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Aubree Saia

Aubree Saia is a gifted hands on healer and a passionate yogini. She gathers her wisdom from a mandala of healing traditions; Reiki, Ayurveda, Tantra, Bhakti Yoga, Thai Massage, AcroYoga, Transformational Breath, many forms of hatha yoga (Ashtanga, Forrest, Prana Flow, Yin, Universal, Vinyasa) and her own inner guru, PRANA SHAKTI.  Her experience in the movement arts of kalari, capoeira, and aerial dance are also breathed into her work. Aubree infuses her intuitive awareness, creative sequences, mantra, music, intention & ritual to create a sacred space for your self exploration and inner healing journey.

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Emily Light

Emily Light discovered her love of rhythmic movement in dancing. Exploring everything from ballet to hip-hop, Emily trained for 7 years. She endured a life altering break in her right foot and casually began studying and practicing Hatha yoga. Soon, a causal practice blossomed into deep passion. Profound healing emerged within her study of Forrest yoga, and once Vinyasa yoga entered Emily’s life she found a companion, which allowed her to marry her love of dance with the art of yoga. Emily’s foundation as a practicing Holistic Nutritionist supports her work in guiding students into balance and harmony.

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Marina Koyen

Marina, born and raised in Kaliningrad, Russia; was introduced to yoga by her mom when she was 10.  She attended her first yoga class in 2001.  Here is how she describes it:  ”It was a big open room with about 30 people in it.  I was a bit confused; it seemed everyone was talking.  As soon as the teacher came to the room and sat down, the room became silent.  The teacher said an unfamiliar word and the whole room started to breathe in unison.  All 30 very different people, with different lives and backgrounds were united by the simple act of breathing.  This was my introduction to ujjayi breath.”

In August 2008, Marina received a 200 hr teacher training certification from “Feel Your Best” Yoga Teacher Training School in Mequon, WI.  The main emphasis of this training was “How to teach yoga for everyone.”  In addition, she’s completed Yin Yoga teacher training with Paul Grilley.  Marina is also inspired by Scott Blossom, Richard Freeman, David Swenson, Dharma Mittra, Paulie Zink, Shiva Rea,  and Andrey Lappa.

Marina’s personal favorite styles to teach and to practice are Yin, Yin Vinyasa, Power Vinyasa, and Universal Yoga.  Besides Yoga, she enjoys painting, singing, biking, swimming, vegetarian cooking and spending time with her family and friends.  

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Ben Valley

Ben thanks his parents whom both practice yoga, for raising him with yogic principles. He is a seasoned climber and slackliner and has practiced qigong and yoga for over five years.  Asthma and a will to realize himself  brought him deeper into his yoga practice 2 years ago.  He has now been enrolled in the Jewel in the Lotus teacher training for 4 months. Music has also been a large part of his life for 6 years and has now led him into the study of Mantras from hindu scriptures. His vision is too inspire people to join the path of yoga and self realization for themselves and the world.

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Kirsten Martin

Kirsten began doing yoga at MATC when she was blindly rushing herself through college. It taught her that it was ok to take a break and think about what she was doing in life. During this time, she started frequenting Jewel in the Lotus and fell in love with the studio and fell deeper into yoga. When she saw a sign for a teacher training program, she knew instantly what path she needed to follow. She has completed the 200 hour training provided by Jewel in the Lotus and loves teaching and spreading the same peace she found in her yoga practice.

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Connie Horak

Connie began discovering the world of yoga six years ago. Her initial curiosity has evolved into a dedicated practice and loving journey of seeking out her true nature from within. A nurse and certified Vinyasa yoga instructor, Connie is continually learning about the human body and the importance of health and healing. Her classes blend creative, energetic flows that have been inspired by her studies, travels, adventures rock climbing, and the wisdom of her teachers. Vinyasa’s dance of breath and movement evoke a sense of liberation, understanding, and bliss that Connie is delighted to deepen and share with her students.

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Paola Alboni

Paola started practicing yoga in 2004 in order to alleviate stress, gain flexibility, and improve strength.  Yoga was a way to do it all. She fell in love with it because of the harmony and balance it brought into her life. Once a high-strung, anxious graduate student, yoga introduced a new calmness into her life that helped her breathe fully again.  Paola decided to become a teacher so that she could share her love of yoga and bring other people peacefulness in their lives.  When not teaching yoga, Paola spends her time spreading her vast wealth of physics knowledge, cooking, and rolling around with her pets.

