Teachers
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Kamila Ahmad
Kamila Ahmad
Kamila Hasana Ahmad’s message is affirmative love and creating space. An avid student of the human experience, and self-proclaimed melomaniac, Kamila infuses her traditional foundation of education with her spiritual practices into her life’s work. She completed her YTT at Studio 34 in 2019. Kamila has a multidimensional spiritual knowledge that informs her practice and enables her to fill up her own well and lend a guiding word and hand to help others do the same. Knowing that spirituality is universal, therefore inherent, she is not confined by titles, positions or names. She lives by the motto: “Spirit recognizes Spirit.” Each flow is an adventure, a chance to make self-discovery and experience the victory in connection.
Morgan Andrews
Morgan Andrews
As a little kid, Morgan Andrews practiced holding his breath in the bathtub, did headstands on his mom’s couch, and developed meditative relaxation techniques to fall asleep without ever hearing the word “yoga”. Years later he took up yoga poses and eye exercises as part of a regimen for visual rehabilitation and eliminating chronic pain. When this this self-led daily practice changed his life, Morgan began a perpetual study of yoga, movement, and anatomy with numerous teachers, including Ana Forrest, Zhenja La Rosa, Nicole Bindler, and Darren Rhodes. He started teaching at Studio 34 in 2009 and attends at least two trainings per year to explore yoga both as a teacher and as a student. Morgan also has extensive experience with vegan nutrition, natural vision therapy, and anti-oppression work through Theatre of the Oppressed, having trained with Augusto Boal at TOPLAB and Jana Sanskriti in West Bengal. His work at Studio 34 is a mixture of all these disciplines, rooted in commitment to community and a vibrant sense of humor.
Vimukti Aslan
Vimukti Aslan
Vimukti Aslan loves to share her understanding of Integral Yoga as a great way to enjoy life! Her qualification in IY Hatha I, II, III, (beginning, intermediate and advanced), Gentle, Chair (Adaptive), and IY Stress Management give a sound and helpful base for all who enter her class. She is also certified in Therapeutic Yoga (Cheri Clampett) and in the Yoga of Recovery® (12 Step). Vimukti’s understanding of body mechanics as a dancer, aikido black belt, and her deep joy of the 8 Limbs of Integral Yoga as taught by Sri Swami Satchidananda feed her interest to bring the spiritual to the mundane and create a nurturing environment in each class. Additional certifications: E-RYT 200, RYT 500, YACEP and C-IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapy: bridging Western medicine with Eastern healing).
Jena Barton
Jena Barton
A culmination of experience from the homes she made in Amston, Connecticut; Greensboro, North Carolina; Charleston, West Virginia; and now Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Jena is a freelance movement artist who choreographs, performs, and teaches throughout the Philadelphia region. She is also the full time Movement Teacher at Greene Towne Montessori School where she has developed the curriculum to be closely aligned with Montessori pedagogy. She holds a BFA in Dance Choreography and Performance with Spanish Minor from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and just completed her 200/hr yoga teacher training with Studio 34. Jena has loved melding her knowledge of dance with her yoga practice and is excited to share some of that dynamic, flowy movement with the Studio 34 community that she holds so dearly.
Carrie Brooke
Carrie Brooke
Carrie first discovered yoga as a college student in NYC in 1993; she never could have predicted that it would weave in and out of her life for thirty years! It has played a major part in her recovery from addiction and as a person living with depression, anxiety and trauma, and she is passionate about helping others connect with the softness and beauty within themselves. Carrie is also a Certified Professional Life Coach and Reiki Level 2 practitioner, and she walks her path with empathy, curiosity and a whole lot of humor.She earned her 200 hour certification through Sacred Paths Yoga, an additional certification from Y12SR (Yoga of 12 Step Recovery) and has studied multiple forms of trauma-informed modalities. Her personal practice is a blend of restorative, Yin, gentle Hatha, breathwork and meditation.
Megan Cauley
Megan Cauley
Megan began teaching yoga in 2014 with a grounded enthusiasm for the healing properties of yoga and meditation. She was certified in Yin Yoga in 2013 through Corina Benner, and began the formal study of yoga therapy with the Center for Integrative Yoga Studies immediately after completing her 250-hour foundational training with Wake Up Yoga in 2014. Her studies through CIYS with Marylsa Sullivan and Holle Black roots her teaching style in practices that are trauma-informed and foster emotional wellness. Megan’s teaching style is accessible for body and mind, infused with both reverence and humor. She guides students equally towards the practical, intuitive, and mystical parts of yoga. She is passionate about her work with the Love Your Brain organization, which offers yoga, meditation, and group discussion to those impacted by traumatic brain injury, including concussion. She studied with Pixie Lighthorse at Earth Medicine School in 2017. Megan believes yoga illuminates the presence in our bodies and spirit that is connected to all of nature. Through her work as an astrologer, she helps people view the larger patterns that weave those connections. She bows to the cosmic geometry of these practices. Megan believes our journey of self-discovery and healing is almost never a straight line, and that’s where humor, compassion, and lightness of spirit come in.
