Instructors

Om bolo sat guru bhagavan ki jai! The teacher within me, the divine, life experience is my true teacher Hallelujah!"

Teachers at Mandala are chosen because of their in-depth yoga training, a commitment to personal practice and continuing yoga education and for pursuing the yogic path off the mat as well in service to our local and world community. Introduce yourself, ask questions after class and let us know your needs and desires. You are at the center of the Mandala and we love to hear from you.

Featured
Jolie Parcher
Jolie Parcher

ERYT 500, Patanjali School Of Yoga, Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner From KSA, Certified Aromatherapist

Jolie is the Founder and Director of Mandala Yoga Center for Healing Arts, and has been a certified yoga teacher from The Patanjali Yoga Center in Kathmandu, Nepal since 1990. Jolie is certified as an Ayurvedic Diet & Lifestyle Practitioner from the Kripalu School of Ayurveda and is trained as a practitioner of the Ayurvedic hands on Treatments as well as an Aromatherapist.

Her yoga classes guide you to maintain a steady synchronicity of breath and movement as a way to experience a deep listening of Self. She'll keep you moving in a strength-building flow incorporating steps along the way for your body and mind to fully embody the complexity of each posture. There is often Ayurvedic wisdom and tools for daily well-being woven throughout. As a student of the classic Ashtanga system she returns to that particular tradition to shape much of her sequencing. It's a practice that celebrates a vibrant life both on and off the mat.

Sheryl Hastalis
Sheryl Hastalis

YA - ERYT 500, Asana, Pranayama - Vinyasa, Iyengar, Yoga Therapy. Philosophy, Mantra, Sanskrit, Meditation - Dr. Edwin Bryant, Russill Paul, Dr. Kavitha Chinnaiyan. BFA Dance - Adelphi U., MFA Arts Management - CUNY, Anatomy & Physiology, Biology - Kingsborough College.

Sheryl teaches anatomically detailed, exuberant vinyasa classes, interwoven with mantra, breathwork, and philosophy. All who attend classes with Sheryl, realize the vibrancy of yoga, moving towards the discovery of their own true nature, in sanskrit - Sat Chit Ananda - being consciousness, with an awakened heart. Sheryl has taught yoga, dance, and therapeutic movement modalities for over 4 decades. She is a practitioner as well as a teacher, and is blessed to practice and study Asana, Yoga and Tantric Philosophy, Sanskrit, Mantra, Pranayama, and Meditation daily with her mentors. Sheryl holds a variety of certifications in Yoga, Wellness Coaching, Fitness, and Rudolf Laban's Effort - Shape.

Roey Ficaro
Roey Ficaro

Roey Ficaro, LCSW, RYT, CHT, has been a certified yoga/meditation Instructor for over 20 years, as well as a practicing licensed psychotherapist/hypnotherapist. Her extensive yoga training is based on Iyengar & Anusara systems of alignment. In addition to teaching fun level 1-2 classes she is also certified with Judith Lasater in Restorative Yoga. Roey became inspired to utilize hypnotic stress reduction techniques with Crystal singing bowls while in restorative poses to target anxiety, sleep issues & PTSD by dropping one’s nervous system to Parasympathetic mode where healing can begin.

Stacy Haessler
Stacy Haessler

Yoga Shanti Certified 500 hour RYT

Born and raised in East Hampton Stacy is thrilled to be able to share her love of yoga with the community in which she grew up. Stacy’s classes are uplifting, alignment focused and thoughtfully sequenced. Stacy completed the 300 hour Yoga Shanti Teacher Training program in 2011, the 100 hour advanced training in 2014 and the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy program in 2014. She has since gone on to be a faculty member in Yoga Shanti Teacher Trainings. Stacy loves the loyal yoga students at Mandala and is proud to be a part of the community.

Lisa Zaloga
Lisa Zaloga

Sivananda Certified, Vinyasa Flow

Integrating the traditions of Ashtanga and Iyengar Yoga, zalogayoga is more than just a vinyasa class... it is an experience! From Tadasana to Sivasana, students are guided through an intelligent sequence, encouraged to allow their breath to lead & pause in meditation... all to the sounds of some of today's greatest music.

Leah Kinney
Leah Kinney

Leah’s classes are beautifully paced, carefully sequenced and led with delicate instruction.

Leah graduated from Georgetown University in 2001, completed a 200 hour training at the Nosara Yoga Institute in 2003, the 500 hour teacher training at Yoga Shanti in 2004 and the 500 hour Urban Zen training in 2010.

She is grateful to her teachers and students for years of collaboration, conversation and community.

