Teachers

Blanca Alcaraz

blanca@beinunion.com

I came to yoga through resistance.

Raised as a migrant worker, I learned about the boundless power, beauty and energy of the land. My unwavering respect for our soil was literally cultivated in our family’s daily dependence on it for survival.

From the work fields I migrated into an adolescence filled with violence, anger and rage, so much so that an educator told me that I would be dead by the age of 16. Fortunately for me, another educator was able to recognize and hone my true potential. Simply put, he believed in me.

One of the first places that I learned to listen to my body and to find in it an expressive path was sports. My years as a competitive athlete in the US and abroad made me entirely dismiss the idea of yoga.

My first experience with yoga was shortly after 9/11. As a firefighter, my sense of loss for everyone that day grew tremendously. Words became insufficient and my body became a receptacle for that silence and stress. For me, exercise has always had a meditative quality that unites my body, mind and soul. Increasingly, however, going to the gym was not enough, and injury and overuse had made many other sports impossible. With yoga, I found that I no longer was trying to prove anything to anyone, especially to myself, that simply being is enough.

As I deepened my exploration of yoga training, I also rediscovered many of the mind-body healing traditions that surrounded my youth—the heat work of Temazcal, the energy work of Curanderos; my yoga practice today blends not only East and West but also North and South.

My life is an example of the power of unconditional love and a testament to giving kids a second chance. I am forever grateful.

Jaclyn Kryzak

jaclyn@beinunion.com

As a competitive athlete, I played women’s ice hockey for Boston College where I received my bachelors and masters degree. Subsequently, I graduated from the evening division of Suffolk University’s Law School, having worked full time throughout my law school experience. Today, I continue to work in the legal field, aiming to facilitate social change in some small way of my own. I am also a real estate agent, certified spinning instructor, and have over the past two years, now found a love for teaching yoga as well.

I found myself on my yoga mat for the first time, having already had surgery on my knee, shoulder, and wrist as a result of numerous sports related injuries and a lifetime of ignoring what my body was attempting to communicate to me, all in the name of competition. I was looking for a way to move again without pain. What I found was so much more.

Yoga made me feel like a kid again. At the end of my first class I was smiling from ear to ear, totally high on life, and energized and excited about everything—literally. While perhaps it was not apparent at first, from my awkward stumbling back and forth across my mat, while others bent at remarkable angles, actually floated to the fronts of their mats, and made seamless transitions between poses, I felt like I was dancing all the same. I have felt that way ever since.

Yoga is a breath inspired practice. And as I have found, so is much of life. I find that when I am following my breath, everything else falls into place. To me, yoga is not just a process of exploration of the practice, but also an exploration of self. As my practice on the mat grows and evolves, I have found, so does my practice off the mat.

For me, yoga is about creating space for ourselves—finding space to just be with our selves; to just be with our thoughts; to just be with our emotions; to just be. As we take time to make clear our intentions on our mat, they will begin to unfold off our mat. All we simply need to do is show up—for ourselves.

Most importantly perhaps is to have fun! Don’t be afraid to be ridiculous and silly or to fall on your face—its one of my favorite things to do. I welcome everybody to come and show up and in the words of Kool & The Gang, get down on it.

Norman Brzycki

I started practicing yoga over 8 years ago. The impact it has had on my life has been profound and from  my very first class knew I had to share it with others. My purpose in life is to empower and inspire people to transform themselves and their lives. For close to 15 years I have had the pleasure of helping thousands of people pursue their passion, goals and dreams, to discover their true purpose, and to experience the true power and freedom of  “being.”  I have worked with artists, athletes, college students, entrepreneurs, CEO’s and corporate executives.  All of these individuals have had different circumstances, dreams, wants, and hopes. All have a unique voice, a purpose, and a want to live a motivated and passionate life. All of these people I have helped.  I bring this unique experience, understanding, and compassion to all of my yoga classes.