Anisha Chirmule
Anisha Chirmule
After a long relationship with dance, Anisha came to yoga in 2010 and reveled in its benefits – physical and mental. She dove into completing a 200 hour Ashtanga-Vinyasa based teacher training followed by an additional 200-hour Anusara/Alignment-based training in Philadelphia in 2014 and hasn’t looked back since.
Throughout different points of life, the practice of yoga on and off the mat has been a common denominator. The line between teacher and student blends in the classes she offers, as Anisha loves the shared experience of discovering new potential and understanding of one another. While teaching classes, Anisha hopes students leave with a new understanding of their own capacities and maybe a laugh throughout the process! She is so thankful for the yoga community in Philadelphia, as well as, at Studio 34 for fostering the ability to make yoga accessible for every person.
Craig
Craig
Craig (pronouns: they/them) is a Black nonbinary queer femme brought to yoga as means of restorative love, support and discovery for the self and the community. Craig grew into their practice since 2013, learning from amazing inclusive practitioners like Jessamyn Stanley and Dana Falsetti. Craig completed their YTT at Studio34 in 2019, and encourages collective healing and community through their yoga practice. They value rest and recuperation, constantly interrogating what accessibility is and for whom. Craig aspires to bring yoga to marginalized communities to cultivate space for rest, strength for resistance, and knowledge of accessibility tools and methods for a suitable practice for any body.
Ayanna Debnam
Ayanna Debnam
Ayanna experienced the healing benefits of yoga shortly after she divinely started her practice during a personal period of grief, stress, and transition. Since then, yoga has been her passion, her joy, and her go-to healing modality. In her personal practice, Ayanna enjoys Gentle Vinyasa, Yoga Nidra and studying yoga therapy. She completed her YTT in 2018 at Studio 34, and is grateful for the full-circle opportunity to now teach there. As a teacher, Ayanna includes the elements of her personal practice, and hopes to help her students cultivate inner awareness, inner calmness.
Amanda DeLeo
Amanda DeLeo
Amanda DeLeo became deeply committed to yoga and physical fitness after a cycling accident left her with a metal plate in her elbow. As she grew stronger and more aware of the effects that yoga and training had her mind, body, and spirit, she felt compelled to take a teacher training which she completed at Studio 34 Yoga. That training changed the course of her life, it opened up for her the reality of a higher power which in turn brought her to recovery from drugs and alcohol. After spending 6 years pursuing a career in Web development, she recently quit her desk job to dedicate her life to personal training and teaching yoga as a way to help others who are struggling with addiction or body dysmorphia.
Georgiana Drain
Georgiana Drain
Georgiana’s life radically shifted after she began practicing yoga at Studio 34. She noticed a newfound energetic freedom within her soul, and signed up for the studio’s 2018 Yoga Teacher Training with the intention of deepening her personal practice. As time passed and Georgiana’s passion for yoga intensified, so did her desire to share the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits of the discipline. Since then, she has offered a transformative practice of courageous love to children and adults in her Philadelphia community. Georgiana encourages students to connect to their divine power and universal wisdom through self-love and awareness.
Monica Fauble
Monica Fauble
Monica first began practicing yoga in 2008 at Studio 34. Also a Licensed Acupuncturist, she loves helping people become more embodied, more connected to their own inner wisdom. With a playful, gentle style, Monica creates an environment of comfort and calm in which students feel safe to deepen their breath and explore their experience.
After using the alignment and anatomy instructions she learned from alignment-based yoga (formerly known as Anusara yoga) to heal a knee injury, Monica is passionate about helping others understand healthy alignment from the inside-out by building an awareness of how each pose can be adapted to find comfort and stability.
jean-jacques gabriel
jean-jacques gabriel
jean-jacques is a Haitian-born artist, father, and teacher living in Philadelphia. He started painting in his father’s studio, before he could walk, and later studied at the University of the Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. jean-jacques found yoga while at art school in 2001, and has delighted in consistent practice and study since. he has studied and trained in Ashtanga, Vinyasa flow, Thai Massage, AcroYoga, Anusara, and Yogahour. In both art making and embodied practices, he honors the power and potential of rituals, inspired creativity, and human connection to foster freedom. jean-jacques has taught in prisons, public schools, yoga studios, and festivals both nationally and internationally. He currently co-leads the teacher training program at Studio 34 in West Philly. jean-jacques is the co-creator of a yoga clothing clothing line with Philadelphia Printworks called “The Embodied Collection.” It was created to honor and inspire the efforts of people of color in creating wellness. The line is rooted in the words of Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival.”
