We are a community of people, in constant learning, dedicated to sharing with you our years of practice and study of yoga so that you can remove boundaries between your body, heart and spirit. We love the body details, the flow, music, and philosophy. Here, you will find hOMe.
Bryn Chrisman
Teaching classes since 2003, teacher trainings since 2006 and practicing much longer.
I opened Yogamaya to share and care for what I love, yoga. My classes are challenging, devotional and fun, but not frivolous. A long-time student of Iyengar teachers Carrie Owerko & Kevin Gardiner, and Jules Mitchell, I integrate the texture and subtleties of alignment & biomechanics with flow and purposeful sequencing. We approach the asanas with the mood of appreciation, climb deep into our bodies, and discover a way of moving that is at once humble and powerful.
Danielle Harbord
Danielle found yoga in search of healing and inner peace. An avid runner and former athlete, she also enjoyed the physical and mental challenge it presented. Through the connection of body and spirit, she realized her practice would be a lifelong journey and an inspiration for living.
Her classes are challenging, yet carefully sequenced with attention to alignment and blended with her love of music. She aims to create a supportive and playful environment where students can expand their awareness and explore. She completed her 500-hour certification at Yogamaya and continues to learn and be inspired by her fellow teachers and community.
Bridgette Trezza
In June of 2012 I graduated from Yogamaya New York’s 200-hour teacher training program. Coming from a dance and art background, I was, and continue to be, deeply charmed by the creativity and freedom yoga feeds my body and mind. Since graduating, I have completed Yogamaya’s advanced 300hr training- with focuses on restorative yoga, prenatal, therapeutics, and pranayama. I am also a lead teacher in the 200hr teacher training program.
My classes are inspired by the inherent ability to ground for flight, music that travels deep, and kind self inquiry.
Amanda McDonald
Amanda, E-RYT 500, has been practicing yoga since 1999. A graduate of Yogamaya’s 300hr Advanced Teacher Training, she loves the lessons yoga has to teach about life. Seeing students win small victories and gain confidence both on and off of the mat is her favorite part of teaching. Amanda loves the invigorating aspects of yoga as well as the deeply relaxing and meditative aspects. She tries to share the joy and clarity she finds in her practice with her students, while encouraging them to enjoy their own experiences.
Jeff Percacciante
Jeff found yoga and meditation in 2009 as a means to connect with his
body, confront anxiety and depression and overcome issues around body
dissatisfaction and dysmorphia. He completed his 200hr training in 2012,
three subsequent 500hr trainings, and continues to study with beloved
teachers Sondra Loring, Ame Wren, Daniel Max, Alex Auder and Bryn
Chrisman.
His classes are highly inclusive and well loved for their
physical and mental inquiry, cultivation of curiosity, courage, strength
and sense of humor.
Julie Pasqual
I am a 500 RYT. I received my 200-hour TT at Devotion Yoga, and am REALLY PROUD to have been part of the first Advanced 300hr YTT at Yogamaya!! I find the teachings of yoga ENDLESSLY fascinating, inspiring, and humbling – from the intricacies of alignment to the heart-opening spiritual philosophy of Bhakti!
It is the practices of Bhakti that I try to center both my yoga teaching and my life around, taking inspiration and instruction from Radhanath Swami, Dhanurdhara Swami, Kaustubha Das, and other teachers at the Bhakti Center. I am ALWAYS inspired by Yogamaya’s teachers, and grateful to be part of this amazing staff!!
Gina Benson
Gina is a full-time yoga teacher and Ayurveda Practitioner in NYC. After discovering yoga she made it her mission to spread yoga and healing with others. A family member introduced her to Yogamaya, the only yoga studio in the city that Gina feels at home. Gina’s bubbly personality is shown through her teaching and practice. With a love for education and studying, Gina’s classes continue to change and improve. Don’t be surprised if she includes a mini anatomy lesson or Ayurveda jargon into her classes every once in awhile. Though chatty, her warmth and friendliness make you feel welcome and comfortable!
Halima Henderson
Halima’s classes combine attention to alignment and a straightforward yet challenging sequence, in a light-hearted and welcoming environment. After years of dance instruction, she finds the flow-based movement of Vinyasa a perfect fit. Halima believes a mindful practice can decompress and strengthen the body, mind and spirit while allowing space for reflection and growth.
A Michigan native and University of Michigan alum, Halima received her 200-hour Teacher Certification from Yogamaya New York. Off the mat, she’s an actor and teaching artist. Halima has a penchant for the arts, good books, good laughs and Michigan Football.
