Instructors

Ildi Bercak: Ildi began her yoga journey at the Garden of the Heart yoga center in 2005. Anusara Yoga was the first step into understanding how much yoga can change someone’s life. After eight years of having a desk job from Budapest, Hungary to San Francisco, CA to Sarasota, FL, Ildi became a personal trainer (AFAA) at Lifestyle Family Fitness Center, Sarasota, FL in 2007. With her previous fitness background in gymnastics, diving, and teaching aerobic classes, it was a smooth transition towards wellness and helping people to change their life (with a variety of clientele ranging from weight loss, sports specific, and special populations). In 2008, Ildi became a certified Hatha Yoga teacher by Yoga Fit (Yoga Alliance) and started teaching at Rosemary Court Yoga. She currently works at Sarasota Memorial Healthfit Fitness Center as a group exercise instructor (AFAA) teaching multi–level Yoga (RYT-200), Mat Pilates (certified by PIA), yogalates and foam rolling with Pilates class. With humor and compassion, coupled with dynamic and creative sequencing, she teaches a vinyasa flow for all levels, while challenging even the most seasoned practitioners. Using an in-depth understanding of anatomy and alignment to lead students more deeply in their practice and a variety of yoga styles (hatha, asthanga, anusara, yin, therapeutic), her classes regularly create opportunities for students to grow and accomplish things they didn’t think possible. Also certified as a Master Reiki Practitioner and Hypnotherapist. As of February 2nd Ildi became an ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) certified Personal Trainer.

Bonnie Brown: Bonnie Brown of Outward Spiral teaches our Hoop Dance Beginners' Series at Rosemary Court. She brings her passion for dance and movement to a very meditational practice. One of Bonnie's qualities as an instructor is to intuit what is needed for each class. She comes to the space with an open mind and heart to fulfill what the class needs. Her practice is focused on a grounding balance while opening the heart, opening the mind, and letting go of any constraints. In other words, having a balanced energy flow of give and take, for not only the individual, but the the entire class.
You can also find Bonnie all over the community providing several classes, workshops and community events. For more info, please visit, www.OutwardSpiral.net. Also, pease feel free to contact Bonnie directly with any questions about her classes, workshops, community practice, performance, or for hoop orders. BonnieB@OutwardSpiral.net

Jamie Coffey: Bringing over 25 years of movement experience to the mat (professional figure skating and dance/choreography), Jamie has developed a unique method of instruction that embraces her ability to engage students of all ages and abilities in the practice of yoga. With a strong focus on pranayama (breath), her classes blend asana (poses held with breath) and vinyasa (movement with breath) in a way that cultivates compassion, gratitude, and joy. By encouraging her students to keep their sense of humor close to the surface, she creates a playful and lighthearted environment in her classes. Whether in a private setting, a studio class, or with a large group on the beach, Jamie has the ability to make her students—whether at the very beginning or more advanced level— feel welcome, safe, and at ease.

Jamie believes honoring the body-mind-spirit connection and focusing on the breath allows students to connect to the essence of who they really are. Her teaching philosophy recognizes that everyone comes to the mat for different reasons, and her expansive approach allows each student to learn and unfold at his/her own pace. The practice of yoga (which means “union”) creates community—a collective awareness—which gives practitioners the opportunity to cultivate qualities on the mat that can be incorporated into their daily lives off the mat.

Since completing her 200-hour training with J. Brown at Abhyasa Yoga Center in NYC in 2009, Jamie has been teaching throughout NYC and Sarasota, as well as in Tulum, Mexico at Sigrid Olsen’s Creative Well-being Retreats. A Florida native, she is a graduate of Rollins College, and also received her M.A. from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in Performance Studies.

Contact Jamie via coffey.jamier@gmail.com or 941-350-5120

Stephanie Cole: Formerly a certified personal trainer and nutritional consultant, Stephanie has been in the fitness industry since 1993. Her yoga journey, which began in 2001, has included Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Yin, and Bikram traditions. Her dedicated practice and further studies led her to become a certified yoga teacher, registered with the Yoga Alliance, in 2005. She expanded her certifications to include Aerial Yoga in 2011. Her teaching is most influenced by Kino McGregor, Govinda Kai, and Sarah Powers. She takes these teachings, and others, and blends them with her own caring style for a wonderful yoga experience. The joy and lightness she creates in the room is her beautiful parting gift to take with you out into the world.

