There is so much love here in this community we are so excited to be growing together and creating a space to bring yoga, wellness, joy and love to the greater New Haven area!
Our time together at Breathing Room!
Check in our photo albums and come join the party!
More photos coming soon!
Our Outside Yoga!
For the Love of Bird
Potlucks & Parties!
Yoga Benefits
Tobie
Tobie was introduced to yoga in her early twenties but didn’t start a dedicated practice until her 29th birthday when her mother brought her to Kripalu Center in the Berkshires. Since then she has completed her 200hr certification in an Iyengar influenced style of yoga. She has learned from teachers such as Rodney Yee, Seane Corn, Rolf Gates, Baron Baptiste and Stephen Cope. Tobie teaches a vinyasa style of yoga with an attention to form and alignment. She believes that form and alignment are the keys to freedom in the body and freedom in the breath. Being a massage therapist for the last 10 years and receiving her masters in clinical nutrition two years ago, Tobie has a well rounded understanding of the body. Her classes are challenging and fun while giving the students an awareness that they are ultimately their own teacher and can guide their practice to fit their needs. Â
Margot
Margot's passion for the creative goes far beyond her unique eye for design and innovative class sequencing. Margot has the ability to turn a room into a sanctuary, and a business into a community of people working together for a greater good. Margot began her life long love affair with yoga when she was just 13 years old and has made it a conscious effort to always have yoga in her life, by creating yoga programs at her high school and continuing her practice in college. Margot has achieved many yoga certifications, the most recent is her 500 hour certificate from Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC. Margot's style of teaching is influenced by over 15 years of devotion to her personal yoga practice. In class with Margot you will always find something new, wither it is new poses, beautifully choreographed sequences or amazing play lists. "I teach directly from my own mat. Whatever I am working on or undergoing in my own life/ practice will flow through me and then into my classes. I truly believe that Yoga is an extension or even a giant metaphor for how we live our lives and that every challenge we encounter wither on or off the mat is meant to help us learn a deeper lesson of how we live, communicate and treat ourselves" Says Margot.
Margot has successfully owned and operated Breathing Room since 2009 and has committed to continuing her mission of providing good quality yoga at a fair price. Margot’s goal in opening Breathing Room was to create a space in which people can come and practice in their own way, hence the Breathing Room slogan, designed by Margot, “yoga for you". By continuing on her path Margot is doing just that. Since 2009 Breathing Room has been voted "Best Yoga Center in New Haven" in both the New Haven Advocate and New Have Register.
Karmies
Breathing Room is blessed to have a group of committed yogis who help keep the studio up and running. These are the welcoming faces that greet you upon your arrival. They are eager to help and assist you in any way!
Love to the Karmies!
Verred
Verred enjoyed yoga as a practitioner throughout college, but it wasn't until graduating that she realized yoga was the education she was seeking. Her practice progressed when she moved back to Connecticut and studied side by side with her mother, solidifying her love for the art of yoga. Influenced by several traditions, Verred's classes are unique; blending long holds with creative flows, working on linking the breath with our movements, while remaining mindful throughout our practice and tapping into the subtle energies within us and around us. Her classes emphasize the importance of creating space within the body so that we can create space in our minds and between our thoughts. She believes that a large part of yoga is sending compassion and gratitude to ourselves and to be kinder in the way we speak to ourselves; on and off of our mats. This way we can act from a place of love, compassion and trust. Verred is currently studying with Elena Brower as a part of the Art of Attention Teacher Training and looks forward to sharing with you as her practice continues to unfold and shift as she advances on her path of self study, discipline and self healing.
STACEY
In a past life Stacey studied fashion merchandising in college and after some time in the industry decided it wasn't what she wanted to do...She felt she needed to do something more fulfilling. After some time she decided she would study what she loved, Holistic Nutrition. So, Stacey found her way to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York and graduated as a Holistic Health Counselor! She thought this is IT! But still, she wanted more...more in the field of natural self-care. One day she was introduced to Vinyasa yoga and instantly fell in love with the practice ! Stacey feels it's all about balance, the balance of physical energy it takes to practice Vinyasa along with the loving-kindness it takes to listen to the body, as it is in that very moment. That was her Ah-Hah moment, that first Vinyasa class . So in June of 2012 Stacey recieved her 200 hr. RYT certification in Vinyasa Yoga after studying with Rolf Gates,a second 200 hr. RYT certification in 2015 thru Breathing Room's Living Yoga Teacher Training, and hasn't stopped since! She teaches often as well as counsels clients on a holistic approach to eating and well-being. She looks forward to many more years of training, counseling and teaching as she continues to grow as a teacher and a person.
BRETT
Brett has been devoted to the study and application of how human beings work and thrive since 1995.
This in depth study has been supported like a good chair with the four pillars of Yoga, Meditation, Chinese Medicine, and Life Coaching. He has been teaching Yoga since 2001. He has studied in the United States as well as in Mysore India under numerous esteemed teachers; Tias Little, Sarah Powers, and Adyashanti being foundational.Brett shares and teaches that which is true and alive in him. His teaching springs from a strong grounding in the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition modified to suit differing levels and tempered by careful attention to finding both anatomical as well as ‘true’ alignment in the poses. His approach encourages the release of holding, being and thinking patterns that make a home for fear and discomfort in the body.Brett certifies himself daily to step into unconditional peace, joy, and contentment (and sometimes stumbles in this :o).