Annielille Gavino
Annielille Gavino
Annielille Gavino, affectionately known as Ani (meaning “Harvest” in Hiligaynon), is a Filipinx movement artist, choreographer, educator, writer, cultural worker, yoga instructor, and multidisciplinary storyteller native to the island of Panay, Philippines. Since immigrating to the United States in 2000, Gavino has danced professionally with Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Kun Yang-Lin/Dancers, and Ananya Dance Theater. In Philadelphia, she directs her project-based company Ani/MalayaWorks where she utilizes her movement practice as a mode for inscription, community engagement, and empowerment. Ani received her 200-hour training from Studio 34. Follow her and all her shenanigans at IG: ani_malayaworks.
Jenn Hart
Jenn Hart
Jenn Hart’s first experience with yoga was at Studio 34 while pregnant with her first child. It was a prenatal yoga class and it was recommended to her from a classmate. Jenn was in graduate school, newly married, working full time and going to school full time, and navigating several chronic health challenges. After one hour of practice, she went back to her grind of work, school and married life but noticed huge differences in her mental space after just one hour of practice. She’s been hooked ever since! She experienced several health benefits and noticed that yoga helped her manage her stress. Yoga has also helped her be a better mom. She completed her yoga teacher training in 2018 and is certified in 12 Steps of Yoga for Recovery. She also teaches trauma informed yoga. When she’s not practicing yoga, she’s busy with her wellness practice, spending time with friends and family, or studying religions, cultures and herbalism. She loves her classes to include music, vinyasa and deep ujjayi!
Nakea Jeffers
Nakea Jeffers
Nakea Jeffers came to the practice of yoga looking for tools to cope with stress and anxiety. Nakea found that breath work and meditation provided a sense of peace and calm that had been otherwise difficult to tap into. Nakea is Licensed Social Worker and has experience working with young people, school systems, and people impacted by the legal system. Nakea’s trauma-informed Social Work practice has helped inform her style as a yoga teacher. Nakea provides a judgement-free space where her students can tap into their breath and find comfort in taking time to slow down. Nakea received the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Certification from Studio 34 in 2021.
Hanae Victoria Mason
Hanae Victoria Mason
Hanae Victoria Mason is a West Philly based, Southern raised Black queer femme creator, community organizer, and facilitator. She works in the intersections of social justice; healing and wellness; and Black arts, culture, and media. Her main medium is love, of the people and of self. Her work was born out of the necessity to understand and make space for myself and then to extend and hold space for others. She is her greatest work in progress. She is a graduate of Studio 34’s 200 hour YTT program. Some of her writing can be found on sites like Generocity (https://generocity.org/philly/author/hmason/) and Broad St. Review (https://www.broadstreetreview.com/about/people/hanae-mason). Find her online (http://linktr.ee/hanaevictoria) or on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hanaelujah/).
Gemma Lund Mears
Gemma Lund Mears
Gemma Lund Mears (she,they) stumbled into both yoga and sobriety in 1994, not knowing what significant and intertwined parts of the journey they would become. Since that time Gemma‘s recovery has broadened and deepened to address multiple addictions, layers of trauma, and buried dreams. They have explored multiple healing modalities including therapy, 12 step recovery programs, Recovery Dharma, and a wandering educational path through trauma sensitive yoga, gender studies, social justice, social work, reiki, creative writing, narrative healing and more. Gemma weaves together lessons of curiosity and play, gentle exploration within ourselves; as we are firmly grounded in our bodies and in the safe container of community. They would be delighted if you joined them on the mat, in the recovery circle, or over a cup of coffee; in the hopes of building safer places within ourselves and in our world.
Neha Patil
Neha Patil
Neha has been practicing and teaching yoga since her teens. For her, yoga was an opportunity to understand herself and the choices she wanted to make to support her wellness. Yoga led her to look at emotions, thoughts, and environmental factors that affected her overall health. She continues to learn various healing modalities like Ayurveda and Reiki to support individuals on their healing path. Her classes are gentle, poetic, and spiritual. She also likes to sing mantras and offer Reiki in classes. She loves Studio 34 and its warm and welcoming space and community.
