Akilah Barr

Akilah Barr began her study of yoga at Samadhi Yoga Studio, where she completed her RYT200 training. She is a passionate licensed yoga instructor. She motivates students to discover their authentic and healthiest selves through the practice. Akilah is a runner; the connections of yoga similarly integrate whole body attunement. Her knowledge and dedication to the practice creates an active healing environment where transformation can occur.
Akilah's spiritual explorations lead her to the philosophies of Nikki Meyers, yoga therapist and founder of Yoga of 12 Step Recovery. Akilah is a Y12SR facilitator and teaches across the state. Y12SR "connects the dots" between the ancient wisdom of yoga, the practical tools of 12-step programs, and the latest research on trauma healing and neurobiology.
Akilah combines her understanding of the yoga sutras and addiction to create a safe space for exploration and recovery. As an Independent Living Skills Trainer in the brain injury community, she fosters resiliency in her clients. She is a certified facilitator for Love Your Brain, which encompasses a positive approach to brain injury prevention and healing.
Akilah is a co-facilitator and advocate in The Imani Breakthrough Project, an opioid-based support group, blending the somatics of yoga to its practicum.
Akliah has developed her own program: Freedom Yoga, which encapsulates all the modalities she's explored in her practice.

Bella Zubkov

Bella has been practicing yoga for over 10 years. In 2008, to further deepen her practice, she completed a 200 hour teacher training in EmbodyYoga with Patty Townsend. Having a busy work and home life she taught occasional karma yoga classes as well as her family. In the spring of 2010 several "subtle" forces lead her to a workshop with Sri Dharma Mittra. Experiencing yoga through the guidance of Sri Dharma Mittra made her want to deepen her practice further and a need to share the practice through teaching arose. She completed the 500 hour Life of a Yogi Teacher Training in March 2011 and is eager to share with all who are receptive.

Cynthia Barlow

Cynthia Barlow received her formal 200 hour yoga teacher training at Kripalu, but she learns something new every day, whether it be from the excellent teachers at Samadhi, her own practice, or her fellow students. Her movement background includes Tai Chi and Qi Gong, hiking, and 1990's cardio.
"One of my motivations to teach is to share my love of yoga. Yoga is for everyone. Yoga is big, bigger than one pose, bigger than any one kind of yogi, and bigger than reluctance or fear or doubt: there is room for all and reward for all. And, not least, Yoga is fun, fun for all."

Danielle OConnell

One of Danielle's favorite pastimes is to create art either by painting, drawing or creating something from nothing. Yoga, to her, was just another way to create. Creating movement with the body and breath is a beautiful experience that can be embodied by all. She hopes to inspire others with the same creative desire that drew her to yoga.

Giddel Ortolaza

Jackie Coleman

Jen Daniels

Jen Daniels, RYT-200, has practiced yoga for over 15 years and completed her initial training in 2013 with Jennifer Prugh's Joy of Yoga. Currently, Jen is completing her 500-hour training with Julie Rader-Wellman's Mukti school. Additionally, Jen has certifications in Restorative yoga, Youth Yoga, and Flying Lotus (aerial yoga).
Through a strong asana practice, Jen has found that in deepening her connection to mind-body has transformed all areas of life. Yoga allows people to find the best version of themselves. By learning to pause before reacting and to breathe when life becomes stressful Jen has found improved personal and professional relationships as well as the ability to shift perspectives when needed.
In addition to creating safe and challenging sequences that are alignment focused, Jen loves inversions and arm balances. Her background in equestrian vaulting (www.americanvaulting.org) has created a distinct curiosity of advanced asanas. Through creating a strong and stable core, Jen believes that having the opportunity to play and enjoy the movement your body has to offer is one of the most beautiful aspects of the asana practice. Abundant transformation occurs when people become aware of their body through breath work and mindfulness.
Jen spent the last eight years learning and playing in Northern California. As a UCONN grad and a Hebron native, she is excited to be back home and ready to infuse some California sunshine into her CT students.

