Guiding students with clear and articulate instructions, anatomical insights and skillful sequencing, Kathleen shares the benefits of her long-time yoga practice with humor and grace. Her classes blend poetry and wisdom teachings with her understanding of the power of yoga asana to transform. She has taught yoga in Galveston since 1998, moving to the island from Santa Fe, NM to teach at  Island Yoga. Kathleen opened The Yoga Haven in 2005. She is experienced in several styles of yoga  with practice & study in Iyengar, Ashtanga, Anusara, PreNatal Yoga and Yin Yoga. She holds teaching certifications from The Yoga Institute, Prajna Yoga and Insight Yoga. Kathleen continues to study with Tias & Surya Little of Prajna Yoga and Sarah Powers of Insight Yoga. She practices and teaches mindfulness based meditation in the Vipassana tradition. Since 2011, Kathleen has also operated the Oasis Juice Bar & Market with partners Dennis McFadden and Steve Hermecke, bringing healthy & conscious food options to downtown Galveston. 

Born in Russia, Svetlana experienced the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990. The study of yoga was banned by the Soviets, but a wave of interest in yoga blossomed after the fall. Svetlana’s dedicated practice led to her becoming an instructor at the Iyengar Yoga Center of St. Petersburg, training with some of Europe’s finest Iyengar teachers, including Gabriella Gubillaro (Italy), Faek Biria (France), H.S. Arun (India). She developed customized individual prenatal programs at the St. Petersburg Center. Svetlana traveled to India to study with B.K.S. Iyengar at Pune in 2007. She has taught at The Yoga Haven since 2010 and became a U.S. citizen in 2011. Svetlana's teaching is precise and powerful, rooted in the teachings of BKS Iyengar. She  is a licensed Massage Therapist, and an accomplished visual artist.

 

Joanna's (aka JoJo) passion for yoga started in 2005 when she enrolled in a 'Yoga 101' course while attending A&M Corpus Christi. She received her 200 Hour RYT YogaTeacher Training Certification in 2012 though the Yoga Institute. JoJo teaches a thoughtful and athletic vinyasa style that aims to relax the mind, strengthen the body, and rejuvenate the spirit. She lives in Galveston and works at Island BrainWorks as a Brainwave Optimization Technician. In her free time, JoJo likes to surf, travel, meditate, garden, spin fire poi, and do stand-up paddle board (SUP) yoga.

Michelle grew up in landlocked Ohio, but has always been inspired by the ocean. As a marine biologist working with NOAA, scientific SCUBA diver, and all-around outdoor girl, it was no surprise that she was charmed by vinyasa yoga. Initially drawn to the practice for the physical challenge, she quickly discovered that yoga offered much more--a balance of mind, body and soul. Vinyasa flow became one of her passions, complimenting her enthusiasm for water activities, and she has been teaching since 2001. As a graduate student at USC, she discovered Anusara yoga and aligned to that philosophy, as weaving elemental alignment principles into an energetic flow allows students to gain the most out of their yoga practice to both open and create positive space. Michelle leads an enthusiastically engaging class that plays to students of multiple levels. In her free time, Michelle travels, dives, paddles, hikes and runs on the beach with her dog Zoe. 

Dennis is a funny guy. He is a natural yogi, amazing flexible and at times really focused, he has been known to chant in Pig Latin.  As a Certified Laughter Yoga instructor, he has found his true path. Hasyayoga (laughter yoga) is a practice involving prolonged voluntary laughter. It is based on the belief that voluntary laughter provides the same physiological and psychological benefits as spontaneous laughter. Laughter Yoga was devised by Dr. Madan Kataria in India in 1995 and has spread all over the world with Laughter Yoga Clubs. Drop your cares, your stress, your ego and just laugh with Dennis, aka Mr. Juice of Oasis Juice Bar & Market.  

Sandi was initially drawn to yoga for exercise and relaxation but experienced a profound transformation in her first year of practicing and committed herself to sharing this experience with others. She moved from sunny Tennessee to even sunnier Austin, Tx and began to train as a yoga teacher. In Austin at Yoga Yoga she trained with Donna Farhi, Guru Charan Singh Khalsa and Dr. Richard Miller of the Integrative Restoration Institute. Her teachers have inspired her to use yoga as a healing, therapeutic and transformational tool to bring balance and clarity to the mind and to liberate the true self. Sandi has recently joined the Galveston community at attend the DPT program at UTMB. She is also a Licensed Massage Therapist.