Nicole Pepe
Nicole Pepe
Nicole began practicing yoga over 13 years ago as a way of bonding with her mom. Little did she imagine how profound an experience it would become, renewing her perspective on life, love, career and everything in between. Yoga makes Nicole feel good – physically, mentally and spiritually – and now she wishes to create a space for her students to feel the same. Receiving her 200-hour RYT certification in 2014 from Studio 34, Nicole has studied a spectrum of yoga styles including Vinyasa, Hatha, Baptiste, and Anusara. Still inspired by her first yoga teacher, Johnny Gillespie, Nicole’s vinyasa-based classes place special emphasis on the link between breath, movement and alignment. In 2017, Nicole broadened her passion for the body-mind-spirit connection by completing her training to become a License Massage Therapist, LMT. In her newly found massage practice, Nicole weaves various massage techniques together, creating a specialized session for every individual.
Brittany Policastro
Brittany Policastro
Known as a Stevie Wonder-loving, truth-speaking change-agent who bagged law school to pursue a creative thirst, Brittany Policastro rarely follows the pack. She is a a writer, yoga and transformation coach whose mission is to empower her students and clients to love themselves fiercely and be themselves unapologetically. She has been teaching creative and soul-stirring yoga classes for the past 15 years. Her technique is influenced by her 300 hours of training in Anusara, practice in Vinyasa and Restorative Yoga, training in Yoga Therapy and deep study in India. Through her raw and vulnerable blog, The Breakthrough Blog, Brittany challenges social norms through conversations around sex, relationships and polyamory. She has been featured in The Huffington Post, Origin and Mantra Magazine, Women You Should Know, Elephant Journal, news broadcasts and several podcasts.
Nicole Pollard
Nicole Pollard
Nicole Pollard came to yoga in 2015, after recognizing the absence of presence and movement in her life, and how that correlated with her mood and emotions. Nicole graduated from the Yoga Teacher Training Program at Studio 34 Yoga in December 2021, and obtained the 200 Hour Yoga Alliance Certification.
Francesca Prana
Francesca Prana
Francesca Prana has been teaching movement and meditation for 15 years, and practicing body work for 18 years. She is certified in Vinyasa, Kundalini, and Yin yoga, Pilates mat I and II, Reiki I/II, Shiatsu, Thai Massage, and Yoga Nidra meditation. She is trained in Trauma Informed Practices, and has taught across the spectrum of ages, ability levels, and body types. Francesca practices and teaches from a perspective of curiosity, exploration, and joy. She revels in what you can learn about your physical, emotional, and energetic self through attention, intention, hard work, and play. Your practice belongs to you, she is there to guide and encourage your process. Her classes are accessible to anyone, and challenging for everyone.
Kathy Revelle
Kathy Revelle
Kathy Revelle developed an immediate attraction to yoga thirteen years ago, when she picked up her first yoga book from the library. Over the years she kept up her own practice of yoga until naturally, accompanied by her desire to teach, she was lead to a 200hr yoga teacher training through Yoga on Main in Manayunk. She completed her 200hr YTT in February 2011. This training opened her up to yoga on a much deeper level, adding a stronger sense of spirituality to her practice and leaving her yearning for more. In a quest to indulge her passion, she immediately enrolled in a 500hr YTT which she completed in August 2012. Both trainings were in Inner Fire Yoga, a Hatha based, artful balance of postures, yoga philosophy, mantra & meditation, as well as a deep focus on Ayurveda, the natural health system of India. Kathy’s classes are designed to awaken your own inner fire while tuning in to your sense of calm & relaxation. Her classes promote balance, increase flexibility and build strength within the mind, body & the spirit. As a native of Philly, she is ecstatic to share her love for yoga & the joy it brings throughout her local community.
Amanda Sebald
Amanda Sebald
In 2013, Amanda started practicing yoga because of a back injury and stayed for the way it has helped her heal from trauma and stress. As an anxious person, Amanda continues to find peace and rest within her practice and has discovered that home, for her, is where she lays her mat. Amanda completed her 200RYT training at Studio 34 in 2014, the same studio where she took her first yoga class. Forever a student, Amanda hopes to share her love for yoga as she continues to grow and learn.
