka and in the U.S. with Sarah Powers, Paul Grilley, John Friend, Mata Amritanandamayi, and H.H. the Dalai Lama. In her teaching, Christy emphasizes mindfulness and breath, alignment and moving from core, and cultivating one's highest wellbeing for the benefit of all beings. Drawing on ancient yogic teachings, Buddhism, and other wisdom traditions, she weaves a creatively flowing, invigorating yet calming, centering yet expanding exploration of Self through asana.

ChristyBrownYoga.com

Cynthia Bernheim

Cynthia combines her enthusiasm and love of yoga with a knowledge of alignment and body mechanics.  Her classes are fun and playful with easy-to-follow instructions encouraging students of all levels to work deeply while honoring and working with their limitations.  Cynthia began teaching Yoga after 20 years in the business world in order to make a positive change in her life and share that with others.  She’s been a sports enthusiast her whole life, but was missing a holistic form of movement (and way of life) until she discovered yoga.  Yoga soon became her way of life.

Cynthia received her training as a yoga teacher in the 500 hr. Advanced Studies Program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco.  She has also completed the Anusara Immersion taught by Laura Christensen.  Cynthia currently volunteers her time as a Board Member for the the Northern California Iyengar Yoga Association.

Jennifer Reiter

Jennifer discovered yoga in 1988 while in college, it quickly became the perfect compliment to her love of off road running. In 2001 she began teaching asana, and prana yama to homeless women and children in Minneapolis with a commitment to serving those who could not afford to pay for classes. After a car accident running was now out, and yoga even more important than ever.

Jennifer found yoga and the breathe her saving grace. Just before becoming a mom she began teaching prenatal and postnatal yoga. She is fully committed to inspiring new moms to connect with their babies through yoga. Jennifer also practices Shiatsu, Thai massage, Reiki and Infant massage.

Jen Sterling

Jen has been a student of yoga since 1998 and is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance.  In 2004 she completed her yoga teacher training at High Desert Yoga and graduated from The Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM, where she studied under Dr. Vasant Lad.

As a personal trainer for 10 years, Jen has enjoyed helping individuals to achieve better body awareness, core strength, alignment, and connection to their breath.  By incorporating yoga philosophy and Ayurveda into her work, she creates a space for others to explore and experience how the mind, body, and spirit are all connected. 

Over the past 12 years, Jen has studied with many master teachers, and is in deep gratitude to Ramanand Patel, Dr. Vasant Lad and Kim Schwartz, who have shown her how to walk the yogic path.

Justine Franks Rudman



Justine has been studying yoga for the past fourteen years. Originally from the U.K., she first started yoga to help ease back pain associated with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) in her early twenties. She continuted to study yoga and realized its immense physical, mental and spiritual benefits. This inspired her to become a teacher and help others along this path.

The highlights of her fourteen years of yoga experience include studying in Pune, India with the Iyengars. She has also participated in various workshops around the world to improve her practice and her teaching skills. She has completed the two year “Advanced Studies/Teacher Training” course at The Iyengar Institute in San Francisco and “The Teaching yoga to Pregnant women and Doula Training” by Judith Lasater, Ginny Ross and Regina Brunig. She also continued her yoga practice throughout all three of her pregnancies and as a mother of her three young children. She now uses all of these experieces to help beginners, back sufferers and pre and post Natal women learn the benefits of yoga. She likes to use props to assist her students and support their physical needs. Justine is also a teacher of the Deaf and Special Needs children and teaches Baby sign language classes. She lives in Mill Valley with her husband and sons.

Karin Scholz Grace



Karin is a certified Hanna Somatic therapist, bringing a wide range of training and skills to her diverse healing arts and coaching practice. Based in Sausalito, California, she offers individual sessions and group classes in Hanna Somatics, Somatic Yoga, somatic coaching, leadership development, meditation, stress reduction, and the Enneagram. Karin holds an MS from Stanford University, and is currently a student of the Diamond Approach.