Katie Facada
In 2010, I moved from SF to NYC and found Yogamaya, where classes wove poetry into the very cells of my being and helped me somatically process and show up for my life.
Teaching and mentoring new teachers are ways for my love of the practice to emanate out. I believe in intelligent sequences paired with a sweet, sweaty flow, and I aim to help students find their strength, softness and “enoughness” in every class.
I bow deeply to the practice and all it’s given me, especially my teachers and everyone I’ve come to know on this path.
Joanne Silver
Joanne’s life changed the first time she stepped onto a yoga mat. She knew she had found a way of moving and being that could open her body and soothe her soul.
The yoga practice has taught her that being flexible is often more a state of mind than a physical state of being.
She is certified in vinyasa, restorative, therapeutic, pre-natal yoga and Urban Zen and is also a certified Reflexologist and Reiki practitioner. Joanne enjoys leading yoga retreats to places near and far, hiking, and kayaking on the Hudson River. She completed yoga teacher training with Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in 2002, and has been teaching yoga ever since.
Aimee Cox
Aimee is a former professional dancer who performed internationally with Ailey II. She is currently a professor of Anthropology + African American Studies at Yale University. Both dance + anthropology inform her approach to holding space. Aimee highlights the joy of fluid + expansive movement; respect for our glorious diversity + the lightness that comes from allowing play!
She received her 200hr from Yogamaya + her 500hr from the Tantric Alchemy Institute. She is also a certified in STOTT Pilates. Her classes are rhythmic + buoyant, and her teaching rooted in the possibilities within our bodies to move from soul + be guided by spirit.
Ambyr D’Amato
Although I am one of Yogamaya’s newer teachers, I have been teaching yoga since 2005. I have a keen attention to detail in many aspects of my life, and I think this translates well into my yoga practice and teaching.
My classes encourage students to find heart healing through meditation, breathwork, and movement. I love inclusivity, social justice, and creative time. I play seven instruments and write songs for fun. I love kirtan, and chances are, if you come to my class I’ll sing with you.
I wanted to teach at Yogamaya because from the moment I first walked it, I felt at home with its beauty, people, and dedication to yoga.
Briana Aguilar-Austin
Briana values yoga as a way to mindfully connect to our physical bodies. The asana practice gives us awareness and information about our individual strengths and places we want to attend to.
She teaches vinyasa flow, with a strong focus on alignment and technique. With trainings in prenatal, anatomy, restorative and reiki, she strives to make yoga accessible and inviting to all levels of students. Briana wants you to leave her class feeling healthy, happy and accomplished! You just did yoga!
She completed her 200-hour certification at Yogamaya in Manhattan in 2013, and is currently working on her 300-hour. She is an avid hiker and long-distance runner, and leads international trips for an all-women responsible tourism company, WHOA Travel.
Alexandra Paddock
Alexandra, who responds to Alex, Ham, Pad but mostly Allie, first came to yoga to rehab a hamstring torn dancing. Through the process of her recovery, she healed a leg and found a new way of moving that in turn awoke a sense of mind-body-spirit connection that has fueled her ever since. Alexandra received her 200-hr certification with Yogamaya and thanks her teachers for their wisdom, guidance and inspiration. Always with a playful spirit, Alexandra’s classes aim to balance thoughtful inquiry with fine attunement to detail. Alexandra is grateful for the practice of yoga for helping her see with her heart and hear with her bones.
Victorine Lamothe
Born and bred in Louisiana, Victorine grew up twirling her way through ballet studios. After years of dance training, she went on to discover a new body-mind connection in Vinyasa yoga. In 2013, she stumbled into a class at Yogamaya and was instantly hooked. A few years down the road, she made the jump from student to teacher, completing her 200-hour certification under the inspirational guidance of the Yogamaya teachers.
While her classes brim with heat-building, fluid movement, they’re also infused with nurturing and fun. A writer and editor when she’s off the mat, Victorine lives in Manhattan with her two clingy cats.
Karen Jane Wright
Karen aims to offer her students a space for deeply personal practice and growth, knowing firsthand just how transformative it can be. Her classes tend to be athletic and challenging, yet she’s a supportive and personable guide, wanting her students to feel strong and capable in their practices. As a former high school teacher, she thrives on the energy of a room full of learners, and relishes the opportunity to demystify challenging poses, or just offer a judgement-free space for personal and physical development.
