Teachers - YOGAMAYA

Bryn Chrisman

Teacher, Studio Owner

Teaching classes since 2003, teacher trainings since 2006 and practicing much longer.

I opened Yogamaya in 2010 to share and care for what I love, yoga. My classes are challenging, devotional and fun, but not frivolous. A long-time student of Carrie Owerko & Kevin Gardiner, and shorter time student of Jules Mitchell, I integrate the texture and subtleties of alignment & biomechanics with feeling, flow, and creative sequencing to keep it fresh.

We approach the asanas and movement with the mood of appreciation and curiosity to discover a way of moving that is at once humble and powerful.

Danielle Harbord

Yoga Teacher

Danielle found yoga while seeking healing and inner peace. An avid runner and former athlete, she also enjoyed the physical and mental challenge yoga presents. Through the connection of body and spirit, she realized her practice would be a lifelong journey and an inspiration for living.

Her classes are challenging, yet carefully sequenced with attention to alignment and blended with her love of music. She aims to create a supportive and playful environment where students can expand their awareness and explore.

Danielle completed her 500-hour certification at Yogamaya and continues to learn and be inspired by her fellow teachers and community.

Amanda McDonald

Yoga Teacher

Amanda, E-RYT 500, has been practicing yoga since 1999. A graduate of Yogamaya’s 300hr Advanced Teacher Training, she loves the lessons yoga has to teach about life. Seeing students win small victories and gain confidence both on and off the mat is her favorite part of teaching.

Amanda loves the invigorating aspects of yoga as well as the deeply relaxing and meditative aspects. She delivers a strong and focused class while encouraging her students to enjoy their own experiences.

Julie Pasqual

Senior Teacher

I am a 500 RYT. I received my 200-hour TT at Devotion Yoga, and am REALLY PROUD to have been part of the first Advanced 300hr YTT at Yogamaya!! I find the teachings of yoga ENDLESSLY fascinating, inspiring, and humbling – from the intricacies of alignment to the heart-opening spiritual philosophy of Bhakti!

It is the practices of Bhakti that I try to center both my yoga teaching and my life around, taking inspiration and instruction from Radhanath Swami, Dhanurdhara Swami, Kaustubha Das, and other teachers at the Bhakti Center. I am ALWAYS inspired by Yogamaya’s teachers, and grateful to be part of this amazing staff!!

Alexandra Paddock

Yoga Teacher

Alexandra, who responds to Alex, Ham, Pad but mostly Allie, first came to yoga to rehab a hamstring torn dancing. Through the process of her recovery, she healed a leg and found a new way of moving that in turn awoke a sense of mind-body-spirit connection that has fueled her ever since.

Always with a playful spirit, Alexandra’s classes aim to balance thoughtful inquiry with fine attunement to detail. Alexandra is grateful for the practice of yoga for helping her see with her heart and hear with her bones.

Alexandra received her 200-hr certification with Yogamaya and thanks her teachers for their wisdom, guidance, and inspiration.

Rachel Fedde

Yoga Teacher

Rachel Fedde found that years of competitive fencing had left her muscles tight and turned to yoga to regain flexibility. She soon grew to appreciate yoga for not just its physical benefits but also the focus and calm that the practice brings. She completed her 500 hour certification at Yogamaya. In teaching she hopes to share the freedom and peace she’s found in yoga with others.

In what little time she’s not on the fencing strip or on the mat, Rachel is also an award-winning film and television editor who loves to travel.

Gina Benson

Yoga Teacher

Gina is a full-time yoga teacher and Ayurveda Practitioner. After discovering yoga she made it her mission to share yoga and healing with others.

With a love for education and studying, Gina’s classes continue to change and improve. Don’t be surprised if she includes a mini anatomy lesson or Ayurveda jargon in her classes every once in a while. Gina’s infectious personality comes through her teaching, her warmth and friendliness will make you feel welcome and comfortable!

Lindsey Rozmes

Yoga Teacher

Truth seeker, balance tipper, believer in the dig for the authentic self. Lindsey has been a devoted student of yoga and Ayurveda since 2009. Her personal practice has changed her life in infinite ways – most of all, it has helped her feel more lovingly situated within herself.

Lindsey brings all of herself to her yoga classes. She puts her brains and sweat and heart and soul into her teaching because she loves it and feels called to share the tools that have helped her navigate the complex experience of being human.

Lindsey’s classes include playful and dynamic movement with an emphasis on presence and smart sequencing. Her goal is to create a loving, safe container for you to gain the clarity necessary to heal and experience wholeness.

Amanda Gates

Teacher

Amanda discovered yoga shortly after moving to NYC in 2008 and eventually found her 2nd home at Yogamaya. As a student for many years, she was fascinated by yogic philosophy and the benefits of practice on the mind and body. Inspired to share what she learned from her amazing teachers, Amanda completed her 200 Hour TT in 2019.

