Chaya SpencerChaya Spencer
Chaya is a fully certified Anusara Yoga Teacher and member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance. Chaya is the director and founder of Shree Yoga Studios, formerly Rockland County Yoga. Her classes are upbeat, fun, informative and safe.

Born and raised in New York City, Chaya first traveled to India when she was 14 to study yoga and meditation. For the next three years, she traveled all over the world with her meditation and yoga teacher, studying Indian philosophy, Sanskrit, yoga, Indian music and cooking. Chaya attended Sarah Lawrence College.

Over the years, Chaya regularly returned to India for extended periods to continue her studies. She received her first yoga teacher certification in India in 1990. She is a perpetual yoga student and continues her studies throughout the year.
Read an article about Chaya.

 

Elizabeth Doberneck
Elizabeth Doberneck first fell in love with yoga, unwittingly, through the words of T.S. Elliot (“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh, nor fleshless; /Neither from, nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is…”) Years later, she was amazed to discover that inner dance in her first yoga class. Since then she has explored the poetry of yoga through many teacher trainings, beginning in 1994, at the World Yoga Center in New York City. She is an affiliated Anusara teacher, and a graduate of the intensive year-long Anusara training at Yoga Mandali, in New York City. In addition, she has studied extensively with John Friend, completing his level II and therapeutic teacher trainings. She is filled with boundless gratitude to John for the way in which he has so beautifully delineated the dance for us all.







Karon Shovers Goldsmith
Karon Shovers Goldsmith has practiced and studied Yoga with various masters over the last 13 years. She is a graduate of an 18 month intensive certification program offered by the Anusara-based World Yoga Center in New York City, and she became a member of its faculty upon her graduation. In May, 2004, Karon beacame an Anusara Affiliate and is also a registered yoga teacher with the National Yoga Alliance. While residing in New York City, in addition to her regular classes at World Yoga Center, she taught after-school clubs in the New York City Public schools, private clients in their homes and conducted numerous workshops.

She also has extensive experience leading classes which focus on women's issues, such as PMS, pregnancy, menopause, fertility, and hormonal imbalances. As a mother of a toddler, she understands the issues women confront and integrates restorative asanas in many of her classes. In addition, she recently became initiated as a Reiki Level II practitioner. Karon's classes encourage deep focus, precise alignment, and an emphasis on breath. A resident of Nyack, Karon lives with her husband Michael, son Benjamin and her cat Luna.

 

Valerie Herzog
Valerie is a lifelong practitioner of yoga and has also been a practicing psychotherapist for more than 25 years. She finds that blending yoga with therapy can be a most natural approach, as yoga is a form of therapy that seems to cures all. A member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance, Valerie has studied with many wonderful teachers and learned various styles of yoga. And while she presently teaches Vinyasa, Chair, Restorative and Children’s Yoga, she finds teaching an Anusara-inspired Vinyasa/Flow to be a true joy! Valerie enjoys teaching to all levels of students.











Lizzie Maya
Lizzie started studying yoga over a decade ago, but when she walked into her first Anusara yoga class, the practice of yoga took on new meaning for her life and work. Lizzie came to Anusara yoga with the hope of healing some physical injuries and the thirst to dig deeper into her own spiritual practice. She had already been a practicing Buddhist for many years and was a loving student of Lama Surya Das. Anusara philosophy let her marry her Buddhist teachings with Rajanaka thought and it continues to allow her to expand and cultivate her heart and mind. She completed her Teacher Training with Vishali Varga at Yoga Montclair in NJ in 2006 and began teaching yoga soon after. Prior to her yoga teaching, Lizzie graduated with a BA in Theater from Marymount Manhattan College; she had her own band in NYC for many years; and she did graduate studies at Bank Street College in NYC. She was a head preschool teacher in Manhattan for many years, and taught art, theater and music to children in NYC and NJ. With the arrival of her own son Diego, all the wonderment of childhood came alive every day in her life, and she soon felt the desire to bring that wonderment and open heartedness to teaching adults.

Teaching yoga has brought together many of Lizzie’s passions: her love of people; communication; spirituality; healing; and the arts. She has a gentle, thoughtful and uplifting style of teaching, where students feel they are not only working their bodies, minds and spirits, but they are also able to have fun and laugh.

 

Andrea Maxine Frade
"I am dispersed in language that describes me, encouraging me to take a step and dance with timelessness. I take her hand, she whispers a tune and I find myself twirling in a new color."
Through the poetic essence of language and the transformative churning that defines the desirous matter of our skin and sound Andrea extracts and offers the nectar of experience through the art of teaching yoga. She began her study and practice of the poetics while devoted to cultivating her BA degree in Literature and Philosophy Pace University in NYC in 2001. She then moved on to start her own exploratory process of photography and performance art and in 2003 was accepted into the Glasgow School of Art for Fine Art. She studied performance in relationship to the silent image and the poetics of the written word and soon realized her love for the potency of the sacred within the intimate sound of self-exploration. In 2005 she moved back to NY with a Masters Degree in Fine Art and completed her Level One Anusara Yoga Teacher Training with Certified Anusara Teacher Zhenja La Rosa. Currently Andrea is residing in Suffern, NY and working in New York City and the Rockland and Bergen County areas. She is available for therapeutics, private sessions, semi-privates and group classes.
"that way she sings her song is the way I want to live my life"
~ Andrea Maxine Frade




Susan Walsh
Susan has been drawn to the practice of yoga since her first class in 2002. Through her teachings she hopes to inspire others to discover the many gifts yoga has to offer both on the mat and off. Susan has a deep love for Anusara Yoga and it’s teachings. She is a Registered Yoga Instructor and a member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance. She completed her teacher training in 2006 and has been teaching yoga classes in Bergen County since. Susan is blessed at home with her two beautiful children, Anna and Mikayla, and her loving husband Mark.











Montse Costello
Montse has been practicing yoga for the past 6 years, and decided to go into Teacher Training as a way to deepen her own yoga practice. However, during her training, she realized how passionate she was about sharing with others what she was discovering about yoga, and how her life was becoming more flavorful and joyful because of it. Montse started teaching in September 07, after completing her first Teacher Training at Naturally Yoga. . She is a member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance.

Montse teaches in hopes of providing others with that life affirming attitude that Anusara Yoga infuses into everything. She strives to motivate her students to find beauty and self expression on and off the mat. She is totally in love with the details, and her goal is to help everyone find the freedom, balance and stability that good alignment offers.

She keeps deepening her studies of Anusara Yoga, attending to immersions, workshops and weekly classes. She would like to deeply thank all of her teachers who continually inspire and guide her; especially Chaya Spencer, Sheryl Edsall, Zhenja La Rosa, her husband Dominick, daughter Alex and son Lucas.






home page | contact