Chaya Spencer, RYT, Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher
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, RYT, Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher
Elizabeth has been teaching yoga since 1994. She met John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga in 1998, and since then has continued to study with John as well as with many other Anusara Yoga teachers, accumulating many hundreds of hours of training and teaching experience. Among her studies are the completion of a year-long Anusara Yoga teacher training program with nationally recognized therapeutics teacher, Ellen Saltonstall and Jim and Ruthie Bernhaert, and Vinyasa teacher Shiva Rea’s foundational teacher training. In 2008, she embarked on a year of intensive philosophy study and meditation practice with Paul Muller Ortega, a world renowned scholar of Indian Religion and Hindu Tantra. Drawn to the exquisite elegance of the Tantric system of thought she continues to deepen her understanding through study with Paul, as well as with other eminent scholars such as Dr. Douglas Brooks.

Elizabeth has taught many workshops on the principles of Anusara Yoga as well as on topics such as women’s reproductive health, osteoporosis and scoliosis. Most recently she co-taught Immersion II with Anusara certified teacher, Chaya Spencer.

Elizabeth’s goal in teaching is to inspire students to experience their own inner and outer freedom. She brings a deep knowledge of alignment technique and a playful spirit to her classes.

Karon Shovers Goldsmith, RYT, Anusara-Inspired™ Yoga Teacher
Karon Shovers is an Affiliated Anusara Instructor working toward Anusara Certification. She has been practicing and studying yoga for over 16 years. In 1997, she met John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga. Karon credits John with transforming her yoga practice and entire outlook on inspired living.

Karon also studies yoga philosophy under Professor Paul Muller-Ortega, a world-renowned scholar of Tantric Philosophy. She has also completed John Friend's Therapeutic Training and Anusara Teacher Trainings Level I and II.

Karon encourages playfulness and creative expression in her classes and workshops. All of Karon's teachings incorporate The Universal Principles of Alignment. Her thoughtful and joyful style gently, but perceptibly raises student's practices to the next level. Karon also has extensive experience leading classes which focus on women's issues, such as PMS, pregnancy, menopause, fertility, and hormonal imbalances. As a mother, she understands the issues women confront and integrates restorative asanas in many of her classes

Her passion for learning and incorporating yoga into all aspects of her life, creates a deep enthusiasm to teach from the heart. Karon is grateful to all her teachers, particularly John Friend and Paul Muller- Ortega, for all their kindness and support.

 

 

Valerie Herzog, RYT, Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher
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 is transformational. Valerie has studied with many wonderful teachers: Sheryl Edsall, Chaya Spencer, Todd Norian and John Friend, just to name a few, and has tremendous gratitude for each one of her teachers, for they have truly changed her life.

In 2005 Valerie became a member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance. She teaches Vinyasa, Anusara, Restorative, Children's and Chair Yoga. At the beginning of 2009 Valerie received her Anusara Inspired Status from John Friend, a most joyously felt addition to her practice and her life!

Andrea Maxine Frade, RYT, Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher
Through her love of language and the passionate churning of the heart, Andrea infuses her teaching with a quality of poetry.

By invoking a sense of importance to each pose Andrea highlights the power and beauty that unveils and extends itself when we meet each moment with the full expanse of the heart.

Andrea interweaves the sophisticated system of the Universal Principles of Alignment with a vibrant sensitivity that invites and encourages each student to step into the current of their own heart.

She aspires to deepen each student's experience by pressing open the boundary of expectation with a radiance that offers the expanse of possibility.

Andrea is tremendously grateful for all her teachers, including her students, who continually provide the ever-expanding sphere of discovery, creativity and illumination.

For her Level I Teacher Training Andrea studied at New York's Premiere Anusara Studio, Virayoga, with esteemed Certified Anusara teacher Zhenja La Rosa and graduated in January of 2008. In the same year Andrea also completed her Level II Teacher Training with Anusara Yoga's founder John Friend. She is currently working towards Anusara Inspired status.

Montse Costello, RYT
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.

Amy Jean Matri-Pastore, RYT, 500 hour, Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher
Amy’s passion for teaching evolved from her own love of yoga. Amy appreciates all schools of Hatha Yoga and was eventually moved to learn more about Anusara. She was immediately taken by the way the practice is so elegantly formulated with such heart. In addition to her study with Chaya at Shree, Amy has attended various workshops with Anusara teachers including Todd Norian, Sianna Sherman, Kenny Graham, Elena Brower, and John Friend who so graciously demystifies the science and joyfully celebrates the art that is Anusara yoga.

She has received both Basic and Advanced Teacher Training certifications from the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California as well as Yoga Synthesis's 500 hour Advanced Teachers Training. She is also certified to teach restorative yoga and has participated in numerous other workshops and trainings over the past 6 years.

Amy infuses her teaching with compassion, humor, and creativity. She encourages her students to celebrate there own divinity, shine and illuminate one another.

 

 

 

 

 

Kent Lindemer
Kent Lindemer, M.F.A. has an intense passion for and an extensive background in yoga, dance and bodywork.   After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in Theatre Arts, Kent danced and choreographed both nationally and internationally with Pilobolus Dance Theatre from 1989-2000.

After obtaining certification in massage therapy and bodywork, Kent toured nationally with the Broadway musical Swing! as the company’s massage therapist, aerial bungee rigger and trainer.   Concurrently, Kent continued to pursue his studies in yoga with John Friend and eventually became an affiliated Anusara teacher.   Immersing himself even further within the world of yoga, Kent completed Advanced Teacher Training with Richard Freeman and taught Ashtanga Yoga at The Yoga Workshop in Boulder, CO.  Most recently, Kent earned an MFA in Dance at the University of Washington.

As a result of these multifaceted yet interconnected experiences, Kent has developed a uniquely rich knowledge base and style of teaching which blends together elements of his experiences in dance, anatomy, Ashtanga and Anusara Yoga, his own style of Nata Yoga, Nada Yoga, and Partner Yoga.  Kent enjoys teaching workshops and classes nationally and abroad and has done so since 1995.  He has moved back to the East Coast to continue his career and have a baby with his lovely partner Deirdre.  He still keeps a Massage Therapy practice and occasionally dances with Pilobolus, as well as on his own. 

 

Jan Jeremias
Jan has been practicing yoga for 8 years. She feels that Yoga continues to provide her with the tools to handle the "Rollercoaster" of life and is passionate about sharing the teachings of yoga with her students. Jan completed the Ayurveda Yoga Teacher Training with Sara Tomlinson, her yoga teacher training at Naturally Yoga, and a certification in Restorative Yoga from Masala Yoga. She began practicing Anusara Yoga two years ago and finds that the combination of alignment and spirituality are perfect for her mind and body. Jan has studied with many wonderful teachers, Sheryl Edsall, Chaya Spencer, Elizabeth Doberneck, Todd Norian and Desiree Rumbaugh and has completed two Anusara Immersions.