MindBodySoul YOGA

Alyssa Snow is the Founder and Director of MindBodySoul Yoga Studio. Alyssa teaches to the level of each individual, and is passionate about making yoga and yogic healing techniques approachable to everyone.

Alyssa has been studying yoga for 15 years and teaching for almost 10. She earned her KRI and Yoga Alliance Certifications through Prana Mandir Yoga Studio’s teacher training programs. She is thankful for her goddess Teachers Lea Kraemer of Prana Mandir Yoga Studio and Hari Kaur Khalsa (reachhari.com) for their continued guidance, support and love.

Alyssa feels blessed to be a part of this growing yoga community in Washington Heights and blessed to be teaching along side such talented, wise, angelic teachers.

Mind Body Soul Yoga: the union of the mind (through meditation and mantra) the body (through pranayama and physical asanas) and the soul (through karma yoga).

This is a clear path to living a balanced, happy and inspired life.

Sat Nam Wahe Guru

May All Beings Be Blessed

Stacey Linden has been practicing yoga for thirteen years and teaching for three. She received her 200-hour certification from OM Yoga in NYC in May 2008. Stacey has also studied with Baron Baptiste, Gurmurkh Kaur Khalsa, and Bec Conant. Stacey received certification from Karma Kids Yoga, and she teaches with the Bent On Learning program in the New York City public schools.

Stacey is continually grateful for the physical and spiritual practice of yoga. And she is thrilled to be able to bring it to her neighborhood, Washington Heights, where she resides with her wonderful 9 year old son.

As a busy actress/singer/Musical Theater performer, Amy Soucy found herself drawn to the practice of yoga after wandering into a class at the New York Integral Yoga Institute ten years ago. She earned her original hatha yoga teacher certification with Integral Yoga in 2005.

Looking to deepen her practice and understanding of this ancient art, she discovered Anusara Yoga, a style of hatha yoga that encourages students to explore the vast potential of their own hearts, minds and bodies. Amy completed an Anusara Yoga Teacher training with certified teacher Julie Dohrman in 2009, and has since become a fully licensed Anusara Inspired instructor. She is delighted to offer these inspiring and transformative classes, steering students of all levels and backgrounds toward a recognition of their authentic gifts, and to greater levels of strength and freedom inside and out.

Amy gratefully acknowledges the many brilliant teachers past and present; including John Friend, Dr. Douglas Brooks, Eric Stoneberg, Elena Brower, Mark Whitwell, Kali Morse, Dharma Mitra, and the Nomads; who've deeply inspired and influenced her teaching, studentship, and life!

When she’s not on the mat, Amy is busy singing, writing songs, and learning to play the guitar… an instrument, like the body/mind, of infinite possibilities!

Tom Weston practices and teaches yoga to align with his highest Truth, and to help point his students toward theirs. He first discovered yoga in 1985 studying the Bhagavad Gita with Diana Eck as a freshman at Harvard College. After graduating, a roommate allowed him to photocopy pages from Richard Hittleman's Yoga, which he used to practice at home and, as fate would have it, found an Iyengar Yoga studio down the street in Cambridge, MA. There he continued his asana practice and resumed his exploration of the GIta with Patrica Walden. Meanwhile a friend introduced Tom to Kundalini Yoga, and after years of intensive sadhana and study with (KRI director of teacher training) Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, in 1996 he was certified in Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga. He then translated his meditation practice into endurance and strength training, including mountain biking, marathon and triathlon. After a number of major surgeries, in 2003 Tom resumed practicing a variety of hatha yoga styles to help heal his injuries, and in 2006 was certified as a NASM personal trainer. In 2009, he completed both the NASM advanced certificate in Corrective Exercise and the Anusara Yoga Teacher Training with Julie Dohrman. Tom currently teaches public yoga classes, small groups, privately, and full time at an alternative NYC high school. He thanks all of his teachers, including John Friend, Elena Brower, Yoganand Michael Carrol, Ana Forrest, and his many NYC teachers and students for their continued inspiration and support. Namaste!

