HYP FACULTY

Opal Alves

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Alex Amorosi

Alex Amorosi has been teaching yoga in group, private, and corporate class settings since 2005 and training yoga teachers since 2007. He has a wide variety of experience in teaching beginning to advanced practitioners, people returning to yoga from illness and injury, and yoga for trauma sensitive populations. His classes are a mix of his studies of various forms of yoga, qigong, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and human anatomy and physiology. Alex blends the best of western science and eastern energetic traditions into classes that are challenging, fun, accessible, and most of all healing incorporating philosophical and spiritual ideas from Theravada Buddhism, Classical Yoga, and Advaita Vedanta. He is passionate about helping others on their own unique journey to find a holistic approach to health and healing.

Alex is known for his engaging and approachable style when training teachers. He breaks down complex physiological, philosophical, and energetic ideas into accessible information using analogy, imagery, and references to art, music, film, and other aspects of history and pop-culture. He is passionate about coaching teachers to find their individual voice and passions so they may find success and joy on their own unique teaching path.

Alex is a Reiki Master Teacher and Practitioner certified and attuned by the Usui Reiki Ryoho and offers Reiki healing sessions as well as Level 1, Level 2, and Master Level Reiki classes and attunements. He has a wide range of experience working with a variety of conditions such as chemo/radiation treatments, anxiety/depression, grief and recovery from loss, joint issues, digestive complaints, and addiction recovery. From a young age Alex found he was sensitive to subtle energies and energetic impressions and has found enormous relief in using Reiki as a powerful energetic healing tool. He is an empath and highly sensitive person and can attune to the energy fields of people, places, and things. Alex offers intuitive readings for clients to help them see into the subtle realms of the universe.

Samantha Arak

Samantha found her yoga practice as a necessary balance to competitive distance running. The sweat, rinse and repeat lead to the desire to share this powerful practice with others. Samantha received her 500 hour teacher training from the Baptiste Institute. Her classes are packed with vitality, intensity, community, and the inspiration necessary to discover a new edge of both strength and surrender.

When not throwing down a sweaty vinyasa class, Samantha works as an interior designer in the greater Boston area. As an avid runner, she enjoys short distances chasing after her young children and long runs in the Fells. She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Tufts University. 

Jacqui Bonwell

Your dear friend in the flight. 

A footsoul-dier beside you in the trenches of life.

Mother, Author, Motivational Speaker & holy hot mess at times. 

Director of the 200 & 300hr Yoga Alliance Certification programs. 

Owner  & Mother Bird of the Canton Yoga Shala.

I am a teacher of Life. A teacher of self support. A teacher of forgiveness.

For anything else, I don't even have that kind of time.

Diligent student of Rolf Gates, Johnny Gillespie, David Vendetti, Pat Iyer & Sharon Gannon.

Deep bow to all of the great Masters of this practice, including India.

I see that none of them had perfect condition.

Their glory was won through effort. 

I love my Mother & my Father more than life itself.

My children are my greatest teachers. My greatest sources of love & wisdom. My reminder of our natural state.

My brothers have been my wingmen since birth. My ride or dies.

Family means more to me than any professional accomplishment. 

AND my husband. God Bless him.

He's been married to a loving blender with no lid since 2006.  

As far as Yoga or "wellness"~I was humbled into all of this.

Forever a student. 

A true empath, I deeply care for people.

It's a bell I can't unring.

I am a Social Worker by blood & choice.

Initially, I never saw the investment in my own health as the offering.

I never valued the need to be so fine tuned because I never understood that my body & mind (and the care of it) allow for the work & message to become LONG TERM.  

As far as a "Yoga Teacher?" 

I've always feel like an imposter.  

I just dare greatly. 

And..as I age... I'm over it. : ) 

Someone always has a problem with something.

Even Mother Teresa had critics.

I choose to love them anyways.

I choose to care, not carry.

I choose to see others as having a hard time, not giving me a hard time. 

I choose to see all of humanity doing it's best.

And that's the only lens I see through.

I've got a 50/50 shot anyways.

Annie Bugeau

Annie Bugeau is a certified yoga teacher, health coach, personal trainer, and MBSR coach based in Boston who helps her clients through group classes, workshops, retreats, and one on one coaching. At Be Meditation, Annie is excited to share meditation, visualization and mantra techniques focused on self-healing and unearthing the healthy, whole-body you were born with. 

