about our teachers.


  • Founder + Teacher

    I started practicing yoga at fourteen, and it touched and changed my life profoundly and in ways I can probably never quantify. I started my first training as a teacher a few years later. I learned ashtanga yoga from my first teacher, Jonny Kest. I later learned ashtanga from Lisa Lalér, Stan Woodman, and many other excellent teachers around the world. At eighteen, I sat my first 10-day Vipassana meditation course. Together ashtanga yoga and Vipassana and anapana meditation are at the core of my practice and teaching. I teach the way my teachers taught me and am grateful to continue sharing the knowledge they have passed to me through this teacher-student lineage. Yoga is a deeply transformative practice, and its teachings unfold continuously if approached with curiosity, discipline, and joy. I try to practice and teach with that simplicity and practicality. 

    I made New Haven my home in 2019 when I started my MD/PhD training here. I started the Shala in 2024 to teach Ashtanga yoga in New Haven and create a space of learning and healing through yoga. The sense of place and family that comes with belonging to a yoga community is very meaningful to me, and something I have yearned for while traveling and living away from home. I hope our Shala is that place for many students in our community. 

  • Teacher

    I have been practicing yoga for 25+ years and teaching for 20 of those years. I started my journey with a seated meditation practice in North Carolina, then California, before returning to the East Coast. After exploring forms like Bikram for 8 years, I found vinyasa and have been boundlessly exploring its depths since. I formed and led an outstanding yoga studio, Balanced Yoga, in Westville for years and then found Costa Rica. I balanced my time between the studio and the playa, teaching between the two before focusing more on Costa Rica for a spell. After the world changed in 2020, my family did too, setting me on a new journey to incorporate the practices and teachings towards more empathy, grief, and perseverance.

  • Teacher

    My yoga journey began during a challenging period in my life. Struggling with my own mental health, I turned to movement practices and discovered the transformative practice of yoga. Experiencing profound changes to my physical, mental and spiritual well-being, I was inspired to share this practice and advocate for mental health on a broader scale.

    I embarked on my teaching journey by completing a 200-hour Baptiste Yoga-inspired teacher training. Driven by a desire for deeper knowledge, I pursued additional training with the Baptiste Institute.

    I continued to expand my expertise by completing a 300-hour yoga teacher training led by Davina Davidson with the Melanin Yoga Project. Here, I delved into Rocket Yoga, which is rooted in Ashtanga Vinyasa. This training also showed me that I could connect my passion for advocacy, social justice and accessibility to my yoga practice and teachings.

    Wanting to gain more knowledge and tools to better support the underserved communities struggling with mental health and addictions I was working with, I decided to complete a 200-hour Mindfulness Facilitation Training, Integrative Somatic Trauma Practices Training, and Trauma Informed Yoga Certification. I empower my students through practices that foster self-awareness, mindfulness, and somatic movement that can help in finding balance and navigating life on and off of the yoga mat.

    My love for Rocket Yoga led me to training an additional 120 hrs under David Kyle’s guidance. Additionally, I trained in traditional Ashtanga Vinyasa with David Swenson giving me a better understanding and appreciation for the practice that Rocket is based on.

    I hope to inspire and support my students, integrating my extensive training and dedication to making all practices engaging, accessible and trauma-informed.

  • Teacher

    I am a Michigan native and trained in Ashtanga yoga with Jonny Kest at the Center for Yoga. I have been practicing and teaching yoga for over a decade and my favorite styles to teach are hot vinyasa and yin yoga. I enjoy teaching because it allows me to not only help my students strengthen physical attributes like endurance and flexibility, but also improve their mental and spiritual fitness. Currently I find myself in New Haven training as a resident physician in anesthesiology with an interest in chronic pain medicine. I hope to tie together my holistic yoga background and my clinical training to help my future patients suffering from chronic pain disorders improve their quality of life. In my limited free time I have many hobbies I enjoy, including rock climbing, fishing, and playing all the sports!

  • Yoga has been one of Elizabeth's guiding lights for over thirteen years. Five years ago, she deepened her yoga journey through certified Yoga Teacher Training (RYT 200) and is currently completing her additional training for her RYT 500 certification. Elizabeth is also a Reiki Master Level III Practitioner, Meditation Guide, and Sound Healing Practitioner,  using many of these techniques throughout her teachings. Over the years, she has had the honor of guiding students in a variety of yoga styles, ranging from yin to vinyasa; time and time again being reminded of the healing powers we all hold within ourselves. 