Avery
Avery is a wanderer, crazy animal lady, and lover of food and laughter. An MA, ERYT200 and RYT500, she has lived, traveled, and taught throughout Europe, Asia, and Central and North America. She leads retreats, workshops, and classes for professional athletes, anxiety and depression sufferers, veterans, and studio and corporate clients in Connecticut and abroad. Avery approaches each day with warmth, empathy, and a willingness to laugh at herself, maintaining a gently sarcastic sense of humor and a passion for her work. She has studied extensively with Alanna Kaivalya’s TKYM, Gwen Lawrence’s Power Yoga for Sports, and intensive Yoga Anatomy with Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews.
SASHA
Sasha began her path as a yoga teacher in 2005 at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Dhanwantari Ashram in India where she completed her first 200-hour training. It was here that she realized yoga to be a completely integrative way of life, far more than just the physical poses she had set out to learn. In 2006, she moved to Maui to continue her yogic quest and enrolled in her second 200-hour teacher training with Eddie Modestini and Nicki Doane. Here she studied in the Krishnamacharya lineage and deepened her understanding of physical alignment and yoga therapy. Sasha went on to become an Urban Zen Integrative Therapist (UZIT) in 2011 in NYC under her teachers Rodney Yee, Richard Freeman, Colleen Saidman Yee and Roshi Joan Halifax. At Urban Zen, Sasha learned to layer healing modalities such as essential oil therapy, Reiki, contemplative care, and restorative yoga for use with patients, workers and families in hospital settings and also for her own self-care. Sasha is honored and humbled to be carrying on the ancient tradition of hatha yoga and excited for the continuous discovery of alignment within the body and within everyday life.
KHUSHI
Khushi Malhotra, MPH, MSW, CYT-200
Khushi is initiated in the lineage of the Himalayan Sages and has lived and studied with master teachers Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, Sandy Anderson, Rolf Sovik, and Shari Friedrichsen of the Himalayan Institute, where she received her 200 hour training and is currently undergoing her 500 hour training. She has also studied with senior teachers in the Sivananda and Iyengar traditions. Through her training in Meditation, Tantra, Ayurveda, Hatha Yoga, and Clinical Trauma Therapy, Khushi seeks to spread and preserve the authentic and classical teachings of yoga. She runs a nonprofit in Philly, Finding Freedom Within, which helps disadvantaged populations learn yoga and meditation for self-awareness and healing. Thus far she has taught yoga to those in drug and alcohol recovery, prisons, psychiatric facilities, trauma centers and inner city schools. Merging with Nature is the essence of her practice, and she spends the other half of her time helping run a progressive and mindful school in the majesty of the rural Himalayas (www.apvschool.org), and brings people there to experience and preserve the Himalayan culture thru yoga, meditation and service retreats (www.simplyhimalaya.com).
REBECCA
Rebecca Smith DeFelice (200 hr YTT) first tried Yoga to recover from a dance injury in 2003 but didn’t fall in love with it until years later. After enjoying an assignment as an Army instructor, she looked for a civilian path with a similar sense of duty, purpose, and service to others. Rebecca turned to fitness and yoga, wanting to share the amazing health benefits of an active lifestyle that had helped in her own life.
Rebecca enjoys teaching a variety of styles of yoga. Whether restorative or vigorous, she always seeks to empower each student with self-care knowledge physically and mentally, always encouraging and hoping to inspire a consistent home practice. She draws on her dance background for creative movement, her personal injury recovery for modifications and healing, and her military years to bring discipline and strength to the mat. Her husband Nick and cat Bill Purray make sure she doesn’t take herself or yoga too seriously. Her disciplined, strong style is still playful and open.
Rebecca highly recommends Lara Ward’s Lotus Gardens Yoga School where she obtained her 200 hour YTT as well as Childrens Yoga certification, and Veterans Yoga Project with Daniel Libby, Ph.D. with whom she continues to study Yoga for Veterans.
OUR COMMUNITY
of teachers & those who make the space all that it is
Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself.
- Chinese Proverbs
AMY
After practicing various styles of yoga on and off for about 10 years, Amy began deepening her practice in 2008 at House of Yoga in Berkley, MI. She completed her 200 hour TT in 2013 at House of Yoga and Prenatal Yoga TT through Mindful Mamas Yoga in Detroit, MI in 2015. Amy also completed her PhD in clinical psychology in 2015. As a psychologist, she has integrated her interest in yoga and mindfulness meditation with research and clinical work, particularly for treating addiction and other mental health issues. Since relocating from Michigan to Connecticut for a fellowship position last year, Amy has become familiar with the BRYC community through her role as a karmie. She is looking forward to sharing a mindful prenatal yoga practice with BRYC mamas-to-be, reminding them (in the words of Thich Nhat Hahn) to "smile, breathe, and go slowly."