Welcome to
We hope you join us!
Our Community
There is so much love here in this community we are so excited to be growing together and creating a space to bring yoga, wellness, joy and love to the greater New Haven area!
Our time together at Breathing Room!
Check in our photo albums and come join the party!
More photos coming soon!
Our Outside Yoga!
For the Love of Bird
Potlucks & Parties!
Yoga Benefits
"Teachers open the door but you must walk through it yourself."
- Chinese Proverbs
Our Team
(AKA Our lovely instructors)
Tobie
Tobie was introduced to yoga in her early twenties but didn’t start a dedicated practice until her 29th birthday when her mother brought her to Kripalu Center in the Berkshires. Since then she has completed her 200hr certification in an Iyengar influenced style of yoga. She has learned from teachers such as Rodney Yee, Seane Corn, Rolf Gates, Baron Baptiste and Stephen Cope. Tobie teaches a vinyasa style of yoga with an attention to form and alignment. She believes that form and alignment are the keys to freedom in the body and freedom in the breath. Being a massage therapist for the last 10 years and receiving her masters in clinical nutrition two years ago, Tobie has a well rounded understanding of the body. Her classes are challenging and fun while giving the students an awareness that they are ultimately their own teacher and can guide their practice to fit their needs.
Lillian
Lillian's yoga classes are nurturing and energizing opportunities to breathe deeply and cultivate compassion. Her multi level vinyasa flow classes emphasize safe alignment and core strength. She believes we can bring the awareness and acceptance we develop in our yoga practices to our relationships and lives off the yoga mat.
Lillian enjoys gardening, cooking, singing, hiking, and swimming. She received her yoga certification through the White Lotus Foundation in California (RYT, 200 Hours). She is currently studying become a nurse and midwife.
Margot
Margot's passion for the creative goes far beyond her unique eye for design and innovative class sequencing. Margot has the ability to turn a room into a sanctuary, and a business into a community of people working together for a greater good. Margot began her life long love affair with yoga when she was just 13 years old and has made it a conscious effort to always have yoga in her life, by creating yoga programs at her high school and continuing her practice in college. Margot did her 200 hour training at the Joshi Yoga Institute in New York and received her 500 hour certificate from Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC. Margot has studied under master teachers such as Dana “Trixy” Flynn, Elena Bower, Sadi Nardini, Bryan Kest, Ralph Gates, and Rosie Taylor. Due to Margot’s business school education and previous experience working as an administrative assistant and decorator in an architectural firm, she has learned the essential skills it takes to manage projects and run a business. Margot has successfully owned and operated Breathing Room since 2009 and has committed to continuing her mission of providing good quality yoga at a fair price. Margot’s goal in opening Breathing Room was to create a space in which people could come and practice in their own way, hence the Breathing Room slogan, designed by Margot, “yoga for you”. By continuing on her path Margot is doing just that.
Audrey
Originally from San Francisco, Audrey has been a practitioner of yoga since 2002 and a prenatal and vinyasa flow teacher since 2009. As a former gymnast, yoga was initially a fun and challenging form of exercise, but quickly became a deeper spiritual practice. She has over 400 hours of training as a yoga teacher, including studies in Classical, Prenatal and Tantric-Vinyasa yoga. Her prenatal classes are further informed by two years of practice as a doula and childbirth educator, as well as her current studies in nursing/nurse-midwifery.
In Audrey's classes, you can expect an emphasis on energetics and connection to yourself and others through the use of asana, pranayama, meditation, and occasionally, partner work! She believes in yoga’s power to help us live and love with our whole hearts.
If you are interested in reading an inspirational story of a warrior charging head strong into the battle of beating stage 4 colon cancer please check out this blog. Here TJ offers valuable information on detection, treatment, acceptance and the conquering of cancer. TJ has asked his "Army" or group of friends and family to spread his story in hopes of encouraging others to honor and listen to their bodies so they can live heathly vibrant lives. http://beatthechallenge.org/blog
BEAT THE CHALLENGE
Check out some of TJ's latest inspirational blog posts
Karmies
Breathign Room is blessed to have a group of committed yogis who help keep the studio up and running. These are the welcoming faces that greet you upon your arrival. They are eager to help and assist you in any way!
Love to the Karmies!
(Jessie, Grace, Hannah, Megan, Stephanie, Gina, Anna, Ashley, Leeron, Sara, WIll, Shirley, Jane and Tiffany!)
Our Growing
Wellness Team
Breathing Room is excited to announce the growth our our wellness center, which will soon expand to include Acupuncture, Massage, Reiki, and Cranial Sacral work. Here is a small introduction to our wellness practitioners.
Araina Bain, MESc
Ariana's work connects people to themselves, each other, and the world. She facilitates personal empowerment and mastery through meditation and private healing sessions at the Breathing Room and is the co-founder of Metabolic Lab, a sustainability consulting company based in New Haven and the Netherlands. Her perspective emphasizes knowing yourself and your purpose as cornerstones of a meaningful, abundant, and joyful life.
She is a certified Max Meditation teacher, Life Activation practitioner, and Jikiden Reiki practitioner. She holds a MESc in Industrial Ecology from Yale University and a BA from Wesleyan University.
Ariana offers private sessions by appointment and can be reached at healingnewhaven@gmail.com or 203 936- 9108.
Jikiden Reiki: $90 for a 60 minute session, $240 for a three session package (student rates available)
Life Activation: $150 for a 90-120 minute session
Massage with Jennifer
Jennifer Cook, LMT, RYT . Jennifer is a Connecticut licensed massage therapist and a member of the American Massage Therapy Association. She is a graduated of the Connecticut Center for Massage Therapy in Newington.
