Current Instructors & Guest Instructors

Kris Allison, RYT- 200
After taking her first yoga class, Kris immediately felt the positive way in which yoga affected her body and mind. She completed her teaching certification at Hot Yoga in the summer of 2006 in order to be able to share the mentally and physically healing effects of yoga with others. She strives to make all of her classes a positive and welcoming environment for everyone in the class regardless of physical ability or skill level. Kris emphasizes the importance of making a student’s yoga practice and their mat a safe haven where they are allowed challenge themselves mentally and physically without judgment. Connection to breath, listening to one’s own body and laughter are all encouraged in her classes. She has continued her training in vinyasa and yogic philosophy with teachers: Amy Weintraub, Dharma Mittra, Rod Stryker, John Friend, Shiva Rea, Neva Ingalls, Gary Kraftsow, and Gurmukh Kaur Khlasa.

Susan Hanan (RYT 500)
Susan Hanan, has been practicing yoga for over 12 years and received her ISHTA training in New York City under Alan Finger, co-founder of Yoga Works.  She is known for teaching creative, energetic classes that focus on strength, flexibility, balance and alignment.

Susan believes yoga to be a healthy, integral part of daily life and she works closely with her students to help each and every one find a successful yoga practice.  In 2007 and 2008 she had the privilege of teaching yoga at the White House to First Lady Laura Bush.

Susan enjoys her personal practice and learning from others, as much as she enjoys assisting her students.  She practices Iyengar and Bikram yoga in addition to her own flow practice.  She has been influenced over the years by many knowledgeable teachers such as Beryl Bender Birch, Tias Little, Ana Forrest and Baron Baptiste.

Susan grew up in Virginia, graduated from George Mason University and then moved to New York where she worked for a number of years in publishing and sales promotions, before becoming a full-time mom to her three sons.  In 2003, she and her husband Lars moved their family back to the DC area where she is a popular and highly regarded senior teacher at Hot Yoga.

Gail Harris
Gail Harris has been teaching yoga for over 26 years. She began her practice in 1974. In 1978 she went off to Canada and became certified as a Sivananda Yoga instructor. Gail has always had a vigorous teaching style and found herself drawn to Ashtanga in 1994. After taking a number of workshops with nationally recognized teachers such as Richard Freeman, Gail made Ashtanga her primary practice. Gail has studied directly with Pattabhi Jois on his last three world tours in New York as well as senior Ashtanga teachers Dena Kingsberg and Lino Miele. “What I find appealing with an Ashtanga practice is the opportunity for the mind to gel with the body and become suspended, even while the body works. Eventually, with practice, one can have a strong physical workout while the mind is still. Ashtanga, simply put, is "meditation in motion."

Toya Hill, 200 RYT
Toya believes that yoga should be accessible to all people. As a graduate of Hot Yoga Teacher Training, Toya was drawn to the flowing postures and playful spirit of Vinyasa. Her classes incorporate the flow of Vinyasa with a focus on alignment and a deeper awareness of the mind, body and spirit. Toya holds certification through Yoga Alliance. When not teaching yoga, Toya spends her time working as a Physical Therapist, traveling, or spending time with family. Toya loves to teach and is grateful of every opportunity to share her time and energy with others

Sabrina Huffman 200 E RYT
Sabrina’s been teaching fitness and wellness classes around the DC area on a part-time basis for over 15 years. After attending some yoga classes at a fitness convention way back when, she knew she wanted to know more. Her study and practice gradually deepened as the years passed, dabbling in a several systems along the way including Iyengar, Astanga, and Anusara, until Hot Yoga hooked her on vinyasa. In 2006 she retired from her day job with the World Bank to devote her energies full-time to teaching and studying yoga. She credits her two young children for inspiring her to follow her heart, and to embrace life’s challenges with as much presence and humor as possible! Sabrina enjoys working with all levels of experience, with adults as well as children, bringing to each setting a dedication to nurturing the inner wisdom of all beings. She has a special interest in bringing yoga to children with disabilities, and using yoga as therapeutic alternative to addressing structural and energetic imbalances in the body.

Sabrina holds a Master of Health Science degree from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and a Master of Arts in French Studies from The American University. She completed her yoga teacher training with Hot Yoga USA (RYT 200), and maintains a general fitness certification through the American Council on Exercise. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, knitting (at least trying to!), and sharing time with friends and family.

Sandy Kavalier
Sandy began practicing yoga in 2000 as part of physical therapy after a bicycle accident. She studied the Iyengar style yoga and for the first time in her adult life she learned to stand straight and move in alignment.