Anya Porter
Anya has dedicated her life to yoga and movement, and to guiding others into their own healthy embodiment. Her formal studies began in 1998 in University; pursuing a dual degree in dance and plant biology. Since that time she has intensively studied and taught yoga, therapeutics, and multidisciplinary movement practices in the US and Europe.
Fierce compassion and playful discernment are the bedrock of Anya’s practice and teachings. She is particularly inspired by the intersection between sciences of body, spatial and rhythmic exploration, and inner, interpersonal and social dialogue. After 4.5 years abroad, Anya is thrilled to be back in NYC.
Lisa Weinert
In my work as an editor, publicist, and coach, and as a yoga teacher and student, I’ve come to believe in the power of stories to heal and transform lives. Yoga and writing go hand in hand—each unlock the stories we carry. I’m 500-hour certified through YogaWorks with special trainings in restorative and therapeutics.
My classes strive to create a calm, sweet, and inspiring environment where students are free to relax, release, and renew. Off the mat, you’ll find me running around Chelsea with my loving pup Stella, who teaches me how to find joy in every moment. I’m so excited to join the Yogamaya family!
Rachel Fedde
Rachel Fedde found that years of competitive fencing had left her muscles tight and turned to yoga to regain flexibility. She soon grew to appreciate yoga for not just its physical benefits but also the focus and calm that the practice brings. She completed her 500 hour certification at Yogamaya. In teaching she hopes to share the freedom and peace she’s found in yoga with others.
In what little time she’s not on the fencing strip or on the mat, Rachel is also an award-winning film and television editor who loves to travel.
Lori Nathanson
When I discovered Yogamaya soon after it opened in 2010, I knew I found a yogic home. Yoga unites my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health through a range of practices grounded by asana.
My teaching reflects yoga as a practice, not performance or perfection, so there’s space to explore, play, and push boundaries. I offer students a vinyasa flow, uniting movement and breath, as a moving meditation. I invite students to look within, building self awareness and compassion for self and others.
I am grateful to practice and teach in the Yogamaya community, which amplifies the benefits of yoga that I carry with me off the mat.
Jess Parks-Kocher
Jess has been a mover and a seeker her entire life. Jess has been practicing yoga for nearly two decades and teaching for 9 years. Additionally, Jess works as a birth doula, reiki practitioner and is studying Chinese Medicine. She is an anatomy dork, birth nerd and all around movement enthusiast.
Sara Bonafair
Born in New Mexico, I was raised in a community that cultivated my love of movement and a free and open spirit. Yoga has taught me to connect with myself as I connected with others. I love in abundance my teachers, friends and students I practice with at my favorite place in NYC, Yogamaya.
My personal practice is daily joy and connection, and I seek to pass this on to my students. My classes aim to help students reach their joyful potential and walk away with a sense of vitality. Through creative sequencing, intuitive movement and a lighthearted approach, I encourage students to explore new places within them and outside their comfort zone.
Babette Becker
I’ve pursued my love of movement through dance & yoga classes. While raising 3 daughters, I obtained a social work degree & doctorate in psychology. My psychotherapy practice includes a specialty in geriatric care & the relationship between physical & emotional issues among the elderly. I bring this awareness to my yoga classes & include meditation as a vital & integral part of any yoga practice. My goal is to help older students reach their potential within the parameters of age through increased awareness & development of alignment, flexibility, movement & strength. I received my 500 hour yoga certification from Cyndi Lee/OM yoga.
Bess Matassa
In 2013, astrologer and tarot reader Bess Matassa, PhD, found sweet sanctuary for her celestial visions within Yogamaya’s walls.
She is the author of The Numinous Astro Deck, and Zodiac Signs: Leo and Virgo (Sterling), has been a cosmic consultant for platforms and institutions including Teen Vogue, Almay cosmetics, and the Rubin Museum of Art, and has crafted everything from birth chart walking tours to tarot dance parties. Bess serves up mystical self-inquiry with a side of play, poetry, and pop music, harnessing the language of the cosmos to bring us deeper into the vivid world that surrounds us and the luscious selves we already are.
Po Chan
Po started practicing yoga in 2011 as a remedy for the chronic stress brought on by a career on Wall Street. He found that breathing consciously and moving his body through poses brought undeniable benefits to his well-being. After spending several years exploring multiple styles of yoga, Po immersed himself to teach Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga, drawn to the body’s natural rhythms and internal intelligence.
Through his caring spirit, warm voice, and natural sensitivity, Po aims to lead his students to that sweet state where the body and mind can blissfully bathe in connection and freedom.