After healing herself from an autoimmune disease 10 years ago, Annie decided to help others who were suffering find a path to healing as well. She devoted her life to health and healing of the mind and body.  

Annie has spent the last 7 years teaching group programs, classes, workshops, and offering individual coaching.

In her upcoming workshop Be Strong, she will explore how to build inner and outer strength to live a fulfilling, healthy, and happy life.

Eva Christopherson

Nathan Denison

Nathan Denison (E-RYT200, LMT) is a Massachusetts-based wellness professional, specializing in yoga instruction, yoga teacher training, and massage therapy.

Nathan has been teaching yoga and training yoga teachers since 2013. He’s enjoyed teaching yoga throughout Greater Boston at several studios, including YogaWorks, South Boston Yoga, Open Doors Yoga, and One Powered Yoga.

A 2014 graduate of The Massage School in South Boston, Nathan provides therapeutic treatments to both private and corporate clients, offering modalities such as relaxation/swedish massage, deep tissue, trigger point, foot reflexology, chair massage, and Thai massage.

Prior to transitioning into the world of wellness, Nathan worked extensively with non-profits such as The Doe Fund (NY, NY) and The Pine Street Inn (Boston, MA). There he counseled and coached homeless adults, including formerly incarcerated individuals and others in recovery from substance abuse, in their goals to return to the workforce, land employment and get back on their feet.

Nathan is also passionate about youth leadership and volunteers with The Massachusetts Association of Student Councils (MASC), as a Senior Counselor at their annual Summer Student Leadership Conference. Held at Worcester State University, the conference attracts over 400 high school students from across the state as they seek to learn new leadership skills, connect with one another and grow so they can help make positive impacts back at their own schools and communities.

When not in the studio or spa, Nathan can be found running in Boston along the Charles River or around Castle Island, cooking at home, spending time with family & friends, and soaking up the sun & surf.

Kim Giangrasso

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Jennifer Glazer

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Hania Khuri-Trapper

Having always appreciated the physical and spiritual aspects of yoga, Hania began her own serious practice after having two children and starting her own business.

Yoga allowed her to really connect with her center and gain focus throughout the demands of her life. She joined the Open Doors Teacher Training program to deepen her practice, but felt that she couldn’t wait to share the joy that comes with finding one’s truer self with others. After teaching for several years, she then completed Jacqui Bonwell’s 500 hour training program, which allowed her to deepen her understanding of the principles of yoga as well as hone in on the craft of teaching to a diverse physical and mental audience.

She fully believes that every person could benefit from a yoga practice, and feels so very grateful to be able to share the gift of yoga with others.

Hania is a 500 Hour (E-RYT® 500, YACEP®), Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher and an attuned Reiki Master. Hania is also a Pro Jade Ambassador.

Jordan Lashley

Jordan Lashley is a Yoga Instructor with over 15 years of experience studying, teaching and sharing this beautiful practice with students of all levels. He completed his 200-hour RYT training in 2009 at the Baptiste Yoga Studio in Cambridge, MA, and has also completed comprehensive trainings in Jivamukti Yoga, with Sharon Gannon and David Life, Yin Yoga, with Josh Summers and a 300hr yoga philosophy certification from embodied philosophy.

Jordan’s physical and spiritual practice has been shaped and cultivated with over 500 additional hours of training with many well-loved teachers and mentors. Jordan is also a dedicated mentor to many yoga students and newer teachers as they begin their own teaching journeys.

Jordan believes that “Yoga is about balance, in every possible way. Strength, flexibility, balancing on one foot, balancing your emotional state, your mental perspective, your life... we are at our best when we achieve as much balance as possible.” He is forever grateful to his wife, Angela, for bringing him to the mat several years ago to discover his own balance. He strives to incorporate all facets of balance into his life, everyday, in his favorite role as Dad to daughter, Penelopi.

Jordan teaches meditation, breath control, mantra, and HOT postural yoga with a powerful dynamic flow in each class.

Shawna Lemelman

A veteran student of movement and yoga, Shawna is a recent graduate of our 2019-2020 200 hour Yoga Instructor Immersion, led by Jordan Lashley.

As an experienced teacher of dance modalities, Shawna’s classes are foundationally based in confident, breath-based instruction, intelligent sequencing and clear, precise alignment cueing. Flowing.