Looking for more movement in her yoga practice, she fell in love with vinyasa style yoga and completed teacher training at Hot Yoga in 2005. When she first experienced the energized calm after a vinyasa yoga practice, she couldn’t wait to return to her mat.

Her primary focus in teaching is taking the beginner on a safe journey, learning the alignment of the asana and enjoying the benefits. She wants her students to feel the release of a healthy stretch, the energy created from vinyasa flow and the calm effects of moving with the breath.

Gopi Kinnicutt (RYT 500)
Gopi Kinnicutt is an Experienced Registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance (ERYT 200). She lived in an ashram for 8 years where she studies and taught Indian Philosophy in-depth, vegetarian cooking, ayurveda and mantra meditation. She is the founder of Yoga Mandali in Saratoga Springs NY, she has been practicing yoga for more than nine years and has been teaching since 2002.

She first trained in Astanga Vinyasa, she further trained extensively with Shiva Rea and has recently completed an advanced training with Ana Forrest. Through her personal practice and experience, Gopi has developed her own unique teaching style. She takes her students into a dynamic multi-dimensional flow, breaking through rigidity and stiffness; she infuses her classes with penetrating mantras and breath work.

Gopi addresses individual’s needs and limitations, creating a safe environment for her students, guiding them through physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions.

Amberlyn Mathis-O'Melia
Amberlyn hopes to share with her students the experience of being fully alive and in the present moment. Daily yoga practice has been transformational in Amberlyn's life and has provided a tool for knowing and accepting herself more completely. She invites individual exploration of the body, breath, mind, and heart as she believes that each student is their own best teacher and that through the practice of yoga, all aspects of the self can be unified.

Amberlyn enjoys working with students who are uncertain about what yoga can offer them, students just beginning their journey into yoga, students interested in the therapeutic applications of yoga, and students looking to experience their practice more fully.

Amberlyn's classes offer careful attention to the body, the safety and alignment of the poses, and creates the space for a safe opportunity to balance and heal. Classes with Amberlyn are slower paced, focus on on the breath, and are often taught without music to increase the student's attention to their breath. Amberlyn integrates the knowledge of modern psychology with the ancient wisdom of yoga and views both sets of teachings as opportunities for diminishing suffering and understanding the human condition. She completed her 200 hrs in 2007 at HOT YOGA and continues her training with Max Strom.  She holds a PhD in Psychology.

"I aim to help students explore the ever-shifting balance of constructive challenging effort with a sense of ease, while maintaining care for oneself and safety."

Ashley Stewart Pehrson (T200, T500, E-RYT 500)
Ashley is a native of Washington, DC, having grown up just blocks away from the studio. Ashley began practicing yoga in 1998 and completed her first teacher training an HOT YOGA in March of 2003 with Bentley Storm. Further trainings led her to Be Yoga in NYC with Carrie Parks to study Prenatal yoga and receive certification through YogaWorks in Santa Monica where she was influenced by her teachers Lisa Walford, Natasha Rizopoulos and Annie Carpenter. Other teachers that have profoundly impacted her practice and teaching are Shiva Rea, Lauren Peterson and Rod Stryker. Before studying yoga she was an advertising executive, jillaroo and graduate of Colgate University.

Susie Ryan
Susie began her yoga practice in the early 70's when Yoga Studio's weren't as ubiquitous as they are today. She embraces Yoga as the most holistic system for the entire body. Simply put, asana practice isn't about using the body to get into a pose, but rather using the pose, in conjunction with the breath, to get into the body.She was certified as a teacher with Yogi Bhekja,and has attended teacher workshops and training with many of the major Western Yoga Masters. She has also completed Teacher Training Part 1; a week intensive at Satchidananda Ashram in Yogaville with Jnani Chapman. to teach people who have cancer, or who are cancer survivors.Susie continues her practice and study with Shiva Rea's Prana Vinyasa Flow, Fluid Power, and Trance Dance Teacher Training programs.

John Stevens
John began practicing vipassana meditation in 1978 in Boston with Larry Rosenberg as his teacher. In 1979 he went to Asia and visited various monasteries and ashrams, and after 18 months decided to ordain as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. He practiced in Thailand for three years with a teacher named Ajahn Kow. In 1984 he stayed and practiced for 6 months at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre Massachusetts. Then in 1985 he went to England to live at the monasteries of Venerable Ajahn Sumedho, where he stayed and continued the monastic training and practice for 15 further years, until 2000. The guidance and teachings of Ajahn Sumedho and his teacher in Thailand, Ajahn Chah, often use the Buddha’s teachings on The Four Noble Truths, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Breathing, as the lenses to reflect on how we create suffering for ourselves and others, in our mind and body experience. These teachings help us develop insights into the workings of one’s mental and physical processes and liberate us from the forces that bind. John left the monastic life and training in 2000, and took up life as a lay Buddhist, where he continued to practice meditation and do some teaching. He lived and worked in London, England until 2006 and then moved to the USA. He has lived in Washington DC since April 2007.

