Dora Gyarmati
Teacher, Manager, Owner and Artistic Director of Spira Power Yoga
Dora has a natural ability to inspire love of physical being in all her students. She teaches yoga from life experience, emphasizing strength with a lighthearted attitude. Using humor to carry students through the tough elements of vinyasa flow, she reminds you to be mindful during practice. Dora sees the challenges of vinyasa as a metaphor of life. Teaching breath control and meditation during the strength building asanas, she will help you learn to stay calm through difficulties, and to find inner peace in the quiet moments.
Dora’s experience includes a lifetime of active pursuits, beginning with her study of ballet and gymnastics in Hungary at age three. Also an ardent runner, she was introduced to yoga in 2000. At that time she worked as a Research Biologist, and trail running was a way of life, connection to nature, and meditation. When she found herself with a knee injury, she just had to find a way to build back strength and stability to her joints, yoga seemed like a natural choice. From her first power vinyasa class she was hooked. Since then she has completed Level I and Level II teacher training with Baron Baptiste, and has mentored with Lisa Black. She also studied with, and takes inspiration from Shiva Rea , David Swenson, Ana Forest, Brian Kest, Dharma Mittra, Ed Clark, and Simon Park.
Dora believes a good teacher never stops being a student. She continues to take teacher trainings and workshops every year. Beginning of 2010 she completed a post-level II advanced training with Baron Baptiste. For the rest of 2011, she is planing to spend time with Shiva Rea, Brian Kest, Ed Clark, and Simon Park to further her practice and skills.
In 2010 Dora was recognized as a Lululemon Ambassador for the Seattle stores. She also taught at the City of Hope charity event in Memorial Stadium which turned into the largest outdoor yoga class on record, and was featured in the news. Dora believes yoga is a practice for life, and she has just started. She strives to bring about transformation in all of her students.
Dora’s life before yoga makes her a well rounded instructor, as she studied both the arts and sciences. She has a BA in Art History from UCSD, and a BS in Neurobiology also from UCSD. She has worked in immunology research prior to her yoga career.
Valerie Kardonsky – Teacher
Valerie knew from a young age that she was destined to be a teacher. It simply took 35 years to discover that she was meant to teach yoga! She grew up dancing, singing, and mimicking nearly everyone on TV and movies. She danced her way through childhood and most of her adult years. She took her first yoga class in college and was immediately hooked. Since then, she has taken refuge in her practice and revels in the fact that yoga literally changed her life.
Val is a Registered Yoga Teacher and a Children’s Yoga Specialist. She’s studied with Shiva Rea, Ana Forrest, David Swenson, Cyndi Lee, and Sri K Pattabi Jois. Her classes evoke a fluid, powerful flow influenced by her love of movement and dance. She typically infuses music but encourages her students to find their own rhythm, their breath. Val offers classes from 2 year olds to adults.
When she’s not on her mat or guiding students, she’s hanging with her dogs, her sweetie Brian, and most likely doing something outside.
Brenda Schornak – Teacher
As part of relocating to Seattle, at the age of 49 Brenda knew she needed to incorporate some type of exercise in her life and she decided to try an Intro Series into yoga. With a strong belief in the Powers of Spirit and the Universe, the chanting of Om in her first class, Brenda knew she was exactly where she was supposed to be. She quickly became invigorated with the strength and power that her body developed over a short period of time. Not only was yoga a form of exercise that Brenda was able to commit to, it was a practice that she began to love. She began a daily practice of yoga to further enhance her meditation practice and due to her belief in the power of yoga to connect the Mind, Body and Spirit, the Trinity. Finding herself laid-off from Corporate America a little over a year later, Brenda decided it was time for a Career Transformation!
For the past two years Brenda has rarely missed a single day of practice. She believes so much in the transformation that yoga can create in an individual’s life, she wants to share it with others. Brenda completed Ana Forrest 200+ Hour Teacher Training in March of 2010 and Baron Baptiste Level 1 in March of 2011. Brenda has completed both TAP and Advanced TAP taught by local master teacher Lisa Black as well as many workshops. Brenda continues to be mentored by Dora Gyarmati and has plans on completing Baron Baptiste Level 2. She currently volunteers with Yoga Behind Bars and teaches at Echo Glen’s Children’s Facility in Snoqualmie weekly.
Regan Pasko – Teacher
Regan began his yoga practice in 2002 at the urging of his physicians to increase his flexibility while training for ultramarathons. Through the years his passions turned from running to yoga, where he discovered a life changing, joyful, dedicated and rewarding practice that he simply needed to share with others.
Regan’s teaching style simply cannot be labeled. He takes what he learns from all his teachers and brings it to his students in a simplistic, almost mechanical way. He builds his students up through each individual class, as well as through their entire lifelong practice, to reach beyond their expectations, allowing them find themselves somewhere new and amazing. Through his training and engineering background Regan’s teaching results in a very hands-on approach breaking down the asana, flow and physical adjustments to their most basic foundation. Regan is strongly influenced by Jonathan Bowra (of Forrest Yoga) both through being a student of his and through his ongoing specialized training. He completed a teacher training with Baron Baptiste and teaching assistance programs with local master teacher Lisa Black. He continues his training and practice by attending intensive sessions with master teachers such as Anna Forrest, Simon Park, Jason Crandell and Ed Clark.
