Earle Birney

New York, USA

Earle has studied with the Yoga Studies Institute (YSI)  since 2006 where he completed the five year curriculum covering the essential texts of yoga philosophy including the Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita as well as the Lady Niguma and Heart Yoga systems.  He has studied with many great teachers in the Ashtanga, Bikram, Anusara, and Sivananda systems and is a 500 hr E-RYT.  He has produced and taught at international retreats as well as completed a three year three month and three day silent meditation retreat.

Constance O'Brien

Arizona, USA

Constance O’Brien’s love for yoga started in the late 1970’s when the first Sivananda Yoga studio showed up in her local town. Thirty years later she encountered Heart Yoga and fell in-love with the practice all over again. She studied the deeper knowledge about yoga’s inner practice from 2003 through 2010 with Geshe Michael Roach in Tucson Arizona. Following a 3-year meditation retreat in 2014 she became a certified 200-hour Yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance in the Hatha Yoga Anusara Style. Since 2014 she has travelled through-out Asia as a teacher for the Diamond Cutter Institute, teaching yoga, meditation and Diamond Cutter principles for business. In 2019 She revived the Yoga Studies Institute in 2019 and is the current director for the institute.

Bob Cirino

Pennsylvania, USA

Bob Cirino has spent most of his life playing music, gardening, studying science, and starting businesses designed to harmonize man with nature.  His drive for business success led him to Michael Roach's book, The Diamond Cutter.  It was here that he was empowered to pursue his passion for philosophy and yoga to a greater depth.

Since then he has developed a yoga and meditation practice that help him bring joyful focus into his daily activities.

He now serves the Yoga Studies Institute and resides in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, USA, with his wife and two cats.

Teresa Pirosanto

Madrid, Spain

Teresa currently teaches Ashtanga, Yoga Flow, Vinyasa and Niguma yoga. She studied the Iyengar method at the age of 25 in Argentina and in Chile with Ramanand Pattel. She also studied many different methods while in Miami and even through three pregnancies. In 2007 she discovered the Ashtanga method and did a training with Manju Jois in Chile. Back in Miami in 2008 she did a training with Tim Miller and practiced with Kino Mac Gregor. In 2009 she received her Ashtanga Yoga certificate from Ashtangabaires Argentina and also traveled to Chicago to do teacher training with Richard Freeman. In 2010 she began studying philosophy and meditation with Michael Roach during many courses and retreats. She also studied Transcendental Meditation, Pranic Healing and Yoga for Children.

Lydia Gallagher

Arizona, USA

Lydia was born and grew up in the Pacific Northwest.  She developed a dedicated asana practice at Punto Yoga with Angie Flores, an Authorized Level 1 Ashtanga Yoga teacher. In line with the Ashtanga lineage, she visited Mysore, India, where she studied at the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute.

In 2017, she met Michael Roach who shared the foundations of Tibetan lineage philosophy and since then has developed a solid meditation practice as well as successfully completed an Applied Meditation Teacher Training in ancient asian philosophy.

As she transformed her life using the teachings, her practice evolved as well.   In 2020 she completed the Life of a Yogi Teacher Training with Sri Dharma Mittra and teaches Dharma yoga at the Yoga Studies Institute to a worldwide audience.

Paola Pimentel

Guadalajara, Mexico

She discovered yoga form an early age but took her first Ashtanga yoga class at Punto Yoga studio in Guadalajara where she kept practicing and learning from Angie Flores Saiffe (L2 Authorized ) from 2007 to 2012. She certified as a Hatha an Vinyasa Yoga Instructor in 2014.

Under April Kuramoto’s wing (Bliss Yoga, Vancouver, Canada) she studied both her Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga certifications in 2016 and for the following 3 years they both work on different collaborations teaching workshops and certifications to different students from all the country.

In late 2016 she opens her own Prenatal Yoga Studio “Yoga Prenatal GDL” and focuses mainly on holding space for mothers during pregnancy and postpartum. 

Loves to spend time with her 2 girls, teaching workshops, supporting her patients and serving others.

Alfonso Arzapalo

Montreal, Canada

Alfonso was born and grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 2000 his interest in meditation led him to yoga which he started formally practicing and studying in 2001. Starting a journey of learning and discovery which took him to study yoga with many different teachers and traditions including Kundalini, Sivananda, Ashtanga, Dharma Mittra and Iyengar. This journey was accompanied with travel, taking him to learn and practice Kundalini, in New Mexico and France, Sivananda in Canada, Dharma Mittra in New York and then to the Hymalayan Iyengar centre in Dharamkot, Dharamshala, India. In the mean time he continued to study and practice meditation mainly in the Vippassana tradition thought by S.N. Goenka.

Benji Bridges

North Carolina, USA

 I have worked with YSI for 3 years, maturing alongside the organization - enjoying all of the courses with the community of practitioners and teachers. Before YSI, I studied many other traditions before making a commitment to practice these teachings to their highest conclusion. 

In 2016 I traded a life of business for a new life as a farmer, in service to the land. Most days were spent with my hands in the dirt and headphones in my ears, filling my mind to ancient wisdom. With all of the physical exercise and spiritual work I was doing, Lady Niguma’s yoga came into my life. I practiced it for years without ever meeting YSI. Little did they (and I) know that I was planting the seeds that would force them to hire me and to teach me!

A Yogic Lifestyle and my love of creating a new world I have created farms, medicinal gardens, developed an intentional community and a homestead with my family. Now I am working to build a school that teaches yoga and stewardship. Years of yoga practice and adhering to codes or conduct is the only way I could have made these dreams a reality! Let’s practice and garden together someday!

Alex Rivas

Guadalajara, Mexico

Entrepreneur, yoga teacher, and translator. Alex works also as a volunteer doing voice-overs, subtitling, and translating for online and live events, to help spread the yoga teachings out to the world. He loves to teach Lady Niguma Yoga & Heart Yoga, working now with the Yoga Studies Institute. He has worked with the Green Stretch Pen program to bring emptiness and seeds teachings, yoga, and healthy lifestyle to kids in Mexico.

In his entrepreneur life he took all these teachings to start a successful vegetarian and healthy store in Mexico, called “O-Mart Ecomarket,” working along with his wife to protect life through taking these stores all around Mexico. 

In his personal life he has two kids, 10 and 6 years old. They are already practicing Yoga! He loves to spend time with family and friends, singing and going out. 

Shalamar Brown

USA

Shalamar Brown is a small town girl with a global vision and a huge heart. Originally from Ohio and now settled in Florida, Shalamar loves all things tech with experience as a Software Developer and in her current role as a Technical Analyst.

Shalamar loves to serve others. From volunteering at nursing homes since childhood, to opening her own affordable daycare center after the birth of her son, Shalamar demonstrates
her love for all and she genuinely wants to see everyone live their best lives.

After attending classes at Three Jewels in NYC, she knew that meditation was the key to helping her, help others. It wasn’t long before she completed her 200hr Meditation Teaching
Certification and her capacity to care for others increases everyday!