Adarsh Williams teaches a contemplative style of yoga that embraces both modern innovation and traditional wisdom. Since 1995, Adarsh has been engaged in the field of natural healing and has received certifications in therapeutic massage and active isolated stretching. He continues as a student of Ashtanga Yoga and it’s sister sciences of Sanskrit, Ayurveda, and Bhakti. Adarsh has continuously traveled to Asia since 2001 for study and pilgrimage and has received teaching Authorization by his late Guruji Shri. K Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. Adarsh directs the Monterey Yoga Shala in Monterey, CA specializing in progressive instruction for beginner through advanced levels.

Through in depth study of human anatomy and physiology and formal training as a massage therapist, Adarsh is highly regarded for his sensitive yet deep adjusting style. He has experience working with a wide variety of students of diverse abilities, ages, and backgrounds. With a deeply held belief that anyone can develop a personal yoga practice, Adarsh is an energetic teacher who infuses his enthusiasm for practice and hard work in his students.

WEBSITE

SmartStretch.com

Heleen started practicing yoga in 1992 during college in the Netherlands. For 8 years she practiced Sivananda Yoga and eventually completed the TT (teacher training) at the ashram in upstate New York. Shortly after, Heleen moved to London to pursue life as a yoga teacher, which in turn led her to a position of General Manager at one of London’s best known dance and holistic centres.

During this time, she studied Ashtanga Yoga with Liz Lark and John Scott. John inspired her to go to Mysore and study with Sri K. Pattabhi Jois. After meeting Guruji on his world tour in 2001 she traveled to India the following year to study at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute and returned there every year until she became pregnant with her first child in 2007. Heleen is now the mother of two children, Evan and Maya, teaches Yoga and is co-owner of the Monterey Yoga Shala in California. Heleen has also created a Kids Yoga curriculum for Kids in schools that is being taught at elementary and middle schools around the Monterey Peninsula.

WEBSITE

Heleen.yoga

Amy has been practicing and teaching yoga since discovering Ashtanga in 1999 and completing her first teacher training with Larry Schultz at It’s Yoga, San Francisco. She has practiced and taught up and down the California coast, sharing her love of the practice with people of all ages, abilities and intentions. Amy and her family happily settled on the Monterey Peninsula in 2009, where she found her teachers, Adarsh and Heleen Williams, and the wonderful community of yogis at Monterey Yoga Shala. Her experience as a social worker over the years has allowed her to integrate yoga into her work supporting adults with developmental, physical, neurological and cognitive challenges. Her experience as a mom inspired her to teach yoga to kids of all ages and abilities. Yoga is for everyone.

Always a student first, Amy’s daily practice not only informs her teaching, but supports, inspires and helps maintain a balance in her life off the mat. Yoga is a personal journey- what it truly is cannot be seen. Through the Ashtanga Vinyasa system, we learn to listen and connect with ourselves on a deeper level, and this gradually becomes an integral part of who we are and how we perceive and process the challenges and successes of every day life. Amy’s classes strive to offer an accessible and compassionate guide into this system, allowing students the space to find and connect with their own breath, their own practice, and their own unique way of being in the world.

Angeles Moreno is a Yoga Inspired Artist and yoga practitioner since 2006. In 2008 she completed (RYT) the YTT Program at The College of Yoga at Mount Madonna Institute and started teaching at the Downtown Yoga Shala in San Jose, CA where her Yoga Inspired Art is on permanent exhibition.

In 2012 she completed the Bheemashakti Yoga Intensive at Ginseng Yoga, San Diego and, in 2013 she started practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Mysore style with Adarsh & Heleen Williams. She completed the Primary Series teacher training with Tim Miller at the Ashtanga Yoga Center in Encinitas, California.

All of the studio’s marketing materials, including our website have been designed by Angeles and you will find her beautiful art in our reception at the studio.

