Staff List


(Showing 1 - 25 of 35)


Kelly Callahan
As the co-founder of Indigo Yoga & Pike & Plank Pilates, Kelly is a force of nature as both a Yoga & Pilates instructor. She possesses a refined ability to observe every individual in class, giving modifications and challenges to each, while simultaneously facilitating a dynamic and exciting group workout.

Unafraid of blending styles and modalities, she incorporates yoga asana with traditional Pilates repertoire.

Kelly has led several Yoga teacher trainings over the years and is very excited to have curated this unique & special training for our Indigo community.

Kelly is also a musician and a healing presence in the lives of many. Her warmth and humor have touched more than a decade of students at Indigo Yoga & Pike Plank, our sister studio. Her message is simple and clear: always follow your heart.

Rod Ciocho
Rod Ciocho began his practice of Yoga to help with pain associated with scoliosis and muscular imbalance. He soon discovered how Yoga also helps to calm the mind, minimizing the worry and frustration that revolves around a chronic condition. Rod teaches from this perspective, giving students a practical, non-dogmatic, class that encourages them to develop their own awareness of the habitual patterns of the mind and body. He has studied various styles of Yoga and carefully integrates the most practical aspects to create a fun, interesting and effective class.
www.yogawithrod.com
 
Anina Hutchison
"When I was a teenager in ballet lessons I thought yoga would be great to do when I was old. I'm so glad I didn't wait! After taking my first class in the early 90's at 40ish,I fell in love with a practice that will sustain me for life.

I first completed a sixteen month teacher training followed by years of
practice and a sixteen month advanced studies program. I have been trained by devoted teachers in the principals of physical practice, sequencing, and manual adjustments. In 2013 I completed a two and a half year course focusing on yoga philosophy, linking breath with movement and living yoga
off the mat.

At 60ish, I believe yoga has a broader definition then physical postures. With sustained focus and learned breath control we can view life through a different lens, find calmness, peace and abandon unhealthy habits.

No need to place foot behind head! Simply pay attention, raise arm on
inhale, lower on exhale. Focus, pay attention. Stay with it. That's Yoga.

Want more info?
I recently retired from 28 years of bodywork. I know my anatomy! I have taught yoga since 2001. I now study Vedic chanting. I back pack in the Sierras every summer.
And I can put my foot behind my head".

Sosie Sagherian
Sosie's classes are infused with humor, especially in the midst of the challenge. She prides herself on providing modifications as she encourages students to explore the edges of their boundaries without "going over the edge". Sosie keeps it real by presenting her authentic self and holding a healing and elevated space for each person in class.
 
Sosie Sagherian grew up and spent the majority of her life in the Boston area. She made her way to the Pacific NW with her husband and two sons in 2005, eventually landing in the Bay Area 2010.

Sosie holds a Bachelor of Architecture. Though she no longer practices architecture, her passion for building and creating is very much alive and thriving. You might know her from working the front desk and have seen Sosie's Stacks gemstone bracelets that she creates for us at Indigo. She has been practicing Kundalini Yoga since 1995 and has been teaching weekly since 2007.

 

Rebecca Neff, RYT

Rebecca’s 16 years of yoga practice  prepared her to complete a 200-hour teacher training and become a Registered Yoga Teacher with the National Yoga Alliance. The program is Iyengar-based and focuses on anatomical alignment, which results in strength and balance. Rebecca has been fortunate to practice and learn with some extremely talented and dedicated practitioners over the years. Each yoga class she has attended has taught something new and of value to guide her to the next step. During her yoga journey, she has met people young and old with extreme health challenges; their dedication to the practice of yoga has been an inspiration. Yoga has provided Rebecca with tools she uses daily as a small business owner as well as helping her cope with physical injuries and periods of grief. “I attribute my good health and body strength to yoga. I am excited and look forward to sharing with my students the gift of yoga. It continues to be a gift to me.”

Destiny Eurkus
Teaching since 2001, having completed all advanced studies with Ana Forrest, Destiny is a Master Forrest Yoga Teacher. She has completed trainings with Shannon Wells (Vinyasa), Yoga Works, Doug Swenson (Ashtanga) Restorative Yoga, and The Yoga Tune Up Method. She has taught several 200hr trainings in the Sacramento region and the Bay Area (including Yoga Tree), and has designed teacher trainings for multiple yoga schools.