Jenn Ford

Jenn began attending yoga classes after graduating college and moving from her home state of Florida to Manchester, CT around 2002. She enjoys taking all levels of classes and believes with each class she learns something new. When pregnant with her first child, she expanded her practice to prenatal yoga. After giving birth in 2010, Jenn struggled and eventually found her way back to her mat at mom and baby yoga. She credits this class and her teachers with pulling her into the light and allowing her to finally enjoy bonding with her new baby.
A year later she felt a calling to deepen her practice and enrolled in Samadhi Yoga Studio's 200-hour YTT program. With no intention to teach, she was able to dive into the training without any expectations for herself and truly enjoy the powerful change it brought to her life and her practice. She completed the training in 2012 and continued with prenatal and postnatal yoga after the birth of her second child in 2013.
Jenn is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) through Yoga Alliance and is a Certified ChildLight Yoga Instructor and is currently enrolled in a 95-hour Children's Yoga Teacher Training Program studying yoga and mindfulness for children of all ages. Now that her children are no longer babies or toddlers, she feels a strong pull to help other parents nurture themselves and connect to their children and babies through yoga.

Jessica Giordano

Jessica is proud to have been sharing yoga as a healing modality ever since completing her 200 hour teacher certification program through Samadhi Yoga Studio in 2007 under the guidance of Anne and Matt Falkowski. Offering an eclectic approach to yoga, Jessica is known for infusing physical practice with the use of heartfelt music, intention, and poetry. She encourages her students to approach yoga from a place of compassion, creativity, and intuition and to utilize the mindful elements of the practice in order to facilitate a kinder relationship to self and greater connectedness to the world around us.
Jessica holds a Masters of Science in Counseling Psychology and is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT) and has a private psychotherapy practice which combines modern psychology with mindfulness and other evolutionary disciplines.

Kapil Taneja

I first started practicing yoga at the age ten in community classes held in a park in India. After being away from physical practice of yoga for many years I started practicing yoga again about eleven years ago. I love what yoga can do at so many levels for all of us. In my practice and in my teaching, I focus on centering, meditation and movement with breath. We ground down to de stress and breath with the poses.
For my day job, I run a small business and enjoy developing my team to keep improving. My hobbies include poetry and hiking. I am a graduate 200hr YTT at Samadhi Yoga studio and teach a moderate level de stress class on Fridays to get you ready for the weekend.

Linda Burns

Coming into the studios at Samadhi felt like coming home. It was inspiring and embracing, beckoning Linda into the study of yoga. After a year of intense study she entered the teacher training program at Samadhi and is excited to now be teaching yoga in the community.
While Linda feels grateful for her decades-spanning dance career, she feels there is no greater joy than assisting others in their journeys toward stronger, healthier, balanced bodies and spirits.

Marie_Percy

Marie Boyette has been practicing yoga since 2007. She fell in love with yoga when she discovered that it could help her manage her chronic low back pain and spondylolisthesis (permanent spinal fracture) after a long career as a high level competitive gymnast. She loves that yoga helps her eliminate pain, reduce stress, and connect to a deeper sense of self love and compassion.
Marie has a diverse movement background that spans multiple movement disciplines including gymnastics, dance, theater, movement analysis, and somatic movement studies. Her yoga classes reflect her deep understanding of the human body and the mind body spirit connection. They are deeply introspective, technically rigorous, and accessible to all ability levels with plenty of options to make the practice your own. Marie completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Samadhi under Anne Falkowski. She is a Certified Movement Analyst with the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies in NYC and holds an MFA in Theater/Movement Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Marie Boyette has been practicing yoga since 2007. She fell in love with yoga when she discovered that it could help her manage her chronic low back pain and spondylolisthesis (permanent spinal fracture) after a long career as a high level competitive gymnast. She loves that yoga helps her eliminate pain, reduce stress, and connect to a deeper sense of self love and compassion.
Marie has a diverse movement background that spans multiple movement disciplines including gymnastics, dance, theater, movement analysis, and somatic movement studies. Her yoga classes reflect her deep understanding of the human body and the mind body spirit connection. They are deeply introspective, technically rigorous, and accessible to all ability levels with plenty of options to make the practice your own. Marie completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Samadhi under Anne Falkowski. She is a Certified Movement Analyst with the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies in NYC and holds an MFA in Theater/Movement Pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Melissa_Pieciak

