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.

Cheryl Fenner Brown

Cheryl is a 2004 Piedmont Yoga Studio Advanced Studies graduate and is studying to become a Professional Yoga Therapist through the Integrative Yoga Therapy school. She teaches in the Hatha tradition with humor and compassion. After finding yoga as a way to ease the pain of scoliosis she has become enchanted by the subtle connections between the breath, body, mind, and emotions. Cheryl encourages her students to honor where they are in their bodies and helps injured students use their practice as a way to heal. Cheryl is the Director of the Living With Cancer yoga program and is the web designer of many small businesses in the Bay Area. Learn more at www.yogacheryl.com.

Craig Duffy

Craig discovered yoga while living in NYC in 1998 & has been teaching since 2004. He grew up a gymnast and competitive diver, finding a home immediately in yoga postures. The athleticism of asana fit right away, but the transformative powers of yoga are what inspired his life-long commitment to practicing & sharing the gift of yoga with others. His exploration began with power yoga, ashtanga & kundalini styles. Once intent on teaaching, he trained with Yogafit & Ana Forrest. Ana helped begin an immense transformation in his awakening to the incredible power we all have to heal ourselves & the world around us, through the awareness of energy. He is currently immersed in the Spring Bhakti Flow teacher training with San Francisco’s beloved Rusty Wells. Craig’s main focus during every class is to remind us of our power to create, transform, heal & live in the frequency of JOY & GRATITUDE, and sure to send you off your mat with a smiling heart & body.

Carrie Staller

Carrie is a dancer and a certified Hatha Yoga teacher and has taught Hatha yoga, partner yoga and West African drumming and dance workshops around the country and the world.  When not practicing yoga, dancing or drumming, she runs a marketing business that focuses on sustainable and wellness lifestyles.  Carrie is also certified in Swedish and Thai massage.  She lives in Berkeley, CA. Namaste!

James Moran

James Moran began studying yoga in 1996 at UC Santa Cruz.  His teaching style is inspired by his subsequent studies with the Iyengar family in India and with various Iyengar teachers in the U.S.  He holds a teaching credential from the Piedmont Yoga Studio, where he learned how to incorporate aspects of Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga into his classes.

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.

Mollie Moorhead

It was love at first sight when Mollie Moorhead attended her first yoga class in 2002. Five years later she made the leap to teaching after attending Heartwood Institute's 200 hour teacher training lead by Gayna Uransky. Yoga practice has been the anchor for her life in difficult and joyful times, and she is deeply grateful to her teachers and students for walking the path with her.Mollie continues her education by attending workshops, trainings, and continued study with her teacher Cary Twomey. She is currently studying ayurvedic medicine at the California College of Ayurveda.

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.