Jess DiLorenzo: Jess offers yoga with a bright open heart and playful spirit. Her mission is to empower students of all ages, drawing out the unique gifts and luminosity that already exist in each of our hearts. Her journey as a yoga teacher began in her elementary classroom, where she discovered the power of three part breath and sun salutations as tools to ground and settle students’ anxiety. When she discovered adults, like children, also thrive when they feel empowered and free to take risks in a safe and loving environment, she answered the calling to teach them too!

Jessica was trained in alignment based, therapeutic, heart centered Hatha yoga at Dig Yoga, Lambertville. Her beloved teachers, Sue Elkind, Naime Jezzeny, Mariel Freeman, and Kilkenny Tremblay provided a plethora of experiences that landed Jess right smack in the center of her heart. Yoga has taught her that you already have everything you need to manifest anything you have ever dreamed of! She is honored to share her joy and enthusiasm for this practice with the Rosemary Court community and beyond.

Arlena Dominick: Arlena Dominick found her way to Bikram yoga 22 years ago in an effort to heal from a traumatic spine injury sustained when a car hit her on her bike. Through yoga she found immediate relief from daily physical pain and gained mental and emotional clarity. She began teaching in 1995 as co-owner of a St Petersburg, Florida Yoga studio. She trained in several traditions, but resonated most with Kundalini. She concentrated her studies in this discipline and completed her first certification in 2009. She also specializes in prenatal yoga, having completed the Kundalini Pregnancy Teacher Training. Arlena honors the teachings by honoring her students. Her goal is to uplift and inspire.

Rebecca Harp: Rebecca has completed 200 hours through Garden of the Heart Yoga Teacher Training Course and is 200 RYT through Yoga Alliance. She is also a Certified NeuroMuscular Massage Therapist and a Certified Reflexologist. She has had her own practice for 10 years and has been practicing as a Massage Therapist locally in Sarasota for 16 years. Her passion for yoga began her first day in the massage therapy program at Florida College of Natural Health, where she experienced her first Surya Namaskar, salute to the sun. Since then, she has practiced with a wide range of yoga instructors here locally and became inspired to go through an intense alignment based training at Garden of the Heart using principles of alignment from the style of Anusara Yoga. She very much values these principles and hopes to create a wonderful yoga experience for her students.

Meredith Kaplan: Meredith’s style of yoga has been strongly influenced by John Friend and Anusara. Classes weave physical alignment with uplifting themes, bringing each student a greater experience of joy and peace in body, mind, and spirit. Restorative classes focus on calming the mind and nervous system using very gentle passive poses that nurture and restore balance.

Laura Mahoney: Laura Mahoney has a fitness background as a Personal Trainer and has been a Yoga Teacher since 2000 and is 200 hour certified. She teaches Vinyasa Flow, Hatha, and Yin styles of yoga and often blends them together in the same class making an eclectic style. She has embraced yoga as a lifestyle and lives the 8 limbs of yoga so that depth of experience comes through in her teaching. When you attend her class you are taken on a journey that touches all aspects of your being - body, mind, and spirit.

Laura is also a Reconnective Healing Practitioner from The Reconnection and touches her students with that healing divine light. To learn more about the energy work you can go to: www.thereconnection.com. She offers private healing sessions and reconnections. You can email her for an appointment at: yoga.laura@yahoo.com

Victoria Ochoa: Victoria Ochoa teaches yoga to adults and children throughout Sarasota. Her yoga journey began early in college. Since then she has maintained an intentional practice of daily self-devotion and healthy life choices. She discovered Kundalini yoga five years ago and pursued it looking for a way to enhance her breath and authentic feeling of happiness. It was an instant click which led to a KRI certification as a Kundalini yoga instructor at Prana Yoga and Healing Center – according to the teachings of Yogi Bhajan.
Kundalini is the yoga of awareness. It is a technology that works on the total energy of our body through breath, postures, meditation, and mantra. The most important part of it is our self-discovery.
Her own self-discovery resulted in a complete life shift from a marketing professional at large multinationals to a health advocate and yoga teacher. Victoria focuses on inspiring people to reclaim their right to the highest feeling of wellness and the happiness that comes with it- which is her own life’s principle. She is soon to get certified as a health coach from The Health Coach Institute of San Francisco. Victoria also holds a specialized masters in marketing from EAFIT and a bachelors in business from the Catholic University of Pereira, Colombia. She is a proud mother of two amazing children, which are her infinite fountain of love.
“Everyone is a house with four rooms; a physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual, we tend to stay mostly in one. Every day we must visit each room to be complete.” Indian proverb.
That is what the practice of Kundalini yoga does for us.

