Rising Lotus Yoga

Jessica Frank is a 500-RYT Deaf yoga teacher certified in the Sivananda lineage. She is based in southern California and has been teaching yoga in American Sign Language since 2011. She has long been an advocate for access to yoga for Deaf people and is a co-facilitator of the nonprofit, DeafYoga Foundation, an organization focused on sharing yoga in sign language. When she’s not teaching a class, you can probably find her hiking somewhere with her Ewok lookalike pup.

Elizabeth Philipose has been on a meditative path for fifteen years. She completed a four-year program in the frequency of meditation, and four levels of training in bioenergetics, breath work, and embodiment. She has a daily practice and retreats several times a year. Her style is unique, eclectic and highly attuned to subtle body energy; transcendent and embodied, spiritual and scientific, multidimensional and accessible. She offers knowledge that brings the mind into alignment with energy bodies and connects us to our authentic, masterful self. Besides teaching meditation, she has twenty years of classroom experience as an international politics professor.

Co-Owner and Co-Founder.
British born Yoga teacher, Claire Hartley, found her deep
passion and healing with Yoga in the early 90s at the Jivamukti
Yoga Center in New York, the east coast birthplace of the Vinyasa
Yoga movement.
She moved to Los Angeles in 2001 where she continued her
training with some of the best teachers in the world including an
apprenticeship with Lisa Walford.
In April 2006 she opened and co-founded Rising Lotus Yoga, a
busy and thriving studio in Los Angeles, attracting practitioners
seeking alignment based Vinyasa Yoga classes with healthy doses of
dharma talks, chanting and joyful community. Since 2007 it has won
3 Los Angeles “Best of” Awards.
In 2008 she created the Rising Lotus Teacher Training Program,
which teaches trainees how to bring intelligent alignment and
sequencing to students, while serving up the deeper meaning and
layers of Yoga.
She is happy she is able to give back a little with the Rising
Lotus Seva project, which she co-founded in 2010. This non-profit
branch of the studio sends teachers out to organizations all around
Los Angeles providing free yoga to the underserved.
Claire teaches daily, and is always in such deep gratitude for
the amazing life that Yoga continues to provide and unfold in front
of her. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband John and her
daughter Nova.

Soft, grounded, and always holding space, Rae brings relaxing assists and creative sequencing to all her classes. She teaches yoga as an inquiry - a way to shed layers, understand our experience, heal emotionally and physically, and strengthen the essence of who we really are. 

After success in Entertainment and Real Estate careers, Aleyna
discovered a passion for Health and Wellness, particularly yoga.
She found that her yoga mat became a sanctuary for her when she was
going through a particularly hard divorce. After taking her own
“Eat/Pray/Love” self exploration journey of sorts to Thailand and
Bali, complete with 2 yoga retreats, she realized her passion and
drive to further her education, practice and devotion to yoga and
upon her return to the states made the decision to pursue her
teacher certification. She studied under Claire and Daniel and
received her 200 RYT certification from Rising Lotus. Aleyna loved
the teacher training program so much that she assisted Claire
during the following year's 200 RLY TT program. Through intention,
pranayama and asana (and a love for music that has lead to a knack
from creating awesome playlists) Aleyna's goal is to have each
student leave class feeling renewed and refreshed. Aleyna is
energetic and outgoing with an infectious spirit. She is also a
certified Holistic Health Coach and self proclaimed vegan chef. In
her off time, Aleyna can usually be found volunteering at animal
shelters (trying her best not to take home every animal she comes
across), being of service and teaching yoga to incarcerated youth
at the Downtown Los Angeles Juvenile Hall, or in her kitchen
working on new vegan recipes.

