Jessica Blanchard
Jessica endeavors to live by what she teaches in all aspects of yoga. After yoga touched her life deeply, she shifted paths to devote herself to spreading the wisdom of eastern healing modalities. A student of Ashtanga Yoga since 2000, Jessica studied primarily with the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (Guruji), who gave her his blessing to teach in 2005. She is the only teacher in Louisiana to have attained the Level 2 Authorization from the Sri K. Pattabhi Jois Research Institute in Mysore, India. Since their meeting in 2003, Sri O.P. Tiwari has been Jessica’s spiritual guide and mentor. Both Tiwariji and Guruji have especially taught her that yoga is first and foremost about dedication to practice, and authentic teaching can only be rooted in one’s own experience.
Living between India and Thailand until late 2007, Jessica returned to her birthplace of New Orleans and started Balance Yoga & Wellness shortly thereafter. Jessica frequently travels to teach in Europe and Thailand, but will remain a lifelong student of Yoga and Ayurveda. She teaches with compassion and intelligence, and loves seeing how yoga uncovers the layers of dust, letting the spark of intelligence shine through each individual.
Cheryl Golich
Cheryl has a deep love and appreciation for the transformative power of yoga. Her curiosity with the practice began 13 years ago during a particularly challenging time in her life. After practicing for many years she rediscovered the beginners mind through teaching and completed her teacher certification program in vinyasa yoga at The White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, California in 2005. Cheryl teaches a broad spectrum of levels and intensities, from vigorous vinyasa to restorative to beginner workshops.
She is loved by her students for her ability to lead all of her classes in a calm, supportive and encouraging manner. Her friendly, relaxed, confident presence is an inspiration to her students. Guided by a vibrant eye for detail, Cheryl entices students to challenge themselves while maintaining deep respect for their bodies. Cheryl has been blessed to practice with many talented teachers. She has been guided by Ganga & Tracy at White Lotus, Sean Johnson, Ana Forrest, Keith Borden, Michael Fukumura, and Michel Bleier. She is also inspired by the writings of Judith Lasater, Erich Schiffman, Rumi, Thich Nhat Hanh and Mary Oliver.
Amy Archinal
Amy Archinal is a visual artist, a certified Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapist and Group Facilitator and a Registered Yoga Teacher. She has studied Taoist Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Phoenix Rising Yoga. She specializes in gentle classes that focus on mindful movements, stress reduction and deepened self-presence.
Amanda Bennett
Amanda is an RN who lived on the island of Oahu for nearly three years where she worked as a home health nurse while completing her Teacher Training program in Hatha Yoga at Shanti Yoga. She read The Eight Human Talents by Gurmukh, and fell in love with Kundalini Yoga. Determined to learn and grow with Kundalini Yoga, she developed her Kundalini practice by following the teacher training intensives on the Big Island of Hawaii with Ravi Singh and Ana Brett attending Summer Solstice at Ram Das Puri in New Mexico. She currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana, where her biggest yoga influence is a daily home practice of Kundalini Yoga and meditation. She is practicing her fifth 40-day Kundalini meditation and recently completed a 40-day practice of Awakening to your Ten Bodies Kriya. She enjoys practicing Anusara, restorative, and vinyasa classes at Balance Yoga and Wellness. She has developed several workshops and yoga courses including Sailing Through the Blues I, II, and III; Totally Intuitive Tarot, and 5-week and introductory Kundalini yoga courses.
Lauren Darnell
Lauren started practicing yoga due to a hip injury in 2006. In 2008, she
discovered Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga with Dylan Ayaloo, founding Director of Hot Power Yoga in London. The heated power vinyasa practice challenged her personal limitations. She was able to move beyond the physical, emotional, and mental restraints to feel joy, freedom and an inner strength in her body that she had never tapped into before. In October 2009, Lauren completed her Level 1 teacher training in Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga and became apart of the teaching team at Hot Power Yoga. Since then, she has assisted master teachers including Baron Baptiste in delivering workshops, Teacher Trainings, Hands-On Assisting, and *40-day to Personal Revolution* programs.
Lauren believes in seeking the fullest expression of yourself without boundaries. She teaches with the intention to provide the space for
students to tap into their power within and discover their own path to joy
and transformation through a deeper connection to their body. A New
Orleans native, Lauren returns home via New York and London. Her
classes are playful, intelligent, and compassionate.
