Born and raised in New York City, Chaya first traveled to India when she was 14 to study yoga and meditation. For the next three years, she traveled all over the world with her meditation and yoga teacher, studying Indian philosophy, Sanskrit, yoga, Indian music and cooking. Chaya attended Sarah Lawrence College. Over the years, Chaya regularly returned to India for extended periods to continue her studies. She received her first yoga teacher certification in India in 1990. She is a perpetual yoga student and continues her studies throughout the year.
Elizabeth Doberneck, RYT, Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher Elizabeth has taught many workshops on the principles of Anusara Yoga as well as on topics such as women’s reproductive health, osteoporosis and scoliosis. Most recently she co-taught Immersion II with Anusara certified teacher, Chaya Spencer. Elizabeth’s goal in teaching is to inspire students to experience their own inner and outer freedom. She brings a deep knowledge of alignment technique and a playful spirit to her classes.
Karon Shovers Goldsmith, RYT, Anusara-Inspired™ Yoga Teacher She also has extensive experience leading classes which focus on women's issues, such as PMS, pregnancy, menopause, fertility, and hormonal imbalances. As a mother of a toddler, she understands the issues women confront and integrates restorative asanas in many of her classes. In addition, she recently became initiated as a Reiki Level II practitioner. Karon's classes encourage deep focus, precise alignment, and an emphasis on breath. A resident of Nyack, Karon lives with her husband Michael, son Benjamin and her cat Luna.
Valerie Herzog, RYT, Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher In 2005 Valerie became a member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance. She teaches Vinyasa, Anusara, Restorative, Children's and Chair Yoga. At the beginning of 2009 Valerie received her Anusara Inspired Status from John Friend, a most joyously felt addition to her practice and her life! Susan Walsh, RYT
By invoking a sense of importance to each pose Andrea highlights the power and beauty that unveils and extends itself when we meet each moment with the full expanse of the heart. Andrea interweaves the sophisticated system of the Universal Principles of Alignment with a vibrant sensitivity that invites and encourages each student to step into the current of their own heart. She aspires to deepen each student's experience by pressing open the boundary of expectation with a radiance that offers the expanse of possibility. Andrea is tremendously grateful for all her teachers, including her students, who continually provide the ever-expanding sphere of discovery, creativity and illumination. For her Level I Teacher Training Andrea studied at New York's Premiere Anusara Studio, Virayoga, with esteemed Certified Anusara teacher Zhenja La Rosa and graduated in January of 2008. In the same year Andrea also completed her Level II Teacher Training with Anusara Yoga's founder John Friend. She is currently working towards Anusara Inspired status.
Montse Costello, RYT Montse teaches in hopes of providing others with that life affirming attitude that Anusara Yoga infuses into everything. She strives to motivate her students to find beauty and self expression on and off the mat. She is totally in love with the details, and her goal is to help everyone find the freedom, balance and stability that good alignment offers. She keeps deepening her studies of Anusara Yoga, attending to immersions, workshops and weekly classes. She would like to deeply thank all of her teachers who continually inspire and guide her; especially Chaya Spencer, Sheryl Edsall, Zhenja La Rosa, her husband Dominick, daughter Alex and son Lucas.
Amy Jean Matri-Pastore, RYT, 500 hour, Anusara-Inspired Yoga Teacher She has received both Basic and Advanced Teacher Training certifications from the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California as well as Yoga Synthesis's 500 hour Advanced Teachers Training. She is also certified to teach restorative yoga and has participated in numerous other workshops and trainings over the past 6 years. Amy infuses her teaching with compassion, humor, and creativity. She encourages her students to celebrate there own divinity, shine and illuminate one another.
Ann Casapini RYT, Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher Ann has over 290 hours of study with John Friend, founder of Anusara yoga and over 500 hours of study with other Anusara Yoga instructors. Included in her studies is the completion of a year long (2001-2002) Anusara teacher training taught by wonderful teachers: Ellen Saltonstall, Jimmie and Ruthie Bernhart. Following that, she assisted Ellen Saltonstall teaching yoga for dancers at Sara Lawrence College for two semesters. More recently, Ann studied Tantric philosophy and meditation with Professor Paul Muller-Ortega, a world-renowned expert on Kashmir Shaivism and Hindu Tantra. This 12-month program, “Entering the Heart of Shiva” was an extraordinary opportunity for powerful study and practice. Ann currently teaches group and private classes in lower Westchester. She has also taught in Manhattan and East Hampton.
