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Ronna Fujisawa

In 1994, Ronna moved to Tokyo from USA beginning her career as a graphic designer. Suddenly immersed in a busy lifestyle, the desire for peace, inner awareness, stress release, and physical activity led her to begin practicing Iyengar yoga. Through devoted practice with Iyengar  teachers in Tokyo and in India, she discovered the light of yoga—a way to quiet the mind, engage the body, and enlighten the spirit. With focus on a daily yoga practice, a whole new vision was awakened. Yoga became a lifestyle, a way to think and live with compassion, mindfulness, and devotion.

In summer of 2009, Ronna became pregnant with her first child. From this moment, she realized the value of her long time yoga practice and how yoga is vital for a healthy pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and finally, for the transition to a new stage in life as a mother. During her pregnancy, she began teaching prenatal yoga. And now, as a mother and as a yogi, has found the passion to teach and share her knowledge of yoga to other new mothers to be!

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Michael Glenn

Michael Glenn found his way to yoga in 1997 seeking relief from running injuries. Though the effect was profound, the light didn’t turn on all at once. For years, Michael practiced yoga to heal injuries and counter imbalances that had built up from training for race, and it was only when he realized that he was spending more time in pain than feeling healthy that he committed fully to a yoga practice. Years later, after Michael had begun teaching yoga, he understood this to be an enduring lessons of yoga: we each see the light in our own time. We can’t force something to happen; we can only be receptive. Michael’s experience frames his beliefs as a teacher. Yoga may begin as simple stretching exercises, and for a while it may even lead some of us to pursue stronger, acrobatic pursuits of asana, but if one commits to the practice, in time it will lead toward healing and making smarter decisions about our bodies. Yoga is a light showing the way back into the body, and as our bodies grow whole, we begin to intuit the wholeness of life. Michael loves teaching yoga to athletes and non-athletes, beginners and serious practitioners alike. He encourages students to play the edge,  have fun, and experience change every moment as it happens. His primary teachers of asana are Maty Ezraty and Chuck Miller. His growing list of interests includes acroyoga and yin yoga, which he has studied with Paul Grilley. And his practices of pranayama and mediation have been deeply touched by the most profound teacher he has ever met, Emil Wendel. When not teaching yoga, Michael writes. And occasionally runs. Just when the spirit moves him.

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Maneesh Kalra

Surrounded by melodic kirtans, devotional mantras, and the philolosophy of yoga and the Bhagavad Gita since early childhood, Maneesh enrolled in first formal yogasana classes in 2000. Under the tutelage of various prominent teachers in Asia, including certified Ashtanga teacher Alex Medin in Hong Kong, Maneesh developed a passion and devotion for Ashtanga and the healing powers of yogasana (poses) and pranayama (breathing). His passion grew so intense that by 2006, he left the frenzied rat race of the corporate world behind to pursue full-time yoga studies in Mysore, India. While in India, Maneesh was blessed to study Ashtanga under the auspices of the late Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois, his steadfast daughter Saraswati, and her inspirational son Sharath Rangaswamy.  He also deepened his understanding of yoga therapy and healing by studying a mixture of teachings from the Sivananda and Iyengar schools. Maneesh has continued to incorporate ideas from the Ashtanga and Iyengar schools into his practice and teachings under the guidance of Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty. Through these various and variegated yoga adventures, he has not only gained a deeper appreciation and understanding of yoga, but he has also managed to undo much of the damage wreaked upon his body by decades of competitive sports (read: negligence).  He hopes to be able to share some of these insights as well as his passion for unlocking the power of the breath and of prana with all who are interested in learning.