With a deep love for nature and ceremony, she has studied with many healers and shamanic schools including Brooke Medicine Eagle, Drake Stephen Bear, Chandra Sun Eagle, Sacramento Shamanic Studies and The Sacred Stream.

As her passion for healing expanded, Destiny began her career as a body worker in 2000. She taught both massage and anatomy at The California Institute of Massage Therapy and High Tech Institute of Sacramento. Today she specializes in CranioSacral Therapy, Integrative Tissue Work, and Empowered Spirit Coaching.

Both confident and humble, Destiny brings healing & wisdom from her own experience unraveling addiction, chronic pain, fear and self-limiting patterns. She’s passionate about the medicine she offers and is a strong example of someone who walks the path of her beliefs and visions.

Lisa Pickup
Lisa is a Bay area native, licensed esthetician and massage therapist.Having owned her own business, Well Being in Lafayette, for 15 years she began studying yoga over 12 years ago to develop her career in body work. Lisa graduated from YogaWorks teacher training program at the 500-hour level.
 
Her carefully crafted classes provide a pace, sequence, and modifications to support the physical and emotional needs of each student. She teaches with a light heart and playful approach.

Krystal Williams
Krystal began her yoga journey in 2005 and has been a familiar face at Indigo for many years from working our front desk to teaching weekly Kundalini classes and leading Full Moon Healing Circles.  She also has a career in mental health & family therapy, has studied Ecotherapy, and brings her knowledge & skills in these areas to her classes & workshops.  

Krystal believes in the power of yoga for mental health and wellness including from her own personal experience. Yoga is a spiritual practice for her that has been integral to her own healing path.

Krystal loves meditation, astrology, and music. She has a gentle, playful vibe, and has been called a “ great big ball of empathy” by one of her students. Her classes help de-stress, increase the strength and resilience of the nervous system, and are a safe space to feel, heal, and remember that we are all connected through cycles of nature.

Janine Ellis
My passion and true calling is to guide, educate, heal, and assist students through yoga, meditation, sound healing, reiki, personal training, shamanic practices, and nature-based programs. I provide students with mindfulness-based practices including valuable tools to help cultivate a life of health, harmony, energy, balance, and joy.
Vicki Durst
Vicki Durst has been teaching Hatha Yoga since 1974.

A graduate of San Diego State University with a BA in Physical Education, Dance and Art History, Vicki first studied Yoga at the University of Oregon while earning a Master’s Degree in Dance and Art History. In San Diego she trained and taught at the Yoga Institute and taught yoga and dance at San Diego City College. In Astoria Oregon, Vicki was a full-time Instructor at Clatsop Community College, where she served as the Director of Dance and Physical Education and was Coordinator of the Arts on Stage performing and visual arts program for 23 years. Over the years she continued to teach Yoga in Avalon, Catalina Island and Temecula, CA, before moving to Pleasant Hill and Indigo Yoga.

Vicki cultivated her meditation and breathing techniques while enjoying her other passion, scuba diving, which has been an integral part of her life. She has continued training in many Yoga styles including Iyengar, Anusara and Freedom Style and is a licensed Holistic Health Practitioner. Vicki uses the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar as the basis for her classes, which emphasizes strength, flexibility, endurance, proper alignment and breathing techniques to help the body achieve its true, balanced state. Vicki’s fluid, relaxed style reflects her background in dance, and is appealing to students of all ages and abilities.

Vrinda Priti (Carly Boland)
Advanced Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Vrinda Priti (Carly Boland) is passionate about sharing yoga as a life practice through the method of Jivamukti. She has had the rare opportunity of living with her teachers at the Wild Woodstock Jivamukti Forest Sanctuary, immersed in rich direct transmission that is palpable through her heartfelt teaching.

Serving as a co-creator on the compassionate path to enlightenment, Vrinda Priti’s classes provide a journey for practitioners. Incorporating light on ancient yogic teachings fused with modern application, her classes are known for bringing heartfelt activism, seamless eclectic musicality, chanting, skillful hands-on assists, and a down-to-earth, spiritual yet humor-filled approach to yoga.

Her dynamic Vinyasa sequences draw from her integrative dance, somatic and holistic health background. Her aim in every class is for all involved to leave closer to who they truly are, more of a vibrant, kind, centered, and joyful version of themselves.