Amanda aims to hold space for those on their own journey, while combining the fundamental principles of yoga with creative sequences and inviting music.

Phillip Pettiford

Teacher, He/They

Inspired by his love for movement, Phillip crafts his classes striking a balance between strength and fluidity. He specializes in leading creative classes with challenging balance postures and a brisk pace which allows you to quiet your mind and connect with your body.

Phillip has been teaching Yoga since 2017. He has completed over 500hrs in Yoga Teacher trainin, first receiving his 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Laughing Lotus, and his advanced teacher training at Laughing Lotus, Soulfull Solution, and studying under Rocky Heron. Phillip is masterful at teaching the student and encouraging his students to their highest potential. Off the Mat, he is trained in contemporary, jazz, hip hop, and modern dance. He currently teaches at various top yoga studios in NYC and choreographs contemporary jazz.

Jamie Wilhelm-Schlef

Teacher She/Her

I fell in love with yoga while searching to find my true self and am still on the journey. Struggling to heal from anxiety and depression, I found that yoga was a tool to calm my racing mind, while also satisfying my desire for a physical challenge. Through connecting with my inner self, my yoga practice has turned into a lifestyle – a way of being.

I completed my 200-hour certification at Yogamaya in NYC and my 300-hour with Yoga Oasis in Tuscon. My classes are challenging and creatively sequenced. I aim to create a supportive environment where students can be themselves and explore, focusing on practice, not perfectionism. I am charmingly awkward and bring fresh energy to the mat.

Patrick Millard

Teacher / Sound Ceremonies

Patrick has been engaged with the practice of sound as a tool for meditation since 2016. He holds over 100 hours of training from the WOOM Center and over four years of experience in facilitating sound and breath-work ceremonies alike. Along with over six years of teaching yoga, His passion for music, movement, and people is reflected in the welcoming environments he helps create.

Emily Rawlings

Teacher

Emily has always been drawn to a physical challenge, but it was not until she began practicing yoga that she found the powerful connection between movement and mental healing. This mental aspect — and the introspective and forgiving nature of yoga — gave her a space to begin learning to love the challenges of her own particular practice in a non-competitive way. As a classically trained pianist, this lesson in non-competitive love for herself and others brought with it a desire to help others on their own journey of self-discovery.

She found community and open arms here at Yogamaya New York, where she earned her 200HR YTT in 2018 — and has been teaching and growing her practice ever since.

Her goal for her students is for them to feel individualized and empowered within their own unique yoga practice, and to be able to find joy in moving their bodies and minds so they can cultivate an openness for self-love through her fun and imaginatively sequenced flows and creative playlists.

Outside of her time in the yoga studio, Emily is a musician and performer, rock climber, and avid baker.

Jeff Percacciante

Yoga Teacher / Studio Manager

Jeff found yoga and meditation in 2009 as a means to connect with his body, confront anxiety and depression, and overcome issues around body dysmorphia.

His classes are highly inclusive and well-loved for their physical and mental inquiry, cultivation of curiosity, courage, strength, and sense of humor (also his amazing playlists).

Jeff completed his 200hr training in 2012, three subsequent 500hr trainings, and earned his Masters in Social Work from Tulane University in 2022.

Suzie Matthews

Yoga Teacher

I began taking yoga asana classes with the goal of becoming more flexible and grounded. I continued because I found so much more –– an ever-evolving strength, alertness, and joy in movement and stillness.

My classes provide accessible opportunities to challenge yourself and respect where you are, to create an intentional connection to your body and spirit as well as to the light of those around you. Together, we seek the important interplay of effort and ease, stillness and movement – the music that happens between the notes.

I completed my 200-hr teacher training at Yogamaya, and I am endlessly grateful to all of my past and current teachers.

Lori Nathanson

Yoga Teacher

When I discovered Yogamaya soon after it opened in 2010, I knew I found a yogic home. Yoga unites my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health through a range of practices grounded by asana.

My teaching reflects yoga as a practice, not performance or perfection, so there’s space to explore, play, and push boundaries. I offer students a vinyasa flow, uniting movement and breath, as a moving meditation. I invite students to look within, building self awareness and compassion for self and others.

I am grateful to practice and teach in the Yogamaya community, which amplifies the benefits of yoga that I carry with me off the mat.

Elizabeth Walsh

Teacher

Liz discovered yoga in 2009 and took her first Yogamaya class in 2012. Over the years, she has sustained a handful of injuries from sports and fitness, but yoga continues to renew her confidence that the practice invites healing and meets you wherever you are. Her experience allows her to teach from a place of patience and understanding that each body arriving on the mat has unique and evolving needs and abilities.

Liz believes movement is medicine and that Yogamaya’s special blend of sequencing and music invites a deeper love of the body and a more profound connection with one’s individual spark of the divine.

She completed her 200-hour certification with Yogamaya and continues her lifelong path as a student in Los Angeles and New York.