Instructors
Each instructor here at Pilgrimage of the Heart Yoga brings his or her own love, style, compassion, and expertise for the practice to the students of yoga. With instructors of various backgrounds and techniques, we’re able to offer a full range of classes and are excited to have you discover your own individual practice. Learn more about our instructors below.
Sujantra McKeever
Sujantra was born in San Francisco in 1962 and moved to San Diego in 1980 to attend UCSD. He is the founder and owner of the Pilgrimage of the Heart Yoga Studio. He first became interested in hatha yoga as a young boy and used his practice of asanas (the yoga postures) and pranayama (breathing techniques) as a stepping stone into the “inner aspects” of yoga: concentration, meditation and contemplation.
Sujantra has authored five books on eastern philosophy, success motivation and meditation. Two of his books were used by major universities to teach wellness, stress reduction and comparative religion. Over the past 20 years, he has delivered over one thousand lectures on meditation and yoga in over 25 countries.
Sujantra opened the Pilgrimage of the Heart studio in 2006. In each of his yoga classes, Sujantra offers the complete yoga experience by teaching all eight aspects of yoga and exploring the relevance of this ancient art in our modern lives. He teaches Beginning / Gentle Yoga; Yoga for Children and Hatha Levels I and II, which includes Sun Salutations, shoulder stand and headstand. He encourages students to practice both at home and at the studio.
Sujantra has studied meditation with spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy since 1980. Sujantra is an ACE certified Group Fitness Instructor.
Please visit Soul’s Delight to purchase Sujantra’s books and CDs:
- 7 Secrets to Super-Health
- Paths are Many, Truth is One: Exploring the Unity of All Religions
- Learn to Meditate
- Strategies for Success: An Outline for Personal Growth
- Focus – Relax – Peace (60 min. CD)
Alyssa Runyan
My journey on the path of yoga began before stepping into a studio. The awareness gained from my practice of vipassana meditation enabled me to realize the possibilities of yoga from my very first class. Every day I am grateful for the insights and challenges that arise during the time on my mat. Like all others who have experienced a transformation through asana, yoga has literally changed my life. As a 200 hour Yoga Alliance certified instructor, I am honored to have the opportunity to share this experience. My classes are challenging and dynamic with a strong emphasis on awareness and breath. I strive to cultivate an environment in which you can explore your own depth and find the stillness which lies within.
Blair Hartwell
Blair began her teaching journey here at Pilgrimage of the Heart in 2008, and has enjoyed the love, community, and growth that surrounds this beautiful studio ever since. In 2010, she took a year traveling the world, using her breath as a center within the ever changing scenery and experiences. Incorporating a sense of balance between self, others, and the universe, Blair encourages her students to follow their own inner voice and lead a life full of compassion.
Brenna Van Norman
Continually in awe of yoga’s ability to show us new sides of ourselves and shed light on our place in the world, Brenna draws upon this incredible gift of yoga and provides her students an opportunity to experience the same. Through her knowledge and personal dedication to asana practice she hopes to inspire and empower her students to find their edge and their own self-discoveries. Brenna is passionate about sharing this true joy with her students, and hopes they leave class feeling uplifted with peace in their hearts and peace in their minds.
Brenna grew up in western New York, and first discovered her love for yoga when she was in college in 2001. The creative fluidity of yoga poses coupled beautifully with her studio art mindset and she quickly found vast connections in the expressive nature of creating a pose and creating a piece of art. Her practice at the time quickly became a personal path of self-discovery and respite from typical college challenges. After years of travel and exploration she arrived in San Diego and knew this would be the place in which she would embark on her long time dream of becoming a yoga teacher. She completed Pilgrimage of the Heart’s spring teacher training in 2010.
Briana Springer
Briana graduated from the Deep Yoga School of Healing Arts, 200 hour program, a Yoga Alliance accredited school through Ginseng Yoga led by Bhava Ram and Laura Plumb. The eight month program focused on everything from pranayama, mantra, asana, meditation, and the eight limbs of Patanjali. The Deep Yoga style is a blend of Raja yoga; the royal form of yoga which focuses on keeping your practice a “mediation in motion.”
