Be inspired by our faculty

Greg Anton

Greg Anton, a certified Iyengar yoga instructor, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1986 and worked for many years as a public-interest lawyer before devoting himself to the study of yoga. He completed the two-year teacher training program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco in 1996 and studied extensively with Ramanand Patel. Greg has studied with the Iyengars in Pune and continues to study with Patricia Walden, his primary teacher since 1999. He lives and teaches year-round in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Roni Brissette

Roni Brissette has been teaching Iyengar yoga since 1993. She holds a Junior Intermediate level II certification from IYNAUS. She appears in Patricia Walden’s yoga DVDs and Walden’s The Women’s Book of Yoga. Brissette was named “Best Yoga Teacher” by Boston Magazine’s Best of Boston® 1999. She was part of the faculty of the Iyengar Yoga Teacher training program in Boston and continues to train students for Iyengar certification. She currently teaches at her home studio in Brookline.

Jarvis Chen

Jarvis Chen is a certified Iyengar yoga teacher who lives, practices, and teaches in Boston. He studies with senior Iyengar yoga teacher Patricia Walden, whom he assists in classes and workshops. He also travels to Pune, India, regularly to study with the Iyengars. In 2008, Jarvis was recognized by Yoga Journal as one of twenty-one teachers under the age of forty who are “shaping the future of yoga.” Jarvis is also a social epidemiologist and a research scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Linda DiCarlo

Linda DiCarlo is an Intermediate Junior III teacher and has a master’s degree in Exercise Science. She teaches at her studio, Iyengar Yoga Source, in Cranston, Rhode Island. A recent past president of IYNAUS, Linda serves as an assessor of certified teachers and conducts teacher training for her apprentices. Steeped in the Iyengar method since 1986, she has studied in Pune, India, with the Iyengar family multiple times. Linda’s teaching style is clear, concise, and compassionate. She inspires confidence in her students.

Peentz Dubble

Peentz Dubble is a devoted practitioner and a passionate and inspiring teacher currently living and teaching in Boston, Massachusetts. Peentz has been a nationally certified Iyengar teacher for twenty-five years and holds an Intermediate Junior III certification. She studies regularly with the Iyengar family in Pune. She was the co-director of the first Iyengar Yoga Center in NYC and a founding faculty member of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York. Peentz is currently co-director with Patricia Walden of the Teacher Training Program at the BKS Iyengar Yogamala in Cambridge.

Gloria Goldberg

Gloria Goldberg has taught Iyengar yoga since 1980 and has been a certified Iyengar yoga teacher since 1987. While director of the BKS Iyengar Yoga Institute in Los Angeles, she recognized the need for a formal teacher training program. With the approval and guidance of BKS Iyengar, she founded the program in 1992. Gloria under direct and close guidance of the Iyengars trains teachers in the US, Canada, and Europe. She is at the forefront of teacher training, an ambassador for the Iyengars’ wish to maintain the highest and purest standards of excellence in their Method. Gloria studies with the Iyengars in Pune annually and is known for her inspirational and clear style of teaching.

Dean Lerner

Certified advanced Iyengar instructor Dean Lerner is co-director of the Center for Wellbeing in Lemont, Pennsylvania, and teaches workshop across the US and abroad. He is a long-time student of BKS Iyengar and served a four-year term as president of the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States. Dean is known for his ability to share the art of yoga with clarity and precision blended with warmth and humor.

Manouso Manos

Manouso Manos is one of the most capable and experienced of the Senior Iyengar Yoga Teachers. He holds one of only two Advanced Senior certificates granted worldwide by BKS Iyengar. He began his studies with Sri BKS Iyengar in 1976, and served as chairperson of the First International Iyengar Yoga Convention in 1984. After numerous trips to Pune, India, and with over three decades of personal practice, his understanding of and insights into Iyengar yoga are conveyed with authenticity and precision. Methodical in his teaching, Manouso lays a solid foundation and progressively refines each of the asanas. His sense of humor and sensitivity shine through as his dynamic and challenging teaching style moves his students beyond their perceived limits.

James Murphy

James Murphy is an Intermediate Senior I certified teacher who began practicing yoga in 1988 and has taught since 1990. He has made over twelve extended trips to India to study with BKS Iyengar and Prashant and Geeta Iyengar. Director of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York, James teaches a full range of classes, including a class for those living with HIV/AIDS; he also does mentoring and training in the Institute’s Teacher Training program. Through rhythm and sequencing, James creates an experience of integration in his classes that is both challenging and sensitive to the subtler aspects of the practice.

Karin O’Bannon

Karin O’Bannon is a devoted, long-time practitioner of Iyengar Yoga. In
1996 she was granted Intermediate Senior III certification by Guruji. Presently living in Shreveport, Lousiana, Karin is active in the IYASE regional association. For two years she has taught the workshop it sponsors for teachers interested in advancing in Intermediate Junior certification. She also writes the Sutra column for the Southeast newsletter. Karin served for many years on the Board of Southern California regional association, also acting as president. She was coordinator of registration for the US celebration of Guruji’s 80th birthday, and co-chair of the Pasadena convention. She has previously served on the IYNAUS Board as president and vice president.

Victor Oppenheimer

To Victor Oppenheimer teaching yoga is many things. It is an extension of his personal practice. It is also an opportunity to pass on to others a discipline and practice that has conferred incredible joy and well-being into his life. His classes are also homage to his teacher, BKS Iyengar, whose style of yoga and inspiration to study it has made a profound and beneficial impact on his own quality of life.