Richard Hite became one of the first hospital credentialed yoga therapists in the United States in 1988. His work as a licensed clinical therapist in Houston and Galveston hospitals and in private practice integrates western and eastern mind/body modalities in a modern therapeutic yoga. Richard uses yoga and mindfulness practices in combination with Feldenkrais, Hanna Somatics,Hakomi Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), to focus on symptom relief, managing hypertension, post traumatic stress, insomnia, chronic pain and muscle tension. Richard has created a new genre of sound healing and transformative music with his polyphonic Tibetan gongs and other instruments. His recordings are used in hospitals, schools and prisons to promote healing and enhance learning.

Cat stumbled upon yoga while living in 

Portland, Oregon in 1996, when a friend invited her to a Kundalini, donation based class. After coming off of an extremely rough time in her life,

she felt the healing and transformation working immediately. She then moved to Chicago and had the opportunity to 

practice with master teachers and unlimited yoga classes in exchange for service. Her passion for seeking the yogic path, lead her to study at Sivananda Ashram in Kerala, India. After moving back to Texas in 2008, she started teaching middle school and saw a need for yoga with teens and for people in recovery. This led Cat to Kripalu Center for Yoga in 2013, where she received her 200 hr. yoga teacher certification. Cat is also certified to lead Y12SR-Yoga of 12-Step Recovery. She is passionate about living a holistic, consciousness-based lifestyle, organic gardening, and karma yoga (service).

Carmen brings experience and devotion to her yoga practice and teaching based on her own journey from injury to wellness. She began practicing yoga in 2000, discovering that yoga and pranayama brought her relief from anxiety and panic attacks. Carmen found that with consistent practice, her body, mind and spirit became strong, calm and steady. In 2005 a severe car accident left her with shoulder and back injuries.  Carmen deepened her yoga and mindfulness practices and found the skills needed to strengthen and condition her body beyond the limits her injuries presented. Carmen obtained an Associates Degree in Kinesiology, she is a Certified Personal Trainer and a Registered Yoga Teacher through the Institute of Spirituality & Health. 

Lisa's path of yoga began in college with Hatha yoga classes at her university gym. After a few classes she realized yoga was precisely what she had been searching for all along. Her enthusiasm for her practice has deepened over the years as a path toward better health and personal enrichment.  Her practice has given her all of that and much more. She delights in sharing that with her students. 

Lisa was certified through OM Yoga at the 200 Hr. level and has a background in social work and psychology, which has helped her growth as an instructor. 

Her personal practice and teaching are based in Astanga and Vinyasa Flow styles with an emphasis on maintaining creativity and openness. In her spare time, Lisa takes every opportunity to spend time relaxing with her husband and collection of rescue animals. Relaxing often takes the form of walking the dogs on the beach, volunteering for a pet rescue organization or cooking up a new recipe for a Sunday dinner with friends. 

Satyapal Singh (Sidney Holliday lll) has been a spiritual seeker all of his life. In the course of his long-time  Transcendental Meditation practice he pursued studies in hatha yoga, the Vedas (the Knowledge of Life), Gandharva (musical vibrations of nature), Sthapatya Veda (Vedic architecture) and Ayurveda. He traveled to India and trained in the practice of Deeksha and the Oneness Blessing at the Golden Temple in Andra Pradesh. Ultimately his yogic path led him to the practice of Kundalini Yoga, as taught by Yogi Bhajan. In addition to his Kundalini Aquarian Yoga Teacher Certification, he is also certified to lead Y12SR: Yoga of 12-Step Recovery.

Little Lotus instructor, Paige Mayeux is a veteran elementary teacher. She has her M.Ed. and Early Childhood Certification and many years of experience teaching young children in both public and private schools. She has been practicing yoga for several years and after witnessing first hand the positive force yoga has had on her life, she is now sharing the love through children's yoga classes. She has her RYT200 and RCYT95 through Yoga Alliance.