Linda DeMarco is a Kripalu Yoga teacher and co-author/co-producer  of "Yoga For Round Bodies" which was featured in Yoga Journal. Her videos have sold over 13,000 copies. An entrepreneur of 6 businesses, her focus is to bring together her business background, coaching, and her love for yoga. She coaches professional and the self-employed to win the game of fulfillment, freedom and profit.

Beverly 'Belle' Kent is a Master Yoga teacher and professional movement educator whose enthusiasm for connection and creativity have made her a success for 32 years. Bev is back from Manhattan as an Interfaith Minister. Her focus is alternative ministries, being a brilliant workshop leader, and bringing her love of movement to the students and community.

Shawna Barber has always felt the benefits of quieting the mind and becoming more introspective through her practice of yoga. More recently she has discovered the healing and connection to spirit that yoga can bring. This past summer she decided to take time off from her corporate career and experience the month-long 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training offered at the Kripalu Center. Yoga has become a transformative force in Shawna’s life and she looks forward to guiding you through a yoga experience that can facilitate the discovery of your own life’s journey and path.  

Carrie Brostek fell in love with Yoga as a young woman because it gave her the tools to manage the daily stress inherent in all of our lives.  After 13 years of practicing Yoga, she now finds passion in teaching classes to help students learn techniques for reducing stress and finding balance within their own lives.  In her Yoga4Strength class you will focus on deep breathing, holding poses, mental focus, building muscle endurance and improving flexibility for an overall fitness workout.  Carrie’s background as an accomplished fitness instructor and personal trainer will ensure the workouts are challenging yet suited for all levels. She has completed the Yogafit Level 1 training curriculum and is currently enrolled in a 200-hour Yoga certification to deepen her knowledge and experience. 

Kristin Clark has been sharing her love of yoga while teaching for the last 7 years. Having studied with Erich Schiffman intensively, she is also a certified Vinyasa Flow Instructor thru the White Lotus Institute. The feeling of her classes resonate as a meditation thru movement. The most powerful thought that she says has shaped her own practice and teaching is this ~We obviously bring our lives on to the mat, but can we take our practice from the mat into our lives?

Susan Rietano Davey  teaches YCC’s Yoga Pilates Mix class.  A certified fitness instructor, dancer and athlete, Susan began practicing Pilates to strengthen her back following the birth of her fourth child in 2000. The unique exercise regime dramatically improved her strength, balance and endurance (and solved her back problem). Less than one year into her practice, Susan was training with, and subbing for, her instructor ~ the rest is history. 
Yoga-Pilates Mix with Susan is a flow class that blends the complete Pilates Mat program with various Yoga poses.  These complementary practices, performed together in a dynamic flow, enable students to improve their core strength, overall flexibility, posture and balance.  Susan’s eclectic music choices and rhythmic movements keep students inspired and motivated; every class brings something new.

Anjali Desai has been practicing yoga for a long time, and teaching since 2003.  She recently completed extensive training in India through the Himalayan Institute Teachers Association (HITA) certification program (www.himalayaninstitute.org/).  This certification program is used by many fitness and wellness centers as a benchmark of preparedness to teach in that environment.  The Himalayan Institute Teachers Association is a center for the study of yoga science and philosophy.  HITA is based in Honesdale, PA, where it offers a comprehensive and systematic study of yoga for the past 30 years.
Through HITA, Anjali has learned to draw upon the wisdom of a 5000 year-old tradition with roots in the cave monasteries of the Himalayas. Anjali was very blessed to have met the founder of the Himalayan Institute, H.H. Swami Rama, who was very aware of the importance of yoga teacher training, and taught the first classes for Institute-trained teachers himself.

Leslie Gordon has been practicing yoga for more than 10 years and teaching for over three. She is certified through the Integrative Yoga Therapy Program (www.iytyogatherapy.com), a program designed specifically for medical and mainstream wellness settings that emphasizes the healing process by addressing all levels of the student—physical, emotional and spiritual. She is registered with the Yoga Alliance and teaches at Kula Yoga and Healthtrax in Avon, The Yoga Center of Collinsville in Collinsville and for Hartford Hospital. Her classes combine a flowing style with a focus on strength, breath, light-heartedness and a quiet spirituality. Leslie holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from the College of Wooster in Wooster, OH.

