Our Instructors

Uptown Yoga Studio only works with the most amazing, wold-class yoga instructors who have traveled all around the world to study and practise. 

Angela Imhoff

Angela Imhoff, MFA, LMT, RYT Angela discovered yoga in 1996, and began to pursue it intensively in 2000 when she was looking for a way to cross-train her body for dance, de-stress after working with children and keep her body strong for her physically demanding work as a massage therapist. Her passion for the practice eventually led her to complete the 500 hour teacher certification at Yogaworks in New York City. Her specialties are Gentle/Restorative Prenatal Yoga, Mommy and Me. Across this broad spectrum of classes she brings her joy of moving, clear understanding of anatomy and desire for people to experience the bliss that is possible when body, breath, mind, and spirit are in harmony. Her teaching is informed by her training in multiple somatic disciplines including Craniosacral therapy and Body-Mind Centering. In addition to teaching at Yogaworks Angela maintains a private teaching and massage practice in the East Bay.

Carolyn Brown

Carolyn’s classes offer time-tested yoga practices that help us lead healthy, happy, effective lives in this intense Bay Area environment. Carolyn has been practicing yoga since 1989 and teaching since 2003. She has studied extensively in AnusaraÒ yoga with founder John Friend, Katchie Ananda, Sianna Sherman, Noah Mazé, Hanneli Francis and many other wise teachers in this tradition. Carolyn’s practice is influenced by her studies with other master teachers and scholars, as well as her experience with transformative dance, wilderness questing, back/neck pain, scoliosis, office ergonomics and active sports. Off the mat, she is active in the Green Yoga Association and is co-founder of Up2yoga, a year-round series of call-in workshops and courses about living the yoga path. In true Tantric spirit, she celebrates life here and now – with all its ups and downs – and is dedicated to co-creating a world where everyone thrives. She provides a place where people can enjoy the power and pleasure of yoga, grow healthier and happier, and challenge themselves at their own pace.

Carrie Staller

Biography coming soon!

Jeff Levin

During the last 8 years, Jeffrey Levin has taught over 4,000 yoga classes to people of all ages and abilities. He has completed more than 200 hours of formal training and is certified to teach through the White Lotus Foundation. He draws from over 15 years of personal yoga experience to create a practice that balances the intelligence of prescribed alignment with an emphasis on the individual building their intuition. Jeffrey is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and has used yoga therapy to facilitate the healing of hundreds of individual clients. In 2008, after graduating with a Master of Science in Oriental Medicine from the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley, he became a licensed acupuncturist in California. When not doing yoga or acupuncture, Jeffrey enjoys cooking delicious food, listening to old jazz records, biking around side streets and making multi-media art.

Katie Silcox

Katie was taught yoga in south India, in the home of the quietly famous yogis A.G. and Indra Mohan, authors of Yoga for Body Breath and Mind, and two of Krishnamacharya’s last students. In 2006, she met her teacher and mentor, Rod Stryker, and has been initiated into the 5000+ year old Himalayan tradition that includes the lineage of master teachers such as Swami Rama, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, and Bengali Baba. This style of yoga, known as Para Yoga, blends the three rivers of Tantra Hatha Yoga, Ayurveda and the Yoga Sutras into one comprehensive study. Her focus is on aligning the physical with the subtle by using breath, awareness, alignment, and ancient yoga techniques including meditation, pranayama, kriya, bandha, chakra work, mudra, and mantra. With a reputation for creating a challenging class which incorporates the more subtle layers of breath and energy-work, she also strives to help students uncover their highest potential though tapas (purification & discipline), stiram (steadiness in body/mind) and sukham (maintaining a healthy sense of humor or ease during practice). She motivates students to remember Bhavana, or the intention behind why we practice yoga, in each and every class. Katie currently assists Rod Stryker in teacher trainings and conferences throughout the country.

Mary Corbin

Mary Corbin has been practicing yoga for twenty years and teaching since 2002. Her teaching reflects a strong foundation in the Iyengar tradition along with many years of Ashtanga, her primary practice, as well as the influence of intensive studies with Sarah Powers, Jivamukti co-founder David Life, and Rodney Yee. Her classes weave together her passion for yoga, creative work as an artist, and deep connection to nature and its many wonders, into a fabric of compassionate, joyful presence. Visit her website at marycorbin.blogspot.com

Shaina Johnson

Shaina Dyani Johnson, professional dancer and former health and science writer, began her practice in 1996. Eventually, she left journalism to share the transformative power of regular practice with others. In 2004, she received her certification in Ashtanga Vinyasa. Drawn to the teachings of Krishnamacharya, Tantra and Ayurveda, she has been studying Prana Flow with Shiva Rea, an innovative style that weaves together these and other movement and philosophical disciplines. Shaina’s Vinyasa Flow classes draw from many traditions and aim to help students express their body’s intelligence through the simple joy of meditating in motion. Above all, her students are invited to approach the practice with equal measures of humor and heart. And to spark a constant curiosity about how pose and breath work can lead toward more fulfilling, embodied experience both on and off the mat.

Simona Balan

Simona felt inspired to teach yoga by the wealth of benefits to body and mind that she found after only a few months of regular yoga practice. She sees asana as meditation through movement and as a vehicle for compassion. Her classes emphasize safety, alignment, and developing ease and acceptance of experience, and offer space for exploration, play and deepening awareness. Simona teaches Upeksha Yoga and is the co-founder of Dance Yoga and Upeksha Dream Yoga. She especially loves teaching yoga outdoors, cultivating a deep sense of respect and belonging in nature, and leads various yoga and meditation retreats.

 

Stephanie Witt

Stephanie discovered yoga following an ACL injury playing college basketball in 1998. After a year of traditional rehabilitation that did not lead to a full recovery, yoga helped to break up the scar tissue, increase strength and flexibility, and ultimately heal the injury. She has been doing yoga ever since. Stephanie has a Masters in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins University and is a health educator for youth and adults nationwide. In 2008, she completed the yoga teacher training with Ana Forrest as a way of taking her own practice deeper. In the process, she discovered a passion for teaching yoga to others. Her classes inspire students to explore the gifts of yoga. Through deep breathing and vigorous asana, students develop an awareness of self and a playful curiosity with the infinite mysteries of the human body.