In addition to her private practice, Karin also facilitates Interpersonal Dynamics and High Performance Leadership at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and at USF School of Law. She is also a regular speaker and presenter at workshops and conferences such as the Association of Hanna Somatic Education conference, the International Enneagram Association Conference, and the International Association of Yoga Therapy Conference.

Having used Somatics to recover from her own debilitating spinal injury, Karin embodies this transformative healing practice from a place of personal experience and deep compassion. She loves empowering each student with the tools to make dramatic shifts within themselves and find greater capacity, flexibility, and comfort.

Katrina Knudsen

Katrina has been an enthusiastic Anusara yogi on the journey to unite her mind, body, and spirit since Anusara's inception in 1997. A long time Anusara Inspired teacher, she is currently a Certified Anusara Yoga Instructor. She has been studying and training with John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga, for over 7 years.

In addition, Katrina has been studying and practicing extensively with the philosophy, history, and meditation master Paul Muller-Ortega since he began teaching publicly in 2007. She's completed the year-long Entering the Heart of Shiva course with Paul.

As a teacher, Katrina is deeply dedicated to helping students get a revelation of their own divine nature and to taste the bliss of their hearts through Anusara Yoga's® Universal Principles of Alignment.

Kelly Farr de Flores

Kelly Farr de Flores began studying ballet at the age of four and continued to study dance for many years to follow. More than a decade ago her love of dance made way for a smooth transition into yoga. Her devoted practice then led her to the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica, for her teacher certification. 

Since 2005 she has been dedicated to sharing the art, science and philosophy of yoga with others. An incredible love of travel and thirst for knowledge has since led her to many foreign lands to explore yoga workshops and classes. Her most recent studies have been at the Anand Prakash Ashram in Rishikesh, India and at Power Yoga with Bryan Kest in Santa Monica, Ca. She has also taken courses in pranic (energy) healing. Kelly is continuously evolving as a yoga practitioner and teacher, always keeping her mind and heart open to new ideas. Her daily organic yoga practice flows with an open heart which radiates in her teaching. She weaves many forms of yoga together to meet the specific needs of her students. 

Her vinyasa flow classes are guided by the rhythm of the inhalation and exhalation in such a way that the body, mind, and spirit are blended in a beautiful interplay of breath and movement creating a meditation in motion. She encourages her students to go inside themselves to find what they need, being mindful to honor the present moment. Join her and let your light shine out.

KK Ledford

KK is a Certified Anusara yoga teacher who grew up in the forests of East Texas. She was blessed to begin her Anusara journey studying intensively with her teacher John Friend in 1998 and has thousands of hours of studying directly with him for over 11 years. KK brings a wide background of spiritual engagement to her poetic and challenging classes with a Master’s degree in Women’s Spirituality, an integrated knowledge of therapeutics and Tantric philosophy, and an outlook steeped in nature-based spirituality. KK emits a big radiant energy, strength and enthusiasm for yoga.

Always passionate, KK has dedicated the past 13 years to teaching yoga full time and has spent 20 years studying and savoring the mysteries of consciousness. With a sense of humor and fierce dedication, she brings together yoga, astrology, herbalism, and embodied spirituality to her dynamic classes. She inspires students to work hard, learn sophisticated and heart-centered alignment, deepen their commitment to their practice and awaken to their own innate power and splendor.

Her ongoing and extensive studies in Kashmir Shaivism and meditation are with Prof. Paul Muller-Ortega, and she has studied the philosophy of Rajanaka over many years with Prof. Douglas Brooks. In addition to her public yoga classes and private sessions, she educates and facilitates workshops and ceremonies for women and officiates weddings.

To learn more, visit: www.wildmoonwisdom.com/

Laura Christensen (Abbey)

Laura is a Certified Anusara® Yoga Teacher and serves on the Anusara Yoga Certification Committee. She has been practicing and studying various forms of yoga for over 18 years. She apprenticed with John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga, for more than one year, on tour, full-time and has studied with him directly for over 8 years and 2,500 hours. She continues to be an extremely dedicated student and teacher.

