VibeWell Teachers and Presenters 2018
Dana Flynn, recognized throughout the yoga community as a true teacher’s teacher, brings an ecstatic expression of movement, music, and community to her practice and students. She is the cofounder of Laughing Lotus Yoga Centers and Lotus Flow Yoga. A former stockbroker, restaurateur, and MTV personality, she turned a life in the limelight into a spiritual transformation, studying with legendary yoga teachers Sharon Gannon and Rodney Yee. With studios in Manhattan and San Francisco, Laughing Lotus is a diverse community of creative, spirited, and playful yogis. Dana has been called the “Janis Joplin of yoga.”
Lara Heimann Drawing from her background as a Physical Therapist, Lara has combined her love of anatomy, creative movement and functional training to develop YogaStream, a powerful, challenging flow style that emphasizes anatomy, alignment and intelligent sequencing.Movement has always been Lara’s favorite form of medicine, beginning with her early years as an athlete and dancer. She graduated from Duke University with a BS in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy and a MS in Physical Therapy, worked as a Physical Therapist and began teaching yoga in 1996. Lara’s passion for yoga transformed into a career and sparked a personal mission to help her students find their source of inner strength.
Lara owns YogaStream studio in Princeton, NJ and directs its YA-certified 200 hour and 500 hour teacher training school. She leads international retreats, workshops and trainings, teaching her unique vinyasa style as well as functional anatomy and movement classes. Lara has classes online at the amazing yoga channel, www.oneoeight.com. As a wellness enthusiast and a certified natural food chef, she can often be found experimenting in the kitchen or playing outdoors with her family.
You can find out more information about working privately with Lara here.
Irene Pappas Irene believes that yoga can be a powerful tool for transformation. Her journey started in the gym, where she spent several years working out obsessively and counting every calorie. She was convinced that if she could work out enough to have the perfect body, she would be happy. Instead she felt even more lost. In 2012 Irene found yoga and immediately knew she had found her path. When she did her first 200 hour teacher training she did not intend to teach right away, but she soon realized that sharing yoga with others was her purpose.As a lover of movement, Irene is passionate about her practice. She has studied Ashtanga, Rocket, Yoga Nidra, and more. Irene’s curiosity has also taken her off the mat, and has led her to study with hand balancers, circus performers, and contortionists to expand her own knowledge and explore the capabilities of her body.
After experiencing a life changing wrist injury Irene has redefined her yoga practice in many ways, placing more emphasis on a strong foundation and finding gratitude for her body with or without advanced asana. She still enjoys intense practice but has learned to value being a good person over being good at yoga asana.
Bridget Riepl
NJ Yoga CollectiveJeff Posner
Meet Jeffrey Posner. His unique style is Inspired by various yoga lineages and movement sciences including
but not limited to Hatha, Katonah Yoga®, Lotus Flow™, Ido Portal Movement Culture and the FRC® Systems. Jeffrey’s Framework Flow is ideal for beginner and advanced students as well as those with physical limitations. Be prepared to move while getting to know your body like never before.
Eleonora Zampatti
is a native of Milan, Italy. Body movement specialist, author and fitness model, her wide range of teaching abilities include Pilates, yogalates, staby * personal one-on-one fitness training, and yoga. Her career began with varsity synchronized swimming, which later led her to becoming a fitness trainer, a Pilates instructor and then a yoga teacher. At the age of 27 she left her career as an assistant professor at the New Academy of arts in Milan and moved in NYC. There she pursued her dreams and enrolled in a 5 years full time dance program at Peridance International School of Dance where she studied ballet, modern dance and flexibility. Now a full time international yoga teacher based in New Jersey, Eleonora has been featured in many publications like Yoga International, Yoga Magazine, Om Yoga and Lifestyle Magazine, Draze, Yoga Digest, and Mantra Yoga and Health. A survivor of domestic violence, using her passion for yoga and music she created the Ode to the Moon Project: a unique yoga practice that combines art, yoga and music to heal the soul and bring awareness to the topic of domestic violence.Patrick Franco
“Art. Music. Yoga. Urban. Diversity. Hoboken. NYC. Local. Vegetarian. Father. Husband. Community.” This is what inspires me and was the spark that led to the creation of the Hudson Yoga Project ~ A Hoboken based Vinyasa Yoga Studio. My classes are devoted to creating a light-hearted atmosphere that encourages self-study, inquiry & playfulness through intelligent movement of the body.
