France Johnston

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• Garudasana or Eagle, love the way I feel after the posture, like taking flight!

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• I swim, with fins preferably, underwater ultimately.

France first stumbled upon yoga while traveling in Australia and later started practicing when living in the Bahamas. Yoga helped her find a positive outlook to a lifetime of bad posture and self-esteem issues. Since 2000, she has deepened her studies of yoga in South Florida. Her deep interests in color and sound therapy helped her understand that through yoga, one can truly awaken the self, the inner teacher and learn to live from the heart, with compassion, love and joy. In August of 2008, France completed the Teacher Training Program at the White Lotus Foundation. It felt as though, after years of soul searching, she had finally come home.

Brian Friedman

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• Any of the twisting postures

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• Biking, running, weight lifting... you name it

Brian’s yogic path began in 1993 when he was introduced to Sivananda yoga. Since then he has studied Iyengar Yoga, Power Yoga, Astanga Yoga, and Sadhana Yoga Chi. Brian has studied with some of the top yoga teachers in the world including Doug Swenson, David Swenson, Sri Dharma Mitra, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, and others. True yoga practice begins when we step off of the mat. Brian is a P90X and P90X+ graduate and is now offering his YOGA CORPS class to In Balance for a perfect balance of boot camp and yoga flow.

Steve Rubin

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• Savasana (corpse pose). This most important asana is where one learns to be still and thus allows themselves to receive the benefits of the practice which preceded it.

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• I enjoy golf, disc golf, foot bag, moderate biking, and walking.

Committed to living a positive and healthy lifestyle, Steve is a dedicated student and practitioner of yoga for more than 7 years, and has been teaching for more than 2 years. Steve left his job in the corporate world and fully immersed himself in intensive study, traveling abroad for 12 of the last 19 months studying yoga at the source in India, and in Thailand with his primary teacher, Paul Dallaghan. Steve completed a 5-week intensive foundation in yoga course (a 200+ hour yoga alliance certified teacher training) with Paul.

During recent trips to India, Steve spent a total of 15 weeks studying Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga under direct guidance of Sharath Rangaswamy, current director of the KPJAYI. Steve has been blessed with the opportunity to learn Pranayam from his teacher Paul, and also had significant time with his teacher’s teacher, Sri O P Tiwari, one of the very few living authorities of Pranayama. During his travels he also spent a substantial time studying with senior certified ashtanga vinyasa teachers, Rolf Naujokat in Goa and Louise Ellis in Rishikesh. Steve’s approach to teaching yoga places emphasis on concentration, contentment, and ease in a consistent practice with the use and correct understanding of breathe, bandha, dhristi, and the science of vinyasa. Steve empowers his students to create a yoga practice which suits their current needs and growth potential, thus allowing yoga to bear its fruits upon them in all facets of their life.

Alex Halenda

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• My favorite yoga pose changes on a regular bases. I tend to favor poses that I feel more challenged in, and since my practice is constantly evolving and every day is different, my points of challenge, and thus favor, differ each time I practice.

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• I enjoy running, and I walk and bicycle as forms of transportation regularly. Also, I tend to enjoy just about anything physical. Can we consider juggling as exercise?

Favorite book?

• Yoga Sutras (preferably a translation accompanied by an in depth analyzation).

What is the number one natural wellness remedy you recommend?

• Juice fasting to cleanse the body and the spirit

Lisa Ryan

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• My favorite pilates exercise is the open leg rocker. I enjoy the massage to my spine while I'm working my lower abs. It takes a lot of control, and it's fun!

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• I'm a runner, and I also hike and kayak whenever I get the chance.

Lisa began practicing Pilates in 2004 out of her interest in rounding out her approach to a total fitness lifestyle. She is a Level 1 Certified Peak Pilate System Instructor, certified to teach individual and group classes on the mat, reformer, and cadillac. Her classical approach to teaching this transformational movement system remains true to Pilate’s principles and protocols as they were originally designed, beneficial to students of any level. Her students experience the Pilates method as a system of exercises linked with purpose, providing for satisfying results and safe progression. Lisa instills a deep understanding and a strong enthusiasm for Pilates; and she encourages her classes to take their practice out of the studio and into their lives.

Leslie Martino

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• My favorite Pilates exercises are tendon stretch (standing) on the Reformer and anything that involves backbending. I can remember when I couldn't do tendon stretch correctly and now I can appreciate the strength, flexibility and abdominal control in takes to accomplish. backbends give me an intense feeling, like I am on top of the world.

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• As a dancer, I enjoy many things physical. Currently, in addition to Pilates, I am enjoying swinging kettlebells.

