Wendy Lippmann, LMP, E-RYT
OmTown Yoga Founder
Wendy experienced the healing potential of yoga in 1990 when a back injury prompted her to seek out yoga classes. She studied regularly for five years with Treya Forlenza, benefitting from Treya’s eclectic and playful approach to yoga and movement. While growing a thriving massage therapy practice, Wendy taught yoga at several Seattle locations, including All That Dance, before founding OmTown Yoga in 2003. In 1997, Wendy joined the teaching staff at Seattle Yoga Arts under the tutelage of Denise Benitez, who continues to be her primary teacher today. Denise introduced Wendy to Anusara Yoga and its founder John Friend, who has been an inspiring influence. Wendy is inspired by Anusara Yoga and embraces the heart-opening, exuberant spirit of Anusara. She is known to teach with clarity, precision and humor. Wendy’s classes combine vinyasa (moderately-paced movement and breathing sequences), with lessons in sound biomechanical principles, spiritual inspiration and humor. Click here for information on private sessions with Wendy. Or email Wendy at wendy@omtownyoga.com
Meg Agnew
Meg Agnew, a long-time resident of Laurelhurst, is an Anusara-inspired teacher who has enjoyed teaching yoga in Seattle since 1993. With carefully sequenced instruction and a light-hearted approach, Meg encourages students to experience the powerfully affecting principles of Anusara yoga. She believes that yoga is an exploration leading to self-acceptance, healing, and an ever-deepening experience of freedom and love. mtagnew@cmcast.net
Michael Warner
Michael Warner, a certified yoga instructor through Yoga Alliance, brings a rich blend of training, talent and expertise to his classes. Michael combines his education in counseling and psychology with the knowledge he has gathered through years of yoga practice and studies. Whether a beginner or more seasoned student, Michael’s versatile teaching style will guide you towards a balanced practice of optimal wellness for the mind, body and soul. michaelscottwarner@gmail.com
Annie Price
Annie considers herself lucky to have been introduced to yoga in her early teens. The creative and non-judgmental values of yoga supported her through those challenging adolescent years. Her training at the Center for Yoga of Seattle taught her the art of alignment and discipline, and from Shiva Rea she learned to infuse her classes with creative, spiritual and personal flow. She loves sharing the same values of creativity and non-judgement that she learned from her first yoga teachers.
Gina McCotter
A devoted student of yoga for over 20 years, Gina embraced the teachings of Anusara yoga in a 2004 workshop and continues to nurture that devotion today. She bows deeply to teachers Karen Sprute-Francovich, Elizabeth Rainey and Denise Benitez, and, of course, to John Friend. She recently completed 200+ hours of teacher training at Seattle Yoga Arts. Her teaching offers a bright enthusiasm for skillful alignment and deeper connection with life.
Rachel Newman, RYT
When presented with the opportunity to invest her self in the path of yoga, Rachel looked and leapt in the span of a breath. An Affiliate Purna Yoga teacher, Rachel completed her 500-hour training under the direction of Aadil Palkhivala and Savitri. “Purna” means complete and classes offer an invaluable set of tools for healing and transformation. Rachel’s classes include asana, pranayama, meditation, lifestyle and nutrition, and applied philosophy, and are guided by the work of Sri Aurobindo who said, “All life is Yoga.”L
Jorge Sevillano
Jorge was introduced to Siddha Yoga in 1995 and a year later became very serious about spiritual practice under the loving guidance of his guru, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. Initially, his Yoga consisted of meditation, chanting, and the study of yoga philosophy. However, he was soon drawn to hatha yoga and has been practicing ever since. Jorge began teaching hatha yoga in 2001. He is a registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance and California Yoga Teacher Association, and has received training in the Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Ananda yoga styles. Since 2003 he has exclusively studied Hatha Yoga with John Friend who founded Anusara Yoga. In Anusara Yoga, he has found a form of hatha yoga that connects to his heart at the deepest level. sevillanojorge@gmail.com
Claudette Evans, E-RYT 200/RYT500
Claudette is mother to Lily, and has been teaching yoga to children and adults since 2009. She’s currently enrolled in the Anusara Teacher Training Program at Seattle Yoga Arts, under the guidance of her beloved teachers Elizabeth Rainey and Denise Benitez. She is a graduate of YogaWorks’ 300hr Advanced Certification and 200hr Foundational Programs, as well as the RainbowKids and Street Yoga Teacher Training Programs. You’ll find Claudette’s classes infused with her warm, integrative, creative spirit. Her extensive background in athletics, music, dance, and theatre reinforces the connection between body, mind, and breath that she explores in each pose. She has a genuine passion for introducing new students to yoga and delights in encouraging her students to open themselves to the vitality of life. Her enthusiasm and curiosity are catching, and it’s clear that her teaching draws on her own love of physicality and mental engagement. Through a deft weaving of precise alignment, thoughtful insight, a great sense of humor, and an abiding respect for each student’s own path, Claudette’s classes create space for self-expression, clarity of focus and the sheer joy of movement, leaving room for the alchemical magic of yoga to unfold. cpcevans@msn.com
Natascha van Aalst Leitner
Natascha is a Certified Yoga Teacher and mother of two young children. Natascha started doing yoga as an antidote for her busy life as a journalist and magazine editor in her hometown, Amsterdam. What was initially just a tool for stress management quickly turned into a proper yoga study, including a YogaWorks teachers training with Natasha Rizopoulos and workshops with senior teachers (Seane Corn, Rodney Yee and Aadil Palkhivala, and others). Natascha’s interest in kids yoga grew in her own living room, when her two daughters joined her on the mat, doing ‘downward puppies.’ Teaching yoga to kids, she joins the two entities that have transformed her life -yoga and motherhood- and Natascha is passionate about the effects of yoga on children, as individuals and as part of a family and community. nataschavanaalst@gmail.com
