Instructors
Diane
Anderson
Diane Anderson began her study of yoga and spirituality in 1987. Dealing with a major depression and, shortly thereafter, diagnosed with insulin-dependant diabetes, Diane knew it was a time for a big lifestyle change. She began attending a Kripalu gentle yoga class and noted its immediate healing benefits. She soon devoted herself to the practice, seeking every yoga book and resource she could find.
A highly caring and intuitive teacher, Diane offers compassion and love to all who walk through her studio’s doors. Beginning each Hatha yoga class with an opportunity to set a positive intention or affirmation, Diane teaches pranayama breathing, along with positive affirmations and visualizations, which benefits the body’s tissues, organs and other systems. She then ends each class with a moment of gratitude, which for her is one of the most powerful and transformational forms of meditation and prayer available.
In addition to teaching yoga classes, Diane enjoys sharing her gifts of healing touch, intuition and aromatherapy. She offers private, partner and small-group sessions both in and outside the studio, and also creates Hatha yoga and spiritual-mental practices for individual practice.
You can reach Diane at diane@nwcommyoga.com or 206.478.0745.
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Debra Dragovich
Debra Dragovich has been practicing Pilates for several years and has been teaching Pilates for 4 years. She received her training in Pilates mat work and equipment at Vitality Pilates in Mount Baker. Besides her interest in Pilates, she is an avid swimmer and has competed in local masters' competitions as part of the Seattle Athletic Club Sea Slugs swim team. She also enjoys indoor cycling. The discipline and precision of Pilates core conditioning has been of great benefit to her in these activities, and she has found that it has enhanced her day-to-day life by increasing flexibility, balance and strength.
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Liziah Woodruff
Liziah completed her yoga teacher training in 2005 and is a certified yoga teacher. Since graduating, Liziah has had the wonderful opportunity to share the art of yoga with both kids and adults. One of Liziah's favorite places to teach is at Children's hospital, where she worked with kids that had eating disorders. Liziah Has a BFA in acting and performing arts form Cornish College of The Arts. Liziah teaches yoga with the intention to bring joy and inspiration into people's lives.
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Carey DeMartini
Carey DeMartini is a registered yoga teacher at the advanced level with the Yoga Alliance. She has been integrating the powers of the mind, body, and creativity in her classes with students of all ages for over nine years. Carey completed teacher trainings with Ana Forrest and Shari Friedrichsen. Additionally, she is certified to teach prenatal yoga and trained in yoga therapy with The Samarya Center in Seattle. Her classes emphasize core strengthening, breath awareness, encouragement of practicing from a place of ahimsa (compassion and non-violence) and self-acceptance. As a new mom, she is learning to take her yoga beyond the mat--to be in the present moment and remember to breathe. She is also a licensed mental health counselor and art therapist.
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Kristina Schwartz
Kristina Schwartz has been practicing pilates for 12 years and has been certified as an instructor since 2009. She received her training in London, England through Body Control Pilates - a world leader in Pilates training. She also received her Pilates and Pregnancy certification. Kristina loves the convenience of Pilates and the ability to take it anywhere and is inspired by the idea of making it accessible to everyone. Along with Pilates, she is interested in most things that keep her physically active and is always looking to try something new!
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Seanna Browder
Seanna Browder has been intrigued with yoga since she was a teenager and has been able to deepen her practice for many years at Northwest Community Yoga. In fall 2009, she undertook the rigorous 200-hour teacher training certification at 8 Limbs Yoga in Seattle and is thrilled to be giving back to Northwest Community Yoga as a teacher. Her strong intent is that her practice benefits others and that she forever remains a student, always learning from other students and teachers.
Her teaching style is a hatha flow practice with strong emphasis on pranayama. She can testify to the fact that yoga and breath can release stuck patterns in the mind and body. Seanna came to yoga seeking physical relief from years of sitting in front of a computer and tightness stemming from running. She found so much more. Yoga is a great teacher for accepting who you are this moment. Some days you bend, some days you don't. As long as you are breathing, it's all good.
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Danielle
Danielle initially sought out yoga as a way to alleviate stress. Nearly ten years of practice have offered her increasingly longer stretches of stress-free living, a healthier body image, protection against running injuries, and much more. Above all, yoga re-sparked in her life a magic that had been occluded. Marni Task helped her to see this magic most vividly, so she was thrilled to have the opportunity to train under her for her 200 hour level certification in Jivasara, Marni's unique melding of the Jivamukti and Anusara schools. With gratitude to all her teachers from inside and outside studios, she tries to reflect a bit of what they have given her in her classes using spiritual readings, good music, and lots of love.
