Meet the Teachers
We are honored to host an inspiring group of professional teachers, including both local and visiting instructors with impressive experience and credentials.
Laura Bozarth
Laura Bozarth fell in love with yoga and has been practicing for 14 years and teaching for six. She is in the process of earning a yoga teacher certification. Her practice and classes are in the spirit of ashtanga and vinyasa yoga, focusing on strength, flexibility, and stamina.
Robert Brower
bio coming soon! madriveryoga.com
Anjali Budreski
Anjali Budreski, owner of Yoga Mountain Center in Montpelier, Vermont, has been in love with yoga since taking her first yoga class in 1994. Anjali's practice blossomed from doing yoga on a small Southern Vermont farm in a one room cabin to teaching at a Burlington yoga studio. Passionate about sharing her love of yoga with others, she enrolled in Kripalu's 200 hour teacher training, where she met Todd Norian, who later introduced her to Anusara Yoga.
Mary Flemming
Mary Flemming has been teaching yoga since 1993 in central Vermont, where she directs Mad River Yoga. Mary’s teachers are from the Iyengar Method. Having spent the last 33 years as a nurse her wealth of knowledge of the physical is integrated with the philosophy of yoga. Her teaching empasizes the spiritual physical connection for which the Iyengar method is known. For details visit madriveryoga.com
Robert Gold
Robert Gold – After decades of sports-based wear and tear on body and mind from an over-active lifestyle, Rob was introduced to *Svaroopa® yoga* in 2006 and the fresh paradigm of the body's workings. The supportive and easily approachable poses began unraveling layer upon layer of core tension with remarkable efficiency leading to a rapid reduction in physical pain and relief from chronic stiffness. These changes were profoundly moving to say the least, inspiring him to enroll in teacher training a few months later. It was at these intensive, multi-dimensional trainings that Rob was introduced to the vastness of yoga that lies beyond poses and anatomy, falling in love with the timeless and all-encompassing wisdom of the ancient texts, mantras and practices. Months later Rob was invited to serve Swami Nirmalananda Saraswati, the founder of *Svaroopa® yoga* while continuing his training and education before relocating to Vermont in 2008. He is continually amazed at the simplicity, power and accessibility of this practice and shares this passion in service to students and clients.
Meredith Hart
Meredith's search for the understanding of her true Self has led her to the study of many yogic traditions and from various spiritual teachers; however it is Svaroopa® yoga that has provided the deep structural changes, healing, and transformation that facilitated a rapid advancement in her search for the more that yoga offers. Meredith has been teaching yoga since 2001 and holds over 1000 hours of yoga instructor and yoga therapist training combined. She has also earned a Certificate in Massage Therapy and Bodywork, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Transpersonal Psychology and has recently concluded her time of three years with the Ayurvedic Center of Vermont as the lead panchakarma therapist. Meredith is honored to share her knowledge and passion in service to her students and clients and is devoted to the power and the grace of the Svaroopa® yoga teachings. Meredith is a registered teacher with Yoga Alliance and an active member of the Association of Integrative Medicine. www.athousandpetals.com
Chelsea Hastings
Chelsea Hastings first encountered yoga as a teenager and was transformed by the positive power it had to shape her perspective. While obtaining her degree in Cultural Studies in California, Chelsea trained with Anusara yoga teacher, Robin Smith. Her own teaching is greatly influenced by Anusara's therapeutic alignment principles and heart-centered philosophy.
Chelsea's intent in teaching is to share the basic yogic principles of aligning body, breath and heart in such a way that her students will affirm their own sense of vibrancy in body and in spirit. In addition to teaching yoga, Chelsea is completing her training to become a midwife. She delights in the company of the families she works with.
Other delights are growing, cooking and eating food, dabbling in the Vermont folk life renaissance, and dancing. She is deeply grateful to all of her teachers.
Jane Jarecki
Jane Jarecki began practicing yoga during college after a fateful journey to India. She has studied with Sri Dharma Mittra, Nancy Gilgoff, and Rusty Wells. Jane is a certified Kripalu Yoga teacher who considers yoga to be one pathway to peaceful life.
Jane sees yoga as a tool for preventing illness, cultivating self-awareness, compassion and love. Her class is a flowing and dynamic experience with emphasis on self-acceptance, relaxation, breath, alignment, and exploring one's edge. Jane is devoted to studying and sharing yoga as yoga has opened Jane to herself and the world.
Abbi Jaffe
Abbi Jaffe loves to dance and move authentically.
She enjoys creating safe space for herself and others to explore.
Abbi currently practices Thai massage, holds space for mediation
in Montpelier, co-leads wilderness trips with her company
Ready Adventures, and is creating a community retreat space
in Underhill called Dharma Door Retreat. She dances contact
improv dance as often as possible and will always sit and
meditate with you if you ask.
Libby Kellington
Libby Kellington has had the opportunity to study closely with a variety of beloved and gifted teachers. She is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor (her beginnings), a certified Power Yoga teacher with Baron Baptiste, a Vinyasa/"Freedom Style" yoga teacher with Erich Schiffman, and an Inner Body Flow teacher gifted by the grace and wisdom of teachers Angela Farmer and Donna Farhi.
Libby takes you on a deep, delicious journey through your body, mind and soul.