Bentley Storm (Founder)
Bentley is the founder of Hot Yoga and Hot Yoga School of Teacher Training. He is a Certified Yoga Instructor in the Power Vinyasa Yoga style and is a Hatha Yoga master. Bentley graduated from the Bikram College of India and studied vinyasa power yoga with Baron Baptiste. Before studying yoga he was a world-class modern pentathlete who trained and competed in Eastern Europe for six years while studying Bio-mechanics with Olympic Gold Medallists and their coaches. While at Columbia University, Storm was an All Ivy Champion and two-time All-American in Fencing (Epee). Columbia University recently inducted Storm into its "Sports Hall of Fame".

Alice Wylie
Upon taking her first yoga class, Alice immediately discovered what a natural and vital component yoga could become in her life. She began teaching in 2004 after participating in Tranquil Space's Level I teacher training course and then completed her certification with the Hot Yoga 200 RYT course. Alice hopes to share with her students the sense of empowerment, peace, and fulfillment that yoga has given her on and off the mat. She sees yoga as an embodiment of joyful, mindful, and meditative movement, much like dance. Alice holds a B.S. in Ballet and French from Indiana University and has danced professionally with such companies as Ballet Austin, DanceSmith, and currently CityDance Ensemble with whom she has toured internationally.

Stacy Zook (500 RYT)
Yoga is not simply a series of physical poses. It's a way to change the world, starting with yourself. It is a means of self-understanding and personal expansion. Stacy's single-minded goal is to help yoga practitioners and new students alike achieve the full physical, mental and spiritual potential of yoga. She pursues this through intense personal practice, study with numerous teachers (including David Swenson, Shiva Rea and Simon Park), and close reading of traditional yoga texts as well as the philosophy of teachers such as Krishnamurti and Thich Nhat Hanh. The singular insight from all these is that the path takes us places we wouldn't otherwise take ourselves. While there is one destination, the paths aremany and there is no one right or best. So whether you are someone who operates from a physical center, builds on a mental foundation, or anchors in spiritual potential, Stacy can help you build a richly textured and tailored practice. Through part of her ongoing classes and/or private lessons that allow you to move deeper into your personal practice, she looks forward to walking the path with you. (*Stacy has her 500 RYA certification and teaches throughout the DC Metro Area, including classes at the White House, SEC, and Metropolitan Club as well as Hot Yoga. She is currently launching an Ageless Yoga program with Hot Yoga geared specifically for adults in their late 40s, 50s and 60s).

GUEST INSTRUCTORS

James Brown - Guest Instructor

Annie Carpenter - Guest Instructor
A senior teacher at the original Yogaworks, Annie leads teacher trainings, workshops, and retreats in Los Angeles and abroad. Known as a teachers’ teacher, she has developed an intelligent blend of sequencing with detailed instruction that maintains her love of movement and flow. Having a profound understanding of functional anatomy, Annie seamlessly hooks each practice to a structural key unlocking any obstacles to freedom within the body, while bringing the mind to a focused, steady state. Annie appears in the Yoga Journal Book, “Yoga,” and has modeled for Yoga Journal several times.

Max Strom (ERYT) - Guest Instructor
Born with severe clubbed feet, Max spent much of the first four years of his life with his feet confined in plaster casts and braces. After several corrective surgeries, he was able to walk fairly well, and by high school he had developed into a strong, competitive athlete. But it was a powerful epiphany that spun him onto an entirely different path than his classmates. With a new and burning imperative to understand life’s meaning, Max immersed himself in spiritual learning and by the age of nineteen had studied Taoism, esoteric Christianity, Sufism, and was practicing meditation and Chi Gung diligently.

Today, Max Strom is known for inspiring and impacting the lives of his students, teaching with the aim of personal transformation and has become one of the most revered and respected Yoga Teachers in the US and abroad. He founded Sacred Movement, Center for Yoga and Healing in Los Angeles, and now travels extensively teaching and lecturing on yoga and spirituality. Renowned for his teacher trainings, he is currently leading teacher trainings internationally. You can see more of his work on his DVDs, Max Strom Yoga – Strength, Grace, and Healing, and Learn to Breathe, to heal yourself and your relationships. www.maxstrom.com