Yoga Instructors

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Brixx Israelson

Yoga Instructor

I started practicing yoga and incorporating the teachings in my life over 5 years ago. I moved down to the Phoenix area from salt lake city and decided to pursue the 200 hour YTT (yoga teacher training) through the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts. I have a profound passion for life, culture and travel, and I use my life experiences and explorations to strengthen and evolve my practice and teaching. My initial training is in traditional Hatha yoga with spiritual and meditative roots. I like to encourage the mind body connection in my classes to fully enhance the postures and overall benefit of the practice for students. I believe yoga is one of the best organic ways to utilize the body’s own vitality and natural energy. I like to explain the purpose of key poses so students can gain an understanding of their body and create comprehension of their own capability. My inspiration comes from all walks of life and I use themes to create purpose and strengthen flow in my practice. I try to teach contentment for where you are presently, but motivation to take yourself further. Namaste

Julie’s classes are centered around enjoying and having fun with the practice of yoga – finding peace and joy even in the midst of challenge. By doing so on the mat, we are better able to do it off the mat as well, which is one of yoga’s greatest lessons that we can continue to learn over and over again.

Nancy Butterly

Yoga Instructor - CYT 500

Nancy took her first yoga class in the year 2000 and started practicing Ashtanga yoga regularly in 2003. In 2009, she attended a 200-hour yoga teacher training and realized that yoga was her passion. She had finally found her true calling and fully embraced being a yogi! She went on to complete her 300-hour teacher training and has kept studying and practicing regularly since then. Nancy studied Sanskrit for two years and received an International General Certificate of Secondary Education. She was initiated into meditation through the School of Practical Philosophy and meditates daily. She has taken workshops on Yoga Nidra, Boomer Plus Yoga and teaching Yoga for kids. Nancy strives to always being living the yogic life and loves teaching at Yoga on the Rocks!

Kandi Neal

Yoga Instructor

Kandi is a graduate of the 500 Hour Authentic Teacher Training at Dave’s Astanga Yoga, where she studied a variety of Yoga, which included Astanga, a concentration in Yoga Nidra, and a 20-Hour Prenatal Yoga Certification. On top of that, she holds an additional 200 Hour certificate in Sumits Yoga and was selected to lead Walter Yoga in March of 2015. She is a well-rounded practitioner and enjoys continually exploring the many disciplines of Yoga, although you’re most likely to find her sweating to the beat in a Hot Flow class. She loves the balance Yoga brings, with its physical challenges combined with personal growth. She enjoys sharing the practice with others and feels that every time she teaches a class, she is in turn learning something from her students. When she’s not on the mat, you can find her reading, writing, or goofing around with friends. Kandi is a firm believer that Yoga is about honoring your body, heart, and mind – but the practice truly begins once you leave your mat.

Chelsa Lei Issacson

Yoga Instructor

“Yoga is the union of the individual self with the universal self.” – BKS Iynegar. Yoga has been a part of my life for 10 years, starting off in Bikram at 13, moving to Summits yoga at 16 and then Vinyasa Flow Yoga at 20. Originally, being 13, I was very nervous and fearful about going to my first yoga class; I had no clue what to expect. After 5 minutes, I was in love, in love with how self aware and connected I felt. My passion for yoga flourished as I grew older and became more and more inspired. Yoga helped me to feel a sense of unity, not only with the Yogi community, but also to myself. During my Yoga teacher training I learned just how much strength and balance yoga can bring to an individual, not only on, but off the mat as well. When we learn to quite the mind on our mats and stay in yoga poses that, let’s face it, really make our muscles work and thighs burn. We are able to do so off out yoga mats, taking whatever life throws at us with calmness, peace and clarity. I am truly honored to have this amazing opportunity to guide you through your yoga practice. “From the light within me, I honor the light that is deep, divine, and true within each and every one of you.” Namaste!!

Laura Rankel

Yoga Instructor

When Laura took her first yoga class in 2006, she knew there was no looking back. Her passion ignited, she then turned to Yoga Pura‛s 500-hour Advanced Studies & Teacher Training program as a way to deepen her own practice and share the gifts of yoga with others. Laura continues to be amazed by the healing and transformation that has occurred in her life off the mat as a result of her practice and loves to share her enthusiasm with her students, both young and young-at-heart. Her classes and workshops blend a genuine love of the practice, detailed attention to alignment, and integration of yogic philosophy and concepts into everyday life, with a joyful approach. Recognizing the power that yoga has had with her own daughter, Laura has become a tireless advocate for yoga for children. Laura has helped to train and mentor many valley yoga teachers in her role as a mentor for the Yoga Pura teacher training program. Laura holds E-RYT500 and CRYT designations and is a Certified Yoga Nidra Facilitator.

Leanna Richardson

Yoga Instructor

Leanna is an Arizona native who has been practicing and teaching yoga since 1998. She tried yoga for the first time after borrowing a yoga instructional video (from the library!) while in high school and immediately fell in love with the practice– which she continued daily until ultimately becoming certified as a yoga instructor in 2014. Leanna is most passionate about teaching and practicing aerial yoga, vinyasa, and hatha yoga styles. Leanna also has a strong background in dance, gymnastics, and aerial fitness, which she infuses into her yoga classes to create unique sequences and dynamic flows. Additionally, she also offers workshops, enhanced training, and private classes for all age levels and abilities. Leanna is passionate about the beauty, grace, and flexibility expressed through yoga, as well as the never-ending physical challenges it offers, and loves to share her passion with others

Denise Prichard

Yoga Instructor RYT-200

Denise was introduced to yoga in high school through a friend and instantly fell in love with the practice. Each class left her feeling strong, vibrant and insanely in-tune with her mind and body. After witnessing how yoga transformed her mind, body and soul, she realized that she could help others tap into an inner grace that they never knew existed within them. She wanted to share the gift of yoga with others and became a RYT at the 200-hour level at Dave’s Astanga Yoga, under the study of Dave and Cheryl Oliver in 2013.

Her style is energetic and focuses widely on smooth transitions from one posture to another, linking breath to movement and keeping an open mind and heart. Suitable for all levels, shapes and sizes, her classes allow the yoga practice to envelope her students’ soul and enables them to lose themselves in the intense rhythm of vinyasa flow and upbeat music.

Her classes are always fun, light-hearted and encouraging; she often jokes around and can be heard laughing multiple times throughout class and reminding her students that yoga isn’t just about making crazy shapes with your body, it’s about loosening up, letting go and having fun!

Greg Mason

Yoga Instructor

Greg Mason suffered chronic back pain for years, and tried every potential solution from expensive pain killers to painful steroid shots. After all other forms of physical and chemical therapy had failed, Greg discovered Yoga. Yoga not only alleviated the pain he believed would plague him the rest of his life, it taught him to be flexible in both his body and his mind. This new found freedom gave him the work-life balance he had always craved. Greg pursued his advanced Yoga training at the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica. Nosara is one of the premier Yoga institutes in the world, and Greg’s instruction came directly from Institute founders Don and Amba Stapleton. Greg’s training in Nosara Vinyasa and Nosara Therapeutics is an innovative approach to yogic inquiry as a way to facilitate profound contact with your own source of internal guidance. He combines heat generating Vinyasa flows, inspiring and encouraging messages, breathing and meditation exercises and thoughtfully-arranged therapeutic asana sequences. Greg also practices Pranassage™, a hands-on approach using partner-assisted posture flows that induce effortless awareness and accelerate the flow of Prana (life force energy). Greg Mason is a certified 200HR RYT Yoga Alliance instructor.