Coby Kozlowski
Coby Kozlowski, CPCC, is a professional
life coach, inspirational speaker, yoga teacher, and expert
in transformative leadership. Through the integration of
progressive coaching techniques, yoga, Ayurveda, and expressive
arts, she guides individuals in finding clarity to live
the life they dream of. She is the founder of Simple Rhythm
Coaching LLC, cofounder of Souluna Life Coach Certification
training, and a faculty member at Kripalu Center. As an
instructor in Kripalu’s Semester Intensive program, she
specialized in working with young adults. www.simplerhythm.com
Katy Leadbetter
Katy Leadbetter has been creating vinyasa-type movement since age 12. She received her Kripalu Teaching Certification in 2008. Her time as Massage Therapist, Personal Trainer, Wellness Consultant and Group Exercise Director helped her to gain the knowledge and confidence needed to open Fusion Studio. She blends yoga, martial arts and dance.
John McConnell
John McConnell has been practicing and experiencing yoga for nearly 10 years. In his classes John interweaves a combination of humor, light-heartedness, and intensity - while maintaining a keen emphasis on celebrating the true joy of life!
Lydia Russell-McDade
Lydia Russell-McDade is a certified Anusara-Inspired
yoga teacher, herbalist, and holistic nutrition couselor.
Nourished by her life-long love of dance and fourteen years
of yoga practice, her playful, yet potent classes inspire
the student to discover his or her own source of grace, power,
and radical freedom through a blend of precise alignment instructions
and fluid posture flows. A poet and story-teller, Lydia uses
her love of words, nature, and myth to illuminate her students'
asana practice as she weaves a web of rich metaphor and imagery
to support and guide each student's unique journey. Deeply
influenced by Indian Tantric philosophy, as well as by her
own European ancestor's Earth-based spirituality, Lydia's
classes are heart-opening, community-oriented, and rooted
in the sacred cycles and rhythms of nature.
Patrick McAndrew
Patrick McAndrew became a serious student of yoga at age 17 when he had an oceanic experience learning Hamsa Sohum meditation from the dancer Margaret Beals, a devotee of Swami Muktananda. In pursuit of deepening that connection, he has practiced with many great teachers through-out California, Vermont, and his native New York City. He is a graduate of the Kripalu 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and Goddard College.
Victoria Negrete
Victoria Negrete has been oriented toward a path of internal transformation for the last 8 years. She has studied many different spiritual arts including various forms of energy healing, massage, breathwork, and dance. For the past 6 years she has been devoted to the study of the Pneuma System and has been certified in transpersonal psychology and Pneuma Breathwork through the Pneuma Institute in Mexico. Victoria has led Pneuma Dance sessions in Mexico, California and Italy.
Prem Prakash
Founder of Green Mountain School of Yoga
Prem Prakash has been practicing yoga and related arts and sciences since 1979. In 1990, his yoga guru, Baba Hari Dass, gave him permission to teach others. Prem Prakash and his wife, Ambika, (Lesley Gibbs) have studied formally with teachers from several different lineages, and together they serve as Co-Directors of the Green Mountain School of Yoga in Middlebury, Vt. Prem is a publsihed author with his most recent work titled "American Yoga". His teachings have appeared in many well known yoga publications.
In 2007, Prem Prakash was honored by the Institute of the Himalayan Tradition with their Annual Service Award. In 2008, the Institute recognized him as a Yogiraj, "an accomplished yogi who lives in the world."
Nina Shoenthal
Nina Shoenthal is a lover of life, an artist and a free spirit dedicated to the healing path. She received her first professional training as a deep tissue massage therapist on the luscious island of Kauai in 2001. This was only the beginning of an ever-evolving personal and professional life full of practicing, studying and sharing various forms of body-mind healing and movement arts.
She has recently expanded her professional practice to include Somatic Expressive Therapy and Yogadance, and is completing her clinical hours to be certified as a movement therapist.
Her message: "Your body is the vehicle for transforming pain into peace and stress into freedom, for deepening connection with yourself and the world". Her deepest inspiration comes from the power of the heart and the magic of movement. Her wish is for people to feel happy, free, whole and in loving connection with themselves. Please come join Nina in shaking your soul and expressing your authenticity through movement and play!
Sukhada Repass
Sukhada Repass has been involved in the Healing Arts for ten years. Sukhada is a Holistic Wellness Practitioner & mother of 3 young kids. She lives in Johnson, Vermont. Sukhada founded her own business Ray of Light 3 years ago. She is the Regional Co-Ordinator for the Morrsiville Area of the Vermont Reiki Association. She teaches both Usui & Karuna Reiki and offers monthly Restorative Reiki Yoga Workshops in her local area. Sukhada does the following Therapies : Reiki, Hot Stone Reiki, Flower Essences, Aromatherapy, Reflexology, Cranial Sacral, Crystal Healing & Sound Healing.
Ferris Buck Urbanowski
Ferris Buck Urbanowski, MA, has taught mindfulness meditation since 1980 and is currently adjunct faculty at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. While teaching at the Center for Mindfulness, she worked with the general public and coordinated and taught professional training programs. An honorary lecturer at the University of Wales, she has also taught at Antioch New England. Since 1999, she has instructed professionals in the teaching of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. In addition to working with professionals in academic and business settings, she leads courses and retreats for the general public.
