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.
Stacey
(our lovely studio manager)
Stacey is a recent transplant to New Haven (born and raised in a suburb of DC), and she spends most of her day making stuffed animals (yes, that's really her job). In her personal life, Stacey is an avid minimalist and believes in treading lightly on the environment (no tissues or paper towels in her house!). She also enjoys baking, running, biking, and of course, yoga. She is delighted to be part of the Breathing Room team, and hopes to give each yogi that comes in the door a warm smile and a sense of calm and belonging that continues into the rest of their lives.
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.
Joy
Joy Herbst RN-MSN, NP-C, CYT- 200: Joy is a lifelong dancer and advocate of the body’s innate ability to better one’s health and wellness, including healing of the emotional stressors that often manifest in our physical state. After years of practicing multiple hatha yoga styles such as Anusara, Bikram, vinyasa and Iyengar, she obtained her 200 hour yoga certification from Lara Ward of Lotus Gardens Yoga School. Joy continues to grow her body of knowledge with training in Anusara Yoga with Amy Reed through Anusara Yoga Immersions throughout 2011, and will begin her 2nd yoga teacher training in the Anusara tradition in January with Julie Miller.
She is a certified Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN/ nurse practitioner) and American Tribal Style Belly Dance instructor. Joy thrives on conscientious, flowing practices with breath-work that allow for the body’s inner heat to warm, stretch, and lift your heart, soul and spirit.
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!
(Jamie, Jessie, Chelsea, Tiffany, Jane, & Ashley!)
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.
Stay tuned for our coming Wellness Page!
Acupunture with Boaz "Bo"
Acupuncture is one of the oldest healing practices in the world, originating from China, Japan, Korea,
For those of you who do not know what Acupuncture is: it is among the oldest of healing practices in the world, originating from China, Japan, Koreaand other countries.
Acupuncture is used to alleviate pain, or, restore and maintain health and energy through the stimulation of specific points on the body - by pricking the
skin or tissue with needles - special needles that are approved of by the FDA (the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.)
Boaz ItsHaky is a graduate of the Tri-State College of Acupuncture in New York City, one of the oldest schools of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in the U.S. There Boaz earned the following degrees: an MS in Acupuncture and an M.S. in Oriental Medicine. Boaz worked at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford from 1994 to 2003 practicing rehabilitation and physical medicine using mainly acupressure and shiatsu. Boaz, or “Bo,” as he is most often called, is a Licensed Acupuncturist in both Connecticut and New York. Most important, Bo practices Acupuncture according to all of the FDA standards.
To contact Bo to schedule an appointment, or, to ask him any questions about Acupuncture, you can call him at (203) 537-0699, or e-mail him at boaz.itshaky@gmail.com.
Massage
Information and Bio to follow
