Massage · Marma Mark Waterman is a licensed massage therapist for over two decades, Mark has worked for the US Tennis Association, massaging players at the US Open, and in several spas and health clubs throughout New York City. Mark completed the 500-Hour Teacher Training program at ISHTA and approaches his work on yogis using the knowledge he gained from his teacher training and studies with Alan Finger, with whom he has worked exclusively to learn ISHTA Marma therapy....
Senior Teacher Megan Young loves empowering others to uncover their own completeness through yoga. Her classes explore the physical and energetic tools of yoga that invite liberation and balance into our lives. She approaches the practice with lightness and grace, respecting innate intelligence of the breath. Megan is grateful to share the wisdom of ISHTA, and is inspired by the lineage’s focus on individualized practice. She has a background in music and voice, and received her 200-Hour, 500-Hour, and restorative teaching certifications from ISHTA. meganyoungyoga.com...
Senior Teacher Rebecca Cheeks Soule (the ‘e’ is silent) began studying and informally teaching yoga in 1998 while completing her PhD in Biology. After a fulfilling career in science, she followed her heart to New York City. Good fortune led her to her teachers at ISHTA Yoga, and realizing her dream to teach yoga full-time. Rebecca is a 500-Hour registered yoga teacher in the ISHTA lineage. Her teaching draws from this lineage and over 10 years experience as a science teacher to students of all ages and backgrounds. Her trainings to teach students coping with post-traumatic stress, children’s and restorative yoga also inform her teaching. Rebecca teaches students awareness of their greatest tool, their breath, helping them to bring balance, fine-tune, and realize their fullest potential....
Trainer · Senior Teacher Aino grew up in Finland and moved to New York in December 1999 to pursue dancing at several dancing schools in NYC. She included yoga as a complement to her dance training, was stunned with the healing benefits, and has been a devoted practitioner since. She has been taught by these teachers who are filled with grace and knowledge: Jean Koerner, Alan Finger, Sarah Platt-Finger, Thea Frey, Chrissy Carter and Jodie Rufty, to name a few. Aino is beyond happy and pleased to have the priveledge to teach this wonderful science at ISHTA Yoga, and to share it with as many as possible to create balance and harmony in the mind, body, and soul. As our bodies get stronger and more flexible...
I initially found yoga in 2002 by needing to begin an exercise routine to offset chronic lower-back pain arising from scoliosis. I left my first class feeling a combination of being light-hearted and grounded, something I had only felt before from nights out dancing, and what I would later learn meant that I was balanced energetically. My original practice was Bikram Yoga. I was fortunate that my first teacher led the set series of 26 postures at 105 degrees with a nurturing and inspiring spirit. Six years later, after using yoga to navigate life through personal illness and my mother’s illness, I decided to devote myself to yoga and deepened my study through teacher-trainings at ISHTA Yoga. At ISHTA I began to learn the fullness of...
Senior Teacher Esther Palmer brings her years of Alexander Technique, dance, and anatomy exploration into her teaching, making space for students to learn from the inside out –and sometimes the outside in– how each of them can wake up their inner awareness of themselves. She prizes choice and individuality in all her classes. She teaches alignment-aware classes, including prenatal and restorative yoga, and anatomy for yoga teachers. When not teaching, Esther is ever open to finding details to fall in love with in the films of Ozu and Myazaki, and the silly little things of our everyday lives. esthermpalmer.com...
Junior Trainer · Senior Teacher Puy Navarro is an actress and a theater producer focusing on social issues and human rights in New York since 2005. She has taught Yoga for Executives at the US/Spanish Chamber of Commerce, the Empire State Building and currently teaches at the Hispanic Society of America.Through her acting career she met ISHTA Yogiraj Mona Anand and was introduced to ISHTA. She has been to India twice assisting Mona in her retreats, where she was able to deepened her studies on the Sutras, Tantra and Ayurveda. She brings a warm and joyful spirit to her teaching at ISHTA and she believes that when we are in full command of our physical, mental and emotional capacities we can live fearlessly, and we can...
Junior Trainer · Senior Teacher Cindy began her yoga practice a bit later in life when living in Rome, Italy, where her husband is from. She was 39 and pregnant with her now teenage daughter. After returning to NY years later, and finding herself in some very unexpected and unfortunate stressful family situations, she began realizing the psychological and not only physical benefits to her practice. Cindy has had great success in working with all age groups throughout a 30-year career in high-end retail management on Madison Avenue and in the non-profit sector at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She enjoys working with different age groups as well as those from different backgrounds and cultures. Cindy is also involved in community organizing through volunteer work here...
Senior Teacher Shell Merrill has always enjoyed expressing herself physically; from her career as a modern dancer to her later adventures as a zany spinning instructor and cycling trainer. While cycling made her feel strong, Shell soon realized that she still had a brain that was moving far too fast inside a body that was quickly getting too stiff and inflexible. A friend offered to take her to yoga class, and Shell has been learning to slow down (in mind and body) ever since. For Shell, yoga is all about the knowledge gained through trying new things, learning to practice rather than trying to be perfect, and most of all being able to laugh through the whole experience. She brings a sense of fun, joy and...
Senior Teacher After decades of studying numerous yoga styles, Mary Jo found her most meaningful personal connection with the teachings of Alan Finger's ISHTA Yoga Tradition. Mary Jo has been teaching ISHTA Yoga for more than fifteen years. The soothing ease of her breath-based classes support students in accessing deeper levels of awareness while appreciating the joy of movement....