Purusha Yoga Teachers

Explore, discover, and express your inner truth. Empower yourself and your community through the classical practices of Yoga.

Keep checking back for updates to the teacher roster!

Joy Ravelli, Primary Teacher & Sole Proprietor of the Purusha Yoga School, is a lifelong yogi who is most inspired by the great outdoors where deep and simple wisdom may be experienced with ease and profound enjoyment. Meditation teachers show up in various forms such as frogs, birds, moose, dragonflies, and hawks. All of these have been her truest teachers. Joy writes, The humans that I have been graced to learn from have included: John and Diane Featherstone of Frog Pond Yoga in Massachusetts; Bhavani, the chanting goddess at Kripalu Yoga; Rodney Yee for his grace and strength; Anodea Judith for her way of beholding the human form, heart, and mind with the fabric of the chakras; Thich Naht Hanh and Pema Chodrin who taught me that a bowl of oatmeal and your breath are all you really need to dive into the art of meditation. I am eternally grateful for the bliss that my family, community, and students shower upon my heart daily with their love, laughter, grace, and kindness.

Joy has been enjoying moving her entire life. Eternally active as a child, her family called her "Joy Bird," as she was always in flight outdoors. Joy began teaching movement at the young age of 16 and has been teaching some kind of motion ever since. Joy is certified in the following modalities:

• Personal Trainer (ACE, AFFA)
• Pilates (Physical Mind Institute)
• Yoga (Frog Pond School, RYT 500 Yoga Alliance)
• Thai Yoga Bodywork (Sunset Network, Thailand).

Guinevere Boston came to Yoga through her training as a performer in New York City in the early ‘90s. Since then, she has felt privileged to have Yoga as a constant in her life through a variety of phases, careers and locations. Guinevere is a Certified Yoga Teacher and Therapist through Purusha Yoga in San Francisco since 2005. She has continued to work to bring Yoga to a variety of different populations, working in therapeutic environments, with under-served populations, and with multi-age groups. She is passionate about supporting Yoga on and off the matt, and exploring the different ways people can bring the tools that Yoga offers to their day to day lives. She is grateful to her Teacher, her family and her yoga family for their constant inspiration and support.

Deanna Brolly, a Certified Personal Fitness Trainer/Yoga Instructor, is known for her light-hearted,"tough-love" yet nurturing style of teaching. She combines her passion and extensive knowledge of fitness, yoga, yoga therapy, and bodywork to offer her students a complete holistic mind/body experience. She graduated from Nature's Whisper School of Yoga at the 200-hr level and recently Yoga, both emphasizing the practice of Hatha yoga and the study of the true self, teaching from intuition and authenticity. She also offers private yoga and yoga therapy to enhance each individual's needs. Her students leave class smiling and rejuvenated and you may find yourself having to break out in YOUR most authentic tree pose! "Through movement and breath we can live healthy lives." Please visit Deanna's website: www.justmovefitness.com.

Diana de Piñeres-Schooley is a certified ayurvedic practitioner and yoga teacher. Her scope of practice includes diet & lifestyle counseling, herbal medicine, asana instruction, breath therapy, meditation & post-partum doula services. A yoga practitioner for 13 years, she has studied within the Integral, Iyengar and Mysore yoga traditions. Diana trained to teach yoga under the tutelage of Sri Louise in 2003 and completed the Underground Yoga Parlour for Self-Knowledge and Social Justice Teacher Training in January 2004. Since then she has received over 1000 hours of additional training in yoga & Ayurveda. Diana is also a graduate from the Ayurvedic Practitioner Program at the Mount Madonna Institute, College of Ayurveda (Dr. Vasant Lad, Dr. John Douillard, Dr. Sarita Shrestha). Diana’s mission is to provide direction to individuals wanting to develop an authentic, holistic & safe Life style & yoga practice; furthermore, to guide others in finding freedom. Her classes are dynamic and nurturing with special attention to alignment principles, Vinyasa, energetics and restoration. Tat Tvam Asi ~ You are That. Please visit Diana's website: http://ayurvedamamas.com.

