The heart of Yoga for Life is our people. Please take a minute to get to know us. If you have any questions or need to learn more about what makes us special please contact us or just stop by to say hi!

My name is Alice and I am so happy to have found Yoga For Life Studio! My family and I moved to East Setauket from New City, NY, in the summer of 2006, and since then I have been privileged both to take and to teach class at YFL. Currently, I substitute teach at the studio; I am also about to begin a series of "mommy & me" post-natal yoga classes, open to moms and other care-givers and their young children (ages 6 weeks to about 18 months).

I have been practicing yoga for more than 10 years, and I certified as a teacher through New City's Yoga Mountain studio, headed by Gail Walsh. I completed the 250-hour hatha yoga training there in 2002, and my areas of special interest include yoga for fertility-enhancement, pre-natal and post-natal yoga, restorative yoga, Iyengar yoga, yoga in chairs, and chanting.

To Connie and Sal, and to all the wonderful teachers at Yoga For Life, I offer my sincere gratitude for the welcome they have extended to me. To all who practice yoga at YFL, I humbly offer my teaching.

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BOB BRADLEY

Bob Bradley graduated from The American Center for the Alexsander Technique in New York in 1998. This program is three years and 1,600 hours. Bob has been teaching at Stony Brook University for the past 9 years. Bob also teaches in NYC, East Setauket, and Port Jefferson Station.

Bob's classes are dedicated to how the Alexsander Technique and principles can be applied to Asana. Alexsander Technique can be used to help relieve the body of pain and stress so that you live a more optimal life.

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CONNIE TJADEN

L.AC., LMT, BS/MS, BFA, MEDICAL INTUITIVE

Connie has been a health care practitioner since 1993, and has dedicated her life to helping people feel better. She is a Licensed Acupuncturist, Licensed Massage Therapist, Medical Intuitive, Energy Healer and Hypnotherapist. She specializes in Pain Management, Auto-immune Balancing, Infertility, Addictions, Facial Rejuvenation and Hair Regeneration. Her alternative approach has helped people, using her Medical Intuitive skills, live a more productive life when dealing with chronic problems such as diabetes, TMJ and digestive disorders as well. Through the use of different tools, she treats with deep and soft tissue massage, cupping, moxibustion, electric stimulation, herbs and Chinese Ear Candling.

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JACQUI LEVITON

Jacqui Leviton began her professional career as a pediatric nurse. After 15 years she decided to stay home with her two children.

She began her own yoga practice and loved it so much she became a teacher completing her 200 hours with YTTI, the Yoga Teachers Training Institute. It was a life changing experience and she continues to learn and grow by attending conferences and workshops studying with Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Rodney Yee and many others. The joy of yoga for Jacqui is the movement and flow, having fun on your mat and being open to all that your practice brings to you. Both physically and spiritually.

Jacqui's classes are a blend of vinyasa yoga with a big emphasis on chanting, inspirational music, laughter and friendship.

Jacqui feels it is the blessing of community, of sharing something so wonderful with others who feel the same that makes Yoga for Life such a special place. She is also a Reiki Practitioner and a certified Reflexologist.

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JEANNIE O'CONNER

Although my first yoga experience was in the early eighties while in college, it wasn't until fifteen years later that I had the need to gravitate towards a more enriched and whole yoga practice. At that time that I was blessed to study with a teacher who inspired, encouraged and taught me the importance of developing myself on and off the mat. Throughout a developing practice of linking body, mind and spirit, I was led to a Rahini teacher training, which enhanced and enriched my own study and practice. With the greatest of pleasure, I have an opportunity to share my practice with people also searching for that union of body, mind and spirit. Classes are designed to meet individual needs by offering modifications that help, in either deepening or bringing more ease, in the asana practice. It is my intention to continue to develop myself and study so that I am able to continually assist in the development of my students' practice.

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JOY RUBEN

In 1997 yoga found me at summer camp in Pennsylvania. Then, I didn't know what "yoga" was, but I knew intuitively that it was something sacred and powerful. It graced my life periodically throughout my teenage years, gently initiating me.

In 2005, as a college student in Canada, yoga invited me to pursue its graces in further depth. I began to practice weekly at the gym and I loved how I felt inside: strong, playful, clear, and capable.

In 2007 I began practicing at Yoga for Life, where I was consciously introduced to the spiritual teachings of yoga. My relationship with my practice began to deepen. I became more aware of the virtuous teachings of yoga, and my practice on the mat became more consciously transferable to my life off the mat. Yoga had embraced me!

In 2009, I began training at Yoga for Life to become certified to teach. That same year I traveled to Kripalu to become certified to teach YogaDance (I love to dance). That same year I became certified in Reiki and Hypnotherapy. And that very same year I began working as a Birth Doula. My yoga practice has taken me to further depths of growth and meaning than I ever considered when this journey began years ago.

Teaching yoga is a sacred gift life has given me. Each time I teach, I learn about my own practice and my own character. My journey into and throughout the world of yoga has been enjoyable, informative, enriching, challenging, rewarding, liberating, encouraging and more. I gladly embrace the secrets that this yogic path holds, because each step on this path is a gift.

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KATE KAMING

Bio coming soon.

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KITTI CROUCH

In 2001 I was craving a different form of physical exercise after years of walking and exercise videos. When I came across the opportunity to take a Yoga class through an adult education course I just felt this was what I was looking for and signed up right away. Immediately I knew that this was bigger than any other physical exercise I had experienced. I felt a rapid connection to the process of slow movement and deep breath. The transition for me was smooth, exciting but, more importantly, natural. In just a few years I considered teaching which only expanded my deep appreciation for this beautiful practice. I obtained my 200 hour Kripalu Yoga teacher certification in 2004 and hope to expand my teacher training.