Leslie Martino, originally from New York City, started her movement training with classical ballet at the age of 4, and later went on to study modern dance and the Simonson jazz technique. She has taught dance and creative movement for over seven years. Leslie received a B.A. in Dance and History from Columbia University and an M.A. in Education from Teachers College. Leslie began practicing Pilates to help with chronic injuries. She completed her Pilate’s certification with The Willow Pilates and Yoga. She trained with studio owner Jennifer Shea, who came to Pilates by way of Bob Liekens, Ellie Herman, and later, Power Pilates. It was there at The Willow where Leslie was first exposed to the classical repertoire of the Pilates Method.

Lauren Gaines

Yoga has the power to heal and unite, not only individually, but globally. The action of stepping on our mat plants the seed of personal purification and, through moment to moment mindfulness, we can literally change our world. As we practice, so we live, and the process of Yoga invites us into fearless self-examination of who we take ourselves to be and allows us to dive into intimacy and positive social action.

Teaching primarily Ashtanga, Yin and Restorative Yoga classes, I have fun sharing a medley of asana, pranayama, and meditation, peppered with wisdom from the sacred texts of Yoga and other readings so you feel encouraged in your own inherent wholeness and radiant goodness. With humbling pranams, I give thanks for all of my teachers, past and present. I have been graced with a 200-hr Yoga Alliance certification, having studied with many wise teachers and through many forms including Vinyasa Flow, Anusara, and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. I am also a Karma Krew Chief, with the honor of coordinating service projects (or "seva") within my Central Florida yoga community. Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Jessica Cichra

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• Yoga: Happy Baby Pose....because it feels sooooo good & carefree!; Pilates: Plank pose....because it is challenging and works many areas of the body and is the base for numerous variations.

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• Surf, kayak, paddle board, strength/resistance train, Budokon, jog, swim, bike

Growing up a competitive gymnast, Jessica initially took up Yoga for the physical rush! She embraced the incredible benefits of pranayama as it has taken her personal practice beyond just the physical. She has completed her 200 hour teacher training with Empath Yoga which incorporates yoga, meditation, elements of hypnosis and empathic listening skills. Jessica provides a loving, nurturing Yoga for Stress Relief class that gives students a new outlook on life!

Jessica is also an accomplished Pilate’s teacher and trained with friend and mentor Janie Handlin. She loves the mind/body connection of pilates and its strengthening, lengthening, and toning results. Jessica teaches her students how they can practice pilates and toning exercises anywhere and how to have fun with it!

Julie Remington

Julie Remington, RYT completed her 200 Hour Yoga teacher certifaction in Vinyasa Flow Yoga. Julie's love for teaching Yoga comes from years of practice, inspiring teachers AND her amazing Yoga Community. She provides yoga that gives her students both a sense of peace and physical and mental relief that she has personally experienced in her life. Julie's classes focus on health of my physical body and ongoing discovery of how to live with kindness and mindfulness. Her teachings share what she is passionate about- "Ahimsa", or non-violence, in both thought and deed? How can we be more compassionate to ourselves and others? "As a teacher, I want students to experience the sense of fun and joy that comes with a yoga practice. I hope that when students leave the class, they will have an open body, an open heart and a smile on their face." “You are a child of the universe; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.” - from Desiderata by Max Ehrmann.

Bevalie Pritchard

What is your favorite yoga or pilates pose?

• It is hard to choose a favorite yoga pose because my favorite yoga pose changes with each day. My favorite pose changes with how I want to be challenged and where I feel tight and need to release. An asana that always feels good is bakasana, crane pose, because I am able to meditate and really feel the body/mind connection. It automatically brings me to the present moment and reminds me that yoga is as much of a mental discipline as it is physical.

What other forms of exercise do you do?

• Yoga is my primary exercise that I do every week because I know it is the only exercise I need. I also like to run, dance and do pilates. I do forms of exercise that build strength in all of my muscles and joints.

Bevalie (Bev) Pritchard comes to us with a professional ballet background. She was an apprentice with the Atlanta Ballet and after receiving her college BA Degree in Ballet with a professional and teaching certificate, became and is still the School Mistress/Principal Teacher for the Orlando Ballet School. Bev’s teaching path has led her to Yoga and Pilates and is a gifted, inspirational and challenging teacher in both. She has certifications in Pilates and Yoga as well as with NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and is a member of IADMS (International Association of Dance Medicine and Science). Her knowledge of kinesiology and strong use of muscle balance and alignment, along with amazing energy and strong passion for health and helping others is a gift to us all.