Patrick has been teaching yoga since 2007 and received his E-RYT500 certification from Yogamaya New York in 2011 and his RYT200 certification from Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in 2007. Patrick is also a licensed acupuncturist in the State of New York and has a thriving acupuncture practice in NYC.
Serena Soffer
Serena is a whirling dervish with glitter on her fingertips and just enough magic running through her veins to be the human embodiment of a unicorn. You’ll find her twirling around Monmouth County, creating a sweaty and soulful flow for people to open up, let go of inhibitions and challenge themselves to step into their own power with grace.
Serena’s love and passion for the practice began long before she even knew to call it “yoga.” Her first teacher was her mother, a famous contortionist in the German Circus. As a child, Serena began intensive classical dance training, which led to an incredible education and career as a dancer, performer and choreographer. In 1989 Serena found mantra, chanting, meditation and pranayama while touring with the Phantom of the Opera and, as she says, “the spiritual rollercoaster ride began!”
After the death of her mother in 1998, someone told Serena to “try yoga.” Lost and looking, she stepped through the doors of Jivamukti NYC. Her first class was a transformational, love-at-first-flow moment. Serena practiced with unwavering devotion for years before developing her own spin and soundtrack for the practice at Laughing Lotus NYC with her soulmates and teachers, Dana Flynn and Jasmine Tarkeshi. Serena studied hundreds of hours, to RYT and beyond, at Lotus and returns there as often as she can as a guest teacher, student, innovator, creator and lover of love.
Serena is honored to study with and be influenced by many great teachers including Dana, Jasmine, Joan Suval, the late and great MA Bha, Manorama, Bharati, Sharon Gannon and David Life. She is also deeply inspired by her love of dance, poetry, the chakras, mantra, aryuveda, magic and unicorns. Her greatest advice to her students is simple this: “Smile and LIVE YOUR LIFE”
classes, workshops and teacher training programs from their home studio and in locations around the world. They teach from the heart and with a desire to pass on the joy and power of the practice to their students. Their classes are infused with a playfulness and intimacy that reflects their life partnership. Amy is the founder of iFlow Yoga, a modern and intelligent vinyasa style yoga that draws from her extensive yoga and ayurveda studies.
Danielle Diamond
“I am breathing deeply and calmly, becoming more and more relaxed with each breath.”Danielle stumbled upon yoga while producing fitness videos for MTV and immediately fell in love. When she didn’t find a method that combined all five elements of fitness experts recommend, Danielle developed Xen Strength Yoga—a modern twist on yoga that combines flexibility, strength, balance, cardio and core training all in one multi-tasking workout.
In 2012 Danielle produced her first Xen Strength Yoga DVD, which has sold thousands of copies all over the world. She currently trains teachers globally in her method, and guides students through her Love Your Asana 28-Day program online.
Danielle has written for Yahoo Beauty and The Huffington Post, and has appeared on the Today Show, Dr. Oz, Shape, Yoga Journal and Self Online. She was featured in Bobbi Brown’s Pretty Powerful campaign and book, and is a featured teacher on YogaVibes and YogaDownload.
Danielle teaches at A-list wellness events in NYC and The Hamptons, hosted by Wellthily, Gurney’s Inn and Yoga Journal; and she speaks about wellness in the workplace at corporations such as Bobbi Brown Cosmetics.
Crystal Froberg finds the beauty and magic in the yoga teachings and she loves sharing her loveof yoga with others. Over the last 10 years of her life, while being passionate about the healing arts including massage, dance, vegetarianism, and lots of travel, yoga was and is a huge part of her daily life. On and off the mat. In 2012 Crystal moved out to California to study yoga at the Laughing Lotus in San Francisco. The 200-hour Laughing Lotus training was the most transformation, beautiful, heart-opening time of her life. Awakening to her soul’s purpose on this planet even more. What Crystal offers in her
yoga classes is to hold the space for others to heal, get in tune with the rhythm of their hearts and help students remember the sacredness of their lives. She invites her students to bring the magic back into everyday life. To live out your soul’s wildest dreams and to embrace the beauty of every moment. Yoga helps her to step out of her head and into her heart. The heart space, where we all should learn to live from. She recently graduated from a 100 hour Art of Attention yoga training in NYC with Elena
Brower. This training brought the magic of yoga even deeper into her bones. Refining every cell, thought, and pattern. Crystal feels honored, humbled and privileged to be a yoga teacher in this lifetime. She is ever so grateful every day for this practice and to the humble joy of being able to share it.
