Yoga Loft Instructors

Ann Casapini

Ann Casapini, is a certified Anusara Yoga Teacher and has been practicing and teaching yoga since 1995. She has been studying Anusara yoga since 2000 and is grateful to all her teachers including John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga, Ellen Saltonstall, Jimmie and Ruthie Bernaert, Ami Ippoliti, Ross Rayburn, Todd Norian, Susan Rubin and Bernadette Birney. Ann also completed a 12-month program on Hindu Tantric philosophy and meditation with Professor Paul Muller-Ortega in 2009.

In addition to teaching group and individual weekly classes, Ann has taught the Anusara Immersion Level One, and various workshops on the Chakra System, Meditation, Backbends, Chair Yoga, and Asana with Live Music. She has taught in a variety of venues including yoga studios in Manhattan, Westchester, East Hampton, Sara Lawrence College and the Bartow-Pell Museum.

Ann’s love of the practice and love of teaching is evident in her enthusiasm, patience and dedication in offering well-balanced asana sequences with insightful contemplations. She encourages each of her students to discover their own strengths and abilities in a safe and nurturing environment.

She also loves to sing and has been chanting Kirtan with a talented group of musicians for the past two years. Please join her in fun, challenging classes and she may just sing to you!

Courtney Bombeck

Courtney Bombeck has been practicing yoga for over ten years. Her practice is meant to cultivate the mind-heart- body connection in a way that is thoughtful, challenging and healing. She believes that yoga is always a way forward to a more full life. She is blessed to have studied with Mitchel Bleier, Ross Rayburn, Bernadette Birney, and many other wonderful teachers and mentors. She regards the practice of Yoga as an incredible gift and feels very blessed to be part of this Kula.

Cynthia Fuller-Kling

Cynthia Fuller-Kling has been teaching yoga based classes since 1983, most recently in her own studio across the river in Palisades, NY. Originally from Toronto, Cynthia began practicing yoga in 1982 during her career as a professional modern dancer. She also draws on an extensive background of bodywork, the Alexander Technique, Pilates, energy work and meditation in her teaching. Anusara has been her primary focus of study in yoga since 2002. Cynthia is deeply grateful to all her teachers, mentors and students, both past and present. In her ever unfolding journey of deep inner work, Cynthia has been developing "The Fuller Method," synthesizing her eclectic array of body knowledge and mindfulness. In her classes, Cynthia guides and encourages students to move into each asana/pose with the intention of creating optimal alignment so that they can experience themselves to the fullest.

Judi Friedman

Judi Friedman is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher who draws on her years of practicing law to relate the principles of yoga. She teaches with clarity, energy and passion. Judi studies yoga regularly with senior Iyengar Yoga teachers including the renowned Patricia Walden. She enjoys working with teenagers and frequently presents workshops in the local high schools. She invites every "body" (whether stiff or flexible) to her class to experience the profound transformational possibilities that a yoga practice offers.

Kate Bovers

Kate Bovers is a certified hatha yoga teacher who feels that yoga is a gift to share and that it bestows strength and flexibility in the body and mind while allowing for a deep recognition of the true nature of the essential self. Her certifications include trainings with Nevine Michaan of Katonah Yoga, Alan Finger of Yogaworks, Om Yoga with Gina Norma, Ross Rayburn in the Anusara method level 1 and 2. She has studied with John Friend in a few workshops as well as a training for a week of yoga therapy. She has studied anatomy and physiology with Ellen Saltonstall to secure her teachings have the optimal alignment. She has also completed Judith Lasater’s “relax and renew” restorative workshop. Kate looks to incorporate clear alignment, a meditation mindfulness led by the breath through the asana practice with the desire to empower her students to access deeper openings within their bodies center.She loves to play with the aligned form of the body as a way to open the center of the heart. It is in that space the we find the repose in every pose.

Lara Demberg Voloto

Lara Demberg Voloto, RYT, is a Certified Anusara teacher, with 8 years teaching experience and co-founder of Vikasa Studio in Cold Spring, NY. Lara specializes in therapeutics and leads fun, challenging classes. She has studied with John Friend, Ellen Saltonstall, Jackie Prete, Ross Rayburn, Bernadette Birney and many other gifted teachers. Lara's Anusara classes are fun, challenging to the body and spirit, and always invoke a deeper purpose for stepping on the mat. Her open level classes blend many different abilities and challenges; everyone walks away challenged no matter what they bring to the mat.

Laurie Luongo

Laurie is a Professional Level Kripalu and Anusara Inspired yoga instructor. She has taught extensively and passionately since 2004, believing that yoga is an inquiry and exploration into self-awareness that may take many playful, challenging and joyful forms. As a perpetual student she continues to advance her studies.

Pamela Baur

Pamela took her first yoga class when she was 14 years old. Now 29, she finds yoga brings fun, health and creativity to her days! Pamela is certified in Children’s Yoga through teachings of Little Sprouts Yoga and has completed a 200 hour Anusara Yoga Teacher Training with Elements Yoga and Wellness Center in Darien, CT. Yoga inspires Pamela to remember and teach in her classes that “Marble not yet carved can hold the form of every thought the greatest artist has" – Michelangelo. Pamela is a manager for lululemon athletica in Greenwich CT, and loves sharing yoga with people to support them in having fun, healthy and inspired lives!

