Living Yoga

Aditi Sarkar was introduced to yoga in India where she spent her life until completing college.  Her first experience was in an ashram in the hills of the town of Assam, where patients were treated for all kinds of ailments through personalized yoga sessions and diet.  Because of this, along with the influence of her father who was a Sanskrit scholar, Aditi developed a deep regard for yoga and its therapeutic capabilities.

In addition to teaching classes Living Yoga, Aditi also teaches beginners yoga to incarcerated women at Rikers Island.  She specializes in gentle yoga, hot yoga, and yoga history and philosophy.

Christy Alvarado is a California born and raised vinyasa yoga instructor who has made her home on the mat since 2007.  She has taught for over 10 years at various yoga studios in California and Florida.  Christy strives to bring the community together with fun, upbeat and challenging classes that connect the mind, body and spirit.  Always a constant student to the practice, Chrsity travels around the world taking classes from renowned instructors and tries to bring the knowledge of every experience into her classes.

David Ryan never thought that he would ever try yoga until he hurt his leg. His sister said that it might help his injury so he decided to give it a try. That was back in 1995. If he didn’t practice yoga, David is pretty sure that he would be in a wheel chair today. He feels like he's worked his body, mind and spirit after taking a yoga class. He enjoys the challenge.

As a teacher David gets hope and inspiration from all students, especially those who are older and dealing with more injuries than him. After his last car accident, David says when he felt really depressed because it seemed like he couldn’t get better, he thought about the many other students who had it worse than him, but who still worked hard and had a positive attitude. He thought that if they could do that, then he could do it too.

Today he is still working through his injuries doing yoga. He does it because he feels better, and he is happier when he invests in himself. David believes by helping others, he is also helping himself. He feels truly grateful for his life because it didn’t have to turn out as good as it has.

Diana experienced the true benefits and healing power of yoga during her dietetic internship, at which her levels of stress, anxiety and unhappiness was at its highest. By slowing down through the active practice of yoga, she was able to get to know herself better, to really know, understand and listen to what her body and mind needed. Yoga helped her discover that she was extremely stressed out, anxious and unhappy because she was not living in the present moment, she was either in the past or the future but never in the present. Yoga helped her to EMBRACE, LOVE and NURTURE herself. It taught her to embrace all of who she is and embrace the present moment. It taught her to LOVE and to be kind to her body and herself. From that place of embracing and love it showed her how to truly NURTURE herself, doing things that nourished her and to finally take care of herself from the core.

What she hopes to do as a yoga instructor is to help you create a safe practice that meets your body where it is at, so that you can build a yoga practice that comes from a place of compassion, love and kindness, and so that movement can become rewarding, a form of celebration and care of your body and mind.

Irena Trobnikov became a certified yoga instructor in 2015 but her love for yoga developed long before that. During her second pregnancy in 1999 she was seeking physical relief as well as mental support and turned to yoga, which proved to be exactly what she needed. As her children grew, so did her yoga practice. It was after a ten-day workshop in Thailand with Reinhard Gammenthaler that her practice became determined and disciplined.

Between 2000 and 2013 while in Israel and Thailand, Irena had the opportunity to study Vinyasa Yoga, Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga under the guidance of incredible teachers such as Reinhard Gammenthaler, Shandor Remete, Andrey Lapa and Andrey Sidersky.

While living in Israel in 2013 Irena participated in 200 and 500-hour teacher training at Ishitva Yoga Institute and was certified there in 2015. In 2013, Irena arrived in New York and began taking classes with Sri Dharma Mittra and in doing so Irena found her Guru and spiritual family. She completed 500-hour Teacher Training with Sri Dharma Mittra in 2016 and in 2017 completed the 800 hour Teacher Training in which she realized the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual heights of yoga and truly understood that teaching yoga is the gift she wants to share with others. As a working mother, Irena has come to realize the relevance of yoga in every aspect of her life.

Irena teaches various levels of classes, including a yoga wheel class using the wheel designed and developed by Sri Dharma Mittra. In addition to studio classes, Irena offers private lessons for individuals and groups which are customized to the needs of her students. She also designs classes for school programs, working with children from kindergarten through college. She most enjoys creating a comfortable, constructive atmosphere where her students can explore the benefits of breath work, active meditation, and deep release through stretching, which allows students to access greater parts of themselves.