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LOIS HEALION

Lois has been practicing and studying yoga for ten years and teaching for four. She enjoys practicing and teaching a vinyasa flow, which links the practice of asana with the breath. She completed her first teacher training in 2004, studying with Integrative Yoga Therapy. She is currently working toward her 200RYT training with Suzanne Cardinal of Into This World Productions. She has also studied with Dharma Mittra, Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Beryl Bender Birch, Sharon Gannon and David Life. Lois feels extremely fortunate and blessed to be able to share her passion for yoga with others.

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LORI GENTZLINGER

Lori has been practicing yoga since 1995 and teaching since 2000.

Lori's passion and practice is the Astanga system of yoga as taught by Sri Pattabbi Jois. Studying that system with teachers David Swenson, Chuck Miller and Maty Ezraty, Manju Jois, Patabbi Jois, and many more.

Lori's classes are a mix of Vinyasa yoga with a strong emphasis on alignment, pulling from her extensive training in the Anusara and Iyengar systems of yoga.

Lori has taking the Vinyasa teacher trainings with Shiva Rea and spend time studying with David Life. Bringing a fun and challenging blend to her vinyasa classes Lori's primary concern is that yoga brings health and healing to her students and improves their quality of life.

Lori has also studied and is a certified Thai Yoga therapist. Lori spent 5 weeks in Thailand to complete her training in Thai yoga and is available for private treatments.

Lori has also studied Restorative yoga with Judith Lassiter. Lori has developed a system of Restorative yoga combined with Acupuncture and is the only one currently offering this powerful blend of healing modalities linked together. When Restorative yoga and Acupuncture are combined the healing effects become transformational.

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MAHIUDDIN AHMED

Mahiuddin Ahmed is a practitioner of Harmonyum Healing and an instructor of Naam Yoga, a style that merges the esoteric traditions of the East found in Kundalini Yoga and of the West found in Universal Kabbalah. His classes involve extensive breathwork, yogic postures, movement, and meditation through sound. Mahiuddin holds a BS in Molecular Biophysics from Duke University. He is currently a MD/PhD candidate in the School of Medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has performed extensive research in diverse fields ranging from physics to neuroscience and shares the philosophy that optimal health and wellness comes from the integration of medicine with the self-healing principles of yoga and meditation.

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MARIA

Maria Saladino is a Certified Rahini (CRT-L1) and Yoga Alliance Registered Teacher. Rahini Yoga (also known as the healing yoga) is a blend of Hatha, Kundalini and Tibetan yoga asanas. Through particular asana sequences, we learn to clear the subtle energy channels, balance the Chakras and harmonize the entire subtle energy system to improve our physical, emotional and spiritual well being.

For the past three years Maria has been teaching a full body integration class (students must be at least 30 lbs. overweight) that she developed at the Yoga for Life Studio. She has also for the past two years been an Assistant to Dr. Dean Telano for the 200 hr. level Rahini Teacher Training Program. She is currently studying with Dr. Telano to complete her 500 hr. Rahini certification. She wants to dispel the myth that you have to be tall, slender and be flexible in order to do yoga! She would also like students to focus on their abilities rather than on their disabilities.

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MARIE RANIOLO

I have been practicing yoga since 1982. While on my mat at home one day in the asana of upward dog, I felt myself stretching and breathing deeply, and saying to myself 'I love this. I wish I could do yoga all day.' That was the inspiration. The very next day I signed up to learn how to teach yoga. I headed up to Kripalu in Lenox, MA and dove into yoga —ate, slept and lived yoga. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Kripalu style yoga begins gently with an emphasis on breath and relaxation. As the practice deepens, each person chooses the level of physical intensity right for them. Many variations of each posture are explained allowing the student to choose the expression that is right for them. Kripalu yoga allows for a nurturing and relaxing experience while incorporating all the physical benefits of yoga. It is know as the yoga of compassion.

I have been practicing yoga for 27 years. My experience includes teaching employees at Cablevision yoga and relaxation techniques, teaching yoga and meditation at Stillness in Motion in Hicksville, NY. While working as a yoga instructor for the Smithtown Central School District, I earned a certificate of excellence for every semester I taught.

My classes are especially good for new students, or those returning to yoga. Older students and those working with health issues find my classes easy to be in, and soothing to their spirits. I hope to meet you someday at yoga for life. Let go of any fears about 'not being good enough'. Anyone can do yoga! Come to my class, and I will show you.

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MARYELLEN

Bio coming soon.

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MARYANNE

Bio coming soon.

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MICHELE VALLONE

Bio coming soon.

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MITESH KAPADIA

Mitesh Kapadia is a student of Yoga first, and a teacher second. He's a motivator, pragmatist and a 'good friend' to all, as his first name means just that.

Mitesh came across Yoga by chance, and quickly embraced the time-tested tradition. It was his great fortune to study under the humble and renowned yogi, Sri Dharma Mittra. From the enlightening experience with his teacher, Yoga soon consumed Mitesh to such an extent that he decided to leave the land of Wall St. and pursue a life dedicated to passing on the timeless wisdom of Yoga on Main St.

Through his physically demanding and transformative classes, Mitesh enjoys taking people from stressed out, tense mindsets to a place of peace and inner solitude. The goal within each of his Yoga classes is to peel the layers that hold a person back from reaching his or her true potential. Website: www.mkapadia.com

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STEPHANIE MORGAN COOKE

Bio coming soon.

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