Through the growth in his practice Regan found that accomplishments on the mat do lead to exciting and new things in life, giving oneself new found confidence and personal respect. Therefore he teaches with a belief that anyone can achieve, urging everyone to try something new, just one small step at a time. He enjoys the use of a variety of energetic music as a tool to clear the mind, energize the soul and to keep the mood fun.
Jonathan Bowra- Teacher
Jonathan’s yoga teaching brings together 30 years of personal healing practices such as Yoga, Meditation, Reevaluation counseling, Psychotherapy, Massage and Solo Journeys into wild places. He has lead yoga workshops and yoga teacher trainings nationally and internationally. His extensive knowledge, experience and intuition have developed him into an accomplished teacher and healer. Jonathan is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance at 200 hours.
Jonathan began practicing yoga in the Iyengar yoga tradition in 1979. At the time he began yoga he was a member of “Walkabout” Dance Collective, an experimental dance company in San Francisco, mainly focusing on Contact Improvisation dance. “Walkabout” also promoted performance art on the artistic forefront. He was a member of the dance company for 3 years and practiced Iyengar Yoga until 1998.
In 1998 following the completion of the Foundation Teacher Training Course in Santa Monica, California, Jonathan spent 9 years in a full time yoga apprenticeship with his Yoga Master. He traveled with her nationally and internationally as lead assistant in yoga workshops and yoga conferences, co-taught the 24-day Foundation Teacher Training Course, the 10-day Advanced Teacher Training Course and the 5-day Continuing Education For Yoga Teachers Course. Jonathan co-authored the Continuing Education for Yoga Teachers Course, a Mentorship Program and co-created a Assisting Program for yoga teachers and created a yoga Sequencing Forum. His experience teaching hundreds of yoga students to become yoga teachers, assisting thousands of yoga students in their yoga postures, makes him extremely knowledgeable and skilled in posture alignment, injury assessment, pose modification, class structure, class sequencing and personal yoga coaching.
Jonathan is a dedicated practitioner of Zen meditation. He began practicing Zen in 1980 and moved into a residential Zen center in Berkeley, California where he lived for 9 years participating in twice daily meditation session and monthly 3-day retreats. In 1989 he traveled to Korea to sit a 90-day silent meditation retreat at a Zen monastery. Upon completion of the 90-day retreat Jonathan took novice monks precepts retuned to the United States and practiced as a novice monk for 4 years at the Zen school’s head temple in Rhode Island. He has participated in numerous 90-day retreats at Zen temples as well as solo meditation retreats including a 100-day solo yoga and meditation retreat in the mountains of New Mexico. Jonathan follows the teachings of Korean Zen Master, Seung Sahn (author of the books “Dropping Ashes on the Buddha” and “Only Don’t Know”)
Gianna Carotenuto – PhD -Teacher
Teaching ~ Gianna is an accomplished healer and yoga teacher with over 20 years of combined teaching and practitioner experience. Her foundation is classic Forrest Yoga and she has taught as a senior Forrest Yoga instructor for over a decade. Specializing in classes that are tailored to the student’s present that day, Gianna works mindfully and creatively to build group energy and individual transformation through carefully designed sequences derived from a multiplicity of healing modalities ~ Forrest, Vinyasa flow, Iyengar, Yin, Kundalini and meditation. One of her unique gifts as a teacher is her healing touch and ability to help students meet their fears and move into freedom. Working with students of all levels, Gianna has an expertise in elder students over 60 , and rehabilitation from physical, mental, emotional trauma, accidents, injury, or surgery. ~Students value Gianna’s ability to “see” beyond the surface and release energy that is trapped or restricted in the body, her sensitive hands on adjustments, and her ability to guide them into realms of deeper healing and awareness. Her 12 years of Zen meditation and mindfulness practice brings clarity, inner depth and tranquility to a strong, cleansing and demanding asana practice.
Training ~ Gianna completed her Teacher’s Training in 1999 with Ana Forrest and remains committed to the principles and techniques of Forrest Yoga. Her mindset is that of a perpetual student seeking wisdom and insight from a variety of teachers to continue deepening and growing her teaching skills and yogic knowledge. She has attended numerous workshops and training sessions with many of today’s first lineage yoga masters: Ana Forrest, Max Strom, Rod Stryker, Rodney Yee, Gary Kraftow, Richard Freeman, Shiva Rea, and has been assisting workshops at Esalen with Yogini Micheline Berry since 2010.
Community ~ Bringing the wisdom and compassion of yoga to South Central Los Angeles, Gianna developed and directed along with Debora Constance, “Yoga in the Hood,” a community based yoga program for at risk youth from 2004-2007. Gianna conducts thematic workshops throughout the year, was a former teacher at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement in Venice, California and will be conducting a series of cultural yoga retreats in 2012-13 in India, Italy, Mexico and California. She has recently relocated to Seattle, Washinton where she will be teaching at Kula Movement.
