Jenya Andrianova

Director of Suryasta Yoga

Jenya is a Jivamukti Certified Teacher and has been practicing yoga since 2001.

Create warm and welcoming yoga and arts center for people of Sunset Park was the goal in opening Suryasta Yoga. The place where you can take a yoga class, drink a cup of herbal tea and meet people who care about our community. With the support of friends this idea came into life!

Her classes are highly influenced by devotional scriptures, chanting, and her training in classical music. Her goal is to support a spiritual transformation of the mind and body by combining meditation, asana, mantra, and breath, thereby awakening a desire to serve the world.

Her practice and teachings are an offering to her family and teachers: Sharon Gannon and David Life, Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally, Yogeswari, Lady Ruth and Rima Rabbath.

Leah Thomas

Leah began practicing yoga with J. Brown in 2000. She completed her first teacher training at The Breathing Project in NYC (2007), with Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews, and continued her studies through the Professional Training Program at Abhyasa Yoga Center in Brooklyn with J. Brown (2008). She holds a B.F.A. in Dance and Choreography from Virginia Commonwealth University and she danced professionally in New York before turning her focus to yoga.

Leah is grateful to have been immersed in the breath-centered, therapeutic approach taught by her teachers, stemming from the teachings of T. Krishnamacharya and T.K.V. Desikachar, whose focus has been on tailoring yoga practice to the special needs of each student. Leah guides students to an intimacy with their body, breath and practice that releases tension and reveals wellness.

Kumiko Yamada

Kumiko was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan into a Buddhist way of life. As a child, she ran around in some of the ancient temples of Tokyo, and learned from observing the monks and listening to their teachings.

Through the grace of Sharon Gannon and David Life of Jivamukti Yoga, she experienced the power of daily practice, linked with high intention.  A radical transformation occurred and she knew she had to share what had been passed on to her.

She hopes to inspire students to take the leap and view yoga as devotional practice; to move beyond the work-out; realize the power of the breath, which invites all of us to live in the present moment- The Eternal Now.

Christian Montegut

Christian was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.  He began practicing yoga in 2002 as a way of managing chronic anxiety and insomnia in post 9/11 New York.  The results were staggering. He knew he had to share the practice with others and completed the Jivamukti teacher training in 2007. In 2008, he completed an additional 800 hour Jivamukti apprenticeship with his teacher Rima Rabbath.

A life long musician and student, Christian has been playing guitar in New York clubs since he was 14 years old.  After completing a BA in History from Stanford University in California and studying Japanese language and culture in Kyoto for  6 months, he returned to New York to be near his friends and family.

He is tremendously grateful to his amazing teachers Sharon Gannon and David Life for creating the Jivamukti yoga method, a path that both opens the heart and the mind, and one that serves as an antidote to chaos of modern life.  He is also deeply indebted to Ruth Lauer-Manenti for her brilliant teachings, and especially to his mentor Rima whose close and loving attention is a blessing beyond words. If there is anything of any value in his classes it is because of the gifts he has received from these beautiful teachers.

Holly Faurot

Holly Faurot began practicing yoga in 2003 and in 2009 she completed the
Jivamukti Yoga teacher-training with her teachers Sharon Gannon and David
Life. She is currently an apprentice in the 800-hour certification program
under the outstanding guidance of her mentor and teacher, Lady Ruth
Lauer-Manenti. Holly feels deep gratitude for the profoundly simple and
intuitive ways Lady Ruth has shaped her as a teacher, student, and human
being. All of her teachers inspire her on a moment-to-moment basis to look
underneath the surface of human experience where kindness, serving others,
and relating to the world in harmonious ways always triumphs. Holly hopes to
be a part of the timeless baton pass of lineage between teacher and student.

Holly is also an artist and has been collaborating with her dear friend,
Sarah H. Paulson, since 2002 on performance artworks.

Johnson Chong

The origins of traditional Thai Yoga Massage can be traced back 2,500 years. It is an ancient form of therapeutic healing that has roots in Ayurvedic medicine. The founding father of Thai Massage, Jivaka Kumar Bhaccha, was a celebrated yogi and a doctor in the healing tradition of Ayurveda who treated many including the Buddha himself.

Having developed within the environment of Buddhist temples, and Thai Yoga Massage flourished as a way for spiritual people to share the benefits of meditation and compassion in a physical form. It is a respected form of healing practiced today in hospitals and temples throughout Thailand, and is growing in popularity around the world.