Since then she has been teaching throughout San Diego county, classes that range from Vinyasa to Gentle Yoga. She created a Chair Yoga program for people who have physical limitations, and became certified to teach Prenatal Yoga through YogaWell. She loves helping people create their practice no matter who they are or what stage of life they are in. She also began a private yoga service called Om in Your Home to help people develop their own private yoga practice. Briana’s specialty is always seeing the “yogi” within each of us, and supporting that part as it emerges into strength and calm.
Briana’s first passion was dance. She spent every year after age 13 in jazz, ballet, and hip hop classes. In high school she was a member of a dance company where she choreographed dances as well as performed. At 18, she went to her first yoga class, and felt a new sense of self. The combination of moving the body with the breath and creating a more meditative state was a new and wonderful feeling.
Carolina Moreira
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsch
Since becoming a certified yoga instructor in August 2009 through Yoga Alliance, she has been teaching private and group Vinyasa Flow classes for all levels. This style of yoga is very energetic, consisting of linking breath with movement, as well as core and spine strengthening. Carolina feels blessed to be able to teach yoga, and help her students grow physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Carolina discovered yoga in 2008 with the intention to improve physical fitness, strength, and flexibility. However, she quickly found a powerful transformative effect through a daily practice, which brought her mental and emotional benefits beyond the physical aspects. Initially, yoga fed her inside with self-discovery, balance, and acceptance. Carolina knew that she had discovered her path through yoga, and she made a choice to passionately share it with others.
“Personal growth is what I believe life is all about, and what really matters at the end. From the depths of my heart, I thank all my family, friends and teachers for their lasting love, care, kindness and support. NAMASTE!
Courtney Yezzi
Courtney Kimpo teaches Yoga and Meditation at Pilgrimage of the Heart. Courtney hopes that sharing her yoga and meditation experiences will help to ignite the flame of aspiration in others, to not only change themselves but to change the world.
Love. Peace. Laughter. Smiles.
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Dani Weir
Though leaves are many, the root is one.” -WB Yeats
Yoga has opened my heart up to possibility; to joy; to truth; to compassion. In search of healing, I began a regular asana practice that incorporated meditation, breath work, discovering my boundaries, commitment to letting go, and acceptance of what is. What I’ve found on this path to wholeness is a strong sense of Unity among all beings, and a deeper understanding of what is within my own heart. There is nothing I want more than to share the richness of life that yoga can offer with other seekers. I practice so I can share – I share so that I may be filled.
I bring my heart into my teaching and hope my students will find their own Light through their practice, on and off the mat. My teaching encourages body and breath awareness through a deeper reflection of Self. I am committed to ensuring a nurturing environment for my students so we can journey together towards cultivating a greater sense of health and wellbeing, community and togetherness, strength and empowerment, peace and joy.
Drisana Carey
Drisana fell in love with yoga and the many benefits a little over 7 years ago. She is currently a studying Acupuncture in Mission Valley at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. The joy of living and studying a lifestyle of wellness and health has inspired a turn to help guide others in the growth and development of their own individual yoga practices. Her practice has deepened over the years at different teacher training retreats and workshops around California, most recently including the White Lotus teacher training in Santa Barbara.
She truly enjoys sharing this beautiful, dynamic, enriching practice with new faces, and hopes to see you soon!
Elizabeth Nofziger
For Elizabeth Nofziger, becoming a yoga instructor was a natural progression of her yoga journey that began when she took her first class over a decade ago. Her passion for yoga and her love of teaching combine to provide a supportive environment within the challenges of a yoga class. Her classes are ideal for anyone who wants to learn foundation and fundamentals of yoga, whether new students or longtime practitioners. Elizabeth has a mission to acknowledge the divine in every being and to do her best to help others live in full awareness, conscious choice and joy.
Haunani Chong
“Be the change you wish to see in the World.”
Haunani Chong, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, is here to hug the World by Being the Change. Having danced the ancient Hawaiian Hula since the age of four (another form of yoga, uniting spirit, mind, and body)and studying natural forms of healing her whole life, Yoga & Ayurveda were natural progressions to discovering a deeper understanding of personal healing, transformation, self-realization, love, and unity with All That Is. As a certified Deep Yoga Mastery of Life Teacher through Bhava & Sundari Ram of San Diego and Radiant Child Yoga Teacher instructed by Shakta Kaur she loves to guide, share, and inspire kids and adults to discover, feel, and honor the Divine Love & Light within. She also shares her loving light through ancient Hawaiian massage and breathwork.