Anna Hanson approaches yoga, with a curious mind and playful
attitude. While fun and mindful, her classes are physically
demanding. Students can expect to be greeted with a smile, a bit of
yoga philosophy, some breath work, and a whole lot of
strength-building flow. She is passionate about encouraging
students through advances in their physical practice, managing
stress, and moving beyond perceived limitations.
She received her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification with Rudy
Mettia and Travis Elliot of Santa Monica Power Yoga and has since
been certified in two different styles of barre, Pilates Plus, and
through Air Aerial Fitness. Her biggest influences have been Rudy
and Travis certainly, as well as the noteworthy Shiva Rae, and
Michelle Anderson of Studio Be and Richard Freeman’s Yoga Workshop
in Anna's hometown of Boulder, Colorado. In addition to teaching at
Rising Lotus, she is also an instructor at Yoga Salt, Heartbeat
House, and Air Aerial Fitness as well as in private homes across
Los Angeles. She teaches online for Udaya Yoga, Yoga Merge, and
others.
When she's not teaching, Anna is passionate about organizing
beach clean-ups for her non-profit Daana Blue, being creative,
eating delicious vegan food, her two Italian Greyhounds Ella and
Dottie, and going on adventures. www.annahansonyoga.com

I first stepped onto my yoga mat in 2002, in Studio City, CA.
I was born and raised in California as a dancer but grew up to be a
traveler & Set Decorator for Television & Film. The slow
stretching is what lured me into that first class. Very quickly I
found there was more going on in yoga class so kept exploring… on
and off again… for years. In any time of difficulty I would find
myself back on the mat. It brought me ease & peace. In times of
stress it brought me back to my true nature. And in off hours it
brought physical relaxation, strength & fun. Bonus! Why would I
ever leave my mat? These are the aspects I focus on in class. A
steady Vinyasa - studying breath, alignment, & stability –
sprinkled with the philosophy behind how it’s all connected. I
often look at how we can carry yoga off the mat and into everyday
life. With life’s many adventures and lessons I do a lot of breath
work on the 405 freeway, Tadasana when I’m at a register checkout
line, and feel a connection with the earth as it supports my feet
as I walk my son to school. I earned my 200-hour yoga teacher
training certification (finally) in 2014 at Rising Lotus Yoga under
the tutelage of Claire Hartley & Daniel Stewart. I was
additionally certified in 2014 to teach kids yoga through Mini
Yogis. It’s a lifelong journey – Let’s explore.

Jay Averell has been a student of Iyengar yoga since 2001. He graduated in 2006 from the three year teacher's training program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles and has recently passed assessment at the first level for certification by the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the U.S. His extensive medical background allows him a great knowledge and understanding of the anatomy of the human body, which he incorporates into his classes. He attended the Iyengar Yoga convention in 2007 in Las Vegas where he studied with Gita Iyengar. The senior teacher that he regularly studies with is Manouso Manos. He has been teaching yoga classes since 2005, and his love of Iyengar Yoga is evident to his students through his infectious enthusiasm.

As a yoga teacher, I’ve had many amazing opportunities to work
with all different types of people at various levels of practice.
My passion for teaching is always rewarded by the aid I’m able to
give my students. I’m humbled and grateful to forever be a student
of yoga and pride myself in learning as much as I can as often as
possible. My class descriptions and teaching style are ever
evolving, taking from my teachers’ vast amounts of precious
knowledge from Iyengar traditions, gentle and therapeutic
applications, restorative postures, vinyasa flow, meditation, and
bhakti practices. These ideas, techniques and information influence
my everyday practice as well as my development as a teacher.
I’m proud to be certified to teach babies, kids, tweens, and
teens yoga by Shana Meyerson from mini yogis yoga for kids.
Additionally, I completed my 200-hour yoga alliance certification
from Rising Lotus Yoga in 2012 studying with Claire Hartley, Daniel
Stewart, Karen Rosales, and Jay Averell. In 2013 I completed the
Prison Yoga Project Teacher Training with James Fox to bring yoga
to at risk communities and incarcerated individuals with special
training in trauma sensitive applications of yoga and mindfulness
meditation in prisons and other rehabilitation facilities. My love
for yoga translates from the beginning of life: kids’ yoga, to our
later years: senior yoga, and everything in between. I hope you
join me in discovering the vast varieties of yoga and their amazing
abilities to heal, create joy, and develop space for love and peace
within. Namaste.