Patricia Keane

Patricia Keane received her Hatha Yoga 200 Hour Certification from Master Teacher Paula Heitzner and the New Age Center in Nyack, NY. She has been teaching full time for nine years and continues her education through various workshops with Judith Lasater, Rodney Yee, Charles Matkin, Ana Brett and many others. Her classes combine breath work, alignment and in depth instruction which promote conscious movement in a nurturing and safe way. Tricia’s warm presence, knowledge of anatomy and attention to detail provide every student with the tools to explore their own individual posture, core strength, flexibility and well being. Tricia sees yoga as an endless source of learning and joy, and is so grateful to her students for sharing it with her. She lives in South Salem, New York with her husband and two daughters.

Rebekah Jacobs

Rebekah Jacobs serves as Creative Director and Manager of The Yoga Loft. She is an Anusara Inspired instructor with RYT 200 Hour status.

Rebekah is a brand ambassador for Lululemon and was honored to attend the Ambassador Summit in Vancouver, BC. She was chosen for her dedication and commitment to elevating our community along with 100 ambassadors from Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and the United States.

Additional trainings include "Yoga for Two" Prenatal Course with Mary Barnes, "Om Shree Om: Anusara Yoga for Kids" with Christine McArdle-Oquendo and Pilates Mat with Physical Mind, NYC. Rebekah continues to study with Elena Brower, Ross Rayburn, Zhenja LaRosa, Bernadette Birney, Sianna Sherman, Todd Norian, John Friend, Seane Corn and Mitchel Bleier. Rebekah is grateful for all of her teachers and for you.

Rita Trieger

Rita Trieger is the founder and editor-in-chief of Fit Yoga Magazine, and the author of Yoga Heals Your Back (Fairwinds, 2005), and Tranquil Mind, a yoga/meditation CD. She incorporates a variety of traditions into her inspiring teaching style, and has cultivated an enthusiastic following in both vigorous Vinyasa flow classes and healing restorative classes. A spirited and sought-after teacher, Rita has presented at several national yoga conferences including The International Yoga Therapy Conference. She currently teaches yoga and meditation in Connecticut at The Health and Fitness Institute at Stamford Hospital, Dew Yoga in Stamford, Elements Yoga in Darien, The Bennett Cancer Center, and Stamford Hospital’s Center for Integrated Medicine, where she is the stress-management facilitator for the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for the Reversal of Heart Disease. Rita is developing a Yoga for Cancer Teacher Training with yoga therapy colleague Antonio Sausys and senior Kripalu teachers, which is due to be launched in the spring of 2011. Rita has also contributed a chapter for the upcoming book The Sacred Thread of Yoga compiled by renowned yogi and teacher, Kofi Buscia, and is writing an abstract on the effects of yoga on heart disease for the medical journal Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation (TGR,) to be released in the summer of 2011.

Robert Ortner

Robert's approach to the art and science of yoga begins with the phrase "We are our own best teachers." One does not just do yoga, one becomes yoga; it is a lifelong journey that anyone can make. Offering classes and programs that work with the whole person, from gentle conditioning and beginner classes to more traditional vinyasa and high-energy yoga for strength and endurance. He balances the need for strength and flexibility, stress reduction (aka surviving modern life) and meditation, along with breath work and inner quiet. Drawing from an interdisciplinary yoga background, and blends different styles and techniques that allow the body to open and expand throughout its entire range of motion. Offering a strong foundation in yogic essentials, as well as an encouraging and up-beat learning environment that allows each student to practice safely and at their own pace. Robert is a certified Yoga Therapist, trained by Nischala Joy Devi, the former director of Yoga for the Dr. Dean Ornish Heart Program for Reversing Heart Disease and co-founder of the Commonweal Cancer Help Program. Additionally, Robert is an IYT-Integrative Yoga Therapist, Thai Yoga practitioner and a Pilates instructor. Come have some FUN!

Sandra Perlow

Sandra was introduced to yoga in the Mohave Desert over twenty years ago. Since then she has earned two teaching certifications in both Hatha and Kundalini yoga. A number of trips to India have placed her in the company of great teachers, saints and sages. She has also trained in Vipassana Meditation and studied extensively with Gurmukh of Golden Bridge Yoga. Sandra’s seva includes domestic abuse shelters, youth detention centers and nursing homes. She is eternally grateful for the teachers who have touched her life and the grace to be able to share the practices of uniting body, mind and spirit.

Susan Johnston

Susan Johnston is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance and a student of yoga for 12 years. Influenced by many different styles of yoga she has come to embrace the principles and spirit of Anusara Yoga. Susan’s teachings offer a slow flowing practice with deep exploration of asana placing a great emphasis on alignment. A practice that nourishes the body, mind and heart, opening oneself up to their true potential on and off the mat. She is excited to learn and share the inspiring philosophy and refined alignment of Anusara Yoga, which have helped her to experience life more fully. Susan is working toward her Anusara Certification with a concentration in therapeutics. I am honored to be part of the Yoga Loft community, to share, study and practice this wonderful gift of yoga