Kent Lindemer After obtaining certification in massage therapy and bodywork, Kent toured nationally with the Broadway musical Swing! as the company’s massage therapist, aerial bungee rigger and trainer. Concurrently, Kent continued to pursue his studies in yoga with John Friend and eventually became an affiliated Anusara teacher. Immersing himself even further within the world of yoga, Kent completed Advanced Teacher Training with Richard Freeman and taught Ashtanga Yoga at The Yoga Workshop in Boulder, CO. Most recently, Kent earned an MFA in Dance at the University of Washington. As a result of these multifaceted yet interconnected experiences, Kent has developed a uniquely rich knowledge base and style of teaching which blends together elements of his experiences in dance, anatomy, Ashtanga and Anusara Yoga, his own style of Nata Yoga, Nada Yoga, and Partner Yoga. Kent enjoys teaching workshops and classes nationally and abroad and has done so since 1995. He has moved back to the East Coast to continue his career and have a baby with his lovely partner Deirdre. He still keeps a Massage Therapy practice and occasionally dances with Pilobolus, as well as on his own.
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Chaya Spencer, RYT, Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher
Elizabeth has been teaching yoga since 1994. She met John Friend, the founder of Anusara Yoga in 1998, and since then has continued to study with John as well as with many other Anusara Yoga teachers, accumulating many hundreds of hours of training and teaching experience. Among her studies are the completion of a year-long Anusara Yoga teacher training program with nationally recognized therapeutics teacher, Ellen Saltonstall and Jim and Ruthie Bernhaert, and Vinyasa teacher Shiva Rea’s foundational teacher training. In 2008, she embarked on a year of intensive philosophy study and meditation practice with Paul Muller Ortega, a world renowned scholar of Indian Religion and Hindu Tantra. Drawn to the exquisite elegance of the Tantric system of thought she continues to deepen her understanding through study with Paul, as well as with other eminent scholars such as Dr. Douglas Brooks.
Karon Shovers Goldsmith has practiced and studied Yoga with various masters over the last 13 years. She is a graduate of an 18 month intensive certification program offered by the Anusara-based World Yoga Center in New York City, and she became a member of its faculty upon her graduation. In May, 2004, Karon beacame an Anusara Affiliate and is also a registered yoga teacher with the National Yoga Alliance. While residing in New York City, in addition to her regular classes at World Yoga Center, she taught after-school clubs in the New York City Public schools, private clients in their homes and conducted numerous workshops. 
Valerie is a lifelong practitioner of yoga and has also been a practicing psychotherapist for more than 25 years. She finds that blending yoga with therapy can be a most natural approach, as yoga is a form of therapy that is transformational. Valerie has studied with many wonderful teachers: Sheryl Edsall, Chaya Spencer, Todd Norian and John Friend, just to name a few, and has tremendous gratitude for each one of her teachers, for they have truly changed her life.
Susan has been drawn to the practice of yoga since her first class in 2002. Through her teachings she hopes to inspire others to discover the many gifts yoga has to offer both on the mat and off. Susan has a deep love for Anusara Yoga and it’s teachings and has completed all three Anusara Yoga Immersion Trainings. She is a Registered Yoga Instructor and a member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance. She completed her teacher training in 2006 and has been teaching yoga classes in Bergen County since. Susan is blessed at home with her two beautiful children, Anna and Mikayla, and her loving husband Mark.
Through her love of language and the passionate churning of the heart, Andrea infuses her teaching with a quality of poetry.
Montse has been practicing yoga for the past 6 years, and decided to go into Teacher Training as a way to deepen her own yoga practice. However, during her training, she realized how passionate she was about sharing with others what she was discovering about yoga, and how her life was becoming more flavorful and joyful because of it. Montse started teaching in September 07, after completing her first Teacher Training at Naturally Yoga. . She is a member of the Yoga Teachers Alliance.
Amy’s passion for teaching evolved from her own love of yoga. Amy appreciates all schools of Hatha Yoga and was eventually moved to learn more about Anusara. She was immediately taken by the way the practice is so elegantly formulated with such heart. In addition to her study with Chaya at Shree, Amy has attended various workshops with Anusara teachers including Todd Norian, Sianna Sherman, Kenny Graham, Elena Brower, and John Friend who so graciously demystifies the science and joyfully celebrates the art that is Anusara yoga.
Ann has been joyfully practicing and teaching yoga since 1995. Her classes include vigorous asana, meditation, pranayama, (breath work) and chanting. 
Kent Lindemer, M.F.A. has an intense passion for and an extensive background in yoga, dance and bodywork. After graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.A. in Theatre Arts, Kent danced and choreographed both nationally and internationally with Pilobolus Dance Theatre from 1989-2000.