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Alex Pfeifer

 Alex knows the healing power of Nature first hand.  He left his engineering career in January 2004 to start a new one helping others eliminate their pain through yoga, yoga therapy, and hands on healing.  ”For those who have learned to align and soften to it,” he’ll say, “nature holds always surprising healing capacity.”  Reshaped by struggles with back pain and Lyme disease, Alex now dedicates his life to this play.  He has multiple yoga & bodywork certifications with well over 2000 hours in hand.

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Megan Bjella

Yoga has been a powerful source of both physical and emotional healing in Megan’s life.  She began casually practicing yoga in high school as a way to alleviate stress and to become more centered in her body.  Megan continued to practice off and on until her senior year of college when she committed to a regular yoga practice.  The transformation she experienced over the next few months led her to deepen her practice further and share the gift of yoga with others.  She began teaching in February 2009 and completed her 200-hr yoga teacher certification in April 2009.  Her practice continuously evolves as she draws inspiration from the gifted teachers in her life, her community, and her intuition.  Megan invites her students to go deeper and explore the power of breath and movement in their own lives.

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Dominic Stryker

Dominic Stryker, also known as, Instructor Sabidinho is the director and teacher for Raizes do Brasil (Roots of Brazil) Capoeira Madison. Raizes do Brasil Capoeira is an international group which has been providing quality instruction of capoeira as well as promoting capoeira and Brazilian culture around the world since 1980. Instructor Sabidinho began training Capoeira with the Santa Cruz branch of Raizes do Brasil, which is led by Mestre Papiba, in the summer of 1996. In the fall of 2000 Sabidinho moved to San Francisco CA for school but he continued to train capoeira with Raizes do Brasil in Oakland CA under Professor Tartaruga, as well as regular visits back to Santa Cruz and Mestre Papiba.Since 1998 Instructor Sabidinho has substitute taught many classes for both Mestre Papiba and Professor Tartaruga, including some extended periods while Mestre Papiba was in Brazil. In California he also taught in after school programs as both an assistant teacher and a lead teacher. In 2005 at the annual graduation ceremony, called a Batizado, Mestre Papiba gave Sabidinho his green cord, bestowing upon him the rank of Instructor.The Madison, WI chapter of Raizes do Brasil began when Pirata, another of Mestre Papiba’s students and now a graduate student at UW Madison, invited Sabidinho to start teaching a capoeira class here. In August 2006 Sabidinho moved to Madison and in September he started teaching capoeira classes in the Madison Area.

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Shalanda Baker

After injuries sidelined Shalanda from competitive sports, she turned to yoga as a way to maintain strength.  Now, nearly ten years later and after completing her teacher training with Ana Forrest, yoga serves as a healing modality for all of her injuries - physical, spiritual, and emotional.  Her classes begin with this premise, and she invites you to join her on all aspects of your healing journey!

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Karim Fadali

The journey started more than two decades ago. An unexpected encounter with a sexagenarian immersed in her asana practice, flowing slowly, and almost effortlessly, from posture to posture, in a shaded area of a beach on the coast of Casablanca. It was the first time Karim had seen anyone in sarvangasana -shoulder stand. Curious, he waited until she was done and approached her. Minutes later, the yogini said with an inviting smile, “Would you like to try?”

Since then, Karim has been very fortunate to study with a number of inspiring and generous teachers, such as Osho, Prem Baba, Venkatesh, Sri Pattabhi Jois and many others. Between India and the US, his yoga practice evolved to include a number of transformative traditions, including Ashtanga, Yin, Vinyasa flow and Tantra. He is certified in Tantra yoga, and has been teaching since 2001. He has led classes in and workshops in Mexico, Indonesia, India and Brazil.

Richly infused by his background in surfing a martial arts, his classes are invitations to mindfully ride the breath, while playfully exploring the application of pranayama, proper alignment, focus, meditation and visualization. As yoga is meant to be a direct experience, Karim seeks to create an atmosphere that supports his students in discovering their own path of self-expression and self-realization.

‘Yoga, I feel, is simply being fully aware. Yoga is being present, moment by moment, here and now. Yoga is a conscious choice to continuously and courageously move from within, truthfully. It is a beautiful and fearless dance that can be performed anywhere, and at any time… All you need is to show up.’

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Hannah Eifler

Hannah Eifler found her passion for Bellydance over six years ago in the Madison area.  Since then she has had the opportunity to learn from many different instructors through classes and seminars, and began instructing two years ago.  As a Certified Massage Therapist, Hannah has an in depth knowledge of anatomy and an acute sense of the spiritual aspect of movement.  She has found Bellydance to be one of the best low impact aerobic exercises for conditioning the whole body.  It is a great addition to the strengthening and stretching of practices such as Yoga and Pilates.  Hannah’s main objective is to share this practice of graceful movement in a fun, relaxed environment.