Hannah Strater started practicing yoga in 1995, and completed her teacher training at Sonic Yoga in New York in the spring of 2009.

She is passionate about learning and teaching body awareness, the value of the breath, and the fun and satisfaction of simple as well as challenging yoga poses. Most of all she wants to guide her students to a centered feeling, at peace with themselves and the world around them.

Recently Hannah has also been training with Jill Sattersfield at the Center for Compassionate Action and has started working with at-risk youth using yoga and meditation.

She is truly happy to have MindBodySoul around the corner from where she lives and looks forward to teaching her neighbors at all yoga levels

Ola Ahmad May has been practicing yoga since 1998 and teaching since 2005 to students of all ages. Ola gained her Yoga Alliance teaching certifications from Integral Yoga Institute, OM Yoga Center, and Karma KidsYoga. Believing that “truth is one, paths are many,” Ola’s classes draw from various traditions that encourage students to courageously and compassionately be their fullest potential to better serve themselves and others. She extends much appreciation to those very many beings, animals and humans alike, who have inspired her to grow. She also wishes the deepest gratitude to her husband, Ben, who helps keep her childlike spirit sparkling, and to her cats Elvis, Satya & Buttons who are yogis in their own right.

Maria Phegan Sweet is a 200-Hour Certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher, a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance, and is certified in YogaWork’s Prenatal Continuing Education. A yoga practitioner for 10 years, Maria has been teaching in the tri-state area since 2007, and has enjoyed being a part of the Washington Heights yoga community since 2009.

Maria strives to make yoga more accessible by providing a nurturing, non-intimidating environment for the individual to learn the foundations of yoga and grow at their own pace. Utilizing the tools of Kripalu Yoga, she empowers the individual to tune into and listen to the knowledge stored within their own body. Maria enjoys leading a safe, adventurous, inquisitively, playful class, and enjoys sharing with students the ease with which props can be used in their practice. She loves creating personalized yoga sequences for a variety of ages and levels, and believes that we can begin to unleash the knowledge stored in the body and treat our ailments through gentle stretching, strengthening, and breathing techniques. Following the mantra that “you can only teach what you know”, Maria's yoga practice and inquiry deepened whilst working to keep her own body in balance and healing dance-related injuries during her 17-year international professional ballet career. Maria’s epiphany occurred when she realized yoga was not only allowing her to continue her performing career, but was also offering her a multitude of health benefits, including increased lung capacity, immune defenses, and alternate methods of stress management.

Maria's personal inquiry and practice has been influenced by her training at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in 2007, Baron Baptiste's Power Yoga, Barkan's Hot Yoga, and her growing interest in Anusara, Iyengar, and Restorative Yoga. Her Kriplau teachers, Priti Robyn Ross and Jairaj Randall Williams, plus guests Mark Whitwell and Nischala Joy Devi, shaped Maria’s teaching style and life immeasurably.

In her own pursuit for balance in life, Maria derives pleasure from helping others live without pain through yoga, continuing her performing career with the Metropolitan Opera, expanding her intellectual inquiry at Columbia University, and unwinding in Fort Tryon Park with her husband and 1 year old daughter.

Amrit Manter Singh (Adam Rubenstein) started practicing yoga in 2000 and quickly experienced the many physical benefits of a consistent practice. In 2008 he was introduced to Kundalini Yoga and was inspired by its broad range of benefits, especially the mystical and spiritual journey that it promised. Quickly falling in love with this ancient technology he made a decision to learn as much as possible and pass that information along to others. In 2009 he completed The KRI Kundalini Teaching Summer Immersion course where he was fortunate to study under the guidance of Senior Teacher Trainers Guruchander Sing, Hari Charn Kaur Kalsa, Nivair Singh Khalsa & Tarn Taran Singh Khalsa. Kundalini yoga has helped Amrit realize success in all his endeavors’ and taught him to be graceful even in life’s most challenging moments. His goal is to cultivate love while helping his students realize their full potential as human beings. He hopes to help every student apply the science of Kundalini Yoga to their every day lives ultimately bringing the practice out of the classroom. Amrit teaches from the heart and uses personal experience and faith to uplift and encourage the students. He practices a daily sadhana and continues to study Kundalini Yoga under the direction of his first Kundalini teacher Siri Sat Kaur