Gina Iadarola is a lay midwife with over 25 years of experience and hundreds of home births for which she has been the primary attendant. She is also a professional occupational therapist and gifted yoga teacher. Gina brings a sense of keen knowledge and deep awareness to her midwifery and teaching. She is an intuitive healer with profound abilities to ‘read’ her client’s needs and cater a path that is appropriate and most beneficial. Gina is the mother of two grown children and lives in Sutton Massachusetts. Gina was the co-creator of Health in Motion -the parent company of Purusha Yoga- which thrives as a multi dimensional health and wellness collective in Massachusetts.

Adnan Iftekar received his Yoga Training in France in 2000 and also completed his 500 hr. Yoga Training through Purusha Yoga in 2008. Adnan has also studied Acrobatics with the Cirque de Soleil in Europe, and the Circus School of San Francisco. Adnan has been teaching dance at high schools and colleges for over 10 years both in Massachusetts and in California. Adnan teaches proper alignment, trust skills, spotting techniques, and practical application of the yoga philosophy while performing. Adnan is the cofounder of the Purusha Seva Project- a non profit organization that teaches Yoga to underserved and at-risk populations. He sits on that board as well. Adnan is the Technology Director at the Presidio Hill School in San Francisco.

Alissa Lamb leads the anatomy and physiology portions of the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training.

Briksha Mahendra combines Integral Insights, Hindu Yogic practices, and Buddhist wisdom in his teaching. He is a Certified Integral Coach, Stress Specialist and Rebirthing Breathwork Practitioner, as well as a Raw Vegan Chef and Healthy Lifestyle Educator. He has been teaching Yoga, guided meditation, and stress-free, healthy lifestyle classes since 2005. He is a longtime Vipassana meditation practitioner and has done several long silent retreats up to 30 days. He is a graduate of the Yoga Teacher Training program at Yoga Research Center, Bangalore (Vivekananda Yoga Research Center) and holds a certificate in Integral Yoga from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Briksha's main focus is Yoga of Conscious Breathing and Eating (Spiritual Nutrition). By using various tools and techniques of Integral Yoga and coaching, he creates a powerful environment to explore the journey of this mysterious Human Body, finding everything there, as it is said in an Asian proverb: 'What you can’t find in your Body, you will not find anywhere.' Briksha's main mission insharing his skills, experience, and training is to aid in reconnecting with our Bodies and the Body of Universe so that in turn our Bodies and the Body of Universe will bless us with peace, prosperity, and wisdom. Briksha invites us to pray and practice together to awake in our true nature, bringing more love, light, and wisdom to the World. To contact

Caressa Mathews invites her students to relax into their bodies, their breath, and the present moment. She brings her twelve years of study and the wisdom passed down from her teachers to every yoga class. She graduated from the Brahmrishi Yoga Teacher Training, which focuses on a duality of spirit and nature, asana and philosophy. Her love of the natural world, connection to Mother Earth, and creative artistic interests inspire her life and practice bringing a joy and compassion to her yoga classes. Caressa aspires to impart the same thirst for knowledge of the higher self and love for the practice of yoga to her students. Please visit Caressa's website: http://7sensesyoga.com.

Carla Nomaiia leads portions of the 500-Hour Yoga Therapy modules. Click here to view Carla's full CV.

Elizabeth Samet was introduced to formal yogic practices when she was 14. During the same time she fell in love with Osho’s Dynamic meditation. This system consists of emotional release through active movement, stillness, and celebration through dance. This early exposure to conscious movement paved the way for experiential education of the Chakras which she began at age 18 with Sonya Sophia Illig in Austin TX. Here she co-facilitating Godd-ess Awakening Workshops leading students to experience and heal through their Chakras. She has studied with Anodea Judith, and Iyengar teachers: Manouso Manos, and Evlaleah Howard. She’s taught yoga asanas, meditation, mindful movement, raw and macrobiotic cooking to diverse populations including athletes and people recovering from psychiatric instability. She passionately guides students to trust themselves and their bodies by embracing and celebrating whatever they discover inside themselves.