With large doses of articulated radiance, Laura inspires students to recognize and unveil the wellspring of unique potency inside and merge it with the ever-flowing gift of Grace. Through her clear and skilled instruction, and sweet, supportive spirit, students discover new depths within their hearts and new heights in their asana practices. 

LauraChristensen.com

Lisa Walker



Lisa passion is to help people to live better lives. This was a resounding theme in her life, having studied to be a psychologist, worked as a corporate facilitator for personal growth in the corporate workforce, and been very involved in non-profit work in her community. Having practiced yoga for the last 8 years and experienced first hand the profound mind-body benefits of the practice in every part of her life, teaching was a natural extension of her professional life. She had practiced for many years but deepened her practice and skills beginning with a teacher training program with Maritza and then by traveling all over the United States studying exclusively with John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga®. Lisa loves teaching yoga - it's wonderful to help people feel good, to touch them directly, to guide them through deep relaxation and healing and see their lives change. She looks forward to developing relationships with her students and watching their lives improve through their practice. Ultimately, Lisa would like to integrate her passion for yoga with her counseling psychology and holistic background. She wishes you the peace of mind, heart opening and deep mind, body and spirit connection that she has gained through her practice.

Lori O'Doherty

Lori joins us from Boston where she was a Senior Teacher at Back Bay Yoga studio and Studio Director at All One Yoga.  A student and teacher of yoga for years, Lori has trained in over one thousand hours of Vinyasa, Yin, and Forrest Yoga.  Lori assisted Ana Forrest teacher training programs and workshops for two years and Lynne Begier for one year.

Lori moved to California embracing Universal flow and bliss!  She practices Anusara yoga, Universal Healing Tao, Meditation, and Prayer.  One way she embodies Yoga principles is in alignment with the 5 elements:   Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and Metal.  Her spiritual practice comes from studying Tantra philosophy, meditation, and prayer.

LoriO'Doherty.com

Mirabai Warkulwiz

Mirabai's Restorative classes offer a spiritually uplifting and deeply healing, wholistic experience. Her classes include centering exercises, Restorative asanas (gentle postures where the body is fully supported with props and held for longer periods of time enabling the body to open and relax).  Both calming and rejuvenating, restorative poses help bring balance and energy to our busy lives.  Classes also include some very gentle stretching, pranayama (breath work), yoga nidra (deep relaxation), and meditation.  Classes are for all levels, and are beginner friendly.

Mirabai planted her yoga and meditation roots in 1998 in San Francisco at the Sivananda Yoga Center and at the Integral Yoga Institute. Amazed at her healing of a back injury and countless other positive life changes, she became yoga certified through 200-hour teacher training programs both at the Integral Yoga Institute in 2004, and at the Greenpath Ashtanga Studio in 2005. In July 2008 she completed another 170 hour Intermediate Teacher Training program in Hatha and Pranayama through the Integral Yoga Institute in Virginia.  Mirabai has also trained in Restorative yoga with Judith Lasater and other mentors.  She has a deep passion for sharing these ancient yoga practices with her students. 

Mirabai is also Reiki Level 1 certified, studies Aryuveda, loves nature and hiking, dancing, and is a Kirtan musician who leads gatherings around the Bay.  Shr enjoys implementing music or chanting in her classes. www.mirabaiandfriends.com

Paul McLaughlin

 

