Tag: self-care

The Science Behind Yoga for Stress & Anxiety Relief (2025 Update)

Discover the science-backed benefits of yoga for stress and anxiety relief in this 2025 update. Learn how yoga reduces cortisol, boosts GABA, and rewires your brain for calm, plus the best styles for relaxation. Start your journey to a more peaceful mind today.

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Jennifer Miranda

Jenn took her very first yoga class in 2012 while searching for a fitness
routine that would improve her strength and flexibility. After that first class,
she got hooked. Yoga changed her life not only because of the physical
benefits of doing yoga but she also discovered that yoga has greatly improved
her mental focus and self-awareness. Because of this, she decided to share
her practice with others. Jenn completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training
in April 2017 and is a registered yoga instructor (RYT-200) with the Yoga
Alliance.

Jenn’s ultimate goal as a yoga teacher is to lead students towards a deeper
level of physical fitness and healthy lifestyle along with mental peace. She
loves to help beginners feel comfortable in their practice and learn essential
postures while motivating and challenging the more experienced yogis and
ensuring a safe practice for everyone. Maintaining her own personal practice
while learning and gaining inspiration from other yogis enables her to design
innovative, energetic, and fun sequences that are fit for all levels.

Jenn is also a professional portrait photographer and her love of both yoga
and photography paved the way for Yoga Photography. The skills she has
acquired over the years allow her to best capture yogis demonstrating beauty,
strength, and grace through movement.

Carrie Del Purgatorio

Carrie has had a consistent, daily, at-home yoga and meditation practice for many years and was finally inspired to take her love of yoga to the next level and embark on teacher training in 2022. She enjoys teaching a more powerful yoga flow with a strong focus on breathing. Carrie firmly believes that a little self-love goes a long way, and she feels extremely grateful to be able to share her practice with people.

Zaina Ileiwat

Zaina has been an RYT-200 trained instructor since 2020 with additional mindfulness and breath work training. She curates her classes specifically for the success of her students while ensuring there are options for everyone. She brings energy, fun, and clear guidance throughout the class. Zaina finds her greatest joy seeing beginner students find comfort as well as experienced students still finding challenge in her class. Expect some upbeat music and humor to be woven throughout the practice and a complete wind down with some breath work to send you off in bliss.

Theresa Conlon

Theresa is a Yoga Alliance certified instructor (200-hour RYT) who has been teaching since 2013. She is skilled in various yoga styles including Hatha, Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Restorative, and Meditation. Theresa also brings an extensive dance background to her yoga practice, which includes teaching both modern dance and ballet. She has over 40 years of dance/theater performing experience and currently showcases her choreography as part of Bergen Dance Makers, a dance collective in northern New Jersey. Theresa’s yoga classes offer a calming mix of traditional asana postures and creative movement flows, supported by energy-moving breath. Students of all skill levels are invited to find ease and peace in their bodies/minds/spirits through the joyful bliss of yoga movement.

Carrie Parker Gastelu

Carrie Parker Gastelu, E-500 RYT, has been teaching yoga since 1993. Carrie began her journey when Yogi Raj Mani Finger initiated Carrie into the ISHTA Yoga lineage after training with Mani’s son, Yogi Raj Alan Finger. In addition, she has studied many other yoga traditions as well as anatomy, physiology, movement, and awareness practices to create an eclectic style all her own. She is known for her honest, non-dogmatic yet passionate approach.

Carrie is a regular speaker and contributor at conferences, websites, and print publications and has been featured in Fit Magazine, the Yoga Zone Book, and in the Yoga Zone Video, “Flexibility and Stress Release.”

Lisa Podesta-Coombs

When Lisa found yoga in 2008, she started to find herself again and it set her on a path of health and healing. She received her 200HR RYT certification from Raji Thron of Yoga Synthesis, and her 30HR Chakra Yoga Teacher Training certificate with Anodea Judith and holds a Y12SR (Yoga of 12 Step Recovery) certification. She is also a Holistic Health Coach (certified through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition). Lisa believes we’re all on a journey of learning how to trust ourselves; she helps her clients build that trust by supporting them in creating better habits for a better life through various functional movement modalities like yoga, barre, Pilates & strength training, mindset, and whole food nutrition.

Forever a student with a passion for people, holistic health, and self-actualization, Lisa is always embracing opportunities to advance her education to better serve; Ayurveda workshops & immersions have been of particular interest as she continues to deepen her knowledge of and experience with food as medicine and she recently completed Unleash Her Power Within, a transformational program of rediscovering our truest selves, powered by Tony Robbins.  

As she continues to give herself space and grace to nourish her natural self and actualize her potential, Lisa continues to share the gift of movement as medicine to inspire authenticity & health in body, mind, and spirit. You can expect mindful, accessible, dynamic, playful, and uplifting classes from Lisa.

Roberto Reynoso

Roberto Reynoso completed basic training in 2017 at Jaipure Yoga in Montclair. The training was Hatha Vinyasa based. Roberto has created his own style from the various styles of yoga he has loved practicing. He is well-versed in Iyengar, Vinyasa, and Restorative Yoga. He hopes to teach poses and themes in each class that inform, challenge, and guide students toward a better understanding of how to make the shapes and the anatomy behind the poses. He hopes to help students find more space when they leave and also hopes to help people grow in awareness through breath, alignment, and movement.