Teachers
We have a wonderful mix of experienced teachers at Lila sharing their teaching skills, gifts, and love for yoga with the community. Check out our online schedule to see who is teaching when. Private Sessions are available upon request. Private sessions are an invaluable way to refine your personal practice, get one on one attention to optimize your alignment, better comprehend the asanas, and personalize your experience to meet your individual needs. Per hour rates for private sessions vary, please email info@livelila.com for more info.
Tisha Bremner, RYT is an Anusara-Inspired© teacher who brings her energetic, positive and creative soul to the space and teaches from the heart. Her philosophy is one which incorporates integration of body, mind and spirit through a daily yoga and meditation practice. She encourages openness, acceptance, and loving-kindness in her students as they make their way along their journey toward Self discovery through yoga. Her approach to teaching is practical and down-to-earth and she enjoys helping others explore and expand their practice.
Tisha was first introduced to yoga in 1990 through the tradition of Bhakti Yoga, where her passion was ignited! She holds a yoga teacher certification from YOGAspirit® Studios, is registered with the National Yoga Alliance® and has just completed her Anusara Yoga® teacher training with Certified teachers, Todd Norian and Ann Greene. She will continue to study Anusara Yoga® as well as Rajanaka Tantra Yoga Philosophy with professor Douglas Brooks. PhD, of Rochester University. Tisha is trained and available to teach Prenatal, Postnatal and Yoga for Enhanced Fertility on a private basis. For more information visit her website.
Jessie Chalmers is a dedicated and enthusiastic student and teacher of yoga. Her own practice began 10 years ago and has supported her during times of stress, transition, and injury. She completed her Kripalu yoga certification in 2007 and since then has continued to study in the styles of Anusara, Vinyasa, and Yin. After becoming a mother in 2008, Jessie also began to study and teach pre- and post-natal classes as well. Jessie teaches with a heartfelt approach, encouraging her students to develop a deeper self-awareness of their physical body as well as an awareness and understanding of the mind/body connection. Her classes are accessible to students of all levels and abilities.
Elizabeth Brazier completed a 200-hour training with Shiva Rea and is certified to teach Prana Flow yoga. She leads the class through innovative sun salutations and creatively sequenced standing poses, arm balances, backbends, inversions and twists. Her presence in the studio invites both introductory and experienced students.
In addition to teaching yoga, Elizabeth teaches middle school Spanish. Currently, she is studying for her masters in Contemplative Education at Naropa University. Elizabeth is learning how to live with integrity by softening the boundaries between her inner and outer experiences. She invites her students to observe their inner sensations as well, as they outwardly express various poses. Elizabeth believes that cultivating this non-dualistic perspective uncovers the skill and intuition to safely explore within the practice.
Shannon Fallon was first introduced to Ashtanga yoga at the age of 16. After graduating high school, Shannon moved to Boulder to attend the University of Colorado where she studied psychology and skied on the CU USCSA Ski Team. At this time, Shannon was introduced to Anusara, Vinyasa, Bikrim and Jivimukti yoga and was inspired by these wonderful teachers to begin teaching yoga. In 2006 she completed a 200-hr teacher-training certificate with Brandon Cox at CorePower yoga. After graduating College, Shannon returned to a daily practice of Ashtanga and in 2009 completed a 40-hr primary series training with David Swenson. Shannon now lives and teaches in Portland, Maine where she has a dedicated Ashtanga yoga practice and teaches mixed vinyasa flow and Ashtanga led classes. She is forever thankful for the practice of Ashtanga yoga and her teachers, David Swenson and Jennifer Morrison. Currently, Shannon is studying Massage Therapy at the New Hampshire Institute of Therapeutic Arts in Bridgton, Maine.
Jennifer Queally has been an enthusiastic student of yoga for 20 years, she was originally certified to teach in the Kripalu lineage in1997. Jen believes wholeheartedly in the restorative benefits of yoga. Whether you are young or old, flexible or not, resistant or inspired, Jen welcomes all to join her on a spirited journey towards greater balance in body, mind, and spirit. She regards the yoga mat as a great laboratory for self reflection, discipline, and healing.
Jen has competed two Yoga Alliance teacher trainings, studies regularly with master teachers, and has taken several extensive pilgrimages to India. She is committed to integrating ancient wisdom to suit modern times. Having studied with some of the world's master teachers in the Anusara, Jivamukti, Astanga, and vinyasa yoga systems, Jen is eclectic in style blending the best from many traditions. She offers a practice that awakens strength, balance, flexibility and a powerful mind/body connection. Expect detailed alignment cues encouraging breath initiated movement.
Brett Russman Since becoming a nationally certified yoga instructor in 2004, Brett Russman teaches yoga classes with an uplifting sense of humor and precise instruction of alignment. He is known in the yoga community as a skillful practitioner and a teacher's teacher for his dynamic, non-dogmatic and playful teaching style. With immense gratitude for Anusara Yoga, and for all of his teachers, Brett reveres teaching yoga as his life's calling and service. For more information visit his website.