Anssumane Sillá
Anssumane Sillá
Anssumane Sillá began his dancing career at the tender age of 11. He has since danced professionally for over 18 years with the National Ballet of Guinea Bissau. His career has lead him to perform for Dignitaries, Ambassadors and Presidents from around the world. Anssumane has performed in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, South Africa and Libya. He has garnered numerous awards for excellence in dance performance and teaching. He is very excited to teach the traditional and contemporary dance style (Bijagos, Balanta, Fula, and Manjaco) from Guinea Bissau and for people to enjoy themselves while having an amazing workout and learning a facet of culture from his county.
Sheena Sood
Sheena Sood
Sheena Sood, PhD (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based activist, educator, sociologist, and healing justice visionary of South Asian descent and southern roots. Sheena has studied yoga, Ayurvedic Kundalini Massage therapy, Reiki, and sound healing traditions at Kailash Tribal School of Yoga and Holistic Healing in Mcleodganj, India (YTT – 200hr, AYTTC – 500hr). Sheena enjoys teaching gentle vinyasa or hatha practices infused with embodied liberatory philosophy. Recently, she launched Yoga Warrior Tales, an adventure-based mindfulness program for kids. Currently, Sheena serves as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Muhlenberg College in the Sociology and Anthropology Department, where she teaches introductory and advanced sociology courses covering social and cultural movements. Her current research project “Omwashing Yoga: Weaponized Spirituality in India, Israel and the US” scrutinizes the application of yoga and mindfulness around the globe, particularly by far-right governments who use yoga to advance their colonial and ethnonationalist agendas. Rather than propagate narratives that glorify yoga’s ancient past, Sheena works to curate healing justice offerings through frameworks that recognize yoga’s oppressive layers and its liberatory potential; she envisions a futuristic yoga that centers collective freedom and embodies political action by centering humanity, all living beings, and Mother Earth. Sheena is grateful to call Philly home and to be in relationship with healers, artists, cultural workers, and grassroots groups that work to abolish the carceral state and free all political prisoners. Visit www.sheenashining.com to learn more about her passions and values and to connect for a deeper yoga experience!
Nicole Taylor
Nicole Taylor
Nicole Taylor fell in love with teaching yoga in 2008 and never looked back! She is a 500-hour certified yoga and meditation teacher, and a NAMA-certified Ayurvedic Health Counselor. Nicole’s purpose is to embody and create sacred spaces for joy, healing, and transformation. She teaches through the lens of Ayurveda and yoga in the Himalayan Tradition. Her class provides an internalizing experience with an emphasis on bringing stability to the body, drawing awareness to the breath, quieting the mind, and experiencing the higher self.
Kari Thompson
Kari Thompson
Kari uses breath as the central rhythm from which all movement stems, encouraging each student to find their unique flow. Kari pauses at each key pose allowing time to explore proper alignment, a deeper stretch, and more subtle sensations. Kari began practicing yoga at Studio 34 to work on posture, never guessing that it would change their whole way of thinking, feeling, and perceiving the world. The simple act of moving their awareness out of their mind onto the bones, muscles, breath, and deeper inside made them experience life in so many new ways. Finding a deep sense of stable happiness, Kari knows that every practice will produce a smile. Kari was moved to help others find the treasures inside themselves and pursued teacher training at Studio 34. Kari looks forward to all the places this journey will take them.
Kayla Walker
Kayla Walker
Kayla M. Walker (she/they) is an educator with a passion for centering the heart in all the places it’s most needed. As a community-oriented Aquarian and loving eldest sibling, Kay has spent most of the last decade co-creating communities of care with students of color and lgbtq+ students. Grounded in holistic wellness, play, self exploration and transformative leadership, Kay holds space to explore the questions “who am I?” and “what are my unique offerings to my community?” Kay’s yoga teaching centers the belief that “we can move differently and still move together” as an affirmation of students’ agency to move in ways that create a feeling of “home” in their body that ultimately informs their lives off the mat.
Brett Zweiman
Brett Zweiman
Brett Zweiman is an artist and musician with a passion for incorporating meditation and electronic music into his work. After attending a silent meditation retreat in 2015, Brett was inspired to start hosting psychedelic electronic sound baths under the name Audiohm in Hanoi, Vietnam where he was living at the time. He uses synthesizers, loopers, and computers to create music that combines the healing power of meditation with the otherworldly sounds of electronic production techniques. From 2015-2019 Brett facilitated Audiohm sessions on a weekly basis at various venues and events in and around South East Asia as well performing electronic and improvised dance music with his other project called Numbfoot. In 2019, Brett relocated to Philadelphia where his love for music and meditation continues to drive his work. He is so excited to bring Audiohm to Studio 34.