Marcela Starkenberg
Borned and raised in Chile, Marcela is a certified yoga instructor and a Register Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. She also held a certification in "Mastering in Leadership" from University of Nevada. Marcela discovered yoga in 2006 in Carefree, Arizona under the guidance of Japanese mentor, Harumi Maejima. After several months into the practice, Marcela found that every session was an opportunity to grow and find herself. Every class was becoming a true life changing experience...it was becoming a life style. Her desire to explore her practice as well as expanding her knowledge has takien her to countries like El Salvador and Costa Rica. In 2009 she decided to start her new career path and became a certified Hatha Yoga Instructor by Yoga Connection in Arizona. A month into her course she got the wonderful news that she was expecting her first baby. From this point forward her entire training was focused on learning yoga with a little twist. During this time and after giving birth via c-section the new challenges such as lower back problems, weight gain and emotional imbalance were only a few of the new changes to her body. Marcela truly understood how to overcome and empower herself to the fullest to get back on track in a safe and natural way. She had not only learned the method of yoga without child but also for her new body and baby. Chair Yoga and Kids' Yoga is also part of Marcela's training. Currently she is integrating all her knowledge to the wonders of yoga in her new role as a mom.

Kath Mitchell

Kathleen Sheets
Kathleen moved in and out of yoga for years after discovering yoga through PBS in high school. After a college yoga class she enjoyed leading her friends in savasana. In 2000, after many years of experimenting with yoga, Kathleen dedicated herself to a regular practice, moving deeper into the many branches of the tree of yoga and into teaching. Strongly influenced by the Iyengar tradition, Kathleen draws from many teachings of the Krishnamacharya lineage. Her focus is on alignment and technique in asana, with attention to energy in the body through the breath. Her aim is to make yoga accessible to all, so that students will find sthira (stability) and sukham (ease) in the postures and in the breath. Kathleen holds a BFA in visual art and enjoys the intuitive and creative side of the art and science of yoga. She has had an opportunity to attend workshops with nationally recognized teachers including Donald Moyer, Donna Farhi, Tias Little and Rod Stryker. An ever curious student of yoga, Kathleen completed an advanced 500 level yoga teacher training with teachers Theresa Elliott and Kathryn Payne of Pacific Yoga Teacher Training in Seattle in May 2010. She is also now an E-RYT 500 yoga teacher as recognized by the Yoga Alliance, which means she has a minimum of 2000 hours of teaching and a certificate from a program with over 500 hours of training. She continues to study with, and draws inspiration from her teachers Theresa and Kathryn.

Melanie Simodi
Melanie began practicing yoga in 1999 and has been teaching since 2004. It didn’t take long for her to fall in love with yoga soon after her first class in downtown San Diego. Yoga immediately showed her a better way to live and look at life and herself. Her classes are focused on ourselves as emotional and spiritual beings first. Using vinyasa, kundalini and restorative practices primarily we link all parts of the physical and subtle bodies so that we can be healthy physically, emotionally and spiritually. The classes and workshops she leads are always centered in the Heart with a good dose of breath and sweat!! She is an E-RYT, which means she is an experienced teacher with well over 2000 hours of teaching. Her teacher training was with Samadhi Yoga in Seattle and the wonderful Kathleen Hunt. She has also travelled to India to further expand her yoga knowledge. She is also a certified teacher of sanskrit mantra under Namadeva Acharya (Thomas Ashley-Farrand) with Sanatana Dharma Satsang, a non-profit religious organization. Always striving to expand her knowledge, she has taken courses and workshops with Guru Singh, Donna Eden, Namadeva, Bhagavan Das, Salvatore Zambito and Kathleen Hunt, etc. She regularly attends the White Tantra events led by 3HO. Not long after she started teaching she fell in love with another element of yoga – Sanskrit Mantra. These are scientific sound formulas based on vibrations that activate certain parts of the subtle anatomy. You can use mantra for anything from health & prosperity to cleaning out old stuck patterns and negative energies. She has been holding satsangs and kirtans, devotional singing – with music, gong, meditation, etc, and using Sanskrit Mantra since 2005.