Kristy Scher is an Anusara-Inspired© teacher who offers spirited, heart-centered classes. She is passionate about yoga as a mind-body-spirit endeavor; her classes offer a playful approach to asana as a means to experience the joy of embodied living and our ever-present connection to Source. Her classes combine a variety of asanas appropriate to beginning and experienced practitioners with pranayama (breath work) and chanting.
In addition to working as Registered Nurse specializing in postpartum care and lactation at Maine Medical Center, Kristy continues to study yoga philosophy, therapeutics, and teaching methods with Todd Norian, John Friend, and Douglas Brooks, among others. Her classes are rooted in the teachings of Anusara yoga and Tantric philosophy, mindfulness practices from Eastern and Western traditions, as well as the wisdom and insight of spirit warriors and poets past and present.
Kristy has currently completed over 600 hours of formal yoga studies, includingTodd Norian’s 200-hour Anusara Teacher Training and 40-hour Advanced Teacher Training; a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training certification from Kripalu; and over 150 hours with master Anusara teachers. She is currently assisting Todd at workshops, teacher trainings, and retreats as she works toward her Anusara certification.
Kristy thanks her many teachers – among them, her children, husband, family, and students – who continue to guide her in the practice of living from the heart both on and off the mat.
David Vaughan has been studying yoga for the past 12 years and is an Anusara inspired teacher. His initial 200-hour Anusara teacher training was with Master Teacher Deb Neubauer, and he has additional teacher training Sianna Sherman, Noah Maze, and John Friend, and Advanced teacher Training with Todd Norian and Betsy Downing. David brings a strong understanding of anatomy and physiology to his teaching based on 20 years of teaching biology. After finding tremendous healing of a long-term back problem through the practice of yoga, David has a keen interest in the therapeutic applications of yoga and has studied Anusara therapeutics with John Friend, Anthony Bogart, Sianna Sherman and Jenny Otto, and he received his Yoga Therapy Certification through the Ananda Seva Mission in Santa Rosa, CA.
Gentle and encouraging in speech, David offers classes and workshops that are authentic, safe, fun, challenging and thoughtfully sequenced. With his unique blend of focus on the breath, the body and the spirit, David’s heartfelt teaching provides every student the chance to bring the inner and outer bodies into alignment.
Genell Vashro Huston is owner of Lila East End Yoga. The practice of yoga has been inspiring her life for over a decade through movement, intention, focus, awareness, reflection, and bliss. Though she practices in various modalities, she is drawn to Anusara Yoga, for its heart centered practice that offers a playful, uplifting, and alignment focused asana. She has studied with and been inspired by Anusara certified teachers Desiree Rumbaugh, Mitchel Bleier, Sienna Sherman, Marc St. Pierre, Noah Mazé, Sue Elkind, Todd Norian, and founder John Friend. She completed her first nationally certified teacher training course in 2006 with Mitchel Bleier and Saraswati's studio owner's Tracey & Donna. She continues to study the practice and all its healing qualities. In 2011 she completed a teacher training with Anusara Certified teachers Desiree Rumbaugh and Marc St. Pierre.
Genell brings her bright personality, keen understanding of alignment, and creative and intelligent sequencing to each class.
Yoga has provided a platform for Genell to futher explore her relationship with her self, her community, and the natural world around. She believes in the practice involving and evolving into more than just asanas (physical postures). The keen awareness, appreciation, joy, and respect that is cultivated through the poses and meditation is carried with her off her mat. Whether it is exploring the wilderness, surfing on the coast, biking on a brilliant sunny day, or planting in her garden, Genell sees the beauty in the natural gifts that surround us and embraces life with zeal. She is thrilled to be able to continue to offer the Portland community a space to practice and collectively celebrate our innate, playful, spirited selves through movement.
Maxeen Vashro Wyatt combines her BA from the University of California Long Beach and her many certifications in yoga, dance, myofascial, craniosacral and essential oils to give clients an integrated approach to health. Founder of Body to the Max , Maxeen has taught and lectured across the U.S. Fitness has been the center of Maxeen's life for over 40 years. She is Nationally certified in myofascial, craniosacral massage therapy. Certified through Yogafit, Itsy Bitsy Yoga (registered with Yoga Alliance), and Hatha yoga studies with Master Christian Hallman enables Max to offer an integrated yoga approach.
Allison Zuchman is a Hatha Yoga instructor. She has a calm, clear, fun and heartfelt presence. Whether a very beginner or an experienced yoga student, Allison will help you improve your flexibility and strength, find proper alignment in each yoga posture, and coordinate your movement with your breath. Allison’s yoga class is a safe, comfortable and non-judgmental space where you can be exactly who you are, where you can find your own pace and rhythm, where you can find your own self-expression, peace and happiness.