Instructor Bios
The bios below are for those teachers who are on our active sub list but do not have regularly scheduled classes at Yoga by Donation at this time. The bios for teachers who have regularly scheduled classes are on the Classes page, just below their class descriptions.
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Abby Gaul Bio
Abby began practicing yoga in her early twenties after discovering the ancient spirituality in a meditation class. She was fortunate enough to intern at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health where she deepened her knowledge of yoga as well as Ayurveda. More recently, Abby trained at Core Power Yoga in Oregon where she became a certified Vinyasa instructor. Her Vinyasa class synchronizes breath and movement and also focuses on alignment and deeper expressions of postures. Overall Abby wants all the yogis and yoginis in the class to honor their bodies and give themselves what they truly need! She is delighted to be teaching at Yoga By Donation and proud to be a part of a yoga studio that anyone can attend.
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Amrit Atma (Anjali) Bio
Amrit Atma has been a student/teacher of yoga for 20 years, studying & teaching Kundalini Yoga & mediation for almost a decade. Her focus on Kundalini & pure consciousness is shared open-heartedly in her yoga classes in a fun lighthearted way. Amrit Atma welcomes students of all levels and practice to experience full human potential through the time honored ancient practices of Kundalini Yoga & Meditation. Open to the awareness that is YOU - for it is your child like nature that will allow you to enter the heart. Wahe Guru!
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Avi Magidoff Bio
A student of Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Avi has served as Minister of Buddhist Spirituality at the Metropolitan Community Church in San Francisco and currently facilitates the Buddhist Sangha at South Church in Portsmouth. In addition to teaching yoga and meditation, Avi has a private acupuncture practice in Portsmouth.
Avi was first exposed to Yoga in the mid 80s through Swami Diviannada at the Integral Yoga Institute. Later he studied the Ashtanga system with many of that system’s “luminaries” including Richard Freeman, Dena Kingsberg, Chuck Miller and Maty Ezrati, and Nancy Gilgoff, as well as Iyengar “dignitaries” Ramanand Patel and Patricia Walden. His daily teacher, was Devorah Sacks in San Francisco, whom he also assisted and whom he still regards as his root teacher. Avi helped establish the Mission Ashtanga Mysore program in San Francisco
Avi believes in the teacher-student relationship and the role of the teacher as a nurturing container that allows us to let go of our constraints and notions as we explore the realm of possibilities so that the teacher within can blossom.
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Beth Liakos Bio
Beth has been practicing yoga for more than ten years. She began training as an instructor over the last two years and has taken classes with a variety of teachers and styles including Yogafit Level 1 and Senior training, Viniyoga with Gary Kraftsow, and Anusara with Desiree Rumbaugh. She incorporates yoga into her occupational therapy practice for a variety of populations including those with pulmonary and cardiac conditions.
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Heather DeVore Bio
Although born in Dover NH, Heather has called South Florida home for the greater part of her life. Certified to teach Integrative Yoga in 2005, Heather has been teaching yoga privately, as well as in gyms and studios, for nearly ten years. She has taught special focus classes, chair yoga for the elderly, children's yoga, community classes for the general public, yoga classes for dancers and body builders, power yoga, and meditation.
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Kelly Kean Bio
Kelly started exploring yoga in 1998 as a way to heal overuse injuries to her back and both hips. She had been a avid cyclist and taught spin classes for years. She now integrates Pilate's and yoga in a safe but challenging regimen. As a Nurse Practitioner, Kelly has found that her patients also benefit from including yoga in their overall health care program. She teaches yoga in the hope that others will benefit from this spiritual practice as much as she and many of her patients have.
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Rochelle Jewell Bio
For nearly a decade, Rochelle Jewell has encouraged hundreds of people to lead healthier, more balanced lives through the practice of yoga. Rochelle’s strong background in both the Astanga and Kripalu Yoga lineages provide a well rounded yoga class focusing on developing a balance between strength and flexibility. As Rochelle continues to enjoy, explore and study various styles of yoga, the heart of her teaching follows the Kripalu yoga philosophy as a practice that enriches all aspects of wellness: physical, emotional and spiritual. Rochelle is a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher, and an AFAA Certified Personal Trainer. She is currently pursuing her 500 hour certification in the study of Kriya yoga.
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Vanessa Levin Bio
Vanessa began her studies in bodywork and cultural somatization in 1993, getting a BA at UC Santa Cruz in Anthropology and film, then an MA in Counseling Psychology at Antioch New England. Her counseling practice encompassed DBT and mindfulness training and years of personal meditation practice from her religious upbringing of Buddhism. Her back injuries and surgeries led her to a formal yoga practice in 2002 with teacher Betty Moylan, which brought her from a dependency on pain meds for maintenance of back pain to being completely med free in 6 months. After the transformation, she received a 200 hour yoga training in Vinyasa from Fitness Resources, then second 200 hour training from YogaSpirit Studios in 2005. She also has a private massage practice in Kittery, Maine, and works at York Hospital in the Wellness Department for cancer patients and pre/post surgery needs. She combines stretching, deep tissue, acupressure, trigger point, and energy work. She has been teaching bicoastally between the California Bay Area and New England using a variety of yoga techniques from Iyengar, Bikram, Kundalini, Ashtanga, Anusara, and most recently Insight Yoga with Sarah Powers. Insight yoga combines Chinese Meridian Yin/Yang theories with traditional yoga for a balanced approach toward self healing and rejuvenation. Her classes change in tempo and difficulty depending upon the students’ needs and seasonal changes that affect our internal and external bodily needs. Because, as the saying goes, there is no such greater gift than the present!
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