Teachers
Jennifer Brilliant
Jennifer Brilliant has 27 years of experience guiding people in athletic, therapeutic and creative movement. Her vast knowledge of the human body is drawn from the Pilates method, the Alexander technique, Kinetic Awareness, meditation instruction in the Shambhala tradition, as well as 10 years as a professional modern dancer with Jennifer Muller/The Works. Since 1989, Jennifer has been teaching one-on-one fitness and yoga in homes and offices throughout New York City. Jennifer Brilliant Yoga and Personal Training LLC offers movement education and training.
Christy Briggs
Christy first wandered into yoga class while studying Political Science at Boston College. Having no expectations apart from a search for inner peace, somewhere between the initial deep breaths and the final resting pose, a permanent change took hold. As an athlete, activist, artist and social butterfly, Christy loves the challenge and deep creativity of yoga. By facilitating a kind and non-judgmental atmosphere, Christy helps her students relax, have fun, and find a place where they can discover themselves. She loves the sound of the breath as it fills the body and the room, simultaneously creating an intensely personal and joyfully shared experience.
Christy completed the 500 hour teacher training program at Yoga High NYC under the guidance of Liz Buehler Walker and Mel Russo. She teaches at Yoga High in the Lower East Side, Harbor Fitness in Bay Ridge, and facilitates the chair yoga program for seniors at Kingsbrook Medical Center in Crown Heights.
Mare Hieronimus
Mare Hieronimus is a Brooklyn-based teacher, interdisciplinary dance artist and performer. Her background includes years of study as a contemporary dancer and Yoga practitioner, as well as ongoing studies in developmental movement, Skinner Releasing Technique, Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals, Feldenkrais/Awareness through Movement and the Alexander Technique. She holds an MFA in dance from Sarah Lawrence College and has completed two Yoga teacher training certifications. Mare is a Certified Movement Analyst. Committed to the practice of movement as a healing art form, her classes embrace all of the somatic modalities that she continues to practice and study.
Juliana Locklin
Juliana Locklin
former dancer holds a certificate
from Integral Yoga Institute to teach
Yoga for Beginners.
Certified Ayurvedic Nutritionist from Bioticare.
Personal Trainer certificate from
ACE (American Council on Exercise).
Movement and anatomy has been
an intrinsic part of her life from
an early age.
Anna Brown Massey
Anna guides her students to trust their inner experience and present breath whether courageously practicing asana, giving birth, or facing themselves. As a dancer, Anna was originally drawn to yoga’s physical benefits, but delighted in the discovery of the transformative power of mindfulness, alignment, and breath.
Anna graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Dance Performance from Skidmore College, where she first committed to a yoga practice. She received her yoga teaching certification from New York City’s OM Yoga Center, followed by prenatal yoga teaching certification with Janice Clarfield. In addition to teaching vinyasa, prenatal, and postpartum yoga, Anna is a Birth Doula and a dance artist.
Masako Miyakawa
Masako stumbled into a yoga class after having a particularly hard day in February, 2001. The rest, as they say, is history. She practices yoga not only for its physical, mental, and emotional benefits, but because it is just so much fun! Sharing what she has learned and experienced with her students has brought her joy and happiness beyond all measure. Originally from Japan and having gone to all-girls Buddhist school has prepared her to infuse Buddhist teachings with yogic philosophy, and weaving them into the class. She is known for her mindful, caring, kind, and light-hearted approach to yoga and to her students. Masako is a certified Integral Yoga and OM Yoga teacher, with additional training in: restorative, yin, pre-and-post natal, and chair yoga.
Daniella Rosales-Friedman
Daniella Rosales-Friedman came to the mat over 11 years ago with curiosity and undiscovered flexibility. There, she found a playful way to move the body, an inner focus to stay interested, and a strength that came when she wasn’t looking. Many exhales later, she continues to swoon over yoga’s charms.
With humor and creative sequencing, Daniella’s classes explore the efficiency of movement from pose to pose. She designs a safe place to reveal strength, build flexibility, and melt the limitations of gravity. Her intention is for the yoga practice to bring you closer to yourself, inside the studio and beyond.
Daniella has trained with Sadie Nardini, founder of Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, and Schuyler Grant, Director of Kula Yoga Project. “Deepest gratitude for teachers of all kinds, and for the students that inspire me every day.”
Sarah Seely
In addition to many other things, Sarah Seely is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, Thai yoga practitioner and lover of yoga. She received her Prana Yoga teacher training through the New York Open Center with Dr. Jeff Migdow and Priti Robyn Ross and has been teaching yoga, Pilates mat classes, dance technique, dance and theater improvisation, and other movement related classes for over 8 years. Sarah holds a BA in Dance from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and a MFA in Dance with a concentration in Kinesiology from Smith College in Northampton, MA. Drawing upon her extensive background in yoga, dance, and other therapeutic somatic practices, Sarah’s classes focus on breath as support for movement, stretching, strengthening, and aligning the body. Sarah teaches yoga and movement as the body’s language and as with any language, the intent is to be clear and articulate. This articulation is then brought to the yoga practice to assist the union of body, mind, and spirit with awareness, self nurture, an open heart, and great appreciation.
Laura Staton
Laura is the co-founder and author of Baby Om, Yoga for Mothers and Babies, and has been teaching yoga, focusing on the pre-natal and post partum body for over a decade. Laura’s Iyengar influenced classes are anatomically precise and draw from her history of movement exploration as a modern dancer, choreographer, and her current work as a hospital based Occupational Therapist. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School, holds an MS from NYU Steinhardt School of Education and has studied yoga since 1989 with teachers including Kevin Gardner, Mary Dunn and currently Lara Brunn among others.
Narisara Vanichanan
A former dancer and photographer, Narisara Vanichanan received her 200hr and 500hr yoga teacher training from OM Yoga Center, Pre-Natal Yoga certification from Janice Clarfield, Yin Yoga certification from Corina Benner, and Restorative Yoga training from Judith Hanson Lasater. She is also certified in yoga for breast cancer survivors and has practiced vipassana (insight) meditation for over ten years.
Narisara blends poetry, the visual arts, anatomy studies & dharma into her classes and draws inspiration from everyday urban life. For Narisara, teaching yoga is an opportunity to help others, and she offers a creative but structured environment where the present moment is honored. Outside the studio, Narisaraworks in the arts and nonprofit management. She has a master’s in arts administration from Columbia University and is a graduate of Coro Leadership NY.
Lauren Tepper
“I am a yoga, dance, and meditation instructor, personal trainer, environmental educator, and freelance writer on health, fitness, spirituality and the environment. I offer classes, private sessions, and workshops integrating mind, body, and spirit for all ages and experience levels. I am also a trained facilitator of spiritual circle gatherings through the Institute for Circlework.”