Our Staff - Teacher Bios

Lara Demberg, RYT, is a Certified Anusara teacher, with 7 years teaching experience and co-founder of Vikasa.

Anusara yoga is a school of hatha yoga which unifies a life-affirming Tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness with Universal Principles of Alignment. Lara was introduced to the Anusara style through her teacher, Kate Hagerman, while at Quan Yin in Garrison. Since then, Lara has studied with and offers much gratitude to Certified teachers Ellen Saltonstall, Jackie Prete, Jim and Ruthie Bernaert, Bernadette Birney and Ross Rayburn, as well as Tantric scholars Douglas Brooks, Paul Muller-Ortega, and Carlos Pomeda.

Since beginning teaching, Lara has grown immensely through the daily interactions with her students, family and continued training, specializing in therapeutics.

Melia Marzollo is a certified Pilates Instructor and Yamuna Body Rolling Practitioner, as well as a co-founder of Vikasa. She is also a member of The Pilates Method Alliance. Melia is proud to have trained with and earned certifications through: All Bodies Pilates of Cold Spring, New York, Half Moon Pilates of Brooklyn Heights, New York, Power Pilates of New York City, and Yamuna Body Rolling of New York City and Playa Negra, Costa Rica, The Center for Women's Fitness and Pilates on 17th of San Francisco, California.

Melia’s Pilates Mat classes focus on strengthening and moving from the core and are appropriate for all levels of fitness. Her Pilates Mat classes offer a level of strengthening and lengthening for the entire body from deep within. In her Yamuna Body Rolling class or YBR, Melia offers a therapy practice that combines healing, wellness, toning, and injury prevention in a single workout. YBR consists of a series of routines that use a 6-10 inch reinflatable ball to stretch muscles, freeing restrictions in all parts of the body, increasing blood flow, and promoting healing. Melia's most recent work in Pilates has brought her to a specialization in pre and postnatal Pilates. She teaches pre and postnatal in both private apparatus sessions and in group mat and ball classes.

Melia is grateful to work and live in such an amazing community, doing what she truly loves with wonderful clients, students, and fellow teachers, who inspire her to GROW everyday!

Kathy Toris Rowe, RYT and IYA member, is a certified Hatha yoga teacher and Co-founder of Vikasa. Kathy's Vinyasa classes encompass the teachings and techniques of Hatha, Iyengar, Kripalu, Vinyasa and Yin. She currently teaches at Sportsplex, Esplanade Senior Home as well as various private classe. Kathy challenges and encourages her students to integrate breath and movement, awareness and alignment, strength and fluidity. She guides students to experience the whole range of energy cultivated in yoga from the purification of flowing sequences to the stillness of inversions and meditations – yin and yang. She is wholeheartedly grateful to all her teachers who have guided her through the years and continues her studies with various teachers at Kripalu and Yoga Mountain.

Kasia Bilinska, is trained in the Sivananda style of Yoga. More info to follow.

Andrew Hall teaches in the Anusara Style. Andrew trained with Ross Rayburn at Elements Yoga in Darien, Ct.

Lily Lewis, is a dancer, visual artist and Somatic Expressive Therapist and Arts Educator. She received her certifcation in Shake Your Soul Kripalu YogaDance and Body Centered Expressive Therapy from the Leven Institute for Expressive Movement in Lenox, MA.

She studied choreography with dance therapy pioneer Anna Halprin and improvisational story telling with Nina Wise of Motion Theater. She also studied dance and visual arts at the University of Hawaii and has a BA in Expressive Arts and Healing from the Union Institute. Lily has lived, taught, performed, danced and exhibited in Canada, Hawaii, Australia and NYC.

Lily's approach to expressive arts is as spiritual practice that heals, empowers and grows an awake tenderness within each person, which enriches and enlivens all our relationships. Her goal is to bring acceptance, authentic presence and a grounded joyful playfulness to her classes and to expand and support loving creative community in all her work. Lily recently moved to the Hudson Valley from NYC and is excited and happy to have found this lovely community. Also an RN, she offers individual healing sessions in inner process and creative expression and group facilitation of arts workshops through her business, Magic Chili Arts.

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