Practice with us
Anna Blackwell
Director of The Village Shala, Anna has been practicing Ashtanga yoga for nearly 15 years. The practice has become her teacher, and she continues to learn everyday from her wonderful community of students. With a background as a massage therapist, Anna studies how bodies move through practice, with a special interest in serving the individual student's growth.
Anna assisted and studied extensively with Christine Hoar for over a decade, and continues to practice with her throughout the year. She has been fortunate to have made multiple trips to India to practice with the Jois family, as well as Sharmila Desai in Goa. Connecting to the Ashtanga yoga lineage has been an important factor in the growth of the physical and mental practice of yoga.
While in Mysore, India, she studied philosophy and chanting with Dr. M.A Jayashree, and Professor M.A Narasimhan of the Anantha Research Foundation. In addition to yoga, Anna is a clinical herbalist having completed a three year program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism. She is currently enrolled in Krapalu's Ayurvedic Health Counselor program.
Anna offers a caring, welcoming space for all who come to practice.
Katie Manaras
Katie is a practitioner and teacher of yoga, a mother, wife, nature lover and outdoor adventurer. She discovered the studio when she moved to town in 2005 and hasn’t been able to stay away since then. Practicing and training as a teacher with Christine Hoar, Anna Blackwell, David Swenson and David Gilgoff has been an honor, and showing up to the daily ritual of intentional breath and movement that this lineage prescribes has transformed her relationship with her body into one of love, trust, patience and care. This gift is too great not to share!
Katie cherishes the welcoming atmosphere of the Shala and the compassionate and accepting way in which the practice has been handed down to her. In teaching, she strives to carry the lineage forward with this same compassion, as well as a consciously decolonial lense. She aims to understand the individual needs of each student and share a yoga that is truly for all people and all bodies.
Mary McGann
Mary has been practicing Ashtanga since 2003. She has studied with Christine Hoar, Andrew Eppler, and currently Anna Blackwell. Additionally, she has participated in adjustment workshops with Nancy Gilgoff. She leads the Wednesday “Basics” class, an hour of postures which takes the student through janusirsasana A, and the closing postures. Mary is grateful to the Village Shala community for all the support and sanctuary it offers in this ever-challenging world we live in.
Lonny Edwards
Lonny has been teaching Ashtanga since 2010. He has studied with Christine Hoar, Andrew Eppler, Nancy Gilgoff, and David Swenson. Humor and love are at the forefront of his teaching. He has been practicing yoga since 2007.
Amy Mincher
Amy provides a safe, inclusive space for people in all bodies to explore the teachings of yoga. After practicing regularly for several years and having a difficult time finding teachers who could help her modify poses for her body, she empowered herself by learning pose variations for people in fat bodies. In 2020, Amy completed Sangha Studio’s yoga teacher training program in Burlington, Vermont and soon after completed the Yoga For All course with Dianne Bondy and Amber Karnes as well as Therapeutic Yin Yoga Training with Nyk Danu through Ajna Yoga in Victoria, BC. Amy is a body liberation activist, incorporating the principles of Health at Every Size into her life, especially joyful movement.
Christine Hoar
Christine has been a practitioner of the Ashtanga Yoga System for nearly 27 years and has been teaching Ashtanga yoga for over 25 years. She was the director and founder of Vermont’s only dedicated Ashtanga yoga studio, Bristol Yoga and currently directs Ashtanga Montauk in New York. Specializing in the integration of the Ashtanga system of asana with the principles of Ayurveda and the depth of Yogic philosophy, Christine offers students unique insights into discovering greater joy, freedom, and self-transformation. Christine has made many trips to Mysore, South India to study with the late Sri K Pattabhi Jois, and she is honored to have received his blessing and authorization to teach. Christine is also a certified Ayurvedic consultant.
She is registered with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT500 and her school, Ashtanga Montauk, is registered as a RYT-200 Teacher Training Program.