Our Teachers
Checka Antifonario
Breathe, expand, challenge and nurture yourself, discover something new, and maybe even laugh a little (or a lot!) - these are the intentions that Checka holds for her yoga students each day. Checka is deeply honored to share the practice of yoga, and passionate about her work. She teaches an upbeat Vinyasa Flow class, offering fresh and creative sequencing along with compassionate and skilled assists and adjustments. She provides smart and safe pathways to deep openings and peak poses, so students feel both exhilarated and supported in their practice. Moments of challenge and intensity are woven together with times of deep relaxation to keep yogis curious, engaged, and full of breath!
Checka Antifonario (E-RYT, RCYT, RCY Facilitator) is a full-time experienced adult yoga instructor and children’s yoga specialist based in the greater Boston area. In addition to her local weekly classes, Checka travels far and wide to lead, retreats, workshops and Radiant Child Yoga Teacher Trainings.
Checka’s yoga journey began in 2006, when she moved from Cambridge, MA to the Big Island of Hawaii to live and work at Kalani yoga and wellness retreat. In this setting of stunning natural beauty, she began to deepen her own practice, along with her love and appreciation for the strengthening and healing nature of yoga. After two years of serious practice, Checka traveled to Costa Rica to complete her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification with Jacqueline Heisel of Frog Lotus Yoga (based in North Adams, MA). She then returned to the Boston area and has been teaching full-time ever since.
Checka has completed additional training with Shiva Rea, Shakta Kaur Khalsa, Alice Senko, and YogaThree founders Chanel Luck, Bonnie Argo, and Roberto Lim. She continues to be gratefully inspired by the guidance of her yoga mentors as well as the lessons she learns from her students each and every day!
Theresa Paraskos, E-RYT 200
I love exploring the tiny shifts that can transform a pose and the larger internal shifts that allow me to be comfortable in my own skin. After graduating from BU with a degree in Psychology and the unfortunate mindset that certain things cannot be healed, yoga renewed by belief in the therapeutic process and the possibility of change.
I teach to share the multitude of benefits a daily practice can provide, and guide my students with a light heart and a sense of humor. I have a huge LOVE of beginner yogis and restorative yoga, and my classes incorporate a strong emphasis on alignment and anatomy...and the occassional tennis ball. I completed my 200 hour certification with Richard Lanza and the crew at Open Doors in my hometown. I am a certified Structural and Movement Analyst through Kinesis, and I study CranioSacral Therapy through the Upledger Institute.
I continue to be inspired by my love of anatomy, incredible teachers along the way, including Cat Kabira, Barbara Benagh, Richard Freeman, Tom Myers and Simone Lindner- and my loving husband, family and friends. Namaste.
Angela Marie Harrity
On the Mat: Yoga has become an extension of the alternative healing modalities that Angela has studied for the majority of her life. Her classes are light-hearted yet physically challenging. With her gentle approach, she introduces the postures and techniques of the practice to reveal the liberating quality of yoga. Through creative sequencing she hopes that all come to their mats with the ability to laugh a little while practicing; unlocking new possibilities with the journey.
Off the Mat: When she is not teaching yoga, you may find her in the front of a classroom exposing undergraduate students to the details of modern sciences.
Jess Hicks
Yoga has been Jess' shadow as she has walked down a variety of paths in life, starting many decades ago with yoga on the golden shag carpet of her childhood home with her mom by her side and Lilias on the TV. Since having her own children, Jess' practice has moved to the foreground, unobscured, into the light, becoming the path.
Jess has been influenced by and has studied many of the meditative styles of yoga, including slow flow, Yin, and restorative. She completed a 200 hour training with Bo Forbes, a Yin training with Josh Summers, and she has been blessed by the presence of many other teachers along the way. Her classes are tied together by a thread of mindful movement that can be deeply comforting and healing.
Ryan Hill
Yoga is a life-long healing practice. It’s not about flexibility. You’ll learn to develop attention, disconnect from doubt, and better understand your natural state of being. When you can FULLY participate with asana with a sense of surrender to what’s available to your body, you can move toward ease and become present with the circumstances you’re given. A great side-effect is a lack of dis-ease!
I simply adore the yoga practice, in the geekiest way. After extensive study at South Boston Yoga, I participated in their 500-hour teacher training in 2009. I heard the calling profoundly and took the leap, leaving my career in architecture to wait tables and practice. Today, yoga has moved from a flirtation to a love affair. Nothing makes me more enthusiastic than sharing my experience. I teach actively around Somerville/ Cambridge and believe that no one style of yoga holds the key to understanding ourselves. My deepest gratitude goes out to the teachers who have influenced me most, opening the doors of my heart (and hamstrings!): David Vendetti, Todd Skoglund, Cat Kabira, and Barbara Benagh.
ryanhillyoga.com
Kari Jacobsen, MS, E-RYT 200
Kari began practicing yoga and mediation in 2001 with the hope of reducing anxiety and stress. The sense of calm she attained witha simple 30-minute practice at the end of the day inspired her to make yoga and meditation a regular part of her life. That initiated a life-long intention to do everything she wanted with passionate ease and lots of heart.