Mia_Mitoma

Mia began her yoga journey in 1999 in Southern California. She found Samadhi Yoga Studio ten years later while teaching at Manchester High School. With 2 high-school age boys of her own, she made a career change, and now runs The Fitch House Bed & Breakfast in Mansfield, CT. There she enjoys learning about and caring for the 200-year old home, the grounds and surrounding environment that is "the quiet corner". Mia likes to bake, care for her family and guests, and learn more from her bees and orchard when she is not practicing yoga.
Mia obtained her yoga teacher certification at Samadhi Yoga Studio in 2016. While she has a strong asana practice, her yoga is mindful and meditative, and focuses on connecting breath to movement.

Mindy_Perry

Mindy found yoga as a self-care technique during her years of training to be an LMT at the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy. Instantly, she was hooked on how great it was to move, bend, and strengthen her body without the daunting hours at the gym. Mindy found something in herself on her mat that she had never experience before: she was able to use her body in a way that made her feel empowered. After years of jumping around from studio to studio, Mindy found her home at Samadhi as front desk staff. Zumba instructor training came first in January of 2012, and of course, the YTT program at Samadhi, of which she graduated in May of 2013.Using her anatomy and physiology background from massage therapy, Mindy incorporates knowledge and fun into all of her vinyasa-based, music-filled classes. She continually reminds her students to smile and enjoy themselves, even as the postures become difficult or fatigue sets in.

Nancy_Listro

I was over fifty before I started yoga and became a Reiki Master Practitioner and Teacher. It is never too late to change your life. For me it started at the Gym that is where I first learned to do yoga. When the yoga bug bites you soon out grow gym yoga and move on to studio yoga. My gym teacher recommended Samadhi.
In 2005 I did my 200 hour teacher training. I finished my 500 hour Pranakriya teacher training in August 2010 at Samadhi. When I started yoga it felt like I was coming home it felt so right in my body, mind, and spirit. I can't believe how my life has changed in the last ten years. I am so grateful for all that Yoga has done for me. I am grateful to Anne and Matt and all my Teachers for helping me to grow and open my life to such unbelievable joy. My wish now is to pass on my love of life and yoga to my students.

Noreen_Blueming

I first studied yoga after I graduated from college. I was drawn to the profound effect it had on my body and mind. Although I never forgot about it, I wandered away from the practice. I returned to the mat nearly four decades later. I was inspired to share with others the deeper insights I was now given by way of my teachers and through my own studies. On the cusp of retiring from a career in Special Education, I applied to and was accepted into the 200 hour teacher training program at the Samadhi Studio in Manchester. Since then I have received a certification in Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga, and have attended other workshops to increase my knowledge in meditation, pain management, anatomy, Mindfulness Based Stress Training, and Yin Yoga. I am grateful for each opportunity to learn, to grow, and to share my deep appreciation for yoga with others.

Rhea_Klein

Rhea Klein loves to practice yoga each and every day and to share the gratitude and joy she feels with others while teaching yoga classes. She came to yoga as a transition to a new life path after a long career as a special educator. She completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2017 at Samadhi Yoga in Manchester, CT under the instruction of Anne Falcowski, Kelly Bay and Jessica Giordano . Through carefully created practices to meet each participant at their place and readiness in the process, Rhea helps her students to connect the mind, body and breath in order to attain balance and well being in their lives. She is honored to substitute for the talented and committed teachers at the Samadhi Yoga Studio and share her practice with the Samadhi community.