Ann Megyas has been a Certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher since 2000, and student of yoga since the 70’s when she was a teenager. That early instruction has been a grounding force throughout her life, and led her to deep exploration of spiritual practices. She has completed trainings as seemingly diverse as a year-long Chaplaincy course with the NY Zen Center for Contemplative Care, and Circus Yoga Teacher Training. She has brought yoga to hospice patients, children, and community members. For the past 20+ years, Kripalu has been her “spiritual gas station” and inspiration. Between formal trainings, staff positions and program assistant-ships, she has experience with or certifications in Reiki, restorative yoga, chair yoga, yoga and the 12-step path, yoga and hiking/snowshoeing, meditation, anatomy and physiology. Her teachers and influencers include Stephen Cope, Naresh Ron King, Yoganand Michael Carroll, Ann Greene, Erich Schiffman, Jason Brown, and Kevin O’Keefe & Erin Maille. Her classes combine a reverence for the practice of asana, pranayama and meditation with a sense of light-heartedness, allowing room for every kind of student. Ann’s teaching invites her fellow yogis to breathe, relax, feel, watch and allow their yoga practice to unfold. As a Washington Heights resident, she is thrilled to be joining this community of teachers and students at Mind Body Soul Yoga.

Colleen Kern’s initiation into yoga began in the mid-80’s. She remembers being aware of how much she seemed to be working from the “inside – out”. The resulting bath of perspiration convinced her that this was something completely new and worse pursuing. Colleen, having a dance and movement background, and was intrigued.

It wasn’t until about a decade later, however, following the birth of her second son, that yoga became central to her life, a guiding force and a practice to instill and maintain balance day to day. It gave her the tools she needed for a fuller and richer experience of the present moment. Colleen continues to be amazed and inspired by all of her teachers, students and others who have shared with her their wisdom and truth and she is humbled and grateful for their presence in her life.

Colleen is certified by Dharma Mittra Yoga (NYC), which offers a classical style honoring the ancient wisdom of the Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita. She has also studied in South India at the Sivananda Ashram and with A G Mohan and his wife Indra who have a direct lineage to the much esteemed Sri Krishnamacharya.

The classes Colleen teaches tend to reflect a diversity of interests and influences with asana, pranayama, meditation and a thread or two of philosophy woven in. It is a flow based sequence with an emphasis on stability and mindful transitioning allowing for students of all levels and ages an opportunity for exploration, integration and fostering a deeper sense of connection to ourselves and all beings.

“We already have everything we need – we only need look within …what is the essential nature at the core of our being”.

(Swami Vivekananda)

Shawna Emerick, RYT, has been practicing Yoga for over 8 years and has been teaching for over 7 years. Her lineage stems from the Kripalu and Iyengar traditions that were past down to her from her teachers. Shawna studied under Shan Ambika with Yandara Yoga Institute for her first 200 Hr Yoga Alliance qualified Teacher Certification. Only two short years later, studying under Jeff Migdow, MD, and Robyn Ross, RYT, she gained her second 200 Hr Yoga Teachers Certification for Prana Yoga through the Open Center of New York. Drawing from her many amazing teachers, her beloved students, and her B.S. Degree in Dance, Shawna now teaches an eclectic form of Yoga that flows, strengthens, and inspires to deepen each person’s connection to their own Inner Light. Shawna also teaches Prenatal yoga and offers Thai Yoga Massage and Reiki as well as running her own dance company, Vital Dance.