Ann Gorjanc  has been teaching yoga since 1997, certified through the Integrative Yoga Therapy Program, a program that focuses a great deal on the holistic health aspects of yoga. Since I also practice as a Pediatric P.A., this program was a natural fit for me, leading me to discover the complexities of the mind-body connection. My yoga practice has had an incredible influence on my shift away from traditional western medical thinking to being able to see students and patients from a healthier holistic perspective. And along the way, I have developed quite a love of teaching the art and science of yoga. My style of teaching, is like that of being lead through a meditation in motion, with a focus on helping students to develop their "muscles of awareness" through their ongoing practice.

Kalia trained in various dance forms and healing modalities, Kalia teaches Belly Dance as a celebratory tradition passed from generation to generation. She first studied Belly Dance with her mentor Cynthia Olivera, the creator of OMM (Olivera Method of Movement) and has worked with various dancers specializing in mudras, Indian folk dance, and healing through movement. She has taught in various yoga and dance studios in Connecticut, and performs as a professional opera singer and in sacred toning ceremonies.

Marie Lavendier, M.S., is a certified Journey Dance teacher, who has studied, performed and taught various forms of Yoga, Movement and Chi Kung. Journey Dance
Our bodies are prayer sticks, and what better way to celebrate life, than to dance our prayers!  We will begin with centering and breathing then go into stretching fluidly on the floor, move our way up to standing and off the mat into space.  All is done to fantastic music. Although I lead the class, you will have the opportunity to modify the movements and at times, explore your body's own spontaneous movement.

Bethany Joanna Lee has been practicing yoga for over 10 years, and has been teaching for over 2 years.  Her classes are warm and inviting, flowing and alive. Each session is unique. You can expect creative music as a tool to guide you.  Spirit guides her through an intuitive flow and spills out into the sacred space.     You can expect a nurturing, holistic, rejuvenative and therapeutic session. Bethany also has a massage therapy practice at 111 Main St., Collinsville.

Migdalia Merriman completed a 200 hour Yoga Alliance certification in Prajna Yoga with Tias Little in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  "This system incorporates the structure and precision of alignment from the Iyengar System while reflecting the fluidity and grace of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, and wisdom that stems from the Buddhist tradition”. She is also a student of Prana Vinyasa Flow with Shiva Rae.  Her practice and teaching style integrates alignment, breath work, flow, and meditation.

Wendy Rappaport, BFA Art Education, Hartford Art School. Former Education Director and teacher at the Farmington Valley Arts Center/Avon. Owner: Back Again Boutique, LLC; Creamery Gallery, Canton & Tribeca Gallery, Farmington. In order to add dance to her repertoire of creative expression Wendy has completed the White Belt level of the Nia Technique with originators Debbie & Carlos Rosas. She has been practicing yoga and dance for many years and is anxious to share the Nia Mind, Body, Spirit dance technique with all those who love moving to music. She is also a Certified Reflexologist Her familiar and friendly teaching style will appeal to even the most inexperienced student of movement. Other interests include: Aromatherapy, plants, gardening, ecology, holistic design for the home and/or workspace, belly dancing, hands-on artistic art projects that soothe the soul. More information on Nia at nianow.com.

Maggie Rueda is certified as a yoga instructor and personal fitness trainer. Her Dynamic Flow classes are a vigorous and flowing blend of Ashtanga and Iyengar style yoga, focused on breathing, body alignment and internal awareness. Maggie's prior career in the field of adult learning allows her to help her clients set attainable goals and achieve those goals by creating exercise programs that are fun and engaging, but also realistic and effective. She holds her 200-hour Yoga Alliance, AFAA, and Reiki certifications. She is currently working toward her 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification at Yoga Center Amherst.

Lisa Sommer RYT A practitioner for the last 23 years, Lisa immersed herself into the world of teaching  8 years ago after giving birth to her second child, Haley.  Being a member of Yoga Alliance, Lisa received her Ashtanga Yoga Training with  David Swenson, her Vinyasa Yoga training Flows from a variety of great teachers.  Jonny Kest having the largest impact.  Lisa's Kid Yoga Teacher Training has been perfected over the years by her own children, Haley and Amanda!  Living and teaching yoga in Puerto Rico for the last six plus years, Lisa founded Yoga Cosas, a website catering to the shopping needs of yoga students.  You can visit her at www.yogacosas.com.  She also just made her first yoga video in San Juan, Puerto Rico!  And looks forward to sharing "The Flow"  with all of you!

Tammy Sparks took her first yoga class in 2001 and became an enthusiastic and dedicated yogi from the start.  "I began my yoga practice as way to strengthen my body but it transformed into a deeper commitment to my spirit and body as a whole."  Tammy received training in Astanga Yoga with David Swenson and began teaching in 2004.  In this energetic and rythmic class you will focus on breath,physical exploration and internal awareness.