Jackie Prete
Jackie Prete is a Certified Anusara Yoga Instructor, a Licensed Massage Therapist and Yoga Therapist. She is also Certified by Om Yoga Center and The White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara,California. Her training includes 7 years of study at the Iyengar Institute of NYC. Jackie has studied yoga therapeutics extensively with John Friend and practices the techniques learned in his therapeutic trainings. She is the owner of Ram Sangha Retreats leading retreats in the Catskills and Costa Rica for the past 7 years.

Jackie brings 18 years of teaching experience to her Anusara yoga classes. She draws on her experience as a body worker to help her students deepen their practice in a safe yet challenging environment. Her spirited yet playful classes are characterized by precision of alignment with freedom to connect with the essence of this sacred and heart-filled practice.

Since joining the World Yoga Center staff, Jackie and Rudrani Farbman Brown (WYC director) have co-led Anusara Immersions, Teacher Trainings and retreats. Their work together is a profound and joyful exploration of the weaving of Tantric yoga philosophy through the study of Anusara yoga and yoga scriptures.

Jackie has appeared on Good Day New York and The Sally Jesse Rafael Show. She has been published in Family Circle, Elle, Real Beauty and First Woman magazines. She currently also teaches at NYC's premier Equinox Fitness Clubs.

Marjorie is a Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher, who discovered Anusara yoga's life affirming philosophy, universal principals and supportive community when she sought stress relief after a decade working in corporate environments. Her life dramatically shifted for the better as she explored and intensified her yoga practice. The path of teaching followed to offer others the gift of yoga, and she created therapeutics classes at the world Yoga Center in 2006 in order to address the needs in the community.  She offers gratitude to her teachers John Friend and Amy Ippoliti for their encouragement and support.

Susan Kotcher
Certified by the World Yoga Center, Susan Kotcher teaches Hatha yoga, inspired by the grace of Anusara yoga, imbuing rigorous asana practice with celebration of the luminous consciousness that is our core. Susan sees that yoga encourages us to practice even while "off the mat" in our daily lives, co-creating a powerful force within our city of 8 million people for a more compassionate world. Susan began a daily meditation practice 15 years ago, studying Tantra and Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. In 1997, she discovered the beauty of Hatha yoga at the World Yoga Center and began her studies with Rudrani Farbman Brown. Susan's practice continues to be shaped by the World Yoga Center, and she is blessed to teach at the school. She thanks Rudrani Farbman Brown, John Friend, Robert Thurman, Thich Nhat Hanh, the sangha and fellow yoga students, and her life partner, Steven, for their generous inspiration.

Susan holds a BA from Barnard and an MA from Columbia University, both in Political Science. She works with the International Rescue Committee, which rescues refugees around the world. Susan also teaches yoga and meditation in non-profit settings and privately.

Michael Fergot
Michael happily joins the faculty at the World Yoga Center and is unabashedly in love with the dynamic dance of Shakti and Shiva. He began studying yoga in 1982, but it wasn't until being introduced to Anusara Yoga by Jackie Prete that he feels he really met Yoga. He views each day, class and breath as an opportunity to deepen his connection to that divine mystery called Grace. While each practice is guided by the scientific principles of biomechanics, these principles are employed to elevate and celebrate the human heart. That the human heart can aspire and magically unite with the divine is the greatest gift. Michael's classes balance vigorous action and this life affirming qualities of heart. He has been a student of the body and mind for over 25 years ranging from martial to the performing arts, philosophy and sciences. He has been a dancer for 15 years and holds certification in both Sports Medicine and Medical Exercise. As an Anusara Yoga affiliate he is working towards certification. Michael is known for his sweetness and gentle approach.

Tyrone Holmes
Tyrone fell in love with Yoga several years ago and has never looked back.  He was introduced to Yoga by a co-worker.  Like many, he at first came to Yoga for the physical aspect but quickly realized that there was much more.  It is the formless essence, the indescribable beauty, the poetry of Yoga and wonderful teachers that inspired him to continue.

