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               T   E   A   C   H   E   R   S   
 
   Natalie      Loree      Heather      Deborah      Jason       Brandi       Christy      Peter     Debra Lee     Vanessa     Dashi  

Natalie Morales
 

Natalie has been studying varied approaches to Hatha yoga since 1981, including Anusara, Ashtanga, Bikram, Kundalini, Iyengar and the style some call Viniyoga.  She started teaching in 1995, blending her experience into light-hearted classes where we are encouraged to make our own multi-layered study of the self that extends way beyond the physical.  She promotes each class as an act of self-discovery, not just by emphasizing body-awareness through asana, but also by encouraging us to fine-tune an awareness in the patterns of thought and emotion that underlie our movement. She believes that the most well-rounded approach to life and yoga involves experimenting with various styles, to honor our multi-faceted personalities.  To help students experience this, she teaches Yoga Nidra, Restorative, and a style she calls Funyasa™, a power-vinyasa hybrid with special emphasis on fun.  To learn more about her, visit funyasa.com


Loree Shrager
 

During her first yoga class in 1990, Loree Shrager realized that she had found what she had been craving.  Back pain from severe scoliosis lead her to spontaneously invent some stretches for limited relief.  With yoga came the exciting discovery of a wide world to explore.  Since then Loree has been passionate about yoga and has continued to study different styles under many teachers.  She has been certified to teach by Peter Barber, Bobbi Goldin and Erich Schiffmann.  Loree has a PhD. in clinical psychology, and was able to incorporate and examine yoga’s myriad effects in her final dissertation.  Today she teaches throughout Miami, is the co-owner of Dharma Studio in Coconut Grove, works as a therapist, and is the mother of two amazing boys.  Her flowing style is always changing, and she’s known for classes that are challenging, relaxing, fun and soothing all at once.


Heather Morgan
 

Heather fell in love with yoga during her first Ashtanga class, thrilled at the physical challenge, the electric energy in the room, and the grace of the other students.  Looking back, she had found a great workout routine but was not really practicing yoga! Since those early days, she has explored Iyengar, Anusara, Yogic Arts and a vast assortment of vinyasa flow styles, but has found her home in Skanda Yoga, and feels honored to have trained directly with the founder Ken von Roenn III.  This style invokes the energy of the Maya Dreamspell Calendar to align with us with nature's cyclical patterns. As a Skanda teacher, Heather embodies the warrior spirit and initiates transformation in her students, honoring the basic form of the asana, and bringing it to life with breath, energy and natural alignment.  She reminds her students to economize effort and to deepen into each pose with ease and grace. Heather’s classes are stimulating, challenging and energizing.  You will hear sighs as students release deeply into wonderful stretches, and gasps as they realize that everything is possible!  To learn more about Heather visit earthspirityoga.me

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Deborah O'Brien
 

As classically trained singer,  Deborah has spent over a decade in the Theatre, both onstage and as a technician.  As a yoga teacher, she brings that fun theatrical energy into class using improvisation by inspiration. She firmly believes that yoga is for everyone, all that is required is a commitment to having your own experience. She has passionately studied many styles with many teachers, refining her open-minded, open-hearted style.  In her Yin Yoga classes, she emphasizes the therapeutic potential of Yoga as a tool to heal, re-balance and bring stability to the physical body and to our daily lives.  She ends each class by singing to her students in savasana, very memorable indeed.  


Jason Lawner
 

Jason has been an active athlete his entire life, thriving on the challenge and discipline of physical exercise.  He participated in triathlons from the age of 10, and as a result of ruthless training at such a tender age, developed back injuries so serious that he was forced to wear a brace for almost 3 years. After sustaining a knee injury, he was sidelined from sports altogether his sophomore year in High School.  As a means of rehab, he reluctantly checked out a yoga class, and came away with something that he never got in his years of training in the gym: an overall sense of wellbeing. Since then he’s never looked back.  Having learned first-hand about the body’s capacity to heal itself by applying principles of biomechanical alignment taught in yoga, Jason is proof of the resilience of the human spirit and the healing power of yoga.  He has studied Anusara® Yoga extensively with John Friend, Desirée Rambaugh, Sianna Sherman, Amy Ippoliti and Jordan Bloom, among others.  He completed a Level I Anusara® Yoga Teacher Training, and was certified to teach Skanda Yoga by the founder Ken von Roenn III.  Jason shares his experience and puts his skill into action in his classes, invoking the warrior spirit for a challenging and self-empowering practice.  To learn more about this style, visit jasonlawner.com or anusara.com


Brandi Baldwin
 

Brandi is a Miami native and life-long athlete, an artist, entrepreneur and avid Yogini.  She sees yoga as the ideal playground for people to explore their true nature and to access their Highest Self.  It provides an opportunity for people to explore and celebrate their uniqueness; to observe the ego and detach from the desire to compare and control.  She encourages her students to release judgment and to find contentment in the face of challenge, both on and off the mat. By helping her students manage stress, live more wholly and realize their greatest potential, Brandi sees teaching yoga as her contribution to the betterment of society, one person at a time.  She’s also an expert on human interaction, and facilitates workshops on successful relationships.  She imbues her Yoga Flow classes with her warm and accepting spirit, leaving students feeling refreshed, centered and recharged.   

