Jabari Martin

As a former D1 college football player and track and field athlete, Jabari understands the power of the body and mind connection. Born and raised in the Virgin Islands, he kickstarted his career in 2010 as a NASM-certified personal trainer in Texas by working with professional endurance athletes. Jabari's career evolved into leading strength, conditioning, and corrective exercise, helping aging athletes become stronger and pain free. Alongside his career in personal training, Jabari has works as a Registered Dietitian. Jabari's commitment to nutrition led him to serve as a nutrition consultant to NBA Champion, Shaun Livingston, where he shared his expertise in optimizing athletic performance through diet. But he didn't stop there! Driven by his passion to provide athletes with the nutrition they need, he founded GRIT Superfoods, crafting nutrient-dense snacks tailored for peak performance.

Nichol Chase

Nichol Chase, ERYT-500, YACEP, TSM, BM, is a teacher, musician, and yogi for whom singing and movement is integral to life. Nichol’s yoga practice is informed by a vast and eclectic set of influences that blend invigorating flow with precise and insightful instruction and extensive study with a variety of innovative teachers. She is a Garrison Institute Fellow and a faculty member and teacher trainer for The Mazé Method. Nichol’s artistic experience includes more than a decade of Royal Academy ballet training and specialization as an operatic Coloratura Soprano, earning the Bachelor of Music degree with a major in Vocal Performance from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music. Nichol’s study of yoga piqued an interest in Kirtan and Indian Classical music resulting in the addition of the harmonium to her repertoire for accompaniment. She continues to study Northern Indian Classical Music, Mantra, and Kirtan along with a vast array of Western musical styles.

Susannah Freedman

Susannah has been teaching Asana, Pranayama, Meditation and Mantra since 2010 and has been practicing Yoga Asana for over 20 years. She has had a spiritual practice of chanting, meditation and contemplation since she went to Hindu Sunday School as a child, and at 5 years old, Susannah met Gurudev (Sri Sri Ravi Shankar) after which she began sitting with him annually. This helped her immensely in creating the foundation for her spiritual path. Aside from teaching Yoga, Susannah is a longtime Astrologer, Intuitive and Spiritual Coach. In 2015 she received her MA in Philosophy, Cosmology & Consciousness Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies.

DeShauna Anderson

Based out of Berkeley, California, DeShauna received her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, with additional coursework in Forensic Psychology. During this time, DeShauna also began working for a non-profit agency that contracts with Alameda County Social Services supporting foster youth with navigating self-sufficiency. After working in this field, she realized that the core of our problems and stress often correlate with symptoms in our bodies. Starting with self, she decided to challenge her mind, body and spiritual alignment by beginning an Ashtanga yoga practice. Also, she discovered life coaching, which quickly became an important tool in all her client-centered and leadership work. This allowed her connections with others to become more than just a mentorship, but a partnership in their goals. Through self-discoveries in yoga and coaching, DeShauna resolved to deepen the mind/body connection and completed multiple yoga and wellness certifications. DeShauna is an experienced yoga teacher, through Yoga Alliance with over 500 hours of studies (ERYT-500). DeShauna also realizes that mastering the “self” is a lifelong path, yet the journey there is where meaningful experience happens. In June 2018, she became a certified transformational coach through Leadership That Works, and became a Certified Professional Coach (PCC) through the International Coach Federation in August 2020. She uses somatic tools to support individuals with bringing their authentic selves to the surface. DeShauna’s ultimate goal is to create a connection with individuals throughout their personal journey, with the hopes of helping to empower them to reach their desired destinations. DeShauna believes “Health is a state of body and wellness is a state of existence.” When DeShauna isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, daughter, animals (she has a dog, cat and gecko) and different species of plants as well as geodes. DeShauna also enjoys traveling, and learning about the history of all the places she visits.

Moses Omolade

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised on 3 different continents before the age of ten. Moses’ love for fitness and the body started during his time as a collegiate athlete. After playing Division-1 basketball, professional basketball overseas, and some time with the Harlem Globetrotters, he suffered many injuries. These physical setbacks taught him important lessons about the body and its function. He believes all bodies are not only different but our relationship to them is what determines our happiness and capacity for JOY. Yoga & Hot Pilates have transformed his approach to fitness. Before his journey to becoming a Fitness Instructor, yoga and low impact exercises helped him strengthen, while gaining mobility, balance and mental grit. With an eclectic ear & taste for music, as well as a cosmopolitan approach to all things, his class becomes an otherworldly & fun space for people to connect with their mind, bodies, and spirit.

