Teachers

Aly Long loves yoga! She discovered yoga in college and her practice grew over the years studying both Hatha and Anusara yoga. Aly was called to teach after spending several months in India and Southeast Asia. This clarity came after meeting her Guru Amma(Amritanadamayi). Amma continues to be a strong presence in her life, practice and her teaching! 

Anne is a certified instructor who has taught yoga in California, Arizona, New Zealand and her current home of Olympia, WA. Anne has studied with many master teachers and is especially grateful for her time with Ana Forrest, Saul David Raye and Vivian & Aeryk at the Bandha Room. 

Annette’s formal yoga training began at the White Lotus Foundation, in Santa Barbara, California, with Ganga White. Inspiration and passion fuel this instructor as she authentically shares her 25+ years of knowledge with yoga students as she guides them through pranayama, meditation, movement and sound. 

Blu practiced Yoga intermittently for many years till a family crisis combined with a climbing accident lead her to Yoga for healing 2008.  Since then it has become one of the pillars of her life. She became a Hot Yoga instructor in 2012, and is a graduate of the 2019 True Self 200 Hour Vinyasa Teacher Training.

Carissa discovered yoga while on a search for inner healing in 2012. The mat was the place where she began to befriend her body and discover comfort in silence. After 2 years of intensive self-development and growth, Carissa knew she wanted to help others to heal as well. 

Chelsea is a registered yoga teacher (RYT), a biochemist and enthusiastic student of life. She believes that yoga can be used as an integrative practice to explore one’s own body, mind and their responses to life experiences. 

Various losses in Christina’s life brought her back over and over again to the practices and teachings in meditation and yoga.  The words of the young Buddha in Hermann Hesses’s Siddharta resonated deeply with her, “[God] has robbed me, yet he has given me something of greater value . . . he has given to me myself.” 

Connie has been a Massage Therapist since 1993 and found Yoga around the same time, like many massage therapists-who-turn-yogi in Olympia.  Connie has a holistic approach to health and well being. “What I have found from my own experience is that by connecting with one’s body and breath you can heal the mind and rehabilitate the body. The body is our journal of experiences.”  

Courtney teaches 8am Flow on Saturdays. More to come on Courtney’s bio.

Fabi is a yoga teacher originally from Venezuela. She became a Bikram Hot Yoga Teacher in 2012, and a Hatha Vinyasa Yoga teacher in 2014. Fabi started teaching in Miami, Florida and then worked as a traveling yoga teacher in several places.  

Ellie is a recent graduate from True Self’s 200 hr teacher training. She began practicing yoga 3 years ago when she moved to Washington for its physical benefits (and an alternative to the gym). She had taken a class a few years prior from a friend in New York and since then kept the intention in the back of her mind to one day try it out on a regular basis.  

Holly Anderson is a graduate of the first True Self Yoga Teacher Training and is now a RYT-200. She first came to the practice at a young age, but it was not until pain and illness struck her body and began to affect her daily life, that she really pursued yoga more seriously.

Jean has been teaching Bikram and Hot Yoga for over 15 years.  Before that, for many years she taught aerobic classes at various YMCAs throughout New York.  As a lifelong athlete, Jean started to experience the effects of years of high impact stress on her body.  

Kehle was drawn to the physical advantages of yoga in 2009, but it wasn’t until much later that she began appreciating and integrating the emotional and mental benefits into her daily life. As a stay-at-home mom with a dream of becoming a yoga teacher, she pursued her 200-hour RYT at True Self Yoga, complimented by an apprenticeship with Christina Lagdameo.

Kelli Mae is a certified teacher of yoga, AcroYoga, CircusYoga, Children’s Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness, and Waldorf education. She coordinates our Kids and Family Yoga program and leads Children’s Yoga Teacher Training weekends at True Self.  Kelli Mae brings her dynamic, playful teaching style to all of her classes, for children and adults alike!

Laura first came to the mat for a good workout, what happened was far more beautiful then she could ever have imagined. Linking breath with movement became a peaceful dance for her, a journey with herself, a wonderful way to discover to her truth. This has proven to be hugely healing, and a wonderful way to navigate through life’s ups and downs. Laura has always felt drawn to be nurturing and show others she cares, whether this is with a smile, a hug, or a body positive message in class, she strives to touch many lives with smiles, love and laughter.  Laura is a graduate of True Self’s RYT-200 followed with an apprenticeship under Vajra Romero. 

Leah is a graduate of True Self’s first 200 hr teacher training. She has practiced yoga for many years, but not until after college and stepping out of her 20s did her practice become a journey of the self. She believes you never regret arriving to your mat, taking the time to mindfully move and breathe with awareness.

Lindsay Porter found yoga while recovering from a knee injury in 2008 and immediately felt at home on her mat.  She fell in love with the way yoga made her feel and how that translated to her interactions with others. 

PJ was introduced to yoga on a camping trip in the Adirondacks in the summer of 2002. Somewhere there’s a picture of the most awkward, stiff tree you could ever imagine; still he was hooked. 

Rebecca is originally from New Jersey and has been on the West Coast for over ten years. She has a background in Education, Science and Art.  After many years of dental assisting, she found particular appeal in the rejuvenating and healing qualities of heated yoga, for both body and mind.

After graduating in 1999 from Capital High School in Olympia, Vajra went to the wilderness to contemplate the meaning of life. After a bad judgement in direction, Vajra spent seven days lost in Olympic National Park. During this time of desperation, with no food or certainty of making it out alive, Vajra was forced to turn inward and discover the indestructibility of his True Self.