Her studies and travels from around the globe influences her integrative approach to Yoga, Ayurveda and holistic healing: “I don’t heal people, my intention is to guide and empower people to heal themselves.” Haunani best motivates others to live in their highest Spirit or Soul-realization by choosing to live a life in accordance with the divine nature of Oneness, Love, Happiness, Gratitude and Trust. She loves to laugh until she’s crying and cry until she’s laughing, cook with organic garden-fresh produce, read, travel, and be out in nature.
Within each body lies the endless possibilities of health, healing, happiness, and liberation from personal suffering. Yoga & Ayurveda is one way of tapping into those endless possibilities and innate capabilities, to free ourselves from our past, personal agreements, and contracts. Inspiring and guiding people to balance, happiness, and self-liberation through the cultivation of awareness and gratitude continues to be her service to the One Earth Family.
“Every journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step.” Whether you’ve begun that journey or need to start a new, it will be an honor to take that next step together.
Heather Fenwick
Heather Fenwick first practiced yoga on the beach in 2002, after migrating to San Diego from the East Coast. Her first teacher training in 2005 (Yoga Works, Orange County,) sparked a deeper interest in the art of yoga. She spent most of the following year traveling solo though India and Thailand, diving into the roots of the tradition, as well as massage and holistic medicine. After a couple of years of teaching in San Diego, she took another hiatus to return to the motherland for a deeper immersion into yoga ashrams and meditation retreats.
Her classes range from shanti shanti (peaceful and relaxing) to energetic, sweat-inducing vinyasa flows. She infuses her passion for yoga in each posture, giving gentle but encouraging cues through each pose, with a particular emphasis on the breath, playfulness, and enjoyment of the present moment.
She has also attended vinyasa flow, Anusara, and Deep Yoga teacher trainings. In addition to teaching yoga, she practices massage.
Hedy ElDiwany
Hedy ElDiwany began practicing yoga in 2006 in Boston, MA. While experimenting with many different styles at first, she quickly gravitated to a vinyasa based style known as PranaVayu under David Magone. PranaVayu literally translates into “Breath of Life”, however the main principle is that by correct breathing and sequencing, we can move deeper into our yoga practice.
Hedy participated in various workshops in and around Boston and also went on a week long retreat in Costa Rica in 2008. Completely invigorated after her return, she began teaching yoga classes at her advertising agency to test out how she would feel about teaching yoga to others. She quickly fell in love with it and when the opportunity presented itself to return to Costa Rica and earn her yoga teacher certification, she quickly hopped on board. There she received her RYT certified 200 hour training certification in vinyasa flow yoga under Angela Boltz.
She has since left her job in the advertising world and decided to pursue a degree in Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine to further deepen her knowledge of these powerful, ancient, Eastern modalities for improving overall health and well-being. Hedy currently resides in San Diego, CA, where she attends school at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine while continuing to explore and share her love for yoga with others.
Jen Peters
My own personal journey led me through many doors of creative exploration, having always been involved in some level in the The Arts. Dance, Music, Art and Poetry were ways my heart could project the gift of life I have been given and guide me again and again to my authentic self. I am continually evoked to inspire and enrich others lives in the same way.
My introduction to Yoga was as a Fine Arts of Dance major while at the University of Wisconsin in my home town Milwaukee. It was here I learned the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar- “When I practice I am a philosopher, when I teach I am a scientist, when I demonstrate I am an artist”.
As my path widened I became more and more involved within the field of Holistic Heath and Fitness. This is where I really began to tap into many of my hidden strengths and natural wisdom of the human body. After many years of study, I eventually made my way back to my heart through exploring more deeply into the world of Yoga.
Through the awareness and practice of Ashtanga, Anusara, Iyengar, Martial Arts, Dance, Body work, Philosophy & Sciences of the Mind & Universal Laws, and life’s own lessons, I offer an ever evolving Vinyasa style class of the intention to stimulate and expand individual and universal consciousness.
