faculty

complete class schedule
in-person classes
class descriptions

Finding the right teacher is essential in yoga (as in everything!).  We have some of the most respected teachers in the Bay Area on our staff.   All of our teachers have had extensive training and experience, and are friendly, compassionate souls committed to making yoga an enjoyable, beneficial  experience for you.  Visit a few teachers and find the right match for you!   

mary armentrout

I teach Feldenkrais to uncover the joy of embodiment.  Trained as a dancer, and still active as a performer and choreographer, Feldenkrais has been a laboratory for studying the intersection of bodies and movement on many levels. Guiding students to discover their own path towards more aware movement - which can cause a re-centering and grounding, or simply more efficient and sophisticated execution of movements, or bring relief from pain patterns - can be life-altering, and this brings me great delight.
​website        email mary

baxter bell

As a medical doctor, certified yoga instructor and yoga therapist, I teach yoga to enhance well-being. I help my students stay strong, flexible, agile and independent as they age, and  foster a calm, centered mind. I have been influenced by the Iyengar tradition, TKV Desikachar and others. My hope is to engage, educate, inspire, and empower my students to live a healthy and fulfilling life.
​website     email baxter
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bett bollhoefer

I followed in my mother’s footsteps in becoming a yoga teacher, studying with  my mom’s favorite teacher, Kia Miller receiving my certification in Radiant Body Yoga. I create yoga-based wellness experiences born out of my own practice,  melding ancient wisdom with the modern science of health.  When you leave my class you feel better. Empowered, calm, ready to take on new challenges.
website  ​

perry chattler

I teach alignment-based, Hatha yoga utilizing modifications to make the practice accessible for people of all abilities.  In 2010, I received my 200 hour teacher training certification, and in 2017, I became a certified yoga therapist completing an additional 800 hours of training.  I have experience in trauma-informed yoga and in teaching yoga for seniors, for Parkinson’s, for cancer recovery, and for military veterans.  Yoga is breath, and a practice of awareness that we can take off the mat and into our daily lives.
 website.

ann dyer cervantes

I like to see my students leave class  feeling more alive than they when they arrived.  M​ore vital, more themselves.  I came to yoga from the arts, first with a degree in Dance, followed by a long career in music.   I am a 500-hour Yoga Alliance registered yoga teacher (RYT) with a strong foundation in Iyengar yoga, somatics and yoga philosophy.  In addition to asana, I teach the yogic sound practices of mantra, kirtan and naada.  I am the director of Mountain Yoga.
website    email ann

dari love sylvia 

I believe  yoga is a means for  joy and inspiration, as well as strength and well-being.  As owner  Loka Yoga, and and as a teacher at Namaste for many years, I learned to appreciate how much each student has a unique background and  individual needs.   My goal as a teacher is to serve those needs.  I teach an  energizing and playful mindful flow class suitable for beginners to  advanced practitioners.   My teachers have included Dharma Mittra, Rod Stryker, Stephanie Snyder, and my teaching is also informed by my background as a massage therapist and holistic health counselor.   

richard rosen

Richard Rosen began his practice of yoga in 1980 at the Yoga Room, in Berkeley, CA. Two years later he began a two-year teacher training course at the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute in San Francisco, from which he graduated in 1983. In 1987, with his good friend Rodney Yee, he opened the Piedmont Yoga Studio in Oakland, CA, which operated until 2012. Richard has written numerous articles and reviews for national yoga magazines, and is also the author of five books, four of them published by Shambhala: Richard lives in a 115-year-old bungalow in beautiful Berkeley, CA.
​interview with richard rosen
website

michael wertz

I am Illustrator, Educator and sometimes deejay who hails from the gently rolling hills of
Northerncalifornialand.  During COVID19 I turned to meditation and yoga as a means to survive sheltering in place. And music. Though I enjoy all kinds of music (I’m a child of the 80’s, and discovered my first tribe at punk shows), the music that has brought me the deepest sense of comfort in the last year is contemplative,  ambient, and longer-form.  ​(We have a very nervous dog in the house, and she can’t deal with drums.) I  share this sense of contemplation that this music brings me with my classmates at Mountain Yoga as a fun (but timely) experiment once a month as part of the Feel Good Friday series.  Music that evokes a sense of travel. I think they call that a sonic journey.  
interview with Michael.
webiste
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gail wallace

I teach students new to yoga and continuing beginners. My training is in Iyengar yoga with its emphasis on alignment, but I draw on experience and training with other schools of yoga, movement systems, philosophies, as well as my experience home-schooling my two daughters (who are now out of graduate school.) I hope to help my students feel more happily situated in their bodies and able to move from the inside out into the world.  
​email gail

sara kenward

​I began practicing yoga in 2003 when I started working as the manager of Mountain Yoga.  I am  a graduate of the Piedmont Yoga Studio 200 hour Advanced Training program.  My "Yoga for Everyone" classes are a mix of fun, focus, breath awareness and poses practiced with a mindful approach to alignment.  We have a great group who regularly comes together to practice and enjoy each other's company and support.
email sara


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mindi marcus

I encourage my students to meet themselves with acceptance, compassion, and a deep sense of wonder as they arrive on the mat. I teach a mindful flow, balancing challenge and ease. My sequencing is influenced by traditional Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Krama, Ayurveda, and my Vipassana Meditation practice. I motivate students to find freedom through the breath as they explore the depths of their inner world. 
website      email mindi

jessica samuels

I have been meditating since I was a teenager. My training and interests include Buddhism, Chan (Zen), mindfulness, and a variety of healing meditative practices. I am also a philosophical practitioner, which applies wisdom from various traditions to human questions like finding meaning and facing mortality. As a teacher I seek to cultivate awareness and exploration of what we fundamentally are: beings who have the capacity to be both highly dynamic and deeply still.
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margi young

I am a yogi, teacher, student, cook, mama, partner, householder, caretaker of 2 kitties, friend, activist, and explorer! In a former life I was a dancer and choreographer in New York City. Turning to yoga was a seamless transition and it resonated with my post-performing life. In my Feel Good Friday Restorative classes, I hope that people feel nurtured and held from the practice, so that there can be a deep unwinding in the body and the mind. It is only from a nurtured and centered life that we can turn around and be kinder people to our community.
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If you want to read more about me, please visit my website:  www.margiyoung.comComing soon...

Many of Oakland's best-known, best-loved yoga teachers .  ~Shawn R.