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Marjorie Meyssignac

Since childhood Marjorie practiced many different sports, beginning from age 4 with ballet dancing and continuing with the martial arts of judo and capoeira. Growing up by the sea in Nice, France, she was blessed with the opportunity to swim sail, dive throughout her childhood. These experiences not only gave her a special awareness of her physical body, but also provided her with a powerful bond to Mother Nature. Eleven years ago, when pregnant with her first child, she started practicing yoga. Still very much in tune with her body, she thought yoga would be a gentle physical exercise to do while pregnant. What she discovered was that yoga was far more than simple physical exercice. Deeply moved by her first experiences with Iyengar yoga, she soon made it a major dimension of her life. She twice visited Pune, India to study with Geeta and Preshant Iyengar. After several years of devotion to the Iyengar method, she branched out and has in recent year started to explore other forms of yoga. She has been deeply inspired by the teachings of Simon Borg-Olivier and Emil Wendel who have opened new doors for her. Sharing the art and discipline of yoga provides Marjorie with a complete sense of happiness and fulfillment. Above all else, she teaches how yoga can help you find your true self and accept yourself with love and gratitude. Yoga, she says, is a wonderful ally for our journey on earth.

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Kaori Takahashi

Kaori practices what she teaches: restorative yoga. She believes that the journey to peace and happiness is a lifelong path best explored in a state of repose. Knowing the power of restorative yoga to refresh and expand both body and mind, she hopes to share her enthusiasm for taking the time to do nothing but relax in the present moment. Her interest in restorative yoga developed under Judith Lasater, with whom she has completed a teacher-training program and is certified. She  graduated from Be Yoga’s 200-Hour Teacher Training in 2005. Through workshops in Anusara therapeutics and Thai massage, she has continued to expand her knowledge of the body and perspective on how to bring it into a healthier state. Kaori grew up in London and Tokyo and, being  bi-lingual, teaches her classes in both English and Japanese.

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Kazuya Yanagimoto

Kazuya began surfing, playing soccer, and learning Shorinji Kempo at the age of 4. In 1994, as a teenager, he realized that surfing should be his lifework. He first experienced yoga while a surfing in Bali. Soon his practice was healing sports injuries and other physical ailments and his eyes opened to the power of yoga. He took his practice deeper by studying Ashtanga with Ken Harakuma and later completed a teacher-training program at IYC. Kazuya now teaches Ashtanga, as well as hatha yoga, while continuing to study with Ken and pursue his passion to surf. Kazuya is the official ambassador of the yoga brand Suria.

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Asami Yashima

While in her early 20’s, Asami had a busy and often stressful life working as a model for magazine and TV commercials. The hours of work were long and the days physically and mentally demanding. To restore her body and replenish her energy, she turned to yoga. Over the years, she steadily developed a practice that restored balance to her life. In 2006 she completed a Yoga Alliance-certified 500-hour program. Among her most important teachers are Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty.

Nowadays Asami teaches yoga full time in Tokyo, focusing on vinyasa flow classes. In her experience, the beauty of yoga arises from the heart. As a teacher, she hopes to share the sense of wonder, happiness and good health she has discovered through the practice of yoga.

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Mikiko Yatabe

Every day yoga teaches Mikiko the importance of having a healthy body and mind for living one’s life fully. After starting her yoga practice nearly nine years ago, her passion for understanding the inner workings of the human body and mind and the energy we give, take and share with one another has led her to study many yogic arts and disciplines. Her practice has evolved to encompass asana, pranayama, meditation, Thai Yoga Bodywork, yin yoga, Abhyanga (ayurvedic oil treatment), Qi-gong and Vipassana meditation. Among the teachers who have deeply inspired her are Louisa Sear and Lucy Roberts from Yoga Arts, with whom Mikiko completed Level 1 Teacher Training. Under Sarah Powers and Bernie Clerk, she has become certified as a yin yoga teacher. For the gift of knowledge and insight pranayama, meditation and yogic philosophy, Mikiko is grateful beyond words to Emil Wendel. She feels enduring gratitude to Patrick Oancia for introducing her to yoga.

In addition to teaching yin and hatha yoga, Mikiko now works as interpreter and translator at yoga workshops and teacher-training courses. Her love for sharing yoga with others grows in the hope that it will bring us to a place where we know peace.

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