Yoga      

Instructors

Our “Feels Fear but Does It Anyway” Leader, Kristin “Kiki” Lovelace:

Kristin ‘Kiki” Lovelace began her career in movement at the age of six in tap shoes and a pink tutu, and took her first yoga class at age eighteen. She considers her own daily Pilates, Forrest Yoga and Vipassana Meditation practice as her foundation for healing, growing and evolving as a human being. She has been teaching full-time since 2001, and has a particular gift for helping students work with injuries and chronic pain.

As Owner and Director of Education at Innerstellar, Kiki is a Certified Forrest Yoga Teacher, Certified Pilates Instructor and anatomy nerd. Her passion for functional alignment and the therapeutic applications of Pilates and Forrest Yoga sprouted from her 5-year apprenticeship with her mentor, master educator and healer, Pilates Instructor Tom McCook.

Kiki opened Innerstellar in 2011, and delights in the ever-emerging beauty of each of her students, staff and teachers. She has deep reverence and gratitude for her Forrest Yoga Hoop, including her dear teacher and friend Ana T. Forrest, and all of her Forrest Yoga colleagues and students. When not teaching, she is often volunteering, meditating, hiking and hanging out with her friends and loved ones in the East Bay or performing with her 1960’s go go dance troupe, The Devil-Ettes!

 

Crystal McCreary:

Crystal Noelle McCreary is a graduate of the YogaWorks teacher training program in New York.  Her most influential teachers of Hatha yoga include Rodney Yee, founder of Piedmont Yoga Center, Jason Crandell, Jenny Aurthur, Jean Marie Paollilo, Amy Ippolitti and Rolf Gates, culminating in experience practicing Iyengar, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Anusara, Gentle Hatha and Power Yoga styles and traditions. 

A self-proclaimed pirate-yogini, since 2007, Crystal has enjoyed teaching Hatha yoga in a way that incorporates the attributes of these and other favorite teachers and their styles. A devoted student and teacher of yoga, an elementary school teacher of 5 years, curriculum developer, and performing artist have been invaluable tools that help her share yoga in a way that makes the extraordinary healing benefits of yoga accessible to everyone.

She is a graduate of Stanford University and The American Conservatory Theater’s Master of Fine Arts program in Acting. She is registered at the 200-hour level with Yoga Alliance.  She hopes to inspire her students to develop a keen ability to listen their bodies and to deepen their compassion for themselves and others. Currently, Crystal teaches drama at KIPP King Collegiate High School, yoga at Square One Yoga Collective in Emeryville, CA, and works locally as an actor.

 

Jeffrey Brown:

Jeffrey believes that your body knows what it needs in order to restore itself. His Restorative Yoga class offers you time in gentle supported poses, breath work practice, and mindfulness meditations to help calm the mind and relax the body. When the mind and body are at peace we can experience our true nature as radiant energetic beings of sensation and life. Come practice the art of letting go and experience the infinite spaciousness and joy that comes with deep relaxation. Jeffrey incorporates his training as a Certified Massage Therapist to offer Massage, Acupressure and Cranial Sacral Therapy during class for a truly transformative experience and is available for booking private bodywork sessions.

Restorative Yoga is a passive asana practice. By using gentle, comfortably supported poses that allow the body to surrender into the postures, and the mind to calm and quiet, the focus is on relaxation over stretching or exercise. It is an appropriate practice for beginners, pre-natal practitioners, and during recovery time from injuries, as well as for anyone hoping to bring a sense of peace and balance to their busy lives.

 

James Ryder:

James Michael Ryder is a dedicated student of meditation and hatha yoga, trained primarily in the Krishnamacarya lineage during the 2 year/500-hour teacher training offered at the Iyengar Yoga Institute, San Francisco. He has consistently offered public classes and workshops over the past five years. At essence, hatha yoga with its array of practices aims to bring us back to ourselves, to an embodied wisdom and an undefended heart. Founded in this intention, James brings students through flowing series, and into concentrated investigations of poses and the rhythmic changeability of the breath. Students will experience intelligent sequencing, earnest yet playful encouragement, and a true desire to help each yogin in the room discover greater ease and freedom.

Currently, James is engaged in the 18-month Mindfulness Yoga and Meditation teacher training offered by Spirit Rock Center, Marin Co. Prior work as a theater artist imbues James’ teaching with precision, playful curiosity and a love for evocative language and story.

