Core to Coeur’s Founding 15 Teachers
Including Anula Maiberg, Michelle Cassandra Johnson, and Carol Robbins just to name a few :)
Core to Coeur is the marketplace for taking and teaching live-video movement, wellness, and fitness classes.
From Pilates to strength training, meditation to Katy Bowman’s Nutritious Movement Restorative Exercises — our teachers not only teach exceptional movement styles, but are also thought leaders in human movement science, social justice through movement, and intersectional feminist practices and their application to physical fitness.
Our initial teachers were handpicked to carry forward the ethos of Core to Coeur’s mission — use technology to improve the access around taking and teaching exceptional movement instruction. We are deeply honored that these teachers have partnered with us so that anyone, anywhere, can receive and enjoy high quality movement instruction.
So, without further ado — here are Core to Coeur’s Founding 15 Teachers!
Ahmed Jabali-Nash: Yoga (Virginia)
Ahmed has a strong background in various kinds of yoga: Ashtanga, Baptiste, Power Vinyasa and Rocket. Ahmed completed his 200 hour teacher training through CorePower Yoga in April of 2014 and his Rocket yoga teacher training in October of 2014 through Little River Yoga with David C. Kyle. He also teaches creative classes, yoga with weights, inversion and arm balance workshops and boot camp style classes. Ahmed enjoys teaching multi-level classes: instilling strong basics with students, and while also challenging their progress. Ahmed can be frequently seen doing handstands and arm balances all over the DC area, most especially in Lululemon Athletics in Georgetown and Tyson’s Corner, where he is a brand ambassador.
Dr. Anni Sanner — Therapeutic Yoga (North Dakota)
Anni Sanner, Doctor of Physical Therapy, is a licensed physical therapist, yoga therapist, and COO+ Co-Founder of Core to Coeur. She’s a California native who began practicing yoga as a necessity to endure the rigors of graduate school and combat insomnia. She anticipates completing her certificate as a Professional Yoga Therapist in 2020.
Anula Maiberg — Pilates (Pennsylvania)
Anula is passionate about upholding the traditions and principles of Pilates while being able to update and personalize them for the needs of her students. Born in Israel she moved to NYC in 2001 in order to pursue a career in photography. While working on her degree at the School of Visual Arts she fell in love with Pilates through the classes and private sessions she took around the city. She decided to attended the Kane School for Core Integration (Kinected) to become a fully certified teacher graduated in 2009. After several years of teaching, she was accepted into the Kathy Grant Heritage Training and graduated in 2014. Anula is passionate about upholding the traditions and principles of Pilates while being able to update and personalize them for the needs of her students. She feels strongly about volunteering her time to the LGBTQ community and believes Pilates is a wonderful movement modality and a tool for healing in a supportive environment.
Dr. Candace Harding — Yoga (Virginia)
Candace is a doctor of physical therapy and professional yoga therapist. She took her yoga studies further with Professional Yoga Therapy (PYT) under the guidance of Ginger Garner PT, DPT, ATC/LAT, PYT. As a Professional Yoga Therapy-candidate, she is afforded the ability to use yoga as evidence-based medicine to impact the overall quality of life of her patients and to offer Medical Therapeutic Yoga classes to the public. In 2018, she completed training Yin Yoga under the direction of Alicia Collier E- RYT 200, RYT 500 at Beloved Yoga.
Carol Robbins — Restorative Exercise (Toronto)
Carol is a Restorative Exercise Specialist (RES) and anatomy nerd who has been teaching movement for over 20 years. She brings education and self-awareness to classes designed to help everyone age dynamically. Function and