Gabe Hendrie
Yoga provides me with a framework to continue to study and increase my understanding of the intelligence behind the science of the human form, and how when we align it according to the laws of nature, we create more beauty both inside and out. I started teaching yoga in 2000, after taking my first Yoga teacher training. In following years I experimented with various yoga styles, until I happily found Anusara Yoga. My greatest joy in teaching is seeing a student discover that how through yoga we can unlock the key to a door that reveals a healthy mind, an energetic body and a warm, open heart.
Katie Black
I am a passionate Social Worker with the intention to spread the gift of yoga to cultivate healthy communities. My conviction to create supportive environments that foster change is the foundation for my yoga teaching. This is inspired by my own yoga practice and teacher trainings in Ashtanga Vinyasa and Anusara.
Kathy Bray
I am a strong fiercely independent woman with fire in her belly that lives to travel and enjoys moving through the world savoring new delights on each adventure. In 2006 I found my home at City Yoga and embarked on a training with Noah Maze and Anthony Benenati. It was during my apprenticeship with Anthony that I discovered my real interest was the power of touch and the healing aspects of yoga. Since that time I have trained extensively with Judith Hanson Lasater in both Restorative Yoga and Yoga Therapy and have studied Thai Yoga Massage with Saul David Raye. I am a certified Restorative Yoga teacher. I feel crazy blessed every day to have found something that lights me up from within and makes me all shiny and bright. I love to teach, to travel, to write and to play. My philosophy is simple: life is meant to be savored. I say savor away…
Billy Gill
I first discovered yoga during my theatre training at Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. At the time, I don’t think I even realized that I was doing yoga, but gradually became more and more aware of the connection between the mind, the body, the breath and eventually the Self. After moving to Chicago in 2003, I began practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga with a wonderful teacher and soon became enthralled with the process of Yoga. In my classes, I tend to focus on breath as an avenue to the deeper layers of being and the fact that yoga is a process of transformation, reminding students frequently that in order to transform, we must first come to realize that we are beginning from somewhere. I strive for a fun and relaxed atmosphere while inspiring a passionate approach to this ancient and sacred art.
Rachel Jackson
I began practicing yoga in my hometown of New York City when a friend invited me to a class at Alan Finger’s studio “Be Yoga” in 2000. There and then, I began a dedicated practice of ISHTA yoga. I was an eager and avid student and my passion for the practice of yoga developed quickly. A 2004 relocation to the West Coast brought the Anusara practice into my life. Since then, I have studied with a number of world-renowned teachers of Anusara Yoga including its founder, John Friend, and other established teachers including Desiree Rumbaugh, Ross Rayburn, Tiffany Fraser and Douglass Brooks among others. I found my first Anusara home at Yoga Inside Out, where I practiced and taught until the merger with Bala Yoga. Since the close of both those studios, I have had the opportunity to teach at the some of the best studios in town including Liberation Yoga, Black Dog Yoga, Center For Yoga-Yogaworks, Exhale, Mission Street Yoga and now Urth Yoga. I am a caring teacher with an inspiring energy that is matched only by my infectiously playful spirit. I look forward to seeing you in class.
Keric Morinaga
In early 2002, I sustained a shoulder injury in the gym. As an alternative to lifting weights, I decided to try yoga for the first time. After one class, I realized that yoga offered much more than just a great workout. I migrated out of the gym and into local yoga studios. Yoga quickly became my primary training for body, mind, and spirit. I have studied a variety of yoga styles and respect all of them for their diverse offerings. My ongoing practice, training, and teaching is dedicated to the Anusara style, a heart opening practice that focuses on alignment. In my teaching, I strive to be creative and fun, helping students to take their practices off the mat and into their daily lives.
Sachie Alessio Heath
I have been practicing yoga since 2002, and teaching since 2007. I’ve had the opportunity to study a few different styles of yoga. I loved Ashtanga for the athleticism it provided, and Anusura because of its brilliant combination of philosophy and asana. I believe our differences are to be embraced, respected and explored in order to truly find balance within. I have found inner strength and healing in Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen’s Body-Mind Centering® and am profoundly grateful to my teachers Annie Carpenter and especially Chloe Chung Misner for their wisdom and supreme kindness. I love sharing the knowledge I am continuing to learn and live for witnessing students finding the deep connection in their bodies. It never gets old!