Throughout his study he has been blessed with amazing Anusara Yoga teachers to whom he extends much love and gratitude.  On the journey towards becoming a teacher he was equally blessed to complete his teacher training at the World Yoga Center where his teachers, Jackie Prete and Rudrani Farbman Brown, transformed his practice. Through the spirit of both his teachers, he embraced the wisdom of Anusara alignment and the beauty of Yoga that takes us  beyond the form.   

Tyrone enjoys the diversity, energy, and pulse of city life.  His classes offer students from all walks of life an opportunity to explore and share the unifying powers of the practice.  He enjoys bringing the energizing physical practice and the breath together to create that subtle space for students to travel inward and dance with the luminous energy within.

Naz Sarman
Naz is an Anusara-inspired Hatha yoga teacher; she has been practicing since 1999. She had her first teacher training in New York  with Jackie Prete. Naz is honored and thrilled to be joining the staff of the World Yoga Center - a respected Anusara school and a spiritual oasis come to life under Rudrani's leadership  

Since 2004 Naz has been trained in yoga therapeutics and advanced teaching with Anusara founder John Friend and has studied with his senior certified teachers throughout the country including Elena Brower, Ellen Saltonstall, Lois Nesbitt and Paula Tursi. She continues to study yoga philosophy with Professor Dr. Douglas Brooks and meditation with Sally Kempton. Naz has a strong interest and committment to meditation and spiritual development.  

Currently Naz enriches her Anusara Yoga classes with her knowledge of Reiki, Alexander Technique and Body Mind Centering techniques. She explores the wisdom of the moving body and the body's healing capacity through a balance of holding and moving fluently within poses. She emphasizes breathing, alignment and imagery related to the mechanism of the inner body. In her classes you will develop a heightened awareness of your body's movement patterns while getting a complete workout through isometric holding of your muscles.

Naz recognizes and thanks all her teachers and mentors as well as her students for their constant inspiration and support.

Stephanie Bifolco
Stephanie’s classes are playful and insightful and will awaken your love of yoga.  She hopes to help her students open more deeply to themselves and to their greatness inside.  Her vision as a teacher and yogini is to promote individual healing, balance, and growth through yoga, meditation, storytelling, and community empowerment.  Her greater intention is to bring diverse people together to honor each other and work for positive social change.

Stephanie’s inspiration to teach comes directly from her experiences studying Anusara Yoga with founder John Friend and Certified Anusara Instructor Zhenja LaRosa,  with whom she has taken Anusara Teacher Trainings, therapeutics workshops, public classes, and retreats  for several years. She plans to continue studying Anusara Yoga with her teachers and others who inspire her.  She is very grateful to be teaching at World Yoga Center and to begin the year 2008 entering into a beautiful relationship with its spiritual community.

When Stephanie is not teaching yoga, she works with undocumented immigrant communities in Jackson Heights, Queens, building individual capacities and promoting community empowerment.  She is interested in bringing the experiences of spiritual development and growth to underserved communities in New York City.

Danielle Lee
Danielle offers a personal approach to yoga that integrates the insights of various traditions into a vital practice that cultivates strength, grace and awareness.  Her classes draw on the precise alignment and heartfelt spirit of Anusara, the fluid grace and creativity of Vinyasa, the breath centered approach of Desikachar, and the quiet power of Yin to help students experience the stillness in movement and the flow in stillness. 
 
Also passionate about food and healing, Danielle has developed insight from a variety of nutritional and philosophical paradigms on preparing foods that are beautiful, delicious and health supportive.   She is currently enrolled in the Chef's Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. It is her hope to inspire her students, through the healing arts of yoga and food, to create a life of expanding consciousness and deliberate positive action that will better their lives and the lives of those around them.

Danielle is honored to join the faculty at the World Yoga Center - a sacred space where she herself studied yoga and meditation with Rudrani Farbman.  She is grateful to John Friend, Lois Nesbitt, Amy Ippoliti, Shiva Rea, Leslie Kaminoff and Sarah Powers who have taught her to become the teacher she is, and to the community of teachers and students in NYC who continue to inspire her.