Beyond the Mat ~ A practicing Buddhist, Gianna leads mediation classes, reads Sanskrit, is an ongoing student, practitioner and some-time resident at Tassajara Zen Center, and has participated in five week-long teachings with the Dalai Lama from 2000-2006, influences that bring a deep tranquility and mindfulness to her yoga classes. For the past 20 years Gianna’s “other” professional life has centered on various aspects of the arts. She is a curator, private art consultant, and art history professor. She completed her doctoral degree in the art of India and South Asia at UCLA in 2009. She currently a visiting professor of South Asian Art at the University’s of Washington, Seattle.
Susie Brown – Teacher
Susie began her yoga journey when she moved from Pittsburgh to Seattle in 2005. Always curious about yoga, she walked into her first class and has never been the same since. She was instantly hooked, finding the balance of peace and strength extremely powerful, not only for the physical body but for heart and soul. Susie is honored to have the opportunity to share and spread her love for this beautiful practice with her students and the community everyday.
By marrying the body to the breath and cultivating a dynamic physical flow, you’ll receive workout like no other. Remember that when you live fully from the heart anything is possible.
Susie is currently studying under Dora Gyarmati. She has trained with Baron Baptiste and has completed Level One and Level Two Teacher Trainings.
Marva Benjamin – Teacher
Marva began her yoga experience/journey in 1999, inSeattle. and have been teaching since 2003 at several studios throughout theSeattlemetropolitan area. Her certification consists of over a year of training…and continuous education and influences through various workshops and teachers such as: Shiva Rea, Katarina Wen, Baptiste, Bryan Kest, John Friend, and Beryl Bender Birch. She also studied Ashtanga yoga in Mysore,India, with Master teacher, Sri Sheshadri, and hosted yoga retreats in her second home on the beautiful island of Barbados. She loves to guide students through invigorating, challenging and encouraging yoga classes. Her passion is to teach energetic classes from the heart, with nurturing instructions, that flows into a powerful and graceful practice.
You will often hear her reveal one of her mottos while students are in Chair pose:“Okay everyone, let’s get those sit bones down, Happy Hour hasn’t started yet, so off the bar stool” Peace, Love, Happiness, Laugh, Live Life…
Tara Colagrossi – Teacher
Tara’s yoga journey began in 2001 while attending college atWashington State University. Though she enjoyed rootin’ for the Cougars, shefound a passion in yoga, trying a variety of styles and classes until she foundthe perfect fit and downward dog in vinyasa power yoga. Yoga has always been a constant in Tara’s life. With a supportive husband, two beautiful children, Annabelle and Anthony and a fast-paced work life, yoga continues to be grounding and relaxing. It’s an opportunity to connect to herself, to feel alive, to simply breathe and to truly inhabit her body. She is grateful for the opportunity to give back to this supportive and inspiring community and honored to share her love for the practice.
Tara stretched and namasted her way to earn a 500 hour yoga certification through Yoga Works and has also completed the Teacher Assisting Program (TAP) with Lisa Black. She is currently studying under Dora Gyarmati and Valerie Kardonsky. When she’s not on her mat, she’s enjoying her family and two beagles, Max and Cooper.
Elizabeth D Thomas – Teacher
After ‘dabbling’ for 4 years, Elizabeth began practicing yoga in the summer of 2001. Laughing the way through her first group class, she was hooked. In 2007, she found her ‘home’ in the powerful, fluid style of Vinyasa yoga. She credits her practice with healing and supporting her body after a number of serious back injuries. As her body became stronger and more open, she felt her mind and heart begin to change too. She felt a new focus, empathy and joy! After completing her 200 hour teacher training with YogaWorks in May of 2009, she became a Registered Yoga Teacher and began teaching quickly thereafter. Since 2009, She has completed her level 1 training in Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, Teacher Training with Shiva Rea. Elizabeth’s classes are spirited & fun. They reflect her humor and absolute joy in teaching and community building. She believes yoga helps cultivate a compassion and kindness that can ultimately change the world! She is inspired by helping others findand realize their own dreams through the physical practice of yoga.
Lara Ederer – Teacher
Lara was introduced to yoga in 2002 to be the practice student for a friend who was a newly certified teacher. She left her first class inspired by the physicality of the asanas and the mental clarity from Pranayama breath work. Over the next several years she ventured in and out of different styles and studios before finding her “home” in Power Vinyasa. Lara could recognize the profound spiritual and personal growth happening as a result of regular practice and was compelled to want to share it. Lara completed Be Luminous’ 200 hour Teaching Training in May, 2012 so she could deepen her teaching experience as well as knowledge of yoga’s rich history and philosophy. Lara has completed a Teacher’s Assisting Program (TAP), Teacher Training, and Foundations of Baptiste Yoga with Lisa Black at Shakti East. In addition she has also completed workshops with Master Teachers Baron Baptiste, Krista and Brock Cahill, Bryan Kest, Amy Ippoliti, Andrey Lappa, and Tiffany Cruickshank. When she’s off the mat Lara spends time with her husband Mark and her 4 year old son Liam.