CO-OP Owner
Amy Commander
Each day Amy is grateful for the opportunity to share this practice with her community and to initiate others to the teacher level through regular teacher certification courses. She strongly believes this practice can help heal emotional and physical wounds and help others find personal empowerment and growth.
In addition to her yoga training and over ten years experience actively teaching, Amy is an accomplished intuitive. Having completed her advanced training with Astrologer Debra Silverman, Amy enjoys providing in-depth Astrology readings to support members in their healing journey. She is also a certified master Reiki healer, an oracle/tarot reader, and numerology enthusiast. Her boutique reflects her love for yoga, spiritual healing, and metaphysics. You will find an array of beautiful crystals, flower essences, and oracle/tarot cards, all of which were hand selected by Amy for the purpose of connection and transformation. The boutique also includes high quality yoga mats, clothing, and jewelry.
Ashley Barrett
Ashley’s yoga journey began in 2016. She took her first class - a Baptiste power flow - and was instantly hooked. What kept her coming back was the sweat, the friendly community and mostly, the feeling of empowerment it brought to her life. Soon thereafter, she participated in Baron Baptiste’s program, 40 Days to a Personal Revolution. By indulging in self-inquiry and sharing, meditation and daily asana practice, the process of personal awakening began. She started to understand how the principles of Baptiste yoga applied to life, on and off the mat, launching her journey to self discovery.
Through asana, meditation and the support of her yoga community, she learned to love who she was meant to be, instead of who she felt she should be. This created a ripple effect in her life, allowing her to grow deeper in her relationships, unashamedly pursue her passions and attract unlimited abundance. Wanting to be able to offer the same magic and possibility to others, she became RYT-200 certified in Fall 2018. While Ashley loves a good sweaty Baptiste flow, she loves sharing her mellow vibes through restorative and yin yoga, and has led workshops on meditation and chakras.
Off the mat, Ashley just converted a sprinter van into a rolling home, a manifestation several years in the making. She loves traveling, being outdoors, reading, writing and loving on her two senior doggos.
Karuna Claudia Saucy 500-RYT, MEd.
I am a graduate of the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica where I lived and taught yoga for many years. Currently, I co-teach the 200-hour teacher training through Discovery Yoga Center, I direct a Yoga and Ayurveda training and co-teach other modules of the advanced 300-hour program. l am well trained in hatha yoga, yoga philosophy, energetic anatomy, pranayama, mantra, meditation, and Ayurveda. My classes weave movement inquiries with interoceptive mindfulness, and include elements of psycho-spirituality, as well as creative self-expression.
Yoga and Miracles is a transformative journey weaving vinyasa sequences with meditation, affirmation, and ritual to release old patterns, dive into the fertile void, and retrieve new insight and inspiration. Like hitting the "reset button", this class is most conducive to clearing your mind and opening your heart. All levels of experience welcome.
Kara
I discovered yoga in high school but absolutely fell in love with it when I took a college course in yoga in 2012 during my time at FSU. The physical practice of yoga is what drew me in but I was quickly captured by the spiritual and healing practice of yoga. I decided to deepen my practice in 2016 when I completed my yoga teacher training. My passion has always been health and wellness and started when I got my bachelors in Nutrition and Dietetics and then went on to get my yoga teacher certification as well as my massage therapy license. I cannot stress enough my passion for each of them and how much they are all truly tied together, spiritually and physically. Health and wellness is a complete mind, body, spirit experience and includes healing from the inside out. Whether you’re looking for spiritual or physical healing, I look forward to guiding you through your practice and sharing this beautiful space with you!
Tanya
My name is Tanya and I completed my RYT 200 right here in St Augustine with our very own Discovery Yoga. My practice is spiritual and exploratory base. I play worship music from various backgrounds and time periods and I invite my students to observe how certain poses feel for their bodies in that particular practice. We will focus on connecting with ourselves and that something greater than us that connects us to each other in love and kindness.
Outside of yoga, I am a physician, a mother of a vibrant toddler and a lover of food and dogs. Nice to meet you and I look forward to sharing a practice with you.
Scott Farber
Ph.D., YACEP/RYT-500/ERYT-200
Scott is a lead trainer in the Discovery Yoga School, teaching 200 hr. and 300 hr. teacher training programs in the Kripalu tradition. He has studied with Amrit Desai as well as Deva Parnell and other senior Kripalu teachers. A former university professor, he has a Ph.D. in holistic & aesthetic education and has taught in Hawaii, Europe, Asia and Central America. A longtime teacher in the School of Tai Chi Chuan, he's also certified in Supreme Science Qigong and has graduated from the Finger Lakes School of Massage. Scott has been practicing and teaching meditation, yoga and tai chi since back in the day--witnessing yoga go from counterculture to mainstream culture. Times have changed, but the well is deep!