This unique and powerful system of Yoga Therapy combines rhythmic massage, acu-pressure, asanas (Yogic stretching exercises), gentle twisting, energy work and meditation. Thai Yoga Massage stimulates and balances the flow of healing energy within the body, opening the areas which are blocked bringing the person deeper into balance and harmony by relieving muscular tension, improving circulation, boosting the immune system and replenishing the body’s energy. Thai Massage is great for low-back pain, tight shoulders and the enhancement of flexibility.

Traditionally, Thai Yoga Massage is performed on a bed that rests on the floor. Both client and practitioner are dressed in comfortable clothing allowing for an easy flow of movement. Aromatherapy is combined with this ancient healing method to make for the ultimate experience.

- Johnson Chong (Lotus Palm Thai Massage Practitioner/Yoga Instructor)
Visit Johnson’s site

Miya Signor

Miya took her first yoga class when a friend invited her to a studio above a bagel shop in the east village in the mid nineties. Trained as an actor she came to find that her craft translated clearly into the yogic tradition in that internal truth, compassion and honesty are necessary at the highest level of practice. Her classes have a quiet spirituality that combine a rhythmic flow of movement with an emphasis on precise alignment.

In 2006 Miya received her 200 hour certification from Seven Centers Yoga Arts. For many years she felt a deep connection to the Jivamukti method and in 2009 she became a certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher. Soon she will begin her 800-hour Jivamukti certification under her all-inspiring mentor and teacher Lady Ruth Lauer-Manenti. She is continuously grateful to Lady Ruth for her teachings that resonate with truth, humor and deep spiritual understanding. She feels blessed by the guidance of all her teachers and would like to thank Ruth Hartung, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Dharma Mittra, and Rima Rabbath.

Monja Ecker

Beatrice

Bea was born in NYC; her mom is from Buenos Aires, Argentina and her dad from Bari, Italy. She has always kept both cultures a part of her life having traveled extensively to both countries; she is fluent in English, Spanish and Italian.
Having been a lifeguard she was always interested in physical exercise. In 2000, her brother, who studies with Eddie Stern, suggested that she try yoga, and she began her own practice. In 2003 she found Jivamukti. In 2009 she did the Jivamukti Teacher Training. Being raised in a spiritual family she has always been open to different cultures and practices. After her sister left her body as a result of a motorcycle accident Bea began to look for answers reading the Old and New Testament, the Bhagavad Gita, doing the Course in Miracles and various vias she found in herself what she was looking for outside and looks forward to sharing her life and practice with those who pass through Jivamukti.

Bea leads her Latin rock band, BEA BA playing in NYC and Bs.As. She is an Electrical Engineer by day consulting for large firms in NYC and traveling throughout Europe, South America, Japan and Canada. She has just completed translating Will Tuttle’s book “The World Peace Diet” into Spanish.

Bea would like to thank Sharon-ji and David-ji for their teachings and to her family, as well as Jules, Yogeswari, Carola Terreni (for seeing beyond me), Dechen, Matthew, Jeffrey Mironov, and to all who have guided her in so many ways.

Anna Greenberg

Anna was first introduced to yoga by her mother, a lifetime practitioner. The sounds of her mother chanting used to make her laugh and even roll her eyes, but eventually and inevitably the yoga practices crept inside her soul and she was begging her mom to give her classes and tell her what studios to go to!
Through Yoga Anna has found the stability and strength to begin to embrace and find joy in the wonderfully unstable nature of life. She is a graduate of the 2010 Jivamukti 300 hour teacher training, as well as the 2010 200 hour Prajna Yoga teacher training, and is currently apprenticing with the lovely ladies at Mala Yoga, Stephanie Creaturo, Angela Clark, Christina Hatgis and Jennifer whitney. Anna is continuously grateful to and inspired by her wonderful teachers from both the Jivamukti and Prajna lineage. They have infused her life and practice with knowledge, joy, and an endless curiosity and passion to teach and continue to travel this beautiful path.
Anna teaches a challenging vinyasa class with attention to proper alignment, creating a safe space where practitioners of all levels can challenge, nourish, and expand their bodies and minds through the Yoga practice. Expect some chanting, some sweat, and lot’s of fun!
Endless thanks to all of my teachers for their abundant love, support, and guidanc