Jennifer is also yoga instructor, certified in Yoga Tune Up® & Self Massage using Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Balls.
Monday 9:00 until 12:00
30 minute massage $40.00
60 minute massage $80.00
45 min Private Yoga Tune Up® Therapy Ball Training $60.00
She can be reached at jcooklmt@gmail.com and 203 -6-5-8146. Additional information can be found on Jennifer Cook ~ Massage & Yoga Facebook page.
Barry
Barry is not your regular yoga instructor. As a teenager, Barry left his home to embark on a journey of self discovery. During his search, Barry found himself on the west coast where he discovered yoga for the first time. Just one practice was all it took for the young yogi to become completely hooked. Shortly after his first class he began studying with acclaimed teachers and visionaries such as, Yogi Bhajan, Gurmukh Khalsa, Shiva Rea, and Bryan Kest. While studying with these remarkable instructors, Barry realized he too wanted to share the gift of yoga with others. Barry finished a 200 hour Vinyasa certification with master yoga instructor/author Rolf Gates. His passion for music with the kundalini and vinyasa yoga style help to create a balanced and effective practice of alignment and principal that recharges the spirit while conditioning the mind and body. Barry is a firm believer that yoga helps to gain a deeper relationship between body, mind, and nature. Holding tight to his practice during life’s heartaches, he believes that yoga has the power to help overcome physical and mental limitations. Barry’s enthusiasm for his beliefs has become his mission for others. His objective for his students is for them to leave class feeling better than when they arrived. His hope is that his classes will encourage his students to unite with their mind, body, and nature just as he did when he practiced for the first time. His unique approach to instructing has wowed students of all different ages and backgrounds. Barry’s fresh style is both cool, and informative. His eye for creativity and his love for the practice of yoga have opened the doors for him as a stand out leader and friend. Barry is not just any yogi; he has coined the nickname Urban Yogi. With all of his heart and soul, Barry Raccio aka “Urban Yogi” will continue to serve as a great leader and visionary by creatively uniting the mind and body through the art of yoga.
Verred
Verred enjoyed yoga as a practitioner throughout college, but it wasn’t until graduating that she realized yoga was the education she was seeking. Her practice progressed when she moved back to Connecticut and studied side by side with her mother, solidifying her love for the art of yoga. As yoga became a prominent part of her life, she found herself immersed in a 200 hour teacher training with Kathryn Templeton and Bill and Kristin Banick in the lineage of Para Yoga. This past August she traveled to Laughing Lotus Yoga Center in NYC to complete a 100 hour teacher training that radically transformed her teaching and practice and way of life! Verred's classes are playful and light, full of creative sequencing, conscious alignment, breath awareness, meditation and relaxation. The class moves through the chakra system, organically unfolding where each step prepares us for the next. Verred encourages each student to play on their mat and safely move the way that feels right for them.
Jamie CYP-200, NCTMB, CHES
Jamie Valentine joined our community in fall of 2011, shortly after completing a 200-hour Hatha teacher training with Shiva Shakti Synthesis in Columbus, OH. In summer 2012, Jamie completed a Yin Teacher Training with Josh Summers. She sees yoga as an ever-evolving lifetime practice, which offers a variety of healthful approaches to the mental and physical challenges that we encounter throughout each stage of our lives. Yoga is truly a versatile practice that offers a little something for every “Body”. Jamie’s personal yoga practice has taught her invaluable lessons about the importance of living life with gratitude and ease. Her goal is to bring that same gratitude and ease to the classroom while offering a unique approach to each class by focusing on anatomy and physiology as well as energetics.
Aixa RYT200
Growing up as an athlete Aixa's body became tight and out of balance. In her quest for healing through Yoga since 1999, she gravitated to breath and core centered practices. Aixa completed the Forrest Yoga foundation teacher training in 2006 and the Level 1 Resistance Stretching certification training from Innovative Body Solutions in 2008. In 2011 she became certified to teach Sadie Nardini's Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga. In 2012 Aixa completed the level 1 & 2 Thai Yoga Bodywork training with Jonas Westring of Shantaya Yoga & Bodywork School. Her intention with these practices is to help people connect with their physical and energetic body and how it relates to the world. She believes that by connecting and moving from center, Yoga can help us, not only be in the present moment but, become strong and resilient, both on and off the mat. Aixa is ever so grateful for all the teachers that continue to inspire her in this journey, especially her students. Classes are challenging, fun and light hearted, rooted on breath, core-strength and proper alignment. Great for healing/preventing injuries and finding your flow. Get ready to have fun, sweat and release!!
STACEY RYT 200
In a past life Stacey studied fashion merchandising in collage and after some time in the industry decided it wasn't what she wanted to do...She felt she needed to do something more fulfilling. After some time she decided she would study what she loved, Holistic Nutrition. So, Stacey found her way to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York and graduated as a Holistic Health Counselor! She thought this is IT! But still, she wanted more...more in the field of natural self-care. One day she was introduced to Vinyasa yoga and instantly fell in love with the practice ! Stacey feels it's all about balance, the balance of physical energy it takes to practice Vinyasa along with the loving-kindness it takes to listen to the body, as it is in that very moment. That was her Ah-Hah moment, that first Vinyasa class . So in June of 2012 Stacey recieved her 200 hr. RYT certification in Vinyasa Yoga after studying with Rolf Gates, and hasn't stopped since! She teaches often as well as counsels clients on a holistic approach to eating and well-being. She looks forward to many more years of training, counseling and teaching as she continues to grow as a teacher and a person.
