Instructors

I fell in love with Yoga after my very first class with Heidi Ruehlmann somewhere around 1998 and am blessed to be working with her all these years later at MBY studio.

I received my teaching certification in 2008 from The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute with Beryl Bender Birch.

I am also certified by Katherine Hamer to practice singing bowl healing through the Atma Buti International Sound Healing & Vibration Institute as of 2018

  My classes are alignment based, fun artistic expressions that combine various styles and techniques of yoga woven together with the transformative power of the breath. Students are encouraged to move from where they are, go inward throughout the practice, and fully explore with gratitude all that is.  

  As a teacher one can have many hours of instruction on the teaching and learning of yoga, but the best experience comes from spending time on your mat, exploring the mantra of breath, and moving your body with the intention of deep listening. I am inspired by the limitless places we can go.

I have practiced and studied Hatha Yoga since 1969. In 2002 I received my teaching certification in Prana Yoga at the New York Open Center lead byDr. Jeff Migdow and Pritti Robin.

  Prana Yoga focuses on the chakra system and teaches ways to consciously release energy blockages in the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual body, creating balance and ease on all levels of being. In Prana Yoga we combine the practice of asana with chanting the seed sounds and vowel sounds of the chakra with the intention to increase, decrease, move, and balance the energies in the major energy centers (chakra) in our bodies. 

  My teaching style is also greatly influenced by my early teachers Ani Nadler Grosser and Rachel Gluckstein.  

  I have a great desire to share Yoga with those who experience restrictions in their physical bodies due to age, excess weight, or injuries. I want to show that with the help of gentle movement, attention to the breath, and an open heart, we can change the way we feel about our bodies, how we relate to ourselves and others, and to the world around us.

Akkamahadevi has relocated to the beautiful Northern Catskills from New York City. She studied and taught at the Integral Yoga Institute of New York. Following the teachings of Swami Satchidananda, she incorporates his inspirational affirmations into her class.  

Akka is a certified 500 hour yoga guide in Level I Hatha Yoga and Raja Yoga, with additional trainings in restorative, gentle and yoga for arthritis. By providing accessible yoga to all, she found her calling in therapeutic yoga. Today, Akka is a certified yoga therapist, a C-IAYT with the International Association of Yoga Therapists. Akka is also a Reiki Master Teacher of the Usui system.  

Guiding students through gentle and restorative postures, deep relaxation, breath awareness, sound vibration and meditation, Akka gives her students a full integral yoga practice to obtain balance in body, mind and energy.

Yoga has been the steady foundation of Shirlee's life since she began practicing in 2008. 

In 2011, she became 200-hour certified in Vinyasa and started teaching in NYC. Wanting to go deeper, she continued on with a 300-hour Ashtanga certification in 2012, and went on to explore yoga in its many forms, on and off the mat, and was lucky enough to travel through India and up into the Himalayas with her brother and sister. 

It is her absolute honor to share the sacred yogic space with each of you. Aside from yoga, Shirlee is passionate about rock n roll, the creative arts, and mother nature.