"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams."
-- Henry Thoreau

Lila Pierce Brown, E-RYT, is a Certified Anusara Yoga Teacher and the founder of Gateway Yoga. She is dedicated to the life-affirming and transformational aspects of Anusara Yoga and feels blessed to share such an elegant practice with the community. A devoted student of yoga for ten years, Lila has been teaching for the past six and was certified by Anusara's founder, John Friend, in 2005. She has & continues to train extensively with Friend, to whom she offers her gratitude. Lila also expands her understanding of yoga philosophy with Dr. Douglas Brooks, a skillful teacher & world-renowned scholar of Hindu Tantrism. Lila's teaching flows from the heart, intertwining Anusara's intricate philosophy with its brilliant Alignment Principles. In this way, Lila encourages students to tap into their limitless potential and joyfully reveal the radiance from within.

Lydia Pangborn, RYT-200, has been teaching yoga since 1998 and became Hatha Yoga certified through the Asheville School of Yoga in 2002. Currently, she has obtained Anusara-Inspired status (Anusara.com) and expresses a commitment to the Anusara style of yoga created by John Friend. Lydia is thankful to all of the teachers she has studied with in the past and hopes to inspire others with her teaching as she continues to learn and grow. Please visit her website at:
www.luminousyoga.com for more information.
Lindsey Waite, RYT, practiced yoga for four years prior to attending her first yoga teacher-training program at Frog Lotus Yoga in the Berkshire Mountains during the summer of 2005. Upon returning to the Triangle area, she was introduced to the Anusara community and immediately fell in love with the heart-oriented practice. Eager to learn as much as she could about Anusara, she began a serious practice with local Anusara teachers, Patricia Mickelberry, Paul and Sommer Sobin, and Lila Pierce Brown. During the summer of 2006, she went a step further on her path and spent a week in Costa Rica participating in an Immersion with Anusara Yoga's founder, John Friend. Lindsey is currently embarking on an Anusara Immersion and teacher-training program with Lila Brown and Paul and Sommer Sobin. She is immensely grateful of the support of the Anusara kula, whose love and energy she finds completely fulfilling.
Melinda has been practicing yoga for 10 years & has devoted her studies to the heart opening, life affirming teachings of Anusara Yoga since 2005. She is a graduate of the Triangle Anusara Institute and is working toward Anusara Certification. Melinda feels blessed to study with some of the most skillful & bright teachers in the world including Certified Anusara Instructors Sommer and Paul Sobin & Anusara's Founder, John Friend. She especially offers immense gratitude to her primary teacher, mentor, and friend, Certified Anusara Instructor & Founder of Gateway Yoga, Lila Brown. Through Anusara's rich philosophy & transformative Universal Principles of Alignment Melinda seeks to empower students to live brilliantly from the heart by viewing embodiment as a gift & loving the life we are each given.
Michelle Corey has been teaching in the physical health and fitness community since 1987. She loves the transformational power of yoga and delights in sharing this with her students. She is a graduate of the NC School of Yoga and is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Currently, Michelle is on her way to becoming an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher. She loves the attention to alignment as well as the message of acceptance and love in all things that the practice of Anusara Yoga offers. Her classes provide an environment for both an invigorating experience and a heartfelt journey.
Originally from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, Cristina Lincoln stepped into her heart through Anusara Yoga during a class at Namaste Yoga Center in Cary in 2004. She has been practicing Yoga for 5 years and is eternally grateful for the life transformation she has undergone through the practice. A Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance through the Asheville Yoga Center, she is currently working towards Anusara-Inspired status through the Triangle Anusara Teacher Training Institute with Lila Brown and Paul & Sommer Sobin. Cristina is devoted to broadening her understanding and practice of Yoga so she can fulfill her passion to serve as an inspiration to others in their journey towards unveiling the light that shines within their hearts.
Holly Sansone is a teacher and an enthusiastic student of local Anusara Certified teachers Lila, Patience, Sommer and Paul. She hopes to offer her students the chance to find empowerment and joy in their lives through their yoga practices, and encourage them to embrace themselves and all of life's beautiful diversity. Through Anusara's Universal Alignment Principals and its focus on Tantric philosophy, she seeks to help students gain the courage to step into the possibilities of where their bodies can go and their spirits can lead them.
Hannah Byrum is a recent graduate of the Triangle Anusara Yoga Teacher Training Program. Additionally she has completed a Level One Teacher Training and a Level One Therapy Training with Anusara Yoga founder, John Friend. Her primary teachers are Lila Pierce Brown and Sommer and Paul Sobin. She also travels to Massachusetts yearly to study with Senior Certified Anusara Teacher Todd Norian. Hannah is a devoted student of Anusara yoga and is actively pursuing certification. Her studies have also included a 200 hour Teacher Training in Hatha Yoga with Ti Harmony and workshops with Angela Farmer and Victor VanKooten, Gabriel Halpern, Seane Corn, Patty Townsend, Sarah Powers, and Paul Grilley.
Carlos Cela, RYT-500, began his Yoga journey in 1999 with various styles of practice, including a two year period of Ashtanga vinyasa, and eighteen intense months studying Raja Yoga. His philosophical views have since been deeply influenced by the works of J. Krishnamurti and by Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh. His yoga practice has evolved to draw from the elegant alignment principles and Tantric philosophy of Anusara Yoga, which he first came to know and study through the dedicated help of Lila Brown. He has studied with other Anusara Certified Teachers, including Sommer Sobin and Paul Sobin, as well as with John Friend. His classes are challenging, caring and nurturing, aiming at opening the flood gates of the heart to let the core of goodness inside each of us to freely flow through.
Rachel Cotter is a White Belt Nia instructor. She found Nia when searching for a fun, pain-free way to
enjoy exercising while improving strength, flexibility and agillity. After experiencing the physical benefits of NIA, Rachel's NIA experience deepened as she began to recognize the spiritual and emotional benefits as well. For Rachel, NIA has become a lifestyle practice that promotes balance, awareness, and self healing. As a teacher, Rachel uses her creative and playful personality to share the gift of NIA with her students. She hopes her students will use NIA to find comfort and confidence in their bodies while spiritually diving into life's succulence and intimate gifts!