I have had the great honor and pleasure of being trained to teach by Coeli Marsh of Teachers Study Project as the as well with Claire Estes McDonald and Gregor Singleton through the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute.

Steven Darwin

I was originally drawn to yoga in 1998 as a way to integrate my body’s opening while receiving extensive structural body work as well as homeopathy, and nutrition counseling. In a way I had reached bottom. My business was overwhelming me, I was a new father, and my health was suffering. I started my practice with Baron Baptiste and I will never forget when he said “if you practice yoga a couple times a week you will get a good workout, but if you practice 4 or 5 times a week your life will change” I told my wife that my life needed to change and that I was going to be practicing yoga. After a couple of months my life did change. My business became easier to operate in comparison to what it was. My relationship with my wife changed much for the better. I became a compassionate father for my growing daughter. My health issues began to resolve.

My structural therapist began to teach me how the asanas worked with the physical body and how to explore that on a personal level. I have been inspired by and have taken intensives with Baron Baptiste, Ana Forest, Shandor Remeti, and T. S Little as well as many teachers in and around the Boston area. All of these teachers are a part of my practice. Through this guidance I began to develop a keen awareness of how yoga affected my mind and body. Yoga literally began to follow me out of my home or studio and out into life. The mind of yoga was something I had to share.

In 2008 after some soul searching I decided that it was time to teach. I became a part of the “Yoga Teachers Study Project” led by Coeli Marsh in Cambridge, MA. The “Project” is still ongoing helping me to develop authenticity in my teaching. I am constantly trying to learn as a teacher wanting to share with others the life transformation that yoga has to offer.

Pilar Caso

Having practiced yoga now for over 11 years, along with 6 years of teaching experience, Pilar is truly grateful to have been introduced and inspired by Baron Baptiste, the power yoga practice, and her teachers. It is in fact her own life experiences and challenges that have allowed her to become closer and better connected to her students, as her many dedicated teachers have done for her. Pilar has attended bootcamps in Costa Rica, Maya Tulum, Mexico, and Montana, as well as completed Level I and II Teacher Training with Baron Baptiste. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher and has been teaching in and around the greater Boston area, beginning with On The Mat Yogain Concord, Ma., The Yoga Spot in Wellesley, and H.Y.P studios located in both Needham and Wellesley Massachusetts. Pilar has also instructed seminars on self-esteem for middle-school teens at The Nashoba Brooks School as well as Lawrence Academy in Groton. She enjoys helping these young adults discover the benefits and support yoga can offer. A mother of both a teenage daughter and son, Pilar dedicates herself and encourages her children, like her students, to maintain positive outlooks and healthy lifestyles. She has recently begun teaching and helping underserved and homeless women of domestic violence and substance abuse recovery for the non-profit organization of YogaHOPE. Pilar’s love and compassionate heart shines through, as she guides her students through this high energy Power Vinyasa Flow. She encourages all to be “internally empowered and eternally inspired.”

Jill Sauro

Jill attended her first yoga class at the Baron Baptiste Power Yoga Institute in fall 2002 and began teaching a year later. She realized yoga found her and the calling drew her in. The past 3 years have been life changing, a roller coaster ride through emotions and self-discovery, grounded in a sense of stillness, thanks to yoga. The discovery of her breath has been a healing transformation, a continuous journey. Jill teaches to inspire students to awaken their spirit through breath flow. She emphasizes hearing the breath, feeling the breath, connecting to the breath. She resonates with the Baptiste style because of its particular emphasis on the breath & alignment. Before discovering yoga, Jill competed for Northeastern University in cross-country and middle-distance running. She continued for 2 years after college running for FILA. Through all the running, she rarely stretched, so when a chiropractor suggested yoga for a hip injury, she was skeptical. A year into yoga, she gave up running and now enjoys the slower pace of walking. Along with teaching yoga, Jill is a licensed massage therapist and polarity therapist. She believes in a holistic approach to healing and brings compassion, joy & peace to her work. Jill graduated from Northeastern with a Bachelor’s degree in physical therapy. She grew up on Cape Cod, loves the beach, and now lives in Framingham with her sister.