Tara Samiy has been a student of yoga for over 10 years. Her formal training began in Los Angeles with two Yoga Alliance registered teacher training programs. She completed the Yoga Works 200 hour teacher training, which synthesizes classical Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Viniyoga styles. In addition Tara studied with Linda Lack, PhD, developer of The Thinking Body-The Feeling Mind™SM, a developmental movement technique based on classic Hatha Yoga, movement therapy and kinesiology principles. Moreover, Tara has completed numerous other workshops with a focused interest in the psychology and therapeutic applications of yoga.
In 2006, Tara began doctoral studies in clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, where she has also explored her interest in the therapeutic potential of movement practices, body-oriented therapies and other non-verbal expressive therapies as sources of personal transformation. Since beginning her graduate studies, Tara has continued her training in yoga through personal practice and local teachers. She has been particularly inspired by her studies with Joy Ravelli and Jnani Chapman. Tara has taught as guest teacher for the Purusha Yoga Therapy Training, and currently teaches yoga privately, and assists and teaches yoga therapy at St. Mary’s Hospital. Tara particularly enjoys teaching yoga (asana, pranayama, and restorative) to those who are new to yoga, seeking modified practices, or seeking to build a home practice.

Claire Shaffer has been teaching yoga in the Bay Area since 2005. She is certified to teach both Ashtanga and Purusha Yoga, and is also a certified Yoga Therapist. As a practitioner, Claire loves to get of out the city and reconnect with that sense of peace so easily found in Nature. As a teacher, Claire is dedicated to helping her students reconnect with their truest selves and to that sense of peace within. Her classes are joyful explorations of the 8-limbed system of classic Yoga.

Dr. Helaine Sheias, PhD, RYT, CGF, is a certified international group facilitator and Hatha inspired yoga teacher registered with Yoga Alliance. She is an eco-spiritual counselor and Universal Life Minister. She holds a doctoral degree in Human Sciences and a Masters in developmental psychology, with a focus on special education. Helaine is the Originator of Eco-Yoga Healing: an earth-based spiritual approach to health and wellness. She is a graduate of the Socially Engaged Spirituality program at Saybrook Graduate School. She is a pious believer in the Yogic “My body is my Temple” philosophy. Helaine’s life passion is to introduce yoga as an empowering instrument for bringing about spiritual consciousness and bodily awareness. Her goal is to teach individuals how to maintain sacredness in their lives by consistently embodying a sense of 'wholeness', i.e., by exploring their relationship with their mind, body and spirit, from a place of equanimity and self-acceptance. It is Helaine's dream to sow the seeds of sacred healing throughout the continents and to gradually transform them into kernels of hope and peace, thus bridging all people together in love, truth and integrity. Click here to view Helaine's full CV. Please visit Helaine's website: www.ecoyogahealing.com.

Katherine Warner was born and raised in Hutchinson, Kansas, and moved to the Bay Area in 2000. A life-long lover of dance, she trained in classical ballet for 14 years and first became attracted to yoga because of its aesthetic qualities. She has always identified as a kinesthetic learner as well as a disciple of the spiritual path. Yoga for her is both function and form. She believes that yoga is a unique opportunity to intersect health and wellness with creative expression, spirituality, community, and self-reflection. An MACP student at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, she aims to bring her knowledge of depth and Jungian psychology to the mat by exploring the relationship between opposites and the potential for tensions to subtly melt into non-dualsim, if space is allowed for both to coexist. Bringing seeming “opposites” together in one space—both on and off the mat—creates liminal or sacred space, the space where healing and integration can occur and conflicting forces reconciled. Katherine’s students are gently invited to own both light and shadow qualities, for when we own and work with both we can experience how both may benefit our lives. This process for Katherine is truly the “Purusha” way, integrating more and more of our True Self nature with each and every class and each and every breath. Katherine is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor with Purusha Yoga of San Francisco and trained under Joy Ravelli and Adnan Iftekar.

Jennifer Yarro is a certified teacher of AcroYoga, Hatha and Vinyasa yoga, Meridian Yoga, and Thai Yoga Massage. She has studied & trained in Thailand, is the co-founder of the New England School of Thai Yoga, and now travels internationally to teach. Jennifer is also the owner & director of Frog Lotus Yoga in the Berkshires. She runs the Yoga Teacher Training program, as well as other certification trainings at her studio with over 8,000 square feet of residential accommodations. For more information please visit: www.jenniferyarro.com, www.froglotusyoga.com, and www.acroyoga.org. For additonal information about her Purusha Thai Yoga modules, please click here.

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