WEBSITE

YogaInspiredArt.com

Amanda started practicing yoga in 2006 and was certified to teach in the Himalayan Institute tradition by Philadelphia’s Raja Yoga in 2011. Since then, she’s taught both hatha and vinyasa classes, and in 2018 completed her 500-hour teacher training from the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy.

In 2016, Amanda began to deepen her knowledge and appreciation of Ashtanga yoga with Adarsh Williams and Heleen Zondag-Williams. Returning to her mat to form the same sequence of shapes, day after day, has taught her the power of a consistent practice. She loves the way Ashtanga engenders discipline, commitment, clarity, and groundedness, qualities she’s learning to embody off the mat as well. When she’s not practicing, Amanda is a reading and writing specialist at MPC and a contributor covering yoga and health related topics for www.basmati.com

Catherine began studying Hatha Yoga in 2015, quickly falling in love with the practice and earning her RYS 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training and Advanced Studies certification from Seaside Yoga Sanctuary in 2016. Shortly thereafter, she discovered Ashtanga Yoga at the Monterey Yoga Shala under the tutelage of Adarsh Williams, Heleen Williams and Amy Wright.

Catherine will forever consider herself a student of yoga. She is a workshop devotee, having taken classes with Sharath Jois, Manju Jois, David Williams, David Swenson, Richard Freeman, Tim Miller, Dena Kinsberg, Eddie Stern, Troy Lucero and Kino MacGregor, among others. She firmly believes that a regular yoga practice, combining movement with breath, helps to keep us more present in daily life.

Jodi began practicing yoga to recover from a debilitating back injury. She quickly found that the presence in her daily practice permeated into every aspect of her life. Not long after, Jodi completed her RYS 200hr teacher training from Jenny Schuck, in Danbury, CT in a style of Vinyasa Yoga that focuses on Iyengar alignment. Jodi connected to the thoughtful attention to anatomy and precision in this safe and intelligent practice. She taught classes at the studio for two years before moving to the Monterey Peninsula.

An avid student of all things yoga, Jodi’s curiosity led her to Ashtanga Yoga. She finds that Ashtanga is completely different, yet entirely the same. Jodi loves the physical challenge that requires self study, while providing time to become calm and present. The sequence allows for inward reflection and the linking of movement and breath becomes meditative.

Jodi hopes to continue to share her passion for yoga in classes that are rigorous, lighthearted, focused, and steadily paced.

Ashley has a deep passion for learning and sharing tools that help us to live. Naturally then, she fell in love with yoga when she began practicing in 2011. Ashley practiced Bikram yoga for 6 years where she discovered lessons learned on the mat could also be applied to improve life off the mat. She discovered the power of consistent, steady practice in creating profound changes in the mind, body, & soul, and competed in the National Yoga Asana Championship 3 years in a row.

In 2017, she began wanting more from her yoga practice. It was this desire that led her to discover Ashtanga Yoga, this studio, and to complete her 200-hour teacher training with Adarsh Williams and Heleen Zondag-Williams. She fell in love with the simplicity but rigor of the series, and empowering nature of Mysore practice.

Off the mat, Ashley is a licensed psychotherapist where she leads group therapy at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. In addition to therapy, at the hospital she leads gentle yoga classes as well as groups focused on meditation, breathing techniques, and mindfulness. Her yoga practice informs her therapy work, and her therapy work informs her yoga practice. As a yoga teacher, Ashley aims to create a space where students can discover a deeper connection with their own personal practice and the inner teacher that lives in all of us.

Angelynn started her Ashtanga practice in 2009. Since then she has followed a practice of yoga and meditation every morning and it has become a fixture of her daily routine. She studied the Intensive Yoga Teacher Training under Adarsh and Heleen Williams and is honored to accept a teaching position at Monterey Yoga Shala.

Angelynn loves to share her experience of yoga with others. She hopes that with regular practice and support, she can help her students achieve stillness of mind and feel peace in their daily living.