Paul, Certified Anusara Yoga® Teacher, began studying hatha yoga and meditation in 1973. "I crafted a basic asana practice out of my big sister's copy of Light on Yoga. I practiced, largely in solitude, through my high school, college and early professional years. I began taking regular Iyengar classes with Lynn Minton in Anchorage, Alaska in 1991. From 1992 through 1996 I traveled extensively in the United States and abroad studying yoga, participating in long meditation retreats and exploring the mountains of North America and the Himalaya. I spent 9 months in India, visiting sacred sites, studying with several teachers and soaking up the amazing spiritual energy of the "homeland of yoga". I met John Friend at a yoga conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1997. I was hooked from the first class! I loved the combination of the elegant principles of alignment, the cultivation of heart qualities, and the recognition of hatha yoga as a profound spiritual practice. I began to teach yoga after several years of study with John in order to share my enthusiasm for Anusara Yoga® with others." Paul's teaching style emphasizes vitality, alignment and open-hearted exploration.

Rachel, originally from northern New Mexico, first began practicing yoga in college as a natural transition from a background in gymnastics. Upon moving to Marin in 2003, Rachel immersed herself in the wonderful Anusara community of the Bay Area. Through the years Rachel has revelled in the sanctuary of peace, fullness, inner alignment, and community that yoga as a spiritual path provides. Rachel has had the opportunity to study with Sianna Sherman and John Friend, as well as Maritza, Noah Maze, and Jim Bernaert. Her teaching strives to help students align the body and mind with the deep current of energy within, and to experience life more fully and joyously. Rachel loves to share this great practice that has so profoundly enriched her own life.

Teannalach.com

Stacie, co-founder of Yoga of Sausalito, brings years of technical rehabilitative bodywork, Pilates and functional movement therapies to her fun, transformative yoga classes. She responds to the specific physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each person leading them to a new, dynamic and creative experience of life!

Talei Loloma

The profound impact yoga has had on Talei’s life is what led her to become a compassionately devoted teacher. Her warm smile radiates and spreads throughout the room while she holds space for each student to connect to the guru within through the integration of fluid movement, breath, sound and meditative awareness. Each class is inspired by the collective energy in the room while incorporating aspects of Bhakti, Tantra, Ashtanga, Ayurveda, Yin and Therapeutics.

Talei is deeply honored to assist for her primary teacher Shiva Rea and is eternally grateful to have studied with and been guided by many amazing teachers along the path including Deborah Burkman, Janet Stone, Mirka Kraftsow, Rusty Wells and Sarah Powers. She encourages students to come to their own unique compassionate edge with strength and fluidity.
www.TaleiLolomaYoga.com

Yvette has a passion for yoga, healing and promoting happiness in the present moment. She strives to bring the mind and body back to balance and harmony. She believes in the renewal of the self and has successfully helped students relieve their chronic pain. She is sensitive to her students' individual needs and her presence is peaceful and compassionate.

Yvette completed the Anusara Yoga Advanced Studies Intensive Teacher Training in 2001. She studied the principles of Anusara, including the bio-mechanical alignment in postures, breakdown of postures with modifications and props, prevention and treatment of injuries, seeing and understanding bodies, principles of sequencing postures, reclining and sitting pranayama. She has also studied guided explorations of chakra energy, meditation theory, and Vipassana meditation. Yvette has recieved atunement and was initiated into the Master level of the Usui Shiki Ryoho System of Natural Healing. Yvette participated in the Gyudmed Tantric Monastery's Tibetan Purification of the Universe Ritual in 2001, with Tibetan Buddhist Monks.

She hopes all living beings find happiness and peace. She has also participated in Dance Mandal Kathmandu, Foundation for the Promotion of Sacred Performing Arts workshops on Charya Nirtya Sacred Buddhist Dance of Nepal, "Dance as a Spiritual Discipline" with director Prajwal R. Vajracharya. Yvette lived in La Paz, Bolivia for three years studying art and healing of the Inca tradition. She walked, hiked, and meditated from the snowy tops of the Andes Mountains to the lush jungles of Yungas where she paid homage to Pachamama (Mother Earth Goddess) and the Virgin of Copacabana. She also hikes in the Eastern Sierras connecting to nature and it's greatness.

http://web.mac.com/yvetteeyza