Renata Dibiase
Renata Dibiase

RYT-200

Renata was first introduced to yoga as a teenager through dance training, but it was later during her undergraduate studies in New York City that she developed a daily practice. After years of being at odds with her body, she began taking refuge in a practice that made her feel more at home in her own skin. Exploration of various traditions, primarily astanga, Iyengar, and vinyasa, and centers of practice, including Mandala Yoga led her to Om Yoga Center (NYC) in 2002, where she was drawn to a method of intelligent movement that placed value on mindfulness of breath, alignment, and transition. In 2011, Renata completed her 200-hour certification under the guidance of Om Yoga’s founder Cyndi Lee and Edward Jones, along with Frank Mauro, Joe Miller, and Margi Young. In 2012, Renata joined the staff of Now Yoga, a small teaching collective founded by Om Yoga’s senior teachers in the wake of Om’s closing. In 2018, Renata left her career in book publishing to take over ownership and management of Now Yoga, opening the school’s first physical studio at Astor Place, where she has also led Now Yoga’s teacher training program. Her continuing education has most recently included the study of restorative yoga at the Kripalu Institute under Judith Hanson Lasater (2019). Renata teaches in a tradition that aims to meet the student where they’re at, employing practical yet creative sequencing to support a practice that’s at once both satisfyingly challenging and sustainably accessible.

Jimmy Minardi
Jimmy Minardi

Founder Minardi Training

Minardi Yoga with Jimmy incorporates dynamic yoga poses, strength and breathing exercises that help to irrigate the body and mind. Each movement is carefully formulated to enhance flexibility, improve stability, posture and mental focus, increase the flow of oxygen to blood cells and build overall body strength.

Bunny Bennett
Bunny Bennett

RYT 300, Certified Children's Yoga, Certified Prenatal, Trained & Fully Certified Graduate in “Little Flower Yoga & Mindfulness”

Bunny’s decades of modern dance led her to her yoga path. She has found that her interaction with children has tapped into a genuine sense of purpose & gratefulness. The spontaneity, curiosity, courage & inherent joy of children supports her devotion to them. Love of music, movement & children keep her inner smile beaming!

Bunny received her 200hour teacher training through the Sonic at Mandala Yoga Teacher Training led by Jolie Parcher and Lauren Hanna. She expanded her 300 hour education through the Mandala Yoga Mentorship program and was kids yoga certified by Shari Vilchez-Blatt of Karma Kids Yoga in NYC. Prenatal certified through Sonic Yoga led by Lauren Hanna & Sarah Ireland.

Christine Panico
Christine Panico

RYT-200hr Mandala Certified

Christine completed her 200HR Yoga Certification through Mandala Yoga Center for Healing Arts in June 2020. She creatively adapts her classes and sessions for clients of all ages, from toddlers to 95 (and everything in between). Her experience has grown to include Prenatal Yoga. She created an adaptive yoga class designed to help people with neuropathies for the HNF & CMT communities for an exercise program via zoom called Movement is Medicine.(movementismedicine.com). She finds being able to use yoga to help people who may be limited by injury or other physical ailment to be the most rewarding part of her journey as an instructor so far. You can find her teaching in person at Mandala Yoga and on the beach at EHP Resort & Marina.

Ashley McGee
Ashley McGee

RYT-200hr

Ashley is Yoga Shanti certified. She is inspired by achieving precise anatomical alignment and inquiry of the subtle. Ashley aspires to create space where there is no judgement and where students have the time and space to feel each pose with intentional movement. Her classes integrate an Iyengar-based approach, vinyasa flow, meditation, unique (sometimes live) music, and (in some classes) harmonium chanting.

Amy Seminski
Amy Seminski

200 RYT Laughing Lotus

After nearly 20 years of practicing yoga, Amy completed her 200 Hour TT at Laughing Lotus in NYC because she wanted to “deepen her practice” and learn more about the philosophy and science of yoga. Once she taught her first studio class, she realized she wanted to continue to share her love of yoga with her community. She is inspired by the light she sees in others when she teaches. She loves sharing her heart and her practice with others and seeing them find something from it that they too can connect with. While she finds flowing as way to express herself with movement, incorporating breath and alignment is very important to her. She is grateful to her teachers for this awareness and for teaching her alignment techniques to practice safely and intelligently on the mat while flowing. Amy continues her love of learning about the practice and science of yoga and is currently working toward her 500 Hour TT. Her sequences allow you to dance on the mat while connecting to your breath and your own heart.

Brittni Svanberg
Brittni Svanberg

RYT-500 Mandala Yoga Center and Maui Yoga Shala

Brittni has been practicing asana, chanting and meditation since childhood. After turning to the practices more thoroughly to manage anxiety in college, Brittni completed her 200-hour certification with Mandala Yoga Center for Healing Arts in 2020, and her 500-hour certification through the Maui Yoga Shala in 2022.

Brittni’s classes focus on grounding, centering, and merging breath and movement. Her alignment based, slow flow vinyasa style invites you to find the pause, to truly come into the present moment, and to dive deep into your inner world.

Katia Herman
Katia Herman

Katia is a NYC native who has been teaching private group and personal training for over 8 years while being a Mother of four boys and a flower designer. Katia's sweaty-flow-classes blend different modalities of movement by incorporating some of the many training & certifications she has completed over 25 years, including personal & group training, pilates, yoga, corrective exercise, boxing, EFT and breathwork. Katia is passionate about helping women strengthen their cores properly, especially after childbirth, and she incorporates attention to the core in all of her classes. Katia is a Board Certified Health Coach and loves to inspire her students to create awareness of the connection between their mind & body and enjoy the act of movement!