Liz Owen

Liz Owen, certified Iyengar yoga instructor, is dedicated to the beautiful art and science of Iyengar Yoga. She has studied with BKS, Geeta and Prashant Iyengar in India and in the US and continues advanced studies with Patricia Walden, her primary teacher since 1988. Liz was on the faculty of the BKS Iyengar Yoga Center of Greater Boston from 1990 – 2003. Currently she teaches weekly classes in Arlington and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and she is on the faculty of Wellesley College. She was voted “Best Yoga Studio” by WBZ-TV A-List of Boston businesses in 2007.

Kathleen Pringle

Kathleen Pringle is the director of Stillwater Yoga Studio in Atlanta, Georgia. She has been teaching Iyengar yoga since 1983 and studying since 1979. She is currently certified at the Intermediate Junior III level. To deepen her understanding of yoga she studies regularly with the Iyengars in Pune, India. Kathleen was one of the few yoga practitioners from around the world who was invited to attend the International Woman’s Intensive taught by Geeta Iyengar, as well as the Silver Jubilee Intensive taught by Sri BKS Iyengar. She served as a board member for the National Iyengar Yoga Association for six years and is currently serving as certification coordinator for IYNAUS. Kathleen uses a light-hearted approach to her classes and enjoys sharing her deep understanding of the poses with her students.

Mary Reilly

Mary Reilly has directed North Woods Yoga, the BKS Iyengar Yoga Center of Northern Michigan, since 1986. She found her first class in Iyengar yoga in Ann Arbor in 1978 after graduating from college, and was fortunate to study with Mary Palmer and Susie Vidrih, early teachers of Iyengar yoga in America. Certified at the Intermediate Senior I level, Mary serves on the Certification and Scholarship committees of IYNAUS. She is fascinated with the symbolic images embedded in the yoga philosophy and tries to weave them into her teaching.

Laureen Rueckner

Laureen Rueckner began her practice of yoga in 1969. In the 1970s she started studying Iyengar yoga with Karin Stephan. She continued her studies with Peentz Dubble and Patricia Walden, completing their two-year teacher training program. About thirteen years ago she began teaching and eventually was certified at the Junior I level. She continues to teach, to study with Patricia (whom she has had the honor of assisting) and to study with the Iyengars on their visits to the US. Over the years, she has had the privilege of attending many of the Iyengar conferences and studying with many of the senior teachers.

John Schumacher

John Schumacher is the founder and director of Unity Woods Yoga Center, the largest Iyengar Yoga center in the US. John skillfully weaves into his classes his deep understanding of yoga philosophy, and his clear, precise style and engaging sense of humor have created an international demand for his teaching.

Lois Steinberg

Lois Steinberg, from Urbana, Illinois, holds an Advanced level certification in the tradition of BKS Iyengar. As a scholar, author, and Iyengar yoga teacher with over thirty years experience, she brings a unique variety and wealth of personal understanding to her presentation. In addition to manuals on the knee, low back, neck and shoulders, Lois’ current book is Geeta S. Iyengar’s Guide to a Woman’s Yoga Practice (Vol. II forthcoming). In her teaching, she emphasizes and exemplifies the whole-body transformation of the practitioner through the joy of regular immersion in practice.

Karin Stephan

Karin Stephan first met BKS Iyengar in 1969 in Bombay. From 1972 – 1976 she attended all of his classes throughout Europe. She went to Pune for an intensive stay in 1977 and since then has returned there several times for further study. In 1977, Karin began teaching Iyengar yoga in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. In 1985 she, along with Patricia Walden, co-founded the BKS Iyengar Yoga Center of Cambridge. Karin holds a Junior Intermediate certificate and lives and teaches in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Nancy Turnquist

Nancy Turnquist is a certified teacher of Iyengar Yoga and is active in the Boston Iyengar community. She trained with senior teacher Patricia Walden with whom she continues to study and assist in classes and workshops. Nancy studied for a year at the Iyengar Institute in Barcelona, Spain, while teaching yoga and earning a graduate degree in literary translation. She has taught yoga in Spanish in both Spain and the US, most recently through participation in a health initiative for Spanish-speaking women sponsored by Harvard Medical School. Her teaching is inspired by the joy and skill that arise from the practice of yoga. She travels regularly to Pune, India, to study with the Iyengar family.

Janice Vien

Janice Vien has been practicing yoga since 1982 and teaching since 1989. She has an Iyengar Junior Intermediate III teaching credential and runs a two-year teacher training program at her studio. Her years of dedicated practice, her calm nature, and clear instructions provide for a challenging yet supportive class experience.

Patricia Walden

Patricia Walden has dedicated the past thirty-one years to the study practice and teaching of yoga. She has traveled to India annually since 1977 to study with Shri BKS Iyengar and holds a Senior Advanced certificate. She is known for her methodical and inspirational approach to teaching, which takes students beyond the physical (finding the formless in form). Patricia directs the BKS Iyengar Yogamala of Cambridge and teaches both nationally and internationally. She is the co-author of The Women’s Book of Yoga and Health.

Joan White

Joan White is a certified Advanced Junior I by BKS Iyengar. She began yoga in 1968 with Mary Palmer and Priscilla Neal in Ann Arbor, Michigan and began her studies with BKS Iyengar in 1973 which continues to the present. She started Iyengar yoga in Philadelphia in 1974 and taught for twenty-seven years at the University of Pennsylvania. Currently she runs the BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Central Philadelphia and teaches workshops both nationally and internationally. She ran a successful blood pressure study for the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to her regular classes she runs an annual teacher training program.