Leta Koontz
Leta has been studying yoga since 1998. Her first instructor was Lori Brungard. Leta has trained at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India, and has been certified to teach yoga by the Himalayan Institute. Leta is the Principal of Schoolhouse Yoga.
Holly King
Holly has been practicing yoga since she moved to Pittsburgh in 1993. She began her studies of Ashtanga and Hatha Vinyasa yoga with Angelique Sneeden. Holly has also studied Ashtanga yoga with Richard Freeman. She began teaching in the year 2000, taking a brief hiatus after the birth of her daughter Eliza. In her classes, Holly focuses on using vinyasa (the connection of breath and movement) to unite body, mind, and spirit.
Richard Gartner
Richard Gartner, RYT, has been practicing yoga since 2001. He completed his teacher training with Tias Little in Santa Fe in 2005 and has continued to study with him, most recently in London. He has attended Iyengar workshops with Joan White, Anusara workshops with Ann Greene and Todd Norian, and has studied with Max Strom in Pittsburgh, Portland and Ashland. His teaching is grounded in self-study and introspection, and combines traditional asana practice and breath work with contemporary anatomy and bodywork. Students will empower themselves through right action and knowledge.
Monique Richards
Monique was introduced to yoga as a child and has practiced off and on throughout her life. She completed a year-long teacher training program in the Iyengar method of yoga and has studied with Rodney Yee. Monique is drawn to the intricacies of body alignment that the Iyengar method focuses on, particularly due to her own experience with scoliosis. In her classes, she combines the methodology of the Iyengar system with vinyasa to link the breath to the flow that the body and mind are creating.
Jennifer Clark
Jen Clark, RYT, began her study of Ashtanga yoga in Denver, Colorado in 1998 and afterwards has gone on to study many styles of yoga. Since giving birth to two baby girls, she realized the immeasurable benefits that yoga has on the body and soul. Jen is grateful to have studied with Max Strom, David Swenson, Doug Swenson, Desiree Rumbaugh and others all of whom have influenced her teaching style. She loves to incorporate different yoga styles that come together in a vinyasa (flow) style class. Jen hopes that all of her students gain both a sense of peacefulness and strength with their yoga practice. Jen completed her 200 hour teacher training prograom through 3rd Street Yoga School.
Laurie Held
Laurie has a strong background in gymnasics and has competed in triathlons. In 2003, she discovered Schoolhouse Yoga and became inspired to study yoga. She has studied with Manju Jois, Angelique Sneeden, Tim Miller, and Doug Swenson. Laurie completed her teacher training in Ashtanga yoga with David Swenson.
Linda Meacci
Linda immersed herself in yoga in 1996 after extensive work in experimental theatre. She completed her teacher's training with Ana Forrest and has since assisted Ana in a national workshop. Linda continues her studies in various styles: Anusara with John Friend and Desiree Rumbaugh; Ashtanga with Tim Miller, Richard Freeman and Edward Clark; and Iyengar with Roger Cole and Judith Lasater. She is also a student of Surat Shabda Yoga (Inner Sound Yoga). Linda enjoys an expansive,
heart-opening practice while emphasizing core strength and self-exploration through the universal principles of alignment. In addition to teaching group classes, she also offers private instruction in therapeutic yoga.
Dr. Anjali Paranjpe
Anjali Paranjpe is a certified Ayurvedic practitioner. She is a graduate of Pune University, where she is also a professor and dean. Dr. Anjali has been helping people use Ayurvedic principles to live healthy lives for 18 years.
Becky Mingo
Becky Mingo has been practicing Ashtanga yoga since 1995. She traveled to India in 1999 to study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. Becky has studied locally with Lori Brungard and Angelique Sneeden. In her travels, she has studied and taken workshops with Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Doug Swenson, Sharon Gannon and David Life. Before discovering yoga, Becky spend years studying dance, primarily ballet. She has been teaching yoga since 2001, her focus is a traditional Ashtanga practice.
Leah Giovengo
Leah was first introduced to yoga as a small child by her mother. In 2002 she began a regular practice at Schoolhouse Yoga and has been a devoted student (and now teacher) ever since. Leah holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is a certified child and adolescent yoga instructor. Her interest lies in the development, implementation and outcome of exercise-based treatments for children and adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders. She is currently heading a research project, Yoga for Anxious Children, at the University of Pittsburgh.
Kendell Romanelli
Kendell began her practice of yoga in 1993 during her graduate studies in Cinncinati. She found that the practice gave her peace of mind and focus during the stress of her MFA program. Kendell discovered Kundalini yoga while living in Los Angeles and fell in love with the invigorating and meditative healing aspects of the practice. She practiced Kundalini yoga for the four years she lived in LA and established a personal practice when she moved back home to Pittsburgh in 2001. At the request of a dear friend, Kendell began to teach Kundalini yoga in 2005 and has been teaching both Kundalini yoga and Chakra yoga classes in several
Pittsburgh yoga studios. Kendell's approach is light-hearted and healing as she follows the energy of the chakras to become open and balanced.