    Here at the East Rock Shala, Elizabeth will be teaching a 75-minute Blindfolded Yin Yoga class every Saturday. Within this class, we will hold space to experience a well-deserved slow, deep-exploration into the layers of both our body and mind. We will rest in poses for 3-5 minutes each, emphasizing on the quality of each pose versus the quantity. When we extend the period of time in poses, we allow our connective tissue (fascia) to stretch and open up, removing any blockages which in turn stimulates blood flow to the organs. By taking this time to slow down and align with nature, we harness an invincible, vital life force energy called qi. Immerse yourself in a serene environment, where stillness and sensory withdrawal illuminates our inner world and melts us into the embrace of the sacred pause.

  • Visiting Teacher

    Stan began a dedicated Ashtanga practice in 1998 with his first teacher Beryl Bender Birch who helped Stan develop the basis of his practice and teaching today.  Stan eventually went to the source in Mysore India in 2003 and 2004 to study with Pattabhi Jois. Since then, he has made seven more trips to Mysore to study with Sharath Jois including the summer of 2016 Stan completed a two month teachers course in Mysore with Sharath. His practice and teaching has also been greatly influenced by his studies with David Swenson, Eddie Stern and Aliya Wise.

    In addition to his work as a yoga teacher, Stan’s education includes intensive coursework with special needs children through the Son-Rise Program at The Autism Treatment Center of America. Formerly licensed as a massage therapist, he has extensive knowledge in eastern and western philosophies and practices in anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, myology, and neurology. Stan has served on the board of directors of several not-for-profits including Odanadi and The Give Back Yoga Foundation for empowering individuals through the gift of yoga.

    An avid extreme sports enthusiast, Stan loves a good challenge, especially when snowboarding or skateboarding. Stan has been featured in numerous magazines including Fitness, More and Organic Spa.

    He is the co-founder of Kaia Yoga studios from 2006-2018. He continues to live in Connecticut teaching Private Yoga and Mysore Program in Greenwich, CT

  • Teacher

    I was born and raised in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and moved to NY at 16. My upbringing in Theravada Buddhism and meditation illuminated my path to yoga. In Lombok, Indonesia, I completed my yoga teacher training in hatha vinyasa, sound healing, and Ayurvedic practice. As a registered nurse, I approach my yoga practice with the intention that yoga is for every body and all ages, to help one stay grounded and calm through all the emotions of life. I use my nursing knowledge to help students reach proper alignment and my classes are sequenced to sync breath with movement.

  • Teacher

    I've been teaching yoga + movement for about 10 years now. My teaching style is a strong + playful vinyasa with a focus on helping students to connect to their intuitive body-mind. I am an E-RYT 200, lead retreats and have a passion for my own personal practice. I love helping others discover their inherent strength + peace. My goal as a teacher is to offer students what yoga has given me; a safe place to land + explore their inner world. I believe once the practice of yoga is in your heart, you have it for life. The more awareness + intention we give to our physical practice the bigger benefit to our heart, mind + soul. 

our studio team.

  • Sydney was introduced to yoga by her dad as a child, but intentionally explored the practice starting in 2020. She began by attending vinyasa & community recovery classes at a neighborhood, queer-owned yoga studio in Buffalo, NY where she sought an affirming, warm (literally as it was hot yoga) space to heal her relationship with her body and family & friends. She fell off her yoga practice when returning back to school at UConn, & upon graduation started her 200 HR YTT to deepen & provide more knowledge & community around her practice. After her YTT she started opening classes at numerous studios in New Haven exploring all different types of classes, & began teaching free outdoor community yoga classes through a program called Yoga in Our City. Now, she is delighted to join East Rock Shala, opening the studio & working the desk, with her interest in learning more about ashtanga, & incorporating her yoga more deeply into her recovery practice.

  • Estella Dieci is a first-year Master of Environmental Design student at the Yale School of Architecture. She began practicing yoga seriously this past year and completed a 200-HR teacher training course in the spring. Her interest in yoga grew after sitting her first 10-day course in Vipassana meditation three years ago, and her commitment strengthened in seeking lifelong physical activity and personal healing for herself and her loved ones. She is grateful for the community fostered in yoga studios, the inherent bond between like-minded individuals with common goals, and the strength of sharing practice and meaning with friends and strangers.