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Jessica Logan
Having studied Zen meditation and mindfulness in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, Jessica Logan came to yoga looking for a method of meditative movement to accompany her Buddhist sitting meditation practice. It was love at first downward dog! Jessica is a 200-Registered Yoga Teacher, having received her initial training in "Classical Yoga" at the Sivananda Ashram under the guidance of Swami Sita Ramananda. Her training and time spent living at the ashram gave her a firm foundation in both asana and yoga philosophy. Jessica has also studied Baptiste Power Vinyasa with Lisa Black. pre/postnatal yoga with Anne Phyfe Palmer of 8 Limbs Yoga and Insight Yoga with Lisa Powers. She is currently training in the advanced teacher certification at 8Limbs Yoga Studio. Jessica holds a master's degree in education, and as a teacher is dedicated to sharing her lifelong quest for knowledge and self awareness with people of all ages.
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Megan Dougherty
Megan comes to Northwest Community Yoga all the way from the Windy City. A recent transplant from Chicago, she has practiced yoga for seven years. Already working in the field of education, she volunteered her Saturdays to teach yoga to middle school students on Chicago's west side. A friend convinced Megan to go through a teacher training program, and she earned her 200 hour certification through Yoga Alliance in 2011. Megan loves how practicing yoga with focused breathwork can truly melt away stress and tension from body and mind. She is grateful to her friend for encouraging her to teach, because doing so has allowed her to share her passion with others and has brought joy to her life.
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Karissa Bryant
Since 2005 yoga has brought consciousness, connection and compassion to Karissa's life. She started practicing with her sister in Federal Way and since then has studied yoga in five countries, recently finishing a 500 hour Yoga Teacher Training with Agama Yoga in Thailand. She is happy to be back in the northwest after almost three years in Asia teaching, studying, and exploring yoga intellectually and experientially. During her two years teaching English in South Korea, she offered weekly community yoga classes and also taught yoga to parents, students, and teachers. Karissa has explored many different styles along the way, from hot yoga to restorative, traditional Thai yoga, Tantra, Vinyasa, Kriya, and many styles of meditation. Through yoga Karissa has found a deep sense of peace and hopes to share this in her teachings. Her focus is helping students explore the three different dimensions of being - body, mind, and spirit - for positive growth and transformation in every area of life. She teaches yoga to kids and adults with a focus on developing an internal calmness, a constant place of stability and quiet surrender that they can always return to. She is grateful for all the support and love in her life, for the myriad of teachings and Grace she receives, and for the opportunity to join the beautiful community of yogis in Seattle!
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Hope Clunie
Hope Clunie is from Boston, Massachusetts and recently relocated to Seattle this fall for a change of scenery. She began her yoga practice nine years ago at the Yoga Studio in Millis, MA. What began as a way to maintain flexibility acquired from many years of dance, developed into an all encompassing practice in her life. She received her 200 hour teaching certificate from Finding Inner Peace Yoga School in Massachusetts in spring of 2011 and loves teaching all levels of yoga students. After receiving a BS in Studio Art from Skidmore College in 2010, Hope turned her focus to yoga and hopes to bring peace and joy to all her students.
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Katalin Gyorgy
Katalin began practicing the art and science of yoga in 1999, and in 2006 supplemented her practice with the Pilates Method. In 2011, she embarked on a journey to become a Thai Yoga Massage Practitioner to further enhance her other healing modalities. Katalin creatively combines her knowledge of movement, massage, and nutrition, for a balanced and vibrant lifestyle. Movement has intrigued Katalin since childhood, when she began dancing in traditional Hungarian Dance style, with her interest piquing in gymnastics during her teen years. After a major car accident at age 20 she began her practice of yoga to heal her back. She graduated from 8Limbs Yoga in 2008 and from Todo Bien Health Center as an Classical Pilates Instructor in 2006.
Katalin originally began training as a registered nurse; however, after being a CNA for 8 years, studying for nursing, and experiencing the hospital environment first hand, she decided to dedicate herself towards the preventive side of healthcare. She believes that in order to thrive in life and create a harmonious balance inside and out, we must take care of our body, mind and spirit. Through her own praxis, Katalin observes that her health, strength, and happiness amplify exponentially through her dedicated practice on and off the mat.
Katalin is an experienced yoga practitioner and versatile Pilates teacher. During her classes she presents in a challenging and fun way to offer a holistic complete body conditioning. She mixes a variety of Pilates styles and occasionally yoga with her Pilates classes to create a rich and challenging class full of innovative movement.
She is equally creative in her yoga classes and encourages strong core use, being conscious of the vital breath of life, and practicing from the root of one’s authentic self. In all of her classes she emphasizes the importance of knowing limitations, thresholds, and setting healthy benchmarks to one’s own practice. She believes that these ideals are a working formula to accept the infinite ebbs and flows in life, in order to enable humility to bridge the connection to one’s authentic self.
Katalin currently enjoys sharing her knowledge of movement and healthy living in the greater Seattle area where she leads group classes, workshops, as well as in-home private lessons.