Stephen Ewashkiw
An accident in 2008 led Stephen to surgery, and yoga. After completing the required PT sessions, Stephen went to yoga to help realign his back. What he found realigned his life. Through this practice and through teaching this practice he hopes to bring a bit of that realignment to each of his students.
Stephen has been studying Anusara yoga since 2008 and is RYT200 Registered with the Yoga Alliance having completed the Anusara 108 Hour Immersion and 108 Hour Anusara Teacher Training with Darren Rhodes and Christina Sell in Tucson in 2010. Huge thank you and gratitude to his teachers including Darren, Christina, and (in alphabetical order) Douglas Brooks, Chris Chavez, Tony Giuliano, Hagar Harpak, Scott Lewicki, Noah Mazé, Keric Morinaga, Brigette Niedringhaus…
Mackie Osborne
Mackie is filled with gratitude for this wonderful practice and to her many teachers and friends, especially Tiffany Fraser, Tara Judelle, Ross Rayburn and to founder John Friend for the gift of Anusara Yoga. For her Yoga is so much more than just an exercise, it is a profound spiritual experience. Connecting to our breath serves to remind us that we are more than just our physical form and more than just our thoughts. That while our bodies and our thoughts are incredible manifestations of the big giant universal spirit, we ourselves are inherently good and necessary parts of that spirit. Mackie is excited and passionate about yoga and strives to make her classes practical and accessible to anyone looking to create transformation in their lives, whether their desire is to open their hearts or their hamstrings… She believes that the end result of either intention brings us closer to achieving both. She lives in Laurel Canyon with her husband and four furry friends.
Joy Stone
Joy moved to Los Angeles from Seattle in 2004 and quickly found herself immersed in the yoga community; which inspired and encouraged her to take her first teacher training. Although she has studied an eclectic mix of styles and traditions it is in and through the Anusara community and teachings where she found her heart and joy. Joy is passionate and creative and continues to be a devoted student and teacher. She loves to study with, and is inspired by, her teachers including John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga. Joy encourages her students to find the truth that already lives in them as she playfully guides them through the physical, mental and spiritual qualities of a balanced yoga practice. Joy would be delighted and honored to see you in class!
Jennifer Gaecke
I came to yoga out of a desire to exercise and reduce stress. What I found was a newly inspired spirit and profound connection to community. I started with yoga DVDs during a winter in Boston and took my first real class in Los Angeles. The vibrancy of the class setting blew me away and I felt as though yoga helped me align with my life’s purpose. I saw how the teacher acts as an inspiring presence, seeing the highest potential in every student. I soon found myself diving into two teacher trainings. My classes are dynamic and challenging, with the intention to laugh, sweat, and connect to one’s true self. I am grateful for the calming and empowering effect of yoga and strive to give this gift to my students. I hold gratitude to my many teachers, including Anthony Benenati, Tiffany Fraser, Hagar Harpak, Jessica Jennings, and Tara Judelle.
Sarika Quach
Sarika stepped into her first Anusara yoga class in January of 2007 and immediately fell in love. She found Anusara yoga not only to be transformative and healing to her body, but also to her mind and spirit. The life affirming teachings of the Anusara principles led her to delve deeper into her own practice and urged her to share in the gifts of this teaching. She gives many thanks to her teachers, including founder John Friend, and to everyone whose support has helped carry her on this path. Sarika’s ongoing practice, studies and teachings are dedicated to the Anusara style. Her love for yoga and for life creates a warm and welcoming environment. Her classes are playful, challenging and empowering. She is happy and honored to have found her home here at Urth.
Tim Healey
I enjoy teaching people of all levels and conditions, building on what works to develop a yoga practice that serves their body and settles their hearts and minds. Growing up back East I was always a dancer, and trained seriously as an adult in the early 1970′s in California; focused on modern movement. Yoga was included in those studies. By the mid 1980′s I felt finished with dance and ran away to the film industry; yoga continued to be a part of my life. At 50 I explored yoga more seriously, from gym classes to Iyengar and Anusara studios. In 2010, in celebration of my 60th birthday, I completed City Yoga’s teacher training, in 2011, a certificate in the yoga therapy program at Loyola Marymount University, and currently I am honored to be an intern with Sherry Brourman in her yoga therapy practice, Tensegrity.