Nicoline Valkenberg

As a Vinyasa Yoga practitioner and teacher, Nicoline approaches her practice as embracing a state of flow. Our inner and outer worlds are in constant flux, as our thoughts, needs and impulses react to the ever changing river of circumstances that surround us. We often resist and try to control the natural flow of life within and around us and become stagnant in our bodies, minds, and spirits- closed off to our internal compass. For Nicoline, Vinyasa Yoga is the practice of finding steadiness within impermanence- and by doing so on the mat, she has found that we can learn to ride the waves of life with composure and grace- and enjoy the ride!

Nicoline’s classes are a seamless blend of dymanic flow and technique. Through a unity of fluid movement and alignment, she gives her students the space to trust their own rhythm and the foundations on which to lay that trust- helping them to find freedom, mobility and a more embodied sense of Self.

Nicoline completed the 200 hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher Training under Yoganand Michael Carroll. She is now working towards completing her 500 hour Prana Flow Yoga training with Shiva Rea, and is drawing from regular teacher-level study with Barbara Benagh. She has been surprised and delighted by the opportunity to found Samara Yoga- and is thrilled to be creating a dedicated yoga space with some of her dearest friends and fellow teachers right in her home community of Somerville, MA.

Fez Aswat

Fez Aswat has been teaching yoga and meditation throughout the Boston area since 2001. He regards his hatha yoga practice as both a natural extension of and a pathway back to his meditation practice which serves as the basis of his teaching. As a musician and a Cancer Survivor Fez regards yoga as an invaluable practice for the maintenance of his well-being. He works closely with his primary teacher Tom Alden and has also studied extensively with Barbara Benagh, Patricia Walden, Arthur Killmurray and Jin Sung.

Barbara Benagh

Cited by Yoga Journal as “one of yoga’s most compelling and distinctive voices,” Barbara Benagh, has practiced and taught yoga for nearly 35 years. She discovered yoga while living in England and began teaching there. She moved to Boston and opened The Yoga Studio on Beacon Hill in 1980. Her studio is now located in Brookline Village. In addition to her local classes Barbara teaches yoga seminars throughout the US and internationally. She is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal magazine. She has several audio CDs of live classes available as well as DVDs, the latest being Yoga for Beginners released by Body + Soul magazine and Yoga for Stress Relief that includes a discussion on meditation from the Dalai Lama.

Daniel Orlansky

Daniel Orlansky, MA, ERYT-500, a yoga teacher for 18 years, is certified in Jnana Yoga, Kali Ray TriYoga and Kundalini Yoga, and is the originator of Meridian Yoga. He holds a masters degree in Expressive Art Therapy/Dance Therapy from Lesley University and has been a visiting lecturer in movement studies at Tufts University. A graduate of the Boston Shiatsu School, Daniel teaches regularly at the Kripalu Center, the Omega Institute, and in Europe, and directs yoga teacher trainings worldwide. He has co-directed two yoga DVD’s: Hands-On! Skillful Assists for Yoga Asana, and Yoga and Vision Improvement. Visit Daniel on the web at www.yogaofenergyflow.com

Aaron Cantor

Aaron Cantor is a freestyle yogi and embodiment artist. His teachings integrate ancient practices and contemporary expression into a playful and effective way to develop awareness and skill.

He has spent over 15 years in Asia and South America studying different movement modalities. In addition to teaching around the US, he has been teaching internationally in Brazil, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, Thailand and India.

Hannah Emlen

Hannah is an Anusara-Inspired yoga teacher with over eight years of teaching experience. Originally from the coast of Maine, she has recently returned to New England after living in Austin, Texas for the past five years. Her greatest aim is to instill truthful, accurate and radiant living both on and off the mat. She is devoted to recognizing, embodying and sharing the abundance of life, and the transformational power of yoga. Hannah’s classes blend biomechanical precision, artful expression, breath and silence, and she strives to offer asana practices that are both physically challenging and nourishing to the spirit. In addition to the brilliant instruction of so many Anusara teachers, including John Friend, Christina Sell, Charly Pivert, and Elena Brower, her teaching style is supported by many years of study with Baron Baptiste. She holds a BA in Music from Swarthmore College, and is completing a Master’s degree in Clinical and Somatic Psychology. She is currently pursuing Anusara Yoga certification. For more info: www.yogaforinspiredliving.com

Rachel Arnold

Yoga serves as a cornerstone in the foundation of Rachel’s life, and the strength she gains from practice steadies her every endeavor. She teaches a creative and energetic vinyasa flow class that combines movement with breath, expression, and a bit of humor. She graduated from the 200-hour Yoga of Energy Flow Teacher Training (taught by Daniel Orlansky, Carrie Tyler, and Aaron Cantor) and has completed teacher trainings with Alice Senko (Hot Hatha) and Josh Summers (Yin Yoga). Rachel has also studied with Barbara Benagh, Ana Forrest, Dharma Mittra, and David Swenson. Rachel has a Master of Music Degree and she enjoys teaching cello and performing with several ensembles in the Boston area. She also makes quirky crafts out of clay, felt, and any other medium that inspires her. For more information please visit www.LadyRayCello.com.

Karma Longtin

Karma was born in Florida to a family of hippies and named after the “karmic”  link found in her parents’ astrological charts. After moving to Boston  ten years ago, she turned to yoga as a way to heal her intense back and  joint pain, discovering a solace that inspired her to become a teacher  in 2002. Karma embraces many different styles of yoga including power,  vinyasa, yin and restorative hatha.  Her classes focus on the connection of body, mind and breath. She encourages  everyone to find the practice that is right for them in order to realize  their own path to self-discovery and personal transformation.