Visit James at www.jamesryderyoga.com

 

Jessica Premsangha Prakasha (formerly Ezra Patri):

Jessica is a certified yoga instructor, trained modern dancer, certified massage therapist, somatic educator and mama. She has been practicing meditation and various Hatha yoga forms since childhood and began teaching yoga classes in 1999. Jessica received her formal yoga teacher training from Greenpath Yoga in San Francisco, in addition to her collective studies with teachers in the Bay Area and New York City, including David Life, John Berlinsky, Lea Watkins, Peggy Orr and others.

During 2001 and 2002, Jessica lived at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, NY where she had the opportunity to study with renowned teachers from around the world and be immersed in community, service and personal growth. Jessica has been dancing and teaching dance for many years and graduated from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in NYC in 1998. She completed the Certified Massage Therapist as Somatic Educator training at Moving on Center in Oakland, the Whole Birth Yoga Teacher teacher training with Robin Sale, and Prenatal massage training with Alive and Well.

Jessica's passion for working with pregnant women around birth has grown tremendously since she started teaching prenatal yoga classes in 2007, and was greatly fueled by her own experience with pregnancy and the home birth of her son, Jai, in January of 2009.
www.sourcebirth.com

 

Marisha Doan:

Marisha Doan is certified RYT 200 with training from Ana Forrest through her Foundation course, and Samadhi Yoga Center in Seattle, WA under the guidance of Kathleen Hunt. In addition she has completed 2 years in the Forrest Yoga Mentorship Program with Forrest Yoga Guardian Colleen Millen. She is currently working towards full certification in Forrest Yoga and is a student at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Marisha was first drawn to yoga 10 years ago as a complement to dance training and quickly discovered that yoga was the missing link to physical strength, power and grace as well as increased clarity of mind, health and healing. Her classes focus on breath work to connect the body, mind and spirit, challenging and sustained postures to develop strength and stamina, and attention to sensory perception to bring the whole self into the present moment.

Visit Marisha online at: www.marishadoan.com

 

Michelle Cordero:

Michelle Cordero, E-RYT500, brings years of yoga, bodywork and fitness experience to her yoga teaching. She is a graduate of three of the most highly respected Yoga Teacher Trainings in the country: the original Yogaworks Teacher Training Course (TTC) with Maty Ezraty and Lisa Walford, the Ana Forrest TTC, and Shiva Rea's Embodying the Flow TTC. Her primary influence and inspiration is Ana Forrest and the Forrest Yoga method; and she is a Certified Forrest Yoga Instructor.

Deeply committed to high quality instruction and to evolving her practice, Michelle continues to study with some of the most accomplished yoga masters in the world including: Ana Forrest and Sarah Powers. Michelle holds a Master of Fine Art (MFA) in Dramatic Art, and she believes in movement as a healing art as well as a form of personal expression. A dedicated mover, Michelle also studies aerial rope/tissue and pole dancing. She is Certified to teach pole dance fitness by OC Pole Dance Fitness/ Felix Cane Inc.

Visit her website online: www.michellecordero.com and on Facebook.

 

Natalie Chaput:

Natalie Chaput is a Certified Forrest Yoga Instructor, Dance Teacher and a Healer.  She also teaches Vinyasa Yoga, pole dancing and holds empowering yoga ceremonies for women.  She is passionate about combining the medicine of music and graceful movement to help her students open their hearts which takes their practice to new heights.

Natalie is a lead singer in a Rock n' Roll band called FeatherWitch and loves to create fun and dynamic playlists for her classes.  Natalie brings a light, playful energy to class that encourages self expression, emotional release and celebrates her students own unique body movement.  Natalie's mission is to create space for her students to open up to the possibility of loving themselves completely so that they are able to spread that love to the rest of the world.   When not teaching or rockin' out, Natalie is always expanding her capacity to love in community with her Native American Church in Berkeley CA.

You can find Natalie at www.featherwitchband.com

 

Guest Yoga Teacher Colleen Millen:

Words from Colleen: I flat-out love yoga. I found yoga as a collegiate athlete with broken knees – the mat was the first place I could move my body without pushing into pain. Yoga and, more specifically, Forrest Yoga has been a constant companion in my recovery from depression and moving into more brilliant states of being. Over 10 years into my teaching journey I find myself at an incredible place: As a Forrest Yoga Guardian teacher I shepherd teachers through continuing education programs and as a student in JFK University’s Somatic Psychology program I am deepening my appreciation for the healing gifts of yoga as I work toward being a licensed therapist.

My classes build strength and empowerment and are modified for every shape, size, injury and ability level. I urge students to ride intensity and exhilaration waves with presence and breath. My classes are heated to 80-85 degrees to generate a cleansing sweat. Bring whatever your experience is to class we’ll rock on the yoga mat together!

Visit her website online: www.bluebuddhayoga.com.