She is eternally grateful to her teachers Padma-ji Sharon Gannon and Shri David Life for their endless mentorship, generosity, teachings, wit, and love.

Jennifer Shaw
Jennifer has dedicated herself to the practice, study and teaching of yoga since discovering its joys and benefits while rehabbing a shoulder injury. Over the years she noticed how she was replacing miles of running with longer periods of time on her yoga mat.

Jennifer is a RYT-200 vinyasa teacher who has trained in the advanced disciplines of power vinyasa (Jason Crandell), Intuitive Sequencing (Janet Stone), and Mind & Meditation (Gurumukh) and is currently pursuing her RYT-500.

Her accessible, grounded classes are an integration of power yoga combining dynamic anatomical alignment, pranayama and meditation.

Monika Pinter
Moni Pinter was born and raised in Hungary. After her life took a really hard turn, she found yoga. Her first yoga class was at Nandi under Jeremy Moran and she was moved by the methods of Jivamukti. She started to feel the benefit of practicing yoga internally and externally.

A few years later she completed a 300-hr teacher training with Sharon Gannon, David Life, Ruth Laurer-Manenti, and Jules Febre in India. She has taken a 300-hr. advanced training with Giselle Mari and Wendy Klein.

Compassion, Satsang, kindness, and spirituality are her true values. Before yoga, she had already started her journey of healthy living, and she completed a holistic nutritional degree at Bauman College in Santa Cruz.

Nutrition and yoga are her true passions.

Jessica Frost
I grew up here in Walnut Creek and am an Instructional Designer by day. I am a single mother to my beautiful daughter, and Nonna to my sweet grandson.

With the ups and downs of being a full-time, working single mother, I fell in love with the community at Indigo Yoga and Pilates since being referred in 2018 and have continued to grow my practice through the many amazing teachers and offerings.

As a student of yoga, I’ve found a deep connection to mind, body, and spirit through my practice in a way that has been healing and enlightening.

As a Registered Yoga Teacher of Destiny Eurkus’ Vinyasa Flow and Healing Wisdom 200hr Teacher Training through Indigo Yoga Studio, I’ve learned the art of sequencing, philosophy of the yoga sutras, anatomy and hands-on-assist.

I am excited to share this medicine with the community at Indigo Yoga and bring awareness to the tools I’ve found beneficial to living a deeper, more connected life through mindful breath and intentional movement.

I practice what I teach.

Michele Gunnett
After having two kids in two years, Michele began to rely more heavily on the therapeutic, physical, mental, and energetic qualities of the yoga practice.
 
Michele is a certified Vinyasa Yoga instructor and loves teaching yoga for kids.  She's currently focused on Restorative Yoga here at Indigo.  She's also a Reiki practitioner and infuses this healing modality into a lot of her classes.
Roxanna Kopp Smith
Roxanna is a certified yoga & meditation teacher with over 20 years of experience. She is a passionate yoga practitioner and teacher, believing in the transformative power of yoga to nurture both body and mind. She loves creating a warm and welcoming space where everyone feels comfortable exploring their practice, regardless of their experience level.

Roxanna teaches Prenatal Yoga, Yin Yoga and leads the Dace Wave at Indigo.

Learn more about Roxanna: https://roxannakoppsmith.com/

Cyndi Schrank
Cyndi began her yoga journey in 2010 and has been a familiar face from working at the front
desk at Indigo and taking many different yoga classes. With her background in massage
therapy, reiki healing and music, she brings a gentle approach to this beautiful practice with a
focus on meditation and mantra.
Cyndi brings healing and intuition from her past experiences with chronic pain, addiction, and
self-worth. She looks forward to sharing her medicine from her own healing journey through
Kundalini yoga, meditation and music.
Caleb Neeper

Caleb's first taste of yoga came a little over a decade ago. Playing in a pick-up basketball game, he severely sprained his left knee. The initial goal was to rehabilitate the knee through yoga. Slowly, over a consistent period of time, his body began to heal. The knee strengthened, and he also began to experience some additional, unintended positive side-effects from practicing yoga - weight loss, a gain in overall physical strength, increased range of motion, flexibility, and a general boost in self-confidence and mood.

