Our teachers are at the heart of everything we do at YogaSpa. They posses passion, commitment and dedication to give you the very best Yoga classes and instruction. Each teacher is incredibly talented, well trained and experienced. They each, individually, have their own approach and creativity they bring to their classes. Additionally, each teacher knows firsthand the incredible transformative power of Yoga. We are proud of them all and honored to have them on our teaching staff.
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Jacqui Vernon (Jacqui's page)
Jacqui Vernon is the founder and director of YogaSpa, Westchester’s premiere hot yoga studio located in Elmsford, New York.
A Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 200), Jacqui has combined her study with some of the nation’s leading yoga teachers and her many years of fitness training to create and offer a full spectrum of yoga disciplines and styles, including her signature Flow31, SlowBurn and BootCamp Yoga classes, all within the hot yoga lineage.
Jacqui's personalized, hands-on teaching style, reflects her background in the study of anatomy and postural alignment, which guides her students to achieve their optimal experience in the yoga postures and allows them to enjoy their practice as a vehicle of personal transformation.
Coming to yoga during her career as a biotechnical patent litigator for a prestigious law firm in New York City, Jacqui's keen understanding and passionate appreciation for yoga’s healing power, has garnered a large and devoted following for her in-studio classes, one-on-one private and semi-private trainings, regional master classes, and international yoga retreats.
Having dedicated her studio, founded in 2001, to the memory of her mother, Jacqui has served as a founding member of the board of directors and organized fund-raisers for the Cancer Support Network, an organization that is committed to bringing yoga and other complementary healing modalities to cancer patients, their families and caregivers.
YogaSpa is a four-time winner of Westchester Magazine’s “Best Yoga Studio” award.
Leslie
Leslie comes to us with extensive knowledge from personal and professional experience. She often travels back and forth from Florida where she studies with Jimmy Barkan.
Ani
Some seventeen years back as a college student Ani discovered yoga, working behind the desk at the then Santa Monica Dance and Exercise. After moving to New York to work as a reporter, she studied more extensively, beginning to better appreciate the many dimensions physical yoga offers. Drawn, in particular, to the power of joining the breath, movement and attention, in 1999 she made a pilgrimage to study Asthanga Yoga in Mysore, South India with K Pattahbi Jois. Since then, she has explored other styles and become a Certified Yoga Teacher. She received her teacher training under Govinda Kai, David Hollander and Michael Gilbert. And, furthered her training with Yoga Works, completing their Teacher Intensive. She is also certified in Baby Om yoga.
She has taught at the Westside Yoga Works in the city, New York Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Be Yoga. Her eclectic teaching style draws from the lineages of TKV Desikichar, B.K.S. Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois, focusing on correct alignment, use of the breath and flow. She feels fortunate to be able to pass on the life-giving practice of yoga.
Renee
Renee Williams took up yoga after watching Madonna in 'The Next Best Thing' in 2000. After realizing this 42 year-old woman was able to put her leg behind her head and still be peaceful and content, Renee was hooked. Being 35 and unable to bring her fingertips to the floor, a change had to be made. In 2003 she was surfing the internet and came across an article on Bikram yoga. YogaSpa in Elmsford was close by and the rest is history. If you're looking for an Un-orthodox Bikram or Vinyasa style class with eclectic musical selections, give Renee a try.
Victoria
Victoria is a yoga teacher in the vinyasa style. She began practicing yoga in 1989. Her original certification was with Cyndi Lee at Om Yoga Center in NYC in 2000. Since then Victoria has taught in NYC, and more recently in Westchester. She teaches the Vinyasa Style. Her personal studies include vinyasa, Iyengar, Hot Vinyasa, Brikam. She is a psycho-spiritual therapist trained in the Helix Training program, now she specializes in Somatic Experiencing. A body aware therapy which address PTSD and personal relational challenges. She feels that Yoga can be a gateway to personal evolution.
Jimmy
My Journey into yoga started in college where I had this curious (to me) interest in Eastern Philosophies and Practices. I took a little yoga course (Himalyan Institute) and thereafter dabbled in my own occasional yoga practices. Just before my 28th birthday, I found myself a “Stranger in a Strange Land”. I had just moved to Florida only find the marriage for which I had moved was to be no more. I, quite devastated, found what was the ONLY yoga studio in Fort Lauderdale, Jimmy Barkan’s Bikram’s Yoga College of India. Bikram yoga rocked my world! It was intense and amazing! I went everyday, sometimes twice, three, or four classes per day. It absolutely transformed my life! I’ve been practicing and teaching ever since (over 23 years). I served as Director of Bikram’s studio in San Francisco, worked as a faculty member at Jimmy Barkan’s teacher training and also owned and operated my own studio in South Florida for several years. I’m also blessed to be a student of the incomparable teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the classic “Autobiography of a Yogi”. I’ve taught yoga to thousands of yoga students over the years, and I’m still amazed to see how people can absolutely blossom and transform their lives and their bodies! It is a joy and a blessing that I get to share the gift of yoga. I hope to see you soon in class!
Keith
After working in advertising and noticing it wasn't lacking in the stress department, Keith took his first class of Yoga in 1998. Truly enjoying every aspect of where different teachers and practices took him, he expanded his practice. Then in 2004, a diabetes diagnosis forced another deep look internally and he became even more in touch with his own physiology and ultimately his center. He decided to become involved with the Greenwich Triathlon Club taking his physical training to a new level. Since this led to tightening up every muscle he knew and some new ones, he again went deeper into yoga. In trying to find balance between stretching and training, he contemplated the deeper aspects of yoga. In an effort to get the Mind, Body & Soul in tune, he had an epiphany to do what he truly loved, Teach Yoga and still pursue Design. The answer was to keep his graphic design studio kGraphics and to get certified as a yoga instructor thus bring his love of excercise and holistic living to the everyone he knew.
Elizabeth
Bio being written.
Danielle
Bio being written.