As a transformational holistic health coach and yoga instructor, Kim is dedicated to helping women live their best life and step into their highest potential. Working with people who suffer from digestive issues, lack of energy, and emotional eating remains a passion of mine. She’s dedicated to helping my clients heal and step into their full potential. Her approach is holistic and integrative where she focuses on each person’s unique needs, lifestyle, and background.Tim ShawTim was dragged kicking and screaming to his first yoga class but by the end he knew that yoga was something special. Literally within days of that class he made the decision that he would become a teacher. He would find his yoga home at the Jivamukti yoga center in downtown Manhattan. Tim was drawn to Jivamukti by it’s powerful vinyasa, deep spirituality, political activism, animal rights advocacy, and love of music! In 2010 Tim completed the 300-hour Jivamukti yoga teacher training and he is currently undertaking a 500 + hour apprenticeship program under the guidance of advanced certified teacher Dechen Thurman.
Tim infuses his class with music, humor, and a powerful flowing asana practice. He believes that through yoga, and by working on ourselves on a deeply introspective level, we can change the world. All things happen one breath at a time.
Presenters
BAILEY FRUMEN, MSW, LCSW – PSYCHOTHERAPIST, COACH & AUTHOR
Bailey Frumen, MSW, LCSW is a psychotherapist, author, speaker, and coach mentoring ambitious leaders and entrepreneurs by providing the roadmap that takes them from frustration & overwhelm into action & purpose.
She has been named ‘one of the top 20 life coaches to watch’ by popexpert.com. Bailey is the author of Own Your Power: Your Guide to Feeling Powerful, Fearless, and Free. Her work has been published in Huffington Post, Elephant Journal, Aspire Magazine, Natural Awakenings, Popexpert, and numerous guest blogs. She is also a featured author in the best-selling anthology, Inspiration for a Woman’s Soul: Opening To Gratitude & Grace through Inspired Living Publishing.
Through her Own Your Power Mastery, live events, speaking engagements, mastermind groups and transformational coaching, Bailey helps leaders and entrepreneurs to find clarity and connection to purpose, so that they can take the action. With 10+ years of experience, Bailey guides driven women and men cut through the fog of feeling stuck and overwhelmed by feeling confident to master their mindset and live the life they’ve always wanted. For more from Bailey, check out BaileyFrumen.com or say hello on Facebook and Instagram!
is the founder and creator of K-DEER, the insanely popular, universally loved, and NJ-born activewear line that RUNS the stripe game like none other. What began as Kristine’s way of staying focused and comfortable in hot yoga, became the fashion foundation of her brand, which is best known for increasing a woman’s feelings of confidence, comfort, and sexiness (on the mat and off). Kristine is also widely recognized for her commitment to raising funds and awareness for worthy causes. Each one of K-DEER Signature Stripes is named after an inspiring woman and supports a charity that is close to her heart. K-DEER’s intention is to create a platform and community that inspires others to give back. Giving back is at the heart of everything K-DEER does.
Dr. Thomas Dandrea is the founder and president of Monmouth Pain & Rehabilitation, a system of 4 multidisciplinary wellness and rehabilitation centers in Monmouth and Ocean County. What started in 1998 as a one-room chiropractic office has developed into a multiple-facility organization providing care for thousands of patients using a variety of modalities and approaches. It’s Dr. Dandrea’s unique vision, drive for success, and trailblazing mentality that has brought Monmouth Pain & Rehabilitation to where it is today, and continues to foster its growth for the future.Before establishing Monmouth Pain & Rehabilitation, Dr. Dandrea graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Philosophy. He went on to study at Life University, graduating as a Doctor of Chiropractic. He insists on continuing education and involvement with different organizations, citing that as a necessary way to stay on top of the industry to maintain a cutting-edge facility. Both personal and professional growth remain top priorities for Dr. Dandrea throughout his career
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