Dyamen Namer

Vicky Fox

In 2013 Vicky studied with Laura Kupperman on her “Yoga for Survivors” teacher training course and is now teaching yoga to cancer patients at any stage of their recovery. The classes are designed to provide a safe refuge to come and practice yoga, to build strength, increase range of motion and reduce stress. The classes should help students sleep better, feel less fatigued and enjoy a better quality of life. Vicky’s teaching style is based around her own varied experience of yoga and through that has created a physically challenging class developing strength and suppleness while emphasizing alignment and precision. All the time believing that yoga should be an individual and safe practice. Vicky is registered with the Yoga Alliance as a senior registered yoga teacher and teacher trainer, teaches in the UK at triyoga in Camden, Ealing and Chelsea, and Paul’s Cancer Support Centre. She is also teaches applied anatomy on Julie Montagu’s and Carolyn Cowan’s teacher training course and has an extensive private client base.

Gabrielle Cardoza

Proud Latina, daughter of immigrants, born & raised in the Bay Area. I’ve been a yoga instructor in Oakland since 2017. My goal in class is to make sure students feel supported, seen, appreciated & loved in their practice above anything else. I strive for students to leave class feeling validated & empowered. My classes are designed to cultivate a balance of strength & grace while you explore your internal physical & mental boundaries on the mat. I believe that laughter, music, and playfulness should have a space in a modern movement practice just as much as mediation & breathwork does.

Andréa Hill

Andréa has been fortunate to live in the San Francisco Bay Area her whole life. She was introduced to yoga at the age of 17, when her friend brought her to her first yoga class and she has been hooked ever since. She continued to fall in love with yoga while working and traveling through Australia and New Zealand. She completed her first 200 Yoga Teacher Training in San Francisco in 2016, she has continued to expand her knowledge since then participating in different trainings. Andréa’s teaching is a balance between a traditional practice and an individual style, mirroring her personality; playful, open-minded and yet supportive and calm. She remains a humble student of yoga and celebrates each opportunity to share her practice with her students.

Jill Lindsay White

Originally starting her career as a high school biology teacher, Jill shifted her presence from the classroom to the yoga studio.  After a bout with cancer, Jill realized the yoga she’d been practicing could help with pain management, mood regulation, and overall strength and wellbeing.  Yoga became an anchor in her life, and her passion for yoga blossomed as her drive to teach persisted.  Jill’s focus in her classes is to cultivate a healing environment and empower students to become more connected with their bodies and minds from a kind, compassionate, and humorous perspective.  After receiving her 200-hour training from the White Lotus foundation in Santa Barbara with Ganga White and Tracy Rich, Jill expanded her discipline to teach therapeutic yoga.  Her teaching style is informed by Harvey Deutch and received both her 100 and 50 hour advanced training under his mentorship and still works with him on various retreats and advanced trainings.  After over 1,000 hours of training, Jill became a Certified Yoga Therapist through the Stress Management Center in Marin.

Therapeutic yoga is a process of meeting the yogi where they are, of empowering individuals by helping increase self-awareness and learning how to work within one’s own strengths and limitations.  The goals of this practice can include reducing or eliminating symptoms that cause suffering while improving foundation and function.  Therapeutic yoga is not just for the maturing or injured, it is a practice every body can benefit from by going deep in a safe and healing way.  

Ellen McCoy

Ellen has been practicing yoga for over 20 years. Initially drawn to the physical aspect of the practice, over time, she started to experience the benefits of body awareness and mindfulness that came with regular practice. Receiving her RYT® 200 in 2023, Ellen studied with teachers who collaborated to share their combined knowledge of teaching, anatomy, philosophy, and history. She continues her studies by working with many of the same teachers, expanding her awareness of alignment and movement. Eager to share her enjoyment of yoga, Ellen sequences classes for students to feel comfortable and confident and hopes to bring a sense of body awareness and play to the practitioner.

Annie Carpenter

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BIO.

Known as a “teachers’ teacher,” Annie is the creator of SmartFLOW Yoga, an intelligent marriage of mindful movement with compassionate, wakeful alignment. Annie creates practices that are at once advanced and challenging, yet safe and playful. Practicing yoga since the 70s, she worked with the Martha Graham Company in the 80’s and continues to be a dedicated student (geek!) of anatomy, evolutionary movement, meditation and classical philosophy. Annie is the author of RelaxDEEPLY, a CD of restorative yoga, and Yoga for Total Back Care,” a DVD produced by Yoga Journal, and several SmartFLOW manuals. She contributes regularly to Yoga Journal. An influential Teacher Trainer since 2003, Annie is based in CA and teaches globally. www.anniecarpenter.com 

Reba Gray

Reba stumbled upon yoga around 2002. She was living in Boston after returning from the Peace Corps in Mali, an experience that taught her about the real power of community. Seeking ways to process her time abroad, and looking for community within a busy city, she was fortunate to discover both in a yoga studio. She practiced and trained to teach for eight years before moving to California.