Yin Nada Yoga: Yin Yoga maintains postures--in a relaxed manner--for a few minutes rather than a few breaths. Focusing on stillness, it has a distinct meditative quality and can be done in a challenging or gentle way. By reshaping the fascia and connective tissue, yin yoga improves mobility, breath, alignment, and recovery from injury. Nada yoga is the yoga of sound vibration. Classes will include a live sound bath with tone drums, chimes, bowls, etc. to enhance the yin experience.
Yoga Basics Training: This is a 10 week course designed for beginners as well as those who want to renew and deepen their practice. Each week we introduce new postures--with detailed instruction for safety and alignment, including teaching demonstrations as well as modifications and variations for different body types. Each week also reviews previous classes to develop cumulatively. You'll learn 28 classic postures (asanas) and 6 breathing (pranayama) techniques, plus proven methods for relaxation and stress reduction. Great for families, friends, coworkers and couples to experience together!
Qigong and Tai Chi: Qigong is the cultivation of our life force (qi or prana) using gentle breathing and visualization to increase vitality and wellness. It's often called "Chinese Yoga." The graceful, dancelike Tai Chi form is one method of qigong. We'll learn a variety of standing and sitting qigong methods as well as the famous Cheng Man-Ching tai chi form. This is an hour long class. We may go outdoors to practice when the weather is nice!
Kripalu Yoga: Explore the edge of challenge and ease, will and surrender, in this traditional hatha yoga lineage. Develop strength, flexibility and balance in a dynamic yet gentle way that brings the form into your body, rather than forcing the body into a form. The focus is on going slow, diving deep, and releasing with grace. This 90 minute class includes an opening centering; developmental warmups; a varying sequence of postures (with variations); pranayama; meditation; and a long closing relaxation or yoga nidra. Open to all levels of experience.
Donna McCarthy Jensen
I have been practicing yoga for the past dozen years. I completed teacher certification in the Kripalu method 2 years ago, and last year completed an Intensive Yoga for Healthy Aging training at the Kripalu Institute in Massachusetts. My goal is to provide students with an opportunity to de-stress and focus the mind as well as to develop strength and flexibility through the practice of yoga postures.
My class is multi-level and designed to incorporate modifications as necessary for students to get the most benefit from the posture sequences. Class begins with a warm-up and breath awareness exercise to prepare for the yoga poses. We continue with a sequence of standing, balance and floor postures designed to stretch, strengthen and balance the body. Each class ends with a relaxation session.
Paula Sullivan
I have practiced Bikram, Ashtanga, Kundalini Vinyasa, Yin and Hatha yoga. I am trained in the Kripalu method. I have over 10 years experience in teaching various levels of yoga. In 2011 my husband and I set sail from New England and spent 8 years sailing the islands of the Bahamas and the Caribbean where I had the opportunity to teach many classes to cruisers from around the world.
My classes involve a full body warm up, with consciousness of breathing and moving through a flowing session of posses.
Allie Cymbaluk
Allie began practicing yoga in 2006. As her body awareness improved + she noticed how grounded and capable she felt, she began practicing regularly. In 2019, after a stent of living + traveling abroad, Allie completed a year-long yoga study program + graduated with a 200-Hour Teacher Training at her home shalla, 8 Limbs. Eager to share her passion + knowledge with others, she jumped into leading guided practice.
She grounds students in an ongoing awareness of breath while guiding them through poses with clear directions, modeling + hands on adjustments. Gently spiritual in her approach, she provides a physical workout that students of all levels can modify.
Allie teaches a 60-minute Ashtanga Abbreviated Primary, designed for new students to the ashtanga method, and those with an existing practice that desire a shorter routine. Each class consists of a warm-up, a standing + seated sequences and a closing.
Jonathan Buxton
Yoga called to me ten years ago at a time in my life when I was completely spiritually bankrupt. I started my daily practice and quickly changed my entire lifestyle adapting to a new diet, asana practice, meditation practice, and pranayama. Everything changed, my mental, emotional, and physical health became better than ever before. I traveled around learning from the very best teachers I could find until becoming a teacher myself five years ago. I teach vinyasa, ashtanga, yin, pranayama, and meditation practices. This is the greatest journey of my life and I'm honored to be a part of others as well.
Intermediate Vinyasa 75min (all levels welcome)
This class is a sweaty challenging flow that starts with a quick meditation, warm up, two long vinyasa rounds with binds, arm balances, and inversions. Working into core stability drills to begin to advance into floating and pressing. I tell the dumbest jokes ever, and play groovy jams, and teach from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. Go as hard or as easy as you want just listen to your body and have fun. We finish it off with a little breathing and rest as you go about your evening.