Yoga Center KB Teachers
Miriam Mengotti
Teaches:
Sivananda (Classical Hatha Yoga)
Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, she has lived in Key Biscayne with her beloved husband since 1987. She is the mother of four beautiful children.
Miriam has been practicing yoga for over 10 years as both a teacher and lifelong student. She is a yoga instructor certified by the Institute of Holistic Yoga” in Miami under the direction of Verónica Vidal and Swami Brahmavidyananda.
Miriam has been fortunate to learn directly from masters including: Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, Sri Dharma Mittra, Gurushabd, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Rod Striker, Shiva Rea, Naty Ezraty and others. However, her children—Mónica, Gonzalo, Blanca and Carolina—remain her most important teachers and the source of her love, inspiration and personal growth.
Miriam‘s way of teaching allows you to explore and honor your body and emotions naturally, guiding you into a deeper practice in a respectful and gentle way. Her background in Psychology helps her understand and accept the fluctuations of the mind which in turns gives special attention to mindfulness breathing and pranayama (breath control).
Miriam is infatuated with nature, yoga as a lifestyle and life itself. She is eager to share this love and enthusiasm with her students, as well as her joy and gratitude to God.
Madhavi (Molly Birkholm)
Teaches:
Sivananda (Classical Hatha Yoga), Yoga for PTSD, Yoga Nidra
Molly Birkholm (Madhavi), leads retreats, workshops and private yoga experiences on healing trauma using Yoga and Meditation.
She is also one of the founders of “Warriors at Ease”, an organization that trains and certified yoga and meditation teachers to teach in military communities. Prior to giving birth to her son last year, she taught yoga and meditation for 4 years at the US Department of Veterans Affairs to over 1,000 war veterans. It was here that she developed a specialized yoga and meditation program for treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). She used a similar program in the Substance Abuse Treatment program and the acute inpatient mental health program.
Molly Birkholm (Madhavi) helped conduct the 18-month US Department of Defense funded clinical research measuring the effects of iRest Yoga Nidra meditation on veterans with PTSD. She did her Sivananda Yoga teacher training in Neyyar Dam, India, followed by her Advanced Teacher Training course at the Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas. Madhavi also teaches iRest Yoga Nidra. She has a Yoga Nidra guided meditation CD targeted towards Trauma and Sleep.
Anandi (Ana María Velázquez)
Teaches:
Sivananda (Classical Hatha Yoga), Yoga for Mommy-Play time for Babies and Toddlers, Yoga for Kids
Anandi received her certification as a Hatha Yoga teacher through guidance of Gaia Budhai from Synergy Yoga Center in Miami. Her certification included studies in Iyengar, Sivananda, Prenatal, Vinyasa, and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.
Anandi is also Certified as a Kids Yoga Teacher by the award winning program of Yoga Ed from Los Angeles. As a thirsty seeker, she travelled to India to further her studies in Sivananda Yoga, at the Sivananda Ashram of Kerala where she became a Certified Sivananda Teacher. She then joined the team of 10 instructors imparting the practice of Yoga to a group of 90 kids. -An incredible experience cherished as one of the most, enriching events of her life-.
Anandi is mother of little boy Daniel and she is a delighted cofounder of the Yoga Center of Key Biscayne the place she calls “home”. “Teaching Yoga is a great responsibility. I honor every person who shows up to class. As I transmit the teachings of my Gurus, I learn from every student. Through them I discover the true reflection of mySelf.”
Parvati (Maria Fernanda Tresslar)
Teaches:
Sivananda (Classical Hatha Yoga), Guided Meditation, Leads Satsangs.
Maria Fernanda Tresslar (Parvati) is a beloved Advanced Sivananda Yoga Instructor and a graduate from Miami Yogashala, Green Monkey Yoga studios and the Pilates Physical Mind Institute. Prior to her Yoga and Pilates career, Parvati was a competitive gymnast for 13 years and a member of the Colombian national gymnastics team.
She has also danced for various modern and contemporary dance companies both in Colombia and in the United States. Parvati offers kind, compassionate instruction grounded in the knowledge that comes from years of devoted practice.
Fiona Henderson
Teaches:
Sivananda (Classical Hatha Yoga)
Fiona is a certified hatha yoga teacher who has studied and taught the Sivananda style of yoga in ashrams and retreats in Canada, New York, California, and the Bahamas.
She completed the Sivananda Teacher Training Course (TTC) in 1994 and the Advanced Teacher Training Course (ATTC) in 1995.
She has been teaching and practicing yoga for 18 years and is presently located in Miami Beach, Florida.
Fiona teaches all levels of hatha yoga and pranayama, including pre-natal and post-partum.
DeAnna Alvarez
Teaches:
Teaches Prenatal Yoga
DeAnna Alvarez, E-RYT 500 and RPYT, soulfully supports the empowerment and vitality of women and their issues surrounding menstruation, fertility, childbirth and menopause. She is a Prenatal Yoga Teacher, Childbirth Educator, Doula and Women’s Mentor passionately sharing her love and appreciation for the heroine’s journey of life and the intense changes that happen throughout. Her Prenatal Yoga classes are designed to nurture and prepare a woman in her pregnant body, mind and soul for the powerful miracle of birth in its mysterious and many forms.
She is gratefully inspired by many loving and nurturing women who have come into her life to teach her and support her expanding vision of all she is and that is the Divine Feminine. For more info see her websites: www.MagialHeartYoga.com, www.MagicalHeartDoula.com and www.MagicalHeartWoman.com
Katie Adams
Teaches:
Sacred Circles Women’s Group
Recently moving to Key Biscayne from Greece/ New York, Katie Adams brings a rich collection of gifts to our community.
Believing deeply in the qualities of women and the rituals that have celebrated their essence over time and connected them to their sacred Being, she began to gather women in NYC to come together into “Sacred Circles”- a shape, a community and a practice to support women.
She has been a certified Reiki Master for 21 years and is also a “Doula for the Dying,” assisting the very ill in their “birth” into the Here After. She is the mother of 5 children and now two precious grandchildren.
Adriana Estrella (Bharati)
Teaches:
Sivananda (Classical Hatha Yoga)
A Lover of Life: Throughout the years has attended many Yoga seminars, religious retreats, monasteries, ashrams, ecstatic chant festivals, School for The Work, Ayurveda conferences, has had many loving TEACHERS and most recently was certified as a Sivananda Yoga Teacher in Madurai, India, and is NOW open and willing to continue her growth and learning by sharing herself as a staff at the Yoga Center of Key Biscayne.
Cecy Forat
Teaches:
Mommy and Baby Yogi
Cecy Forat is a certified Hatha yoga instructor through Prana Yoga and a certified children’s yoga instructor through Karma Kids Yoga and Radiant Children’s Yoga.
She is currently the yoga instructor at St. Christopher’s Montessori School in Key Biscayne. She is also a certified Health Coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York. She is mom to Paulo (4 year old) and Nicole (1 year old).
Elena Amato
Teaches:
Yoga for Teens
Elena Amato (Uma) is a certified Sivananda Yoga teacher and holds a MA in Religious Studies from FIU.
She currently teaches World Religions and is the assistant Cross Country coach at a local private school. A former personal trainer, NCAA athlete, and experienced meditator, Elena blends love and wisdom of body, mind, and spirit in everything she does.