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Christy Nones
 

Christy Nones, a certified Anusara® yoga teacher, has been studying and practicing yoga since 1988. A classically trained Homeopath and dancer, she is enthusiastic about the healing and therapeutic aspects of the Anusara yoga school. With an extensive background in spiritual/religious studies and a B.A. in comparative religions from Boston University, she gains profound inspiration from the Tantric philosophy of Anusara yoga and offers its elegant wisdom in delightfully practical ways. She offers trainings and workshops locally and internationally, and furthers her own studies by assisting and apprenticing with John Friend, founder of Anusara yoga, as well as constantly seeking out the wisdom of other teachers. Christy infuses her classes with poetry, precision and playfulness, encouraging students to explore the depths of their own strength, beauty and potential.


Peter Barber
 

Peter Barber is a Certified Anusara® Yoga Teacher, is a retired attorney and has been teaching yoga full time since 1996. He has trained extensively with some of the most renowned teachers in the country, and has been a student of John Friend since 2000.  He shares his knowledge generously, and is grateful for the opportunity to do so.  To learn more, visit yogipete.com or anusara.com


Debra Lee Lazaro
 

With a Health & Fitness background from New York, California and Florida, Debra Lee turned her entire focus to teaching yoga, and received her Yoga Certification in Miami 2001.  She teaches a strong, flowing and meditative vinyasa yoga class, infused with elements from the Anusara, Ashtanga, Iyengar and Tantric traditions. She has trained extensively with some of the most renowned teachers in the field, such as John Friend, Rod Stryker, Rodney Yee, Aadil Palkhivala and Tias Little.  Well known for safety and alignment, Debra Lee’s soft approach to her powerful style is an energizing and vigorous blend of physical movements synchronized with the breath, helping her students increase flexibility, muscle tone and strength, while conditioning the cardiovascular and digestive systems, to create an overall sense of well-being


Vanessa Michel
 

Vanessa was a teenager when she first encountered Rachel Welch’s now-famous book of yoga.  She was so inspired by the amazing poses that she began to imitate them out of curiosity and for fun, always interested in whatever involved moving the body.  Over the years she has developed that keen interest into a way of life, exploring different yogic methods to arrive at her present blend of styles.  Vanessa is known for coaxing amazing poses out of people with her playful spirit.   In her classes, she combines the details of Iyengar yoga with the discipline of Ashtanga Vinyasa, adding the spice of Jivamukti and traditional undertones of Vipassana Meditation and Tantric ParaYoga®.  She has studied with Sharon Gannon, Rod Stryker, Doug Swenson and Karen Prior, among others. She teaches Vinyasa,  Mamaste™ Prenatal Yoga  & Postnatal Yoga.  She joyfully invites you on a wholesome journey with effects sure to extend beyond the regular asana practice.

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Dashi Chu Kocica
 

Dashi’s passion speaks for itself. After curing herself of a partial hearing loss in 1997 at the world’s largest Qigong Hospital in China, she is dedicated to bringing ancient and powerful methods of self-healing to the West. With over 40 years’ experience “cross training” in yoga, Qigong and Taiji Chuan, her mission is to empower individuals to practice self-healing daily, so that they can take charge of their health, well being and spiritual evolution. Her background in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Anatomy and Biomechanics gives her unique insight into the principles of movement and energy flow. She teaches students how to enter into a state of inner harmony, synchronizing body, mind and breath, so they can experience a blissful flow of energy through the body. Dashi has traveled the world learning from master teachers, but she recognizes that the ultimate teacher is within. Gifted with natural grace and inner stillness, her teaching style is precise and analytical, yet it opens the mind to grasp the broader concepts of energy flow within the form. Dashi is certified in TriYoga®, Supreme Science Qigong, and is China-certified in Wisdom Qigong and Lian Gong. She is an Acupuncture Physician and co-owner with her husband Bodhi of the Hoshino Therapy Clinic in Coral Gables and Shangri-Lodge Retreat Center in Costa Rica.  Visit www.asianhealingarts.org to view her calendar of workshops and retreats at home and abroad, and DVDs and articles on Qigong. Visit www.hoshinotherapy.org to learn more about Hoshino Therapy.


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