Daniel Rudolph

I first started going to yoga classes about twelve years ago. I was living in Boston for the summer and discovered heated power vinyasayoga. I immediately noticed a shift in my soccer playing. I was less anxious and more relaxed, and as a result my play improved dramatically. As I left college I entered the world of professional soccer, and I took my yoga practice with me. Yoga served me well in my pro soccer career.

I have moved on from playing professionally and now I focus on coaching soccer, and also teaching yoga. I have been studying the craft of teaching for more than two years with my mentor Coeli Marsh. My studies continue in the Teacher Study Project, a yoga teacher training ground with a focus on community service and mentoring.

If I can get my students to be healthier; to be both stronger and more flexible; to commit to celebrating the blessings in their lives; to make peace with their strengths and weaknesses; to LOVE the practice of yoga… then I have succeeded in my mission.

Ariana Brody

Ariana is honored to be a yoga teacher.  She has been dedicated to the practice of yoga for over six years, and through her enrollment in the Teacher Study Project (TSP) directed by Coeli Marsh, Ariana has grown as a teacher of yoga.  Ariana is thrilled to share her passion and love for the Vinyasa practice with her students, and hold space for them to find their own path on and off the mat.

After a few years of consistently showing up on her yoga mat, Ariana soon embraced the practice as a powerful means to find inner strength, peace and clarity, as well as overall health.  For the first time in her life, she felt a connection to her mind, body and soul.  Ariana is excited to have found her voice as a yoga teacher, and is grateful to her mentor, teammates and friends for their love and encouragement.

Mona Johany

I am excited about sharing my love of yoga with the be. family. I’ve practiced Asana for over ten years and have been inspired by many great Vinyasa teachers—especially my mentor, Coeli Marsh. I became a RYTâ teacher after completing the YogaWorks teacher training with Natasha Rizopoulos and Christine Raffa.

In my classes, I often introduce a theme and variations with a focus on gradually preparing the body to move from a strong foundation into more challenging and invigorating postures.

Safe alignment combined with freedom brings simplicity to the most complicated poses. I believe there are no challenges that patience and effort cannot conquer and that there is nothing we can’t do—only things we can’t do yet. I’d like to thank Natasha for helping me find my body, and am eternally grateful to Coeli for helping me find my voice.

Jane Henderson

Jane has been training with Coeli Marsh since February 2008 as part of the first group of students in the Teacher’s Study Project.  She has found strength, serenity, courage and inner peace in her practice.  She has been committed to yoga for over 10 years although her practice extends back to her teens.   She has trained in many styles of yoga including Bikram and others, but has found hertrue spirit in the vinyasa flow practice.  Years of dance in high school and college, past training in pilates and her love of movement give her a strong background of the physical, mental and emotional aspects of the body. Forty–three years of life experience has been Jane’s greatest teacher.  Her practice has changed and evolved over many years.  Surviving breast cancer has been one of the most powerful forces in her growth.    She truly believes in the beauty of just showing up and wants to share her belief that yoga is for everyone.   Jane has four beautiful kids from ages 5-13 who keep her busy and dedicated to her practice.

Frances Harper

Yoga found Frances on a tropical island in Thailand. Her initial introduction to yoga involved practicing yoga while overlooking the beauties of the rainforest. When she returned to Japan, where she was living at the time, she took a daily home yoga practice and a new sense of peace with her. While she lived in Japan she made occasional visits to a Bikram studio, but continued to grow mostly through her home practice.

When Frances moved to Boston she discovered the beauty of the heated vinyasa practice. Since that time yoga has taken her to a new level both energetically and spiritually. Combining her two greatest passions, teaching and yoga, has only brought Frances more joy. Her path to becoming a yoga teacher revealed to her that the universe has an infinite amount of love to offer. Frances hopes to bring some of that love and compassion into each of her classes while challenging her students to discover all their practice has to offer.