She grew up in Maine, but has been obsessed with the California lifestyle from a young age--cue palm trees, Highway 1, beaches. Reba moved to Oakland, California in 2010 to deepen her practice and diversify her yoga studies (and to escape the east coast winters). She mainly teaches alignment-focused vinyasa flow yoga, meditation, and pranayama practices, and has studied yin yoga. She also enjoys collaborating with the Love Your Brain Foundation, supporting those with traumatic brain injury (TBI) by sharing yoga and meditation practices. Reba is continually participating in advanced trainings and mentorships with many teachers in the Bay Area, and expanding her offerings as her practice evolves. Visit her website at rebagray.com for more information.

Leslie Howard

BIO.

Leslie Howard is an Oakland-based yoga teacher, specializing in all things pelvic. She leads workshops and trainings nationally and has written a book about the female pelvis, Pelvic Liberation. She is a regular presenter for the Yoga Journal conferences and a regular contributor to Yoga Journal magazine. Her own struggles with healing her hips and pelvis led her to intense study of the anatomy, physiology, cultural messaging, history and energetics of this rich place. Her teaching is informed by over 3500 hours of yoga study with senior Iyengar yoga teachers, notably Manouso Manos from 1998-2008 and Patricia Walden. She considers Ramanand Patel her most important influence and mentor. She has designed two very successful studies for UCSF on yoga to alleviate incontinence and pelvic pain. To learn more about Leslie, visit: www.lesliehowardyoga.com

Kim Lally

A self-confessed adrenaline junkie, Kim found yoga as an antidote to too much running. She started with Bikram and cherished the 90 minutes of pure focus on movement with breath. The peaceful calm and emotional release was transformative. Eventually, she switched to CorePower where the sequencing was more creative. Finally, Annie Carpenter's SmartFLOW Yoga transformed her body and mind. In 2016, she completed her 200 Hour Teacher Training with SmartFLOW. Kim loves to sprinkle some introspection, a meditative quote and some brain/body exercises into each of her classes. Anatomy and Alignment are her secret geeky passions, along with her family and a daily walk with her adorable dogs.

Jody Hahn

BIO.

Jody took her first yoga class in 2001 in Los Angeles, inspired by a friend who had demonstrated a handstand at work. She remembers that first class well – the physical challenge and the focus required, mixed with an exciting feeling of clarity. She did not do a handstand that day but she was hooked on yoga, and two years later graduated from The Center for Yoga Teacher Training Program in LA. She has been teaching ever since.

Her classes are infused with the philosophy that we are, all of us, engaged in a process at all times which can be illustrated by finishing any statement with “yet”: “I can’t do this (yet)”… “I’m not flexible (yet).” If we can be involved in the process and not focused solely on the outcome, then both the process and the outcome may be surprising and rewarding. We are explorers – discovering poses, discovering mental clarity, discovering how we deal with challenges and, maybe, discovering some spiritual awareness. Oh, yeah – and it helps to keep a sense of humor about all of it.

Baxter Bell

Baxter Bell, MD, C-IAYT, eRYT500, YACEP

Baxter has been studying Hatha yoga since 1994 and teaching since 1999, both public classes and specialty back care classes. He is a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio's 680-hour Advanced Studies 2000 program, and has studied in the past with Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden, Donald Moyer, Erich Schiffman and TKV Desikachar. Baxter blends his background in Western medicine and yoga therapeutics for safe and healing yoga experiences. He teaches a nurturing style of yoga, with a strong emphasis on re-awakening our innate curiosity about ourselves and our world. Learn more at www.baxterbell.com . He is also co-author of the book Yoga for Healthy Aging, and a certified Yoga Therapist.

Maggie Zebrine

Maggie finds the magic of yoga is in quieting the chatter of the mind to be fully in the present. She blends Katonah Yoga with other styles of yoga and movement practices to inspire students to find freedom in their body and mind. She believes that time spent on your mat should provide you with techniques to have a more enjoyable life. Join her for playful imagery, nurturing asana, and tools to become more well-rounded on and off the mat. Maggie first completed her yoga certification with her teacher Jill Sockman and since has been certified in Katonah Yoga and Fascia Flossing. She believes it is just as important to remain a student of yoga as it is a gift to teach the practice. Don’t be surprised to see her in Richard’s Friday morning class!