Rita_Concepcion

Susan A. Malo, RN, MPH, RYT 200 discovered yoga as many yogis do, in response to an injury 30 years ago. Over time, the physical practice has transformed my strength and flexibility, but more importantly, is has helped me explore my inner self. I find the meditative aspects woven into a physical yoga practice can bring the yogi to a place of calm and happiness. Yoga is a lifelong journey that I enjoy sharing with both experienced yogis and with those who are beginning their exploration. My intent as a teacher is to assist the student in discovering strength, balance, relaxation and perhaps a smile through breath and movement. Relax, it's just yoga.
As a Registered Nurse with a Master's in Public Health, I see yoga as a form of public health and self-care. Yoga is an easily accessible way to improve the health of the mind, body and spirit.
I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training at Samadhi under Anne and Matt Falkowski and am currently pursuing my 500-hour certification. In addition, I am a Reiki Practitioner.
It is an honor and I am grateful to be a member of the Samadhi teaching staff and yoga community.

Sarita_Nanda

I offer my gratitude to the almighty for giving me the knowledge, desire & an environment to find his presence in myself and every human being with Yoga.
Hence Yoga is my prayer (puja) through which I live my life fully.
Every Aasana & Pranayam practice is a moving meditation for me through which, I connect (unite) & discover myself more clearly than the previous practice.
It has helped me to connect with people and bring a little difference in their life, which otherwise I would not have got this opportunity.
Apart from my gurus in India who built my foundation on Yoga since I was 10 years old, I would also like to recognize Samadhi's team contribution in shining my Yoga knowledge, not only in making me a 200 hours certified YTT but giving me the strength and confidence. I am able to serve YOGA to the people who need the most.
Hence my focus is with Prenatal, Kids Yoga, Gentle/Restorative yoga and All Level Yoga. I have done my certification on Prenatal Yoga from Pranakriya Yoga.
Apart from Yoga, painting, cooking healthy vegetarian food is my focus.

Sharon_Lafarque

Sue_Barlow

Teaching yoga lets me share its benefits � relaxation, challenge, meditation, and improved mobility. My goal as a teacher is to bring these benefits to everyone who is willing to give yoga a try! I started practicing yoga in the 1970s. In 2017, I completed the 200-hour Yoga-Alliance-certified teacher training at Samadhi Yoga in Manchester, CT. It's a privilege to teach at Samadhi. In addition to yoga, I teach tai chi, the ancient Chinese practice of gentle movement coordinated with breath. I enjoy hiking, history, leading walking tours, and reading.

Susan_Malo

Susan A. Malo, RN, MPH, RYT 200 discovered yoga as many yogis do, in response to an injury 30 years ago. Over time, the physical practice has transformed my strength and flexibility, but more importantly, is has helped me explore my inner self. I find the meditative aspects woven into a physical yoga practice can bring the yogi to a place of calm and happiness. Yoga is a lifelong journey that I enjoy sharing with both experienced yogis and with those who are beginning their exploration. My intent as a teacher is to assist the student in discovering strength, balance, relaxation and perhaps a smile through breath and movement. Relax, it's just yoga.
As a Registered Nurse with a Master's in Public Health, I see yoga as a form of public health and self-care. Yoga is an easily accessible way to improve the health of the mind, body and spirit.
I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training at Samadhi under Anne and Matt Falkowski and am currently pursuing my 500-hour certification. In addition, I am a Reiki Practitioner.
It is an honor and I am grateful to be a member of the Samadhi teaching staff and yoga community.

Sushma Reddy

I was exposed to yoga at a very young age, and have been doing yoga off and on for many years. But in 2009,I got my 200 hr teacher training certification from Samadhi yoga studio.
The best thing about Yoga is that it nurtures the mind, body and spirit and I try and continue to further my knowledge by attending yoga classes and workshops.I have attended workshops with Yoganand,Sadie Nardini, and Rolph gates which was a great learning experience.
I enjoy strengthening my link to the tradition of yoga through personal practice, teaching classes, and assisting in other yoga classes. Helping others discover their potential through asana, pranayama, meditation, is a delight for me.
My classes are rooted in breath and I remind students to feel the movements while expressing them from the heart. Yoga is a journey; there is no destination only exploration.