Teacher's Bios

Information about the backgrounds of our talented & accomplished yoga & dance teachers is included here.

Cathy Calderon
Cathy Calderon is a registered yoga teacher who teaches Anusara-based hatha yoga. She has a background in dance, theatre and film, and has been practicing yoga for over 30 years. An award-wining filmmaker and theatre director and former college professor, she began teaching yoga several years ago, after completing an intensive teacher training with Todd Norian. Her vision in opening Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center was to create a warm and nurturing community space where people of all backgrounds could come together and share in the deep benefits of yoga and dance. Her classes blend a precise attention to biomechanics and alignment with a celebration of the spirit. Her passion for dance and theatre brings a special vibrancy and spontaneity to her yoga teaching. Cathy has studied extensively in many traditions, including Tantra Yoga, the Chakra system, Taoist Healing practices and Insight Meditation, and she enjoys weaving many of the wonderful practices from these traditions into her yoga classes. Cathy is a great lover of Latin music and dance, and as one of the original Eddie Torres dancers, danced at the Apollo Theatre with Tito Puente and Celia Cruz. She also produced a documentary film about Latin dance called "A Bailar!" which was shown on PBS and sold to many television networks around the world.

brianna hyneman believes that she was a yogi in another life so naturally, in this life, she has been drawn back to that work. brianna has studied Hatha yoga intensively over her 30+ years on this Earth. She began teaching Kundalini and Vinyasa yoga 5 years ago and has taught throughout New York and Los Angeles. Currently, she is a student of Ashtanga yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and studies Vedic chants under the tutalage of her teacher SistaShree.

Jyll

Marisa Bonfanti
Marisa has been teaching at Shambhala since 2004. The warmth of Shambhala studio and Marisa's supportive, encouraging nature combine to create a relaxing atmosphere where students can begin or deepen their yoga practice. Marisa has had a continuous yoga practice since 2000 when she first studied Kripalu Yoga. In 2003, she followed her intuition to earn her teaching certification with Dr. Jeff Migdow and Priti Robyn Ross in Prana Yoga. In 2006 she completed The Advanced Studies Program with Leslie Kaminoff and Zack Kurland at The Breathing Project, which included in depth study of anatomy and the application of Breath-Centered Yoga for group practice and individual Yoga Therapy. Marisa's been teaching people of all ages and abilities for three years and loves sharing the magic of yoga with anyone ready to participate. Marisa guides her students through mindful movement combining body, breath and energy awareness to facilitate the discovery of the universal eternal connection between breath and movement, body and soul, self and the universe.

Mariyah
Mariyah (Elizabeth Maria Jossick) feels blessed to share her love of dance with her students. She holds a B.A. from NYU where she focused her studies on the integration of creative and spritual work through a major in comparative religions and arts, including African and Modern dance. Her study of Oriental Dance began with Serena Wilson and continued with many other well known teachers. In November of 2002, she was honored to dance in Tranparency with the Dalia Carella Dance Collective, a contemporary ethnic fusion dance company. She has trained as a yoga teacher through the Himalyan Institute of New York and studies Middle Eastern percussion on the dumbek and frame drum with Raquy Danziger. Elizabeth is also a visual artist who creates original mask artwork for performance.

Melvin Fogle

Monique Schubert
Monique Schubert is a Kripalu Certified Yoga Instructor and a registered member of the Yoga Alliance. She has been a student and practitioner of yoga since 1994, and has been teaching yoga for the last 2 years. Monique has a background in the visual arts and has a masters degree in painting. She draws inspiration from continued study and the gift of sharing yoga with others. Monique teaches and has taught in locations such as yoga studios, retreat centers, juvenille detention centers, gyms, and outdoors at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, Queens.

Naghmeh Ahi
Naghmeh has been a practitioner of Iyengar yoga under the guidance of senior teachers at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Greater New York since 1999 where she continues her studies, teacher training and apprenticeship; her teachers are James Murphy, Mary Dunn and Kevin Gardiner. She loves the art and science of yoga in the Iyengar tradition, and this is apparent in the style of her teaching that stays true to the method: precise, joyful and encouraging!

Nicki Marshall

Nicola Weiner

Paul Calderon
Paul Calderon is an Obie Award-winning actor and accomplished writer of plays, screenplays, short stories and novels, as well as a long-time Tai Chi and yoga practitioner. He has starred in numerous productions at the Public Theatre and New York Shakespeare Festival, co-starred with Robert DeNiro on Broadway in "Cuba & His Teddy Bear," and has had leading and co-starring roles in dozens of major films. He has taught acting and writing for ten years, and is on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts. Paul is a certified yoga teacher in the Anusara tradition and is working toward his certification as a Tai Chi and Chi Kung instructor. Paul enjoys exploring ways to bring all of his various talents and experience together in order to help people develop their own unique creativity. He is a great lover of Latin music and dance, and as one of the original Eddie Torres dancers, danced at the Apollo Theatre with Tito Puente and Celia Cruz.

Tori Milner
Tori Milner has been a dedicated practitioner of Iyengar yoga since 1996. Her teaching style is warm, compassionate, and precise. She is currently enrolled in an advanced-study program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York, where her primary teachers are Robin Janis and Mary Dunn. She has also studied under John Schumacher and Patricia Walden.