With love, I invite you to explore the infinite possibilies of this practice and connect to the dynamic source energy that awaits.
Julia Beauchamp
Julia first found yoga in 2004 while doing her theatre training in Boston. She was introduced to self-care, body awareness, stretching, deep breathing, presence and alignment. She immediately connected with this kinesthetic approach and the ease it brought to movement, breath and thought. Later, while studying the practice of physical theater at Jerzy Grotowski’s Institute in Poland, with it’s dynamic and rigorous approach to physical and vocal training, Julia’s visceral understanding of yoga and experience of being grounded and present in the body deepened further. She added to these expressive disciplines a steady practice of Vinyasa yoga and Vipassana meditation enhancing her life and creating an ideal platform for formal yoga training. She continued her work as a performing artist with Double Edge Theater, Ang Gei Pin and the Urban Research Theater as well as collaborating to found the Moving Dharma Dance Lab and the Elephant Foot Theater. In 2009, she completed her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification and taught full-time in Boston before moving west in October of 2010.
Currently, Julia teaches private clients and weekly classes at studios throughout the San Diego area. She strives to give students a unique and playful experience of embodied presence and tools for their own healing. You can expect to sweat, breathe deeply and move in ways you didn’t know you could.
Leela Moghadas
Leela Moghadas has been a student of Yoga since 1978; she has practiced many styles of Yoga for the past 30 years. Yoga, meditation and Ayurvedic practices have been a vital part of her life’s journey. Leela has had the opportunity to study with many highly regarded Yoga teachers and has come to know the many healing and transformational benefits Yoga offers and is both inspired and determined to share this 5,000 year old science with others.
Leela is a compassionate and nurturing teacher; her classes are dynamic and fun, with attention on the cultivation of Prana through the breath. She also has the steadiness of her roots in classical Hatha to create a balanced sequence of postures, easily modified to fit all levels of practitioners. Her classes are designed to relieve tension, create strength, flexibility, and encourage an overall state of bliss. Leela is a caring teacher who seeks to help her students find a Yoga practice that can be both challenging and accessible for their strengths, goals, and needs. She helps students to see the joy and fun in the practice of Yoga.
Linda Martone
Linda Martone was drawn to the practice of yoga in 1997 with the hope of increasing her flexibility as she prepared for an upcoming Black Belt test in Karate. It wasn’t long before she realized that this ancient practice of yoga could affect her on a much deeper level. She says, “Yes, yoga has helped me to become more flexible, but over the years it has taught me something much more valuable. It has helped me to connect with an inner source of peace, something which I believe is accessible for everyone.”
As a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor since 2000 and a Licensed Massage Therapist since 2001, Linda brings a solid knowledge of anatomy and physiology to her teaching. Her classes reflect the variety of styles of yoga that she has studied. They are a fusion of the gentleness and compassion of Kripalu yoga, the flowing quality of Vinyasa yoga, and the precision and detail of alignment of the Iyengar and Anusara traditions. Linda’s intention is to have her students emerge from her classes with a feeling of freedom and ease in their bodies and a deep sense of inner peace.
Maral Hadidi
Freedom of the Heart means just that! May we live this life as free beings, liberated beings whom seek choices and actions that are reflective of the spirit inside each of us! Yoga is life itself and seeing that our familial, social, cultural, and political choices are just ways of identifying the many aspects of our life, our yoga! This understanding that all aspects of life is our yoga and that we can choose all parts of it, release the dullness, and expand our hearts as a result of these choices is FREEDOM, is LIBERATION! Yoga guides us to unwind the manipulation we have been unknowingly engaged in and rocks us to the core of truth, to the FREEDOM OF THE HEART! The classes I teach are based on the practices of Anusara, AcroYoga, Eastern Modalities and the pure excitement and joy of living in the body!
Maral teaches nationally and internationally. Maral’s primary teachers are John Friend, Jenny Klein, Jason Nemer, Desiree Rumbaugh, Darren Rhodes, and Christina Sell. Teaching since 2000 and practicing since 1994 Maral has studied Iyengar, Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga with Sri K. Pattahbi Jois and David Swenson for 6 years, and in the last 6 years devoted herself to Anusara, and AcroYoga. Thai Massage is also a practice Maral offers, teaches, and continues study in. Maral also graduated from University of California of San Diego with a B.S. in Political Science, International Relations.