His initial therapeutic goal became secondary, as he started to realize the deep and profound affects that practicing yoga was and is currently having on his life. He began to understand more about himself, his relationships to others and his place in the world. With this new-found clarity, he decided to switch careers from selling wine to teaching yoga! He relocated from Sonoma County back to the Bay Area in pursuit of this career change. Caleb has completed 500 hours of teacher training through YogaWorks in Walnut Creek and SF, and has been mentored by Lakshmi Norwood.

 

Lily Manderville
Lily was first introduced to Yoga 19 years ago during a ballet summer intensive. She continued her alignment-based training with Bay Area teacher and dancer Dana Lawton. Lily is a Yoga Alliance Certified ERYT-500 Yoga Teacher and Continuing Education Provider. She specializes in Vinyasa Yoga, Children’s Yoga, Pre-natal Yoga, and Standup Paddle Board Yoga.

As a teacher, she enjoys learning from her students and their experiences… on and off the mat. Lily brings fun and laughter into her teaching. While keeping students grounded, she loves to create room for play!

Paul Bogle
Paul Bogle uses astrology and other interpretive arts in his counseling practice with individuals, couples and families. Paul also teaches astrology, dreamwork divination and how to use tarot and oracle decks. Paul loves to lead workshops and also present lectures on how planetary placements correlate with current events. Learn more about Paul on www.astro-counselor.com
Amy Marcus
Practicing yoga since about 2007, Amy Marcus joined Indigo as a student in 2022 and immediately fell in love with the studio's friendly community and welcoming energy. In 2023 she became pregnant and soon switched to Indigo's prenatal classes, where she found tremendous physical and emotional support throughout the ups and downs of pregnancy.

Amy began teaching prenatal yoga at Indigo in order to give back and support students through their pregnancies. Pregnancy is a unique, precious, nuanced phase in a person's life, requiring great care and compassion. Amy strives to bring both to her classes, fostering community with light and humor as well.

Amy grew up in Kailua, Hawaii, and has lived and worked in France, India, and Italy. With her international experience working in multiple languages, Amy enjoys connecting with students from all different backgrounds and supporting them on their unique journeys of becoming a parent.

In recent years she has facilitated conference sessions and workshops on climate action, international education, and supporting yourself and colleagues in grief. She is a co-host on the CANIE Climate Dialogues podcast, exploring the intersections of international education and climate action.

Jinah Choi
Jinah Choi has been practicing yoga since 2013. She initially enjoyed yoga as a low-impact physical exercise and quickly learned that it provided a meaningful way to honor and connect with her body. Her journey deepened as she sought to explore yoga beyond the physical asanas, leading her to complete a 200-hour teacher training at Barefoot Movement in Oakland. She has also trained in trauma-informed yoga through Exhale to Inhale (16 hours) and prenatal yoga with Roxanna Smith (50 hours) at Indigo Yoga Studio in Walnut Creek, California. Jinah’s teaching integrates mindful breathwork, detailed alignment, and insights drawn from psychology, yoga philosophy, and Buddhist teachings. She continues to deepen her practice under the guidance of Tara at Inner Mother Yoga Studio in Seoul and is a perinatal yoga teacher apprentice with Leonora Willis at Daughter of Samoa in Oakland. Off the mat, Jinah enjoys Gong Fu tea rituals, attempting latte art at home, and staying active with strength training, pilates, gyrotonic, and golf.
Annie Schieding
Annie has been practicing Pilates for nearly 15 years and loves teaching Pilates to share the transformative benefits of the practice. With a deep personal understanding of its impact on strength, flexibility, and overall well-being, Annie creates mindful and supportive sessions that empower clients to move with confidence and ease.
 
You can find her teaching Pilates Reformer classes & working 1-1 with students over at our sister studio, Pike & Plank Pilates! 
Charlene Ziem

Charlene has been practicing yoga for over 15 years and more recently tapping into the spiritual aspects of the practice. Inspired to learn more, she's taken several yoga teacher trainings at Green Yogi in Berkeley & at Indigo Yoga in Walnut Creek.

Charlene brings a nourishing and grounding energy to her classes weaving in yogic philosophy, chanting, astrology and practices to cultivate more joy, health and balance in the lives of her students.

She's also a certified Sound Healer using vibrational techniques with modern healing to help clients release energetic blockages, restore harmony and active self-healing.

Off the mat, she enjoys hiking, riding bikes, making beaded earrings and cooking family dinners.


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