About the Teachers

Beatrice Mattaway, CYT, RYT 500 is the founder and owner of Willow Tree Yoga. She received her 200 and 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification through Yoga Mountain in New City. Beatrice took her first yoga class and began meditating when she was 6 years old, living in Japan. Bea spent two years living in an ashram in India, where she practiced yoga, meditation and chanting daily. Beatrice keeps her classes fun and relaxed, allowing her students, from advanced to brand new beginners, to feel welcomed and relaxed. Class intensity varies depending on the experience & ability level of students in any given class.

Jyothi Vastare, RYT has studied and teaching yoga for over 10 years and has completed her 500 hour(Masters)certification with Yoga Mountain. Jyothi is from India and has been taught by Pattabi Jois, the famous Ashtanga teacher. Jyothi's classes incorporate a vinyasa style linking breath with postures. She gives a more vigorous class that emphasizes proper alignment and position. Jyothi's objective is to help her students to open their bodies and let the asanas (poses) flower from the inside, rather than impose or force them from the outside. Her instruction is challenging, yet not straining, with the focus on the breath and the way the asanas feel on an innate, sustained, and personal level. The atmosphere in each class is one of flow and deep release.

Ashley (Feo) DiMeglio is a certified 500hr yoga instructor with certifications in Restorative & Vinyasa yoga. She has trained with many wonderful teachers and has been studying the Five Tibetan Rites finding that her classes have blossomed from this great practice. She flows several yoga styles into her practice. She was given a Sanskrit name "Bhakta" from Joan Suval in Ananda Ashram meaning the "tranquil one". Spending at year at Ananda Ashram helped her realize that yoga had changed her life and she continues to learn as she travels down this great path of yoga knowledge. She is finding incredible gifts for her own growth from a continuous study of yoga postures and philosophy and is happy to be able to share this ancient knowledge with her students. Her personal experience has brought her to realize that if you “Lead with the breath the heart will follow”.

Bill Rosenfeld(RYT-500) has been practicing and loving yoga since January 2003. His classes incorporate alignment, anatomy, breath, and the fun of movement. Bill encourages all his students to connect with the amazing intelligence, beauty, and energy of their human bodies. Bill received his 200- and 500-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Birchwood Center in Nyack, and continues to practice yoga there and elsewhere. He has two grown sons and lives in Nyack with his wife.

Cheryl Schwartz has practiced yoga joyfully for most of her adult life. She taught weekly classes at Yoga Mountain Studio in New City for seven years and assisted with the teacher training program. Her yoga teaching experience spans from kids yoga to teen yoga, general hatha practice to senior/assisted yoga. Her classes are imbued with depth and precision while creating space for the student's personal comfort and growth. Cheryl is a sensitive and enthusiastic practitioner who brings a lifetime of yoga perspective to her teaching. She is currently an ESL teacher at Valley Cottage Elementary School.

Valerie Baker, RYT was trained in the Integral Yoga tradition, which began in the early 1800s as a synthesis of different branches of Yoga. The goal of Integral Yoga is “Easeful body, peaceful mind, useful life.” Valerie received her training at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City, which was founded by His Holiness Sri Swami Satchidananda. One of the many great contributions of Swami Satchidananda was the interfaith emphasis of his teachings, summarized in his motto, “Truth is One, Paths are Many.” Valerie is a certified Hatha I, Therapeutic and Prenatal Yoga instructor and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor specializing in Yoga and mindfulness-based treatment of depression and anxiety. To learn more about her psychotherapy practice, please visit www.valeriebaker.com