My intention for students is first and foremost to connect with their hearts and the universal energy, but physically to come into a state of optimum health. This physical practice is therapeutic first then radical. I invite everyone to feel safe and supported in my classes. I will love you and take in your own unique embodiment and celebrate it.
Marney Jensen
Marney has been practicing yoga since 1996. She became a Certified Yoga Teacher through the Sivananda Yoga Teachers’ Training Course at the ashram in Grass Valley, California. Marney seeks to enrich the lives of students through a gentle and informative teaching style, incorporating postures or asanas, breathing exercises (pranayama), relaxation (savasana), positive thinking and meditation. Her goal as a teacher is to help students to discover and embrace their true nature, happiness and inner peace.
Michelle Laxton
Michelle trained with the Deep Yoga School of Healing Arts and enjoys teaching Hatha and Vinyasa style classes, as well as Prenatal Yoga. As a yoga instructor and student, Michelle sees each class as an opportunity to build community, develop physical and mental strength share a laugh, sharpen your focus, and so much more. Michelle hopes that her classes are infused with lighthearted fun and challenge practitioners to grow in whatever way they like.
Nicole Pisciotto
Nicole teaches self-love and self-healing which allows students to discover and embrace their true nature, happiness and inner peace. Discovering Yoga in 1995 and embracing its unique quality of balance and tranquility she instantly appreciated what Yoga brought into her life. Moving from the sunny shores of Florida to the golden radiance of California marks the turning point in Nicole’s journey and spiritual pursuits.
Exploring different types of Yoga has led her to focus on an Inner Peace based practice where she encourages her students to embrace a vibration of love, peace & unity. It is through her open-minded approach to life that she encourages others to see the positive as she strives to be a vehicle for growth, self-understanding and overall peace of mind. In her Gentle & Hatha classes, students will integrate Universal Teachings of Love, Light, and Unity as well as connection with Mother Earth, Divine Spirit and the Inner Light within.
If there is a theme for Nicole’s life it would be the cultivation of an eternal state of happiness by helping others and enjoying the inner-connectivity of like minded beings. Her work with non-profit organizations and participation in a variety of community events improves exposure of yoga out in the World.
Her goal as a teacher is to help students to discover and embrace their true nature, happiness and inner peace while immersing themselves in a perpetual state of Love…
Nicole also owns Shanti Spa & Gallery, a peaceful retreat of beauty and wellness, located here in Normal Heights.
Nikole Fortier
Nikole is amused by the poetic irony of pop culture introducing her to yoga: “I went in looking for ‘yoga butt’ and walked out profoundly changed–physically, mentally, psychically.” Nine years later, she’s dedicated to creating space in her classes for students to experience something similar.
Nikole has a 200 hour certification from UCSD training with Arturo Galvez in the Iyengar & Astanga traditions, and recently completed a 100 hour interdisciplinary flow certification from Yoga One with Amy Caldwell & Diana Beardsley. She’s been blessed to have studied with many amazing teachers, and often credits her students for teaching her most. In her classes, she likes to incorporate chanting, pranayama, Sanskrit, philosophy, still and moving meditation through asanas with emphasis on the breath so that students can experience the spectrum of transformational yoga expressions. Foremost, she encourages students to practice loving kindness, truth, peace and acceptance on the mat as these qualities invariably translate into life.
Papaha Gosline
Papaha Gosline has studied meditation with Sri Chinmoy since 1982 and has been teaching meditation classes free of charge for over 25 years. He helped build Jyoti-Bihanga vegetarian restaurant and was one of their chefs for over a decade. Papaha now owns a gallery and art studio across the street from the yoga studio in Normal Heights that focuses on showing spiritual contemporary art and producing commercial design.
Inspired by the example of Sri Chinmoy he also lives a very athletic lifestyle teaching tennis part time, along with enjoying many other sports activities in sunny San Diego. “Learning about spirituality with Sri Chinmoy has revealed paths with heart, creativity and fulfillment. Meditating and working with the Sri Chinmoy Centre has been the most powerful and enlightening experience of my life.”