Appreciating the balance of yin and yang, Kari teaches both vigorous heat-building styles and contemplative restoring styles of yoga. She infuses intelligent mindfulness practice into her yinn and yang classes. She is known for her steady guidance and calming presence. Kari guides her students to find and listen to their inner wisdom so they practic in a way that feels dynamic and healing. The support of her respectful hands-on assists helps students in unravelng areas of tension and restriction.
Kari completed her foundation teacher training in Forrest Yoga and continues to study with Ana Forrest. Additional trainings with Sarah Powers in Yin Yoga and Daniel Orlansky in Meridian Yoga greatly influence her teaching. Ongoing study of CranioSacral Therapy with the Upledger Institute informs her hands-on assists.
Carolyn Little
Carolyn Little, Registered Yoga Teacher, Health Coach and Reiki Master, is completing her 500 hour certification through the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica and is a certified Pranassage practitioner (a synthesis of yoga and bodywork that produces deep relaxation in the receiver). Carolyn has lived and traveled extensively both nationally and internationally and no matter where she is in the world, her practice brings her home within herself. Yoga is a grounding force in her life, a unification of mind, body and spirit. It has allowed her to heal physically and emotionally while finding balance and joy in her life.
A background in ballet and sports lead her to connect with the the graceful, strong flow of vinyasa yoga. Carolyn has studied with many renowned instructors such as: Don and Amba Stapleton (Nosara Yoga Institute, Costa Rica), Elena Brower (Virayoga, NY), Desiree Rumbaugh (Anusara), Barbara Benagh (Iyengar), Kevin Courtney (Kula Yoga, NY), David Vendetti (South Boston Yoga) as well as with various international yoga teachers and healers. Carolyn completed a yin yoga teacher training program with Josh Summers (Yin yoga and Insight Meditation) and is influenced by Paul Grilley, Bernie Clark, and Sarah Powers (Insight Yoga). Her Yin classes combine traditional yoga poses with the meridian system from Chinese medicine, as well as Buddhist meditation. She is also certified to teach prenatal yoga through Blooma Yoga and Wellness Center in Minn, MN.
Christie Rosen
Christie fell in love with yoga while volunteering and living at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the Berkshires. Ever since then, yoga has been the most important part of her daily life, physically, mentally and spiritually. She completed her yoga teacher training at the Nosara Yoga Institute in Costa Rica with Don and Amba Stapleton and took her JourneyDance™ teacher training at Kripalu with Toni Bergins. Christie is most inspired by music and movement, and her classes will encourage you to follow your heart, listen to your body and have fun!
Christie has seen first hand how yoga can positively affect people in every aspect of life. She has been forever changed by the benefits of yoga and enjoys nothing more than seeing this transformation occur in her students. Her number one goal is to make her students happy and she loves taking requests.
Christie is also passionate about healthy living. She is a certified holistic health coach and received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City. She loves talking to people about simple ways they can improve their health and happiness. Visit her website at www.christierosen.com or email her at christie.rosen@gmail.com.
Jenn Pici
Jenn is a Yoga Alliance certified Power Vinyasa instructor with 10 years of practice and close to 5 years of teaching under her belt. A former collegiate distance runner, Jenn turned to yoga for guidance and balance. She believes in the healing power of yoga and welcomes people of all levels to be challenged and inspired by it. She creates her “flow” series for the day depending on the students’ energy, the moon cycles, and her own creative inspiration. Jenn uses music to guide the flow of each class and says teaching yoga is her favorite and most fulfilling part of each day.
Check out her blog for more information or insight: jpiciyogini.blogspot.com
Rob Phillips
Like many modern Yogis, Rob Phillips first came to yoga primarily seeking the physical benefits. As a fitness enthusiast, he hoped to increase his flexibility and perhaps even reduce his stress a bit. After unassumingly walking into an Ashtanga class, he was left humbled by the physical challenge and inspired by the energetic effects. It wasn’t long before he became a dedicated Ashtangi.
While he appreciates the strong energies created by the more active practices, Rob is also an enthusiast of the calmer contemplative practices of Yin Yoga and Buddhist Vipassana (Insight) meditation. After years of working with anxiety and depression, yoga and meditation have provided him with a base of focus and confidence that continues to grow with each year of practice.
Rob’s classes draw influences from the Buddhist tradition, placing a heavy emphasis on mindfulness of the body and movement of the breath; but his dry and witty humor help to keep a light air in the room. His first teacher training was in Yin Yoga with Josh Summers and he has also completed his 200-hour training through YogaWorks with Natasha Rizopoulos. More recently, mentorships with Kate O'Donnel and Nicole Clark have continued to inspire and shape his teaching. Rob is forever indebted to all of his teachers, both past and present, for helping him to discover his full potential.