Dance-inspired. Strength-building. Playful. Each class is a gracefully sequenced, breath-focused flow experience, accessible for all levels of practitioner. 

As a 10 year committed practitioner at HYP, her teaching is deeply informed by our unique culture of breath, form, soul and sweat.

Shawna received her BFA in dance from the University of the Arts. As a professional dancer, she studied with Alvin Ailey and has performed in a spectrum of modern dance and ballet productions. She currently teaches dance and yoga in Needham, and surrounding areas, as well as providing mentorship to her daughter, an up and coming dancer herself.

Tara Morris

Yoga powerhouse, photographer and entrepreneur, Tara Morris, lives a big, full, and joyful life. Her yoga mat and camera have see more than 25 countries - riding her bike across Vietnam to raise money for kids affected by landmines; photographing families in Uganda displacement camps; building community centers in Tanzania (and summiting Mt Kilimanjaro while there); teaching yoga and photography in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Alaska - oh and tracking gorillas in Rwanda!

Tara’s classes are powerful, athletic, and ablaze with tempo and music. As a teacher, she will absolutely push you to your physical and emotional limits in a gritty power experience designed to explore both vulnerability and suffering by bringing you to your edge. Her goal for students in every single class is to help them walk out feeling grateful, healthy, and free. If her life had a mission statement it would read: To see the world and make people feel good.

Tara is the founder of The Love Offensive, which combines her three passions: YOGA to free the mind and strengthen the body, PHOTOGRAPHY to help us celebrate one other, and WORLD TRAVEL to learn what it means to be human. A professional Best of Boston family/wedding photographer for 11 years, Tara runs three photography companies: Hitched Studios for people in love on their wedding day, T.Spoon Photography for families and kids on their every day adventures, and Tara Morris Images for everybody else's endeavors.

Ray Mucci

Ray began teaching heated power yoga in 2007 and his current power, vinyasa and slow flow classes are based on an evolution of his practice and experience as both a teacher and student.

Years of power and vinyasa yoga practice lead to some amazing personal shifts and a respect for what a mindfulness practice can do for your mind and body.

After more intensive study of alignment, movement and the human body, Ray’s current classes honor the tradition of the practice in a way that will reduce the potential for injuries based on repetitive movement. All while still allowing for space to have fun with yoga, move and engage and feel the strength of your body wherever it is on any day.

In addition to teaching group classes, Ray teaches anatomy to yoga instructors and has been seeing clients for massage in the Boston area for over 10 years.

Nia Nascimento

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Masaaki Okamura

Ali Purple

Ali is a longtime, dedicated student of the practice, whose personal journey on the mat eventually navigated her to her teacher’s seat.

From Ali:
“In times of challenge I have sought comfort, strength, clarity, and release in physical exercise. Running and boxing were the most cathartic, until I stepped into my first hot yoga class in 2005. After several years as a trial attorney in an innately adversarial profession, I was screaming for access to more peace for myself and my profession.

After practicing consistently for several years, I tapped into the mind-body-breath connection, beginning to understand and connect with the healing and medicinal powers of the practice.

During a challenging pregnancy and postpartum period, I again found my vigor, comfort, and passion for life reignited through a consistent practice and study of yoga. I delved deep into my body and breath, connecting to parts unrealized until faced with tremendous discomfort and heartache.

As a student, I have seen first hand the transformative value of a consistent practice. My goal as a teacher is to create an atmosphere for release, self-discovery, curiosity, and healing, a space for the student to connect with their body and breath.

I completed my 200 hour teaching training at Inner Strength Studios in Watertown in 2018.”

Foundational. Energetic. Breath-informed. Flow-inspired. Ali’s classes are all that. And more. Much more.

Samantha Rose

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Jamie Russell

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Lisa Schwarz

I took my very first yoga class in 1995. I've been a certified, practicing yoga teacher since 2011.  A five-time marathon finisher, yoga has helped me to be a better runner and a much nicer human. I believe that yoga should be fun, liberating, and pain-free. I believe yoga can help build strength, refocus intentions, and inform choices off the mat. I believe all morning classes should include coffee.

All my classes these days are virtual. Which means, I'm never late. You can literally do yoga anywhere. 

Breathe, sweat, move your ass, clear your head, feel better.

It's that simple.

Laura Vilalobos

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Elizabeth Young

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