Rachel LaBarre
For Rachel, Yoga is a discipline of self-discovery. In every class, Rachel aims to leave students filled with the joy and peace that she experiences through her own yoga practice. She offers a blend of challenging, empowering and creative postures that reflect her knowledge and deep understanding of the body & the human experience. By encouraging introspection and self-inquiry, she hopes to help people connect to their own True Self.
Rachel is a native San Diegan who began her yoga practice in Boulder, Colorado while attending CU in 2004. She has her 200-hour yoga teaching certification through the Pilgrimage of the Heart. With a degree in Fine Art, Rachel sees yoga as a form of creative expression and an exploration of the Self. Just as a painter uses paints and brushes to create beautiful works of art, yoga uses the body and breath as tools to bring Beauty, Light, and Joy into the world.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to facilitate for others the positive and transformative qualities I have experienced with yoga.”
Rachel Lubich
Sarah Clark
Sarah Clark recently relocated to San Diego from New York City, where she taught Yoga at OM Yoga Center, New York University, Dance New Amsterdam, and privately. In addition to her 200-hour training from OM Yoga Center with Cyndi Lee, Christina Clark, and Joe Miller, Sarah is also certified as a Relax & Renew Restorative® Yoga teacher via Judith Lasater. Happily an endless student of the practice, Sarah has also pursued deeper training in Pranayama, Philosophy & Psychology of the Yoga Sutras, The Mayas (often called the Koshas), Prenatal Adjustments, and more. Sarahʼs teaching aims to balance precise alignment, a deep connection to the breath, and a mindful investigation of what qualities we are truly cultivating in our practice. Her presentation of Yoga is heavily influenced by her meditation practice, passion for Yoga philosophy and its practical applications, and history as a dancer (Sarah performed with a contemporary dance company in NYC for 6 years). See www.sarahclarkyoga.com for more details.
Shelby Lafrinere
Shelby is a yogini, retired professional contemporary and hip hop dancer, activist, adventurer, and lover of laughter. She originally came to yoga in 1997 as a way to overcome alcohol and drug addiction, and thankfully it has remained a stable platform of health and healing ever since. It has been her companion and guide through the rehabilitation of a spine injury without the use of pharmaceutical pain relievers, her source of strength through clinical anxiety, and an incredible set of tools that continually grounds, inspires, and stirs her curiosity for seeking joy in life.
She began teaching yoga in 2005, and uses her life experiences, dance/performance background, and in depth study and practice of Vinyasa, Anusara, Viniyoga, Ashtanga, Yin, Restorative Yoga, pranayama, and meditation to weave creative sequencing infused with intelligent therapeutics to assist each student in finding their individual optimal alignment. Also a certified Associate Polarity Practitioner (integrative energetic bodywork), her hands on adjustments aide each student in finding release of tension and pressure for greater comfort and energetic flow within the body during each asana.
In addition to joining the family at Pilgrimage of the Heart, she also trains and certifies yoga teachers at the 200 hour level as a Primary E-RYT at Yoga Well, a Yoga Alliance recognized interdisciplinary yoga teacher training school, as well as teaching private clients. It is her honor and joy to gratefully share the art of yoga with others.
Tyler LaVigne
Tyler incorporates the natural organic movements of the body and breath to open the heart, and create avenues to relax the everyday activity of the mind. He believes yoga is a wonderful physical practice, creating a spiritual connection and oneness with the mind, body, and breath. Practicing yoga for over eight years at various studios in Santa Cruz, Honolulu, and now here in San Diego, Tyler has had exposure to a variety of yoga styles and different methods of teaching. He focuses strongly on the correlation between movement and breath, incorporating the individual needs in an effort to reach a feeling of inner peace, relaxation and complete surrender.
“Continuing to gently bring your awareness back to the breath, brings the mind back to the present moment.”
Tyler has a strong foundation in the health and fitness fields through his education. He is a graduate from SDSU with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology (the study of muscle & joint movement). Tyler’s focus on subjects such as anatomy, physiology, and nutrition strengthens his background in physical alignment, cellular benefits, and healthy organic eating habits. In 2007, he received his yoga teaching certificate at a workshop in La Jolla through YogaFit.
“I am inspired to share the joy of yoga, and to make yoga a way of life for others to enjoy.”