Barbara O'Toole: Barbara completed the International Teacher Training Certification in Kundalini Yoga, as taught by Yogi Bhajan, in 2013 through Yoga Village in Clearwater. She had practiced Hatha and Anusara style yoga for many years, but when she discovered Kundalini eight years ago, she knew she had found a home. Kundalini has it all; the physical and mental challenge along with the calming and spiritual side of breath and meditation. Each class is a new journey to open up and allow your true potential to shine through. Sharing these teachings so that others can benefit and find their potential is her goal. She lives in Bradenton with her husband, two Labradors and three cats.

Michelle J. Roy: Michelle Roy is an RYT-certified yoga instructor with more than 15 years experience. Her system is alignment-based, teaching each student how to safely move and arrange the body for each pose. Michelle’s yoga instruction is heart-felt, empowering and introspective, providing an atmosphere in which each student can explore the practice free of competition and judgment. Her extensive anatomical and therapeutics training, combined with her skills in other healing modalities, offer a more holistic approach to the yoga practice.

Kat Samai: Kat is a Doctor of Pharmacy specializing in Trauma/Emergency Medicine and a certified Yoga Teacher registered with Yoga Alliance. She has been committed to health and wellness her entire life. She is passionate about the healing and health benefits that yoga provides as well as learning to live the yogic life by practicing self-reflection, contentment, and authenticity. Her yoga classes incorporate strength, movement, and the breath so that students of all levels can find peace, passion, and empowerment. She is a disciple of Edwin and Catarina Lacayo from the It's Yoga and Ashtanga tradition and a certified Level I Reiki Healer.
Her practice and teaching is also influenced by Kino McGregor, Laruga Glaser, Kerri Verna and our very own Rosemary Court Yoga instructors that inspire her continually. She believes that every day is a chance to practice yoga on and off of our mats. Only then, can we begin the transformation into our happiest and true self. Her yoga philosophy is #bethelight, spread the light, because you are luminous.

Liana Sheintal Bryant: Liana truly lives her yoga both on and off the mat. Joyfully dedicated to her practice and her students, Liana empowers all who come to yoga to live it as fully and as happily as she does, whatever their level of fitness or experience. Known for her bright smile and infectious warmth, Liana infuses her classes with the same spirit of nurturing care. With a background in gymnastics and college cheerleading, Liana soon discovered her passion for yoga after graduating from the George Washington University in 2002. After four enjoyable years working at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she has now made yoga her full time career. Previously a YogaWorks Studio Manager in New York City, Liana has now returned to her hometown of Sarasota, FL and in addition to teaching her beloved classes, she is also the Rosemary Court Yoga Director. She is an active part of the yoga community, and after helping to launch the lululemon athletica store openings in the Washington, DC area by serving as one of their first Ambassadors, she was honored to return to Sarasota and be invited to serve as an Ambassador there as well. She is also a Product Ambassador for Manduka. She has completed the YogaWorks Teacher Training Program and is a 500-hour Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500) through Yoga Alliance. Liana has drawn inspiration from all her teachers, including Jenny Aurthur, Erika Hildebrandt, and Kino MacGregor. For more information about Liana, visit her website at www.lianayoga.com.

Stacey Steig: “My mat is my magic carpet; when I step on it the possibilities are endless.” Stacey Steig is a “dabbler and a dreamer” who finds her heart and inspiration on the yoga mat. She has a B.A. in Psychology and M.S. from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and left a career in Public Television (WPBT) to raise her children and pursue her creativity as an artist and writer. At the turn of the millennium, Stacey found herself with a serious illness that zapped her of all balance and motor coordination, and after three months in the hospital, she came to yoga for recovery and grounding. She has been devoted ever since. Stacey became a certified Vinyasa teacher (RYT-200) in 2013 studying at CorpoYoga in Miami, FL. There she was schooled in Raja Yoga, training under disciples of Kino McGregor and Pattabhi Jois. Stacey has found her joy as an artist and a teacher, and has dedicated her life to inspiring her students to maximize their full physical, creative and spiritual potential. “Yoga helps guide us through the obstacle course of life, and puts us in our happy place.”