Anna Krasnovskaya
Anna, Siberian girl with Russian accent, had always loved to dig deep into details of what she likes. Taking Amanda McDonald’s class, she was amazed how paying attention to small details changes the yoga experience. Since then she fell in love with the Yogamaya style and in 2016 received her 200hr certification and in 2018 500hr.
Anna also is a holistic practitioner, trained by Dr. Naina Marballi.
Anna is passionate about chakras and Yoga Nidra and weaves a spiritual & educational theme into her flow. She cannot stop being impressed by capability of the mind.
Off the mat, she is an ecologist and a choir member.
Annabelle McDonald
Annabelle has practiced yoga for many years in NYC. She’s a believer in the transformative power of practice on all levels, and aspires to convert the inflexible nay-sayers into passionate, dedicated students.
With a background as an award-winning television producer, Annabelle takes a logical, practical approach to her classes (yes, she’s a Virgo), but her love of the practice is always evident. She creates a calm environment including space for just being, and believes that with a small kernel of willingness, anything is possible. Annabelle loves practicing yoga, teaching yoga, making videos, and spending quality time with Max the cat.
Doug Kocher
Doug is honored to have participated in the Yogamaya community as both a student and the studio’s architect since its founding. As with his architectural practice, Doug seeks to evolve with and serve a community of individuals striving for deeper understanding of themselves and others in a process of grounding experiences and enlightening insights. Doug credits studio co-director Bryn Chrisman for the initial spark of interest in yoga, and as well for the sustained engagement in the practice as a conversation between life-long friends.
You’ve taken a yoga class and know what a sun salutation is (or you’ve seen one on instagram). Level 1 emphasizes proper alignment and detailed teachings of the transitional movements in Vinyasa classes.
New to yoga?
Take our Beginner Fundamentals Class
You have an understanding of the basic poses and transitional movements of a Vinyasa class (down dog, plank, chaturanga, cobra/upward dog). You’ll get more dynamic sequences with challenging poses, subtle alignment of basic poses, and an introduction to other yoga practices.
You’re a Level 2 or a Level 3 student, or somewhere in between. This is a mixed level class that gives you a challenge when you want one. Progressions and variations offered by the teacher will allow you to practice at your own individual level while keeping with the class flow and energy.
You have a strong, ongoing practice. Here you’ll get more challenging poses and techniques for approaching poses, deeper variations and dynamic sequences. You’ll explore subtler aspects of yoga and yogic practices (bandhas, pranayama, chanting, mudra, restorative, therapeutic, etc).
Completely passive, no aggressive. A gentle, yet deep practice that opens the hips, legs and shoulders to alleviate stiffness and stress. This slower, meditative class uses bolsters, blankets, blocks and chairs to organize the body in a way that calms your nervous system and relaxes your entire being.
You’re ready to start your yogic journey. This is the best part! This class teaches the basics for people brand new to yoga. Everyone is welcome and there is absolutely no flexibility required. Wear comfortable clothing that allows you to stretch. You can bring a mat or use one of ours. Start yoga today!
This one hour practice is designed specifically for women during all stages of their pregnancy journey. The class focuses on the needs of the constantly changing pregnant body + mind by offering a luscious flow along with breathing techniques, visualizations and pelvic floor work designed to help students prepare for birth + the early days of motherhood.
A welcoming yoga class for older adults 60-years and up, focusing on strength, flexibility & balance by working with breath & movement. Learn alignment & modifications to make your practice fun & accessible – you are never too old, too stiff, too big or too small to practice yoga! This class is $7.
A well rounded Yogamaya Flow class taught by grads of our Teacher Training programs. This class is no-charge!
This one hour practice is for prenatal & postpartum students (from 6-weeks post birth onward). Come move, breathe, strengthen and reconnect while engaging in a community of new to be & new parents. Take some time out to focus on you.
You want to find your flow in a sweaty dynamic sequence, then restore with longer held poses supported by props – all in one class. This class starts with a Level 2 flow to build heat and transitions to “on the ground” poses that you’ll hold longer to deeply relax.
Yogamaya is made of people from all walks of life who practice yoga that’s rooted in alignment, grounded by self study, and inspired by truth and possibility. We are united by our love for asana, kirtan and spiritual teachings all under one roof – and we love experiencing those things together.
Yoga is a practice of self study. But we believe that connecting with each other on this journey is the key to a deeper connection with ourselves, and everything we’ve created is to help foster these connections. Through movement, stillness, song, silence. And everything in between.
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