Rosanna began her yoga journey with a firm nudge from her
dance professor and mentor while a dance major at the University of
Michigan. Her first classes were in the Iyengar tradition at the
Ann Arbor YMCA and soon after with master teacher Cindy Lee in New
York. She loved the physical aspect of the practice, but quickly
noticed that her mind was quite chatty. This led to a lifelong
practice of self-inquiry while having some extraordinary adventures
in the entertainment business, first as a one fifth of a girl band
that toured with N’SYNC and had its own reality show, and then as a
television host alongside Ryan Seacrest and other fancy Hollywood
types. Her soul searching found her much more at home on her red
yoga mat (its still red), than on the red carpet and in 2009 she
became certified as a yoga instructor, retired the glam lashes and
seven layers of make-up and began teaching. She has learned to love
the part of her that is chatty and infuses her classes with
anecdotes, stories and teachings from varied sources like NPR
podcasts, to TED talks to the Yoga Sutras. She has a profound love
for exploring how things connect and intersect and is invested in
seeing her students discover freedom, power, fullness and
connection within their bodies, minds, spirits and hearts.

Pursuing
a lifelong interest in fitness, I found my way to yoga in the early
1990’s at Yoga Works in Santa Monica. I enrolled in a Fundamentals
of Yoga weekend Course, and I was hooked! What followed was years
of practicing yoga with the most respected teachers at the finest
studios in town. My practice took another huge step forward when I
found the Rising Lotus Yoga studio, and met my future mentors
Claire Hartley and Daniel Stewart, who ignited within me a light of
desire to become a teacher. After practicing with Claire and Daniel
for a three years, I poured myself into their 200 hour yoga teacher
training at Rising Lotus in 2013. Later, I was introduced to Jill
Miller’s Yoga Tune Up, and was intrigued to learn how the YTU poses
were physically preparing the body for the yoga asana, I knew this
was something I wanted to integrate into my practice and teaching
program, and enrolled in YogaTune Up teacher training in 2014 to
study with YTU creator Jill Miller. Yoga Tune Up® is a fitness
therapy format built around the three P's – Pain, Posture and
Performance. It helps eradicate pain, improve posture and enhance
performance through a unique blend of Corrective Exercise, Self
Massage and Yoga. The integration of YTU with my regular yoga asana
practice has forged a potent source of wellness for me, and I’m
very excited to be able to share this combined practice with my
Rising Lotus students. My intention as a teacher is to be a
resource of wellness for my students, sharing a hybrid of what I
have studied and personally practice: Pantanjali’s 8 limbs of yoga,
Vinyasa Flow, Iyenger, and Yoga Tune Up. For me yoga extends far
beyond the mat, it is a lifestyle that promotes physical and
spiritual harmony, and a practical path toward self realization.
Yoga has taught me to surrender to what is and to live in the
immediacy of the moment. When you live in the present moment you
are in a conscious state, and when you are in a conscious state you
are acutely aware and awake. Yoga doesn’t just help you improve the
path of your life, it helps you draw your own map by providing
useful tools for achieving your personal health and wellness goals.
What more could you ask for!

Tiffany took her first yoga class as a freshman in college,
and over the years practicing yoga has become a way of life. In
2015, she decided to deepen her practice, and completed the
200-hour yoga teacher training program led by Daniel Stewart &
Claire Hartley at Rising Lotus Yoga. Now, her passion is to share
the practice of yoga with the community.
Tiffany teaches a gentle flow connecting mindful movement with
the breath. Her sequences are designed to balance strength and
flexibility, while offering a variety of modifications to make
yogis of all levels feel comfortable. Tiffany creates a
light-hearted environment with music, moving meditations and
affirmations. Her classes incorporate pranayama at the beginning of
class to help bring focus to the mind and body, and therapeutic
touch & aromatherapy at the end of class to enhance relaxation.
The intention of her classes is to create a space where her
students can move, breathe, learn and grow together.
When she is not teaching yoga, Tiffany is a private chef and
loves to create nutritious meals for her clients. Her free time is
spent hiking, reading, traveling, attending yoga workshops and
retreats, and volunteering in the Project Angel Food kitchen.