Joni Sturgill
Joni Sturgill, RYT, has been studying yoga and meditation since 1999. She completed a 200-hour yoga training program through 3rd Street Yoga School and has attended workshops with Rodney Yee, Judith Lasater, Desiree Rumbaugh, and other respected yoga teachers. Through vinyasa sequences and the exploration of body alignment, Joni encourages students to deepen their practice by staying focused in the present moment. Joni enjoys incorporating pranayama (breathwork) into each class, and ending with a guided relaxation. In addition to yoga classes, Joni teaches monthly meditation workshops.
Dorothy Roosevelt
Dorothy has been a student of yoga for the past 8 years. She completed her teacher training at The Yoga Center in Amherst, Massachusetts and has studied with Tias Little, Aadil Palkhivavala, Eric Schiffman, Baron Baptiste, Ana Forrest, and Patricia Walden. Her classes are a dynamic, breath-centered practice where poses are progressively sequenced to develop strength, flexibility, and relaxation. Classes are grounded in principles of anatomy and alignment and are taught with an attitude of exploration and inquiry.
Jennifer Chaparro
Jennifer began practicing yoga in 1998. Over the years, her practice and study of yoga philosophy has grown into a way of life, including the adoption of a vegetarian lifestyle. She began teaching in 2006 after completing two levels of certification through YogaFit. Jennifer considers herself fortunate to have studied with Dharma Mittra, John Friend, Desiree Rumbaugh, David Swenson, and Sharon Gannon, who have all influenced her teaching. Her vinyasa (flow) style classes focus on the linking of breath and movement, while paying close attention to alignment principles. She also includes music in her classes as a way to help clear the mind, tune into the body, and flow with the breath. In her free time, she enjoys ethnic food, wine, camping, walking, and taking advantage of all that Pittsburgh has to offer with her husband and their dog.
Joanne VandenHengel
Joanne VandenHengel, ERYT, has practiced yoga and meditation for over twenty years and has been teaching yoga for ten years in and around the Pittsburgh area, receiving her teaching certification from the Himalayan Institute.
She has studied with a variety of teachers including Judith Lasater, Sandra Anderson, Jaimie Stover Schmidtt, Barbara Benaugh, Cyndi Lee and Rodney Yee.
Joanne runs a Yoga Alliance certified 200 hours yoga teacher training program and is certified to teach pre and post natal and senior yoga classes.
Erin Ruggiero
Erin Ruggiero, RYT, began practicing yoga in 1998 in order to add some flexibility training to her workout regimen. A former aerobics instructor, Erin connected greatly with yoga and meditation, and found countless physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits from her practice.
As a result, she left aerobics instruction behind and pursued the study of Hatha yoga. Erin completed the 200 hour teacher training program through the 3rd street yoga school. Her classes focus on guiding students to joyful and quiet minds and bodies through vinyasa while incorporating techniques of alignment.
Erin is also a full time middle school English teacher.
Deena Blumenfeld
Deena Blumenfeld, RYT and Certified Khalsa Way Prenatal Yoga Teacher, has been practicing Yoga for more than 10 years. She began practicing Yoga in college and fell in love with it. Her experience as a dance instructor led her to realize that teaching Yoga was on her path as well.
She became a certified Yoga instructor through 3rd Street Yoga in December 2008. She completed her Prenatal Yoga training in February 2009 in Los Angeles at Golden Bridge Yoga with Gurmukh. Deena has also studied with Doug Keller, Max Strom, KK Ledford and Shakta Kaur Khalsa as well as from Ina May Gaskin, our nation’s premier midwife.
She continues to seek out appropriate workshops for enhancing both her teaching skills and personal development.
Sharon Hicks
Sharon began her yoga practice when she was in her early 40s and was happy to find that the benefits of a regular yoga practice are available for any-body at any age. After a few years of regular physical practice, Sharon began to expand her focus to the other limbs of yoga and has since enjoyed many spiritual, emotional and physical benefits
from her practice, both on and off the mat. Her classes are alignment focused and strive to assure that each participant is able to get benefits from each pose regardless of level of physical fitness or age. In an effort to share the joy and benefit that she's received from her yoga practice, Sharon competed her 200 RYT training through Schoolhouse Yoga in December, 2009.
Mary Beth Kelly
Mary Beth Kelly has been sharing her wealth of knowledge as a yoga instructor at Schoolhouse Yoga since 2002. Studying and practicing Kundalini and Hatha Yoga since 1995, attending intensives at Hacienda De Guru Ram Das Ashram in New Mexico, and training with Shakta Kaur Khalsa and Gurmukh have been the backbone of her practice. She developed the original prenatal program at Schoolhouse when pregnant with her son, Lucas, who is now 6 years old. All of her classes, including Prenatal, Yoga for Kids, and beginning Kundalini are based on the principles and teachings of Yogi Bhajan, PhD. Kundalini Yoga combines meditation, prayer, physical practices and breathing exercises. Her classes are strengthened by the gentle music of Snatam Kaur.
ursula Lesic
bio coming.