Chandra Cantor

Chandra has had a lifelong relationship with movement. She was introduced to yoga by her parents and took classes on and off through her teens. In 1998 she received a BFA in Dance from Emerson and the same year won Dance Magazine’s Outstanding Student Performer of the Year award. Chandra began teaching yoga in 1996 and has completed numerous teacher trainings, workshops and advanced learning courses with world renowned teachers. Her teaching style is strongly influenced by the White Lotus Flow Series, Eric Shiffmann, Astanga Yoga and a mindful melding of many other styles and teachers. You can learn more about Chandra at www.steppingintobalance.com.

Rob Phillips

Like many modern Yogis, Rob Phillips first came to yoga primarily seeking the physical benefits. As a fitness enthusiast, he hoped to increase his flexibility and perhaps even reduce his stress a bit. After unassumingly walking into an Ashtanga class, he was left humbled by the physical challenge and inspired by the energetic effects. It wasn’t long before he became a dedicated Ashtangi.

While he appreciates the strong energies created by the more active practices, Rob is also an enthusiast of the calmer contemplative practices of Yin Yoga and Buddhist Vipassana (Insight) meditation. After years of working with anxiety and depression, yoga and meditation have provided him with a base of focus and confidence that continues to grow with each year of practice.

Rob’s classes draw influences from the Buddhist tradition, placing a heavy emphasis on mindfulness of the body and movement of the breath; but his dry and witty humor help to keep a light air in the room. His first teacher training was in Yin Yoga with Josh Summers and he has also completed his 200-hour training through YogaWorks with Natasha Rizopoulos. More recently, mentorships with Kate O’Donnel and Nicole Clark have continued to inspire and shape his teaching. Rob is forever indebted to all of his teachers, both past and present, for helping him to discover his full potential.

Anna Jefferson

Anna is a multidisciplinary yoga teacher dedicated to the authenticity and personal transformations yoga enables. Anna began practicing yoga in 2006 to relieve anxiety during a particularly chaotic time in her life. She immediately loved the physical challenge of yoga, with the heat and sweat leaving her body feeling cleaned out and open. What surprised her was to delve deeply into thoughts and patterns that had come to seem inevitable—and to begin to change them through the simple practice of movement and breath! A related gift was to rediscover her innate playfulness. Yoga has been, with the help of her amazing teachers and fellow yogis, a true experience of coming home—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

She teaches from a firm conviction that yoga is a practice, never a performance for anyone. It’s in this mindset of practice that we can let down our guards, explore our limits, discover new truths, find freedom to play—and ultimately a more authentic connection to ourselves. Anna teaches sweaty, funny power and vinyasa classes to help students strengthen and detoxify their bodies, observe their deep-seated responses to challenges, maintain a sense of humor, and find empowering insight.

Anna has completed 300 hours of teacher training with Hilaire Lockwood and is a Yoga Alliance-registered teacher. Off her mat, she is working on a Ph.D. in anthropology. And is ever grateful to her husband, teachers, friends and family for their support.

Kari Jacobsen

Kari began practicing yoga and meditation in 2001, with the hope of reducing anxiety and stress. The sense of calm she attained with a simple 30-minute practice at the end of the day inspired her to make yoga a regular part of her life. Appreciating the balance of yin and yang, Kari teaches both vigorous, heat-building styles and contemplative, restoring styles of yoga. Kari studied with Ana Forrest, completing the foundational teacher training in Forrest Yoga and with Sarah Powers, completing a teacher training in Yin Yoga. She guides her students to find and listen to their inner wisdom so they practice in a way that feels dynamic and healing. Having studied CranioSacral Therapy through The Upledger Institute, Kari incorporates hands-on work to help students unravel areas of tension and restriction. Off the mat, she delights in the challenge of working as a mechanical engineer, investigating train collisions.

Jessica Correia

Jessica has been a lover of movement since early childhood. After studying various dance forms throughout high school, she went on to earn a BFA in Dance Theater from Emerson College in 2007. It was her curiosity of the more extreme yoga postures that initially drew her to her first yoga class, where she experienced significant shifts in her body physically, as well as emotional and mental enrichment–quite contrary to her expectations. This inspired her to explore more deeply the practice of yoga and its roots, becoming certified in the YogaWorks method in NYC. Her studies there and her dance background have shaped her teaching style to work both on a creative and challenging practice, balancing effort with intuitive instruction and proper alignment. Jessica also works as a specialist for Boston Public Schools teaching dance movement to children 3-10 years old. Seeing how movement patterns are manifested through both children and adults is a constant source of inspiration and reminds her take delight in one’s unique practice and to embrace a sense of humor with each learning experience.

Joetta Maue

Joetta was first introduced to yoga by her mother at the age of 15. She quickly found a strong connection to the need to slow down and breathe.  She has been a serious practitioner for over 15 years and a devoted teacher for over 10.

Joetta’s true commitment to yoga began when she turned to the practice during a difficult time in her life. The process of slowing down, accepting, and letting go helped her heal and changed her outlook.  Eventually she decided to spread the gifts of practice through teaching.

Joetta’s dynamic and vigorous style of teaching is inspired by the Ashtanga tradition and  master teachers with whom she has studied, including Shiva Rea, Richard Freeman, and Barbara Benagh. With continuous study her style has continued to evolve into her own unique teaching voice.  Joetta is an artist living in Somerville, with her husband, son, and 2 cats.

“With practice all is coming” Pattabhi Jois