Laura Flora
Laura Jarrait Flora, Certified Anusara Yoga Instructor, RYT – 500, CBP, is committed to helping students unfold the fullness of their lives through the elegant system of Anusara Yoga. Laura has been a yoga practitioner since her move to New Orleans in 1996, at first studying Iyengar yoga and then discovering Anusara yoga during her time away from New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She has had the opportunity to study extensively with John Friend, the founder of Anusara yoga, as well as many other fine teachers in the system, including philosophy teachers Dr. Douglas Brooks and Dr. Paul Muller Ortega. She has also recently been expanding into other avenues of personal transformation, including work in the Akashic Records and the BodyTalk System of integrative healing. It is her heart’s desire to share these gifts, to help others connect into the beauty, power, and virtuosity of their own being and of this resplendent universe, and to cultivate a community in which we support one another on this grand adventure. Find out more about Laura’s work at www.alamkarayoga.com
Sharon Floyd
Sharon began studying yoga in 2004 and committed herself to sharing this inspiring practice with the world just a few years later. After receiving her teaching certification from Peachtree Yoga Center and Atlanta Yoga Fellowship, she relocated to New Orleans where she continues her personal study in nutrition and the healing arts. She has deep appreciation for the health sciences including modern Psychology in which she earned a BS from Georgia State University. As a student of yoga, Sharon practices Ashtanga, Jivamukti, and Vinyasa styles which influence her strong background in Hatha. Her teaching approach is insightful and light-hearted, with respect to individual differences and focus on the healing power of movement.
Tim Nowroyta
Originally from Chicago, Tim has been practicing yoga since 1980 and teaching since 1997. His training includes study in the Anusara, Ashtanga and Iyengar styles of yoga with such teachers as Suddha Weixler, John Friend, Richard Freeman, Roger Eischens and Kim Schwartz. His teaching is characterized by clear instruction, careful attention to alignment, hands-on adjustment and a sense of humor. Tim believes that the essence of yoga lies in the heart, so practice should be joy as well as work. His goal in teaching is to help others find in yoga a way to become more alert, alive, healthy and happy.
Meredith Salvago
Meredith began practicing Ashtanga yoga in Atlanta, GA in 2005 as a way to start meditating and to connect spiritually. She eventually began teaching full time in 2006 at “Balance Yoga” in Atlanta with owners Marsha McNeight and Jennifer Smith. In 2009 Meredith relocated back to her home town of New Orleans and began teaching at “Balance Yoga & Wellness”. Meredith has completed teacher trainings with Manju Jois‘s and Tim Miller and frequently attends workshops. She has a deep understanding of the Ashtanga Vinyasa practice and transmits this clearly through her words and hands on adjustments. Soon Meredith will be making a trip to Mysore, India to see where it all began.
Tamar Starck
Yoga has been part of Tamar’s life since she took her first class in college over 15 years ago, and she is in awe of the journey of self discovery it has taken her on. Tamar is a graduate of Wild Lotus Yoga’s Soul School Interdisciplinary Teacher Training Program and is also certified by Judith Lasater as a Relax and Renew® Restorative Yoga teacher. While she respects and enjoys practicing many styles and forms of yoga, Tamar has been teaching gentle flow and restorative yoga since 2009. She completed a prenatal yoga teacher training at 8 Limbs Yoga in Seattle with Anne Phyfe Palmer in June 2011. Originally from New Jersey and New York, she has lived in New Orleans since 2006 and instantly felt at home in the vibrant and growing New Orleans yoga community. Click here to read an interview with Tamar about her passions and reasons for teaching.
Ann Yoachim
Ann began practicing yoga after Hurricane Katrina and found that “coming to her mat” provided a bit of calm in the midst of the chaos. She is passionate about offering yoga to the broader community and has taught classes for non-profit organizations and community groups throughout the region. Her enthusiasm for yoga is infectious and she teaches classes that make yoga playful and accessible. Ann’s classes reflect her continued exploration of yoga as a practice and integrate movement, breath, and meditation.
Ann’s yoga journey has been touched by many teachers including Sean Johnson, Anne Phyfe Palmer, Amy Archinal, Cheryl Golich, Alicia Rambo Wozniak, Kamini Desai, Judith Lasater, and Jasmine Tarkeshi. She also finds inspiration in the landscapes and cultures of the world; writings of Ranier Marie Rilke, J. Krishnamurti, Donna Farhi, Thich Nhat Hahn, Paul Coehlo and David Muir; and the music and people of Southern Louisiana. Ann is a graduate of the Wild Lotus Yoga Soul School teacher training program.
