Teachers

Teachers at the Center

ANA AYVAZIAN (Nia) has been performing and teaching Ethnic Dance for the past 15 years. She began her dance training in Armenian Folkloric dance, traveling with a troupe throughout the U.S. Canada, and Armenia. She has studied Flamenco under Ramon de los Reyes and more recently with Omayra Amaya. This summer she presented a flamenco workshop to the young students at the New England School of Dance. In June of 2002 she became certified to teach NIA. Building on her background of dance, she has through her NIA classes combined her passion and love of dance with the movement forms incorporated in the NIA technique. It's a great workout for everyone, dancers and non-dancers alike. We celebrate the joy of movement - no matter what our dance experience

TAL BANAYAN (Yoga) has been practicing yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2002. He has explored different methods of practice, all of which inform and blend into his style of teaching. Main influences include various Vinyasa styles, Anusara Yoga, Tias Little, Mark Whitwell, Ken Wilber's Integral Theory, and contemporary non-dual spiritual teachers such as Eckhart Tolle, Byron Katie, Adyashanti, Mooji and Gangaji. In the yoga room, Tal tends to emphasize alignment in the context of breath, which he sees as the heart of the practice. It is through attention to breath that we find a sense of presence and spacious awareness. In that spacious awareness we open to receive the guidance from our already intelligent bodies, and lead into proper physical and energetic alignment with the whole of life. On the yoga mat Tal invites students to find an intimate encounter of mind, body, breath, and awareness and to realize it as the gift of yoga to this world: an opportunity to directly experience our true essence as life itself; to find an internal recognition that is greater than our individual perspectives, limitations, and conflicts. As such, Tal is inviting students to celebrate yoga as a willing participation in life as it is rather than as a discipline to be mastered for self-betterment

ANNE CURTIS (Yoga, Iyengar Yoga) has practiced yoga since 1996 and has been teaching since 2003, after completing her Iyengar-based teacher training with Larry Hatlett in Palo Alto, CA. Anne is a Yoga Alliance certified E-RYT 200 and graduated from the Lotus Room Teacher Training Program in 2008. Anne is devoted to teaching in a student-centered way, in which each student’s unique characteristics are taken into account. Her goal is for each individual to find their way toward greater understanding of their own body and how to work with yoga poses to bring about a finely tuned and mindful balance

LINDA DEL MONTE (Kripalu Yoga) has been practicing yoga for over 30 years and teaching since 1999. A certified Kripalu yoga teacher, Linda has also studied Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Anusara yoga. She is grateful for the many teachers who have inspired her and who continue to offer guidance and inspiration, including Arthur Kilmurray, Jennifer Harvey, John Friend, Desiree Rumbaugh, and Chandra Cantor. Linda‘s teaching emphasizes finding alignment in the body, using the breath to balance energy, and remaining in the spirit of the heart. Her passion as a teacher is to guide students toward inquiry, love, acceptance, and contentment - to connect with their true self. Read more at lindadelmonte.com

SUSAN DESMARAIS's (Anusara-Inspired Yoga™) yoga training includes over 1,000 hours of Anusara®, most of which has been with John Friend, the founder of Anusara®, in both Levels I and II Teacher Trainings, Teacher Immersions, Therapeutics, Master’s Immersion, and four Advanced Intensives. She has assisted senior certified teacher Jayendra Hanley in Europe and taken countless trainings, workshops and classes with other senior certified teachers such as Desiree Rumbaugh, Amy Ippoliti, Martin & Jordan Kirk, Sianna Sherman, Jayendra Hanley, Darren Rhodes, as well as Tantric philosophy scholar Douglas Brooks. Susan’s initial Yoga Teacher Training was a 200 Hour Teacher Training at Stillpoint Yoga with Glenn Mifsud, in the Sivananda tradition. Her first yoga teacher was Helen Goldstein in Toronto, in the Kripalu tradition. She is currently enjoying the intuitive teachings of Barbara Benagh in Boston

PATRICIA GEARIN, RYT (Vinyasa Yoga, Vicaara Yoga) bases her practice and teaching style on the belief that yoga evokes new focus and direction in our lives: body, mind and spirit. A graduate of the Yoga Works 200 hr TT Program, Patricia has practiced yoga of various styles since 2000, and Iyengar yoga for the past five years with Liz Owen at the Center. Vicaara Yoga classes encompass asana practice in the Yoga Works Method (Iyengar, Ashtanga and Vinyasa influences), breath work and meditation (beginner and intermediate levels). Patricia encourages the application of the Yoga Sutras in asana practice and in daily life, as a means to cultivate comfort and stability as we maneuver through our often hectic environment

TED GOODMAN SENSEI (Aikido) was introduced to Aikido in San Francisco in 1970, but did most of his training in Japan with 3 years under Bansen Tanaka Sensei and 7 years under Steven Seagal Sensei. Since returning to the States, he has studied under Lou Perriello Sensei and Mitsunari Kanai Sensei. A black belt since 1987, he has been teaching Aikido since 1993. In 2002 he became a certified R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense) Systems instructor, and founded First Line of Defense for women's safety awareness and self-defense training

CYNTHIA GRAMER (Yoga For The 2nd Half Of Life) has been joyfully teaching yoga in and around Boston since 2002. For many years she was a single mom of twins and worked as an editor, a free-lance writer and a gardener, but other than parenting, teaching yoga has been the most rewarding work she has ever done. Cynthia has trained in several styles, both rigorous and meditative, and at this point in her practice of teaching she blends elements from Anusara, Yin, Vinyasa, Restorative and Forrest yoga to create classes that serve the needs of students in the moment. Cynthia is a certified Reiki Master and an avid student of the human condition with a special interest in the human energy system and its impact on health and healing. She considers it a privilege to teach and strives to create a space where students feel free, supported and connected to the teacher within

CHIP HARTRANFT, PT (Yoga, Insight Meditation, Yoga-Sutra) bridges the traditions of yoga and buddhism. He is the founding director of The Arlington Center, dedicated to the integration of yoga and dharma practice, and has taught a blend of yoga movement & insight meditation in the Boston area since 1978. An independent scholar of yoga and early Indian buddhism, Chip is the author of The Yoga-Sutra of Patañjali: a new translation with commentary (Shambhala), and his work has also been featured in The Wisdom Of Yoga by Stephen Cope, Freeing The Body, Freeing The Mind (Michael Stone, ed.), the Shambhala Sun, and elsewhere (read his recent interview in Insight Journal). Chip teaches about the origins, evolution, and practices of yoga and buddhist traditions at teacher trainings and retreats across the country

ANNIE HOFFMAN (Iyengar Yoga) has practiced yoga since 1986. First teacher-trained at Kripalu in 1988, she then studied with Patricia Walden for fourteen years. Annie has taught since 1990 at the B.K.S.Iyengar Center, and was certified in Iyengar yoga in 1994. Annie brings a heartfelt creativity to her work. She feels every class should be a well balanced sequence giving greater clarity, alignment, strength, and ease to the practitioner. All families of postures will be woven into a semester's curriculum, including standing poses, backbends, twists, inversions, balances, forward bends, and relaxation. Yoga practice unveils the jewel of our inner beauty and allows it to shine forth. Each day I intend to make of myself an offering of surrender, transformation, and peace in order to contribute my love and reverence for life into the world. My practice and my teaching harmonize beautifully to create that vehicle. Namaste!

TARA RACHEL JONES (Yoga For Children) has studied yoga since the early 90's. She has completed four teacher training courses, most recently with Tias Little, and is well known to the Boston yoga community. Tara Rachel was both a student and teacher under Boston master teachers Barbara Benagh and Arthur Kilmurray, and has also studied Iyengar yoga with Zoe Stewart. Her profound interest in the mind-body connection led her to the School for Body Mind Centering in order to study infant developmental movement, somatic anatomy, and its relationship to yoga. Over the past ten years, Tara Rachel has enriched her studies with private courses and workshops in anatomy and physiology with Yaron Gal Carmel, Tom Myers, Andrea Olson, and others. She is also a certified Zen Shiatsu Therapist. Her classes for adults are unique, flowing and relaxed, yet grounded in attention to proper postural alignment. In addition, Tara Rachel has worked professionally with children since 1989 and has been a pioneer of children's yoga in the Boston area. She has developed her own approach, simple yet unique: a synthesis of education, developmental movement, and yogic teachings. Tara Rachel directs Flower Yoga, a training to teach yoga to children, beginning July 9th at the Center. I began to practice yoga in 1993 and have studied extensively with Tias Little, Donna Farhi, Arthur Kilmurray, John Friend, David Life & Sharon Gannon, Patty Townsend, and Baron Baptiste. I have also founded my own approach to children's yoga

ARTHUR KILMURRAY (Iyengar Yoga) has been practicing the yoga of B.K.S. Iyengar for almost 30 years now and this still serves as the foundation of his teaching. Arthur's interest in exploring and integrating science and spirituality was ignited while a student at MIT in 1970. Beginning in the early 90’s, he began incorporating into his yoga practice and teaching the wisdom insights awakened in his studies with movement pioneers Bonnie Cohen, Emilie Conrad, and Karen McHose, and during the last decade his maturing meditation practice has added teachings from Buddhism and Vedanta into the asanas. Currently Arthur is digesting the cutting edge studies in the fields of neurobiology and psychotherapy on the role of the emotional energies in ongoing spiritual development, and using these new understandings to further refine his teaching

CELESTE LEMIEUX (Itsy Bitsy Yoga) has been a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor since 1997 and was certified to teach prenatal yoga in 2002. Celeste lived and worked at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, the largest yoga based retreat center in the United States. She is currently earning a degree in Human Development at Lesley University and is working toward her certification as a birth doula. She particularly enjoys teaching beginning students, helping them learn the fundamentals of yoga so that they may enjoy a safe and effective practice. Celeste is passionate about pregnancy and birth and loves to work with women and couples, using yoga to help them embrace the transformational experience of pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood. In 2006, she discovered Itsy Bitsy Yoga and has been loving teaching Yoga to children from birth to age four ever since

SAHAJ KAUR SHELLEY LOHEED (Kundalini Yoga) received her certification as a Kundalini Yoga Teacher in 2000. She brings a deep love of yoga and 18 years of experience in studying both Hatha and Kundalini yoga. She is currently teaching with the Kundalini Yoga Teacher training in Millis, MA, and has been leading yoga classes in Cambridge and Boston for the last 9 years. Her classes are open to all ~ both beginners and advanced ~ and are powerful and dynamic

KATHY MARTIN (Recovery Yoga for Cyclists) has been practicing various styles of yoga since 1997. She became a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher after graduating from the 200-hour Lotus Room Teacher Training Program in 2010. Her teaching style is influenced by Iyengar and Kripalu. As a cyclist, she was a Cat 4 road and cyclocross racer from 2005-2009. She aspires to meld her experience with both cycling and yoga to help cyclists (and other athletes) recover from their vigorous training schedules

JULIAN MILLER (Tai Chi) began studying Tai Chi in 1969 with William C.C. Chen. He has also studied with T.T. Liang, and with the Aikido master Koichi Tohei. He has been teaching Tai Chi and other movement arts for 30 years. Recently, he has developed a new, more accessible system for learning the practice and principles of Tai Chi

JULIA NOVINA (Anusara-Inspired Yoga™) became a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher after completing Todd Norian's Anusara Yoga® Teacher Training. Julia began practicing yoga in the late 90s as a complement to her dance and legal careers, and was transformed when she discovered Anusara Yoga. She approaches teaching as an honor and a calling, focusing all her attention on the physical and emotional well-being of her students. Her teaching is playful, fun, nurturing and supportive. She encourages students to connect with their bodies and spirits and bring both into optimal alignment with joy. Find out more at www.julianovina.com

LIZ OWEN (Yoga) is an inspired and passionate yoga teacher. She combines physical alignment, meditative movement, and the cultivation of a joyful heart to create an innovative and transformative class experience. She has taught since 1990 and is known for her light-hearted teaching style as well as for the depth of her knowledge. Liz has studied Iyengar, Vinyasa and Classical Hatha yoga for over 25 years and was a certified Iyengar yoga teacher from 1995 - 2010. She teaches classes and workshops throughout New England, including Yoga Journal Conferences and the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Wellness, and she is on the faculty of Wellesley College. Her articles about yoga practice have been published on Beliefnet.com, the national magazine award-winning faith and inspiration website. Liz is co-author of an NIH-funded study at Boston University Medical Center studying yoga as a healing modality for depression. Visit www.lizowenyoga.com

JOSH SCHREIBER (Awareness Through Movement) has been a student of the Feldenkrais Method since 1997, when chronic tendinitis forced him to stop playing the cello. He is a member of the Feldenkrais Guild of North America, having become Certified as a Feldenkrais Practitioner in 2001. His teaching is also informed by studies in the Alexander Technique, Tai Chi, Chi Gung, and Jewish spirituality. He has recently begun playing again, and is currently studying viola da gamba and voice at the Longy school of music

VERONICA WOLFF (Yoga For The 2nd Half Of Life) has been studying yoga since 2001 and has taught since 2004. She began teaching by implementing her own vinyasa yoga program while deployed to Kyrgyzstan with the USAF. Veronica studies with Patricia Walden, Lynnae Leblanc, and her mentor Annie Hoffman; she has also recently completed a 200hr Yoga of Energy Flow teacher training program with Daniel Orlansky and Liz Owen. Veronica weaves both Iyengar and vinyasa styles through her teaching and truly enjoys bringing the experience of yoga to her students while maintaining a sense of humor. She is passionate about natural health and is currently working on her Associates of Applied Science in Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the American College of Healthcare Sciences. Yoga has completely changed my life, allowing me to see more clearly into my own heart. My goal is to bring yoga to as many people as possible and help them align with their true potential

WYOMA (Sole To Soul) is a performer and facilitator of African and healing dance, as well as yoga teacher and body/mind consultant. For over thirty-five years she has taught and conducted workshops in a wide range of contexts throughout the United States. She has also worked internationally, including Namibia, Kenya, New Zealand, and Mexico. Central to her approach is the transformative and organic nature of African Dance, and the recognition of our body's own inherent wisdom. Wyoma honors dance as a healing and spiritual endeavor, and has become a creative force for transformation among her students, audiences, and associate performers. Wyoma is the creator and star of the bestselling DVD African Healing Dance and leads a monthly African healing dance workshop on the last Saturday evening of the month. For more information, please visit wyomadance.com

RAEA ZANI (Gentle Yoga, AM Yoga Flow) is a Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher having graduated from the 200hr Yoga of Energy Flow® teacher training program and the Rasamaya® Aerial Yoga teacher training program. She has studied with Liz Owen, Daniel Orlansky, Annie Hoffman, Lynnae LeBlanc, Carrie Tyler, and Crissy Trayner. She began teaching by constructing and implementing a yoga program at Families in Transition, a non-profit organization providing social services and affordable housing to homeless families, in Manchester, NH . Raea’s teaching style integrates Iyengar and Vinyasa, focusing on alignment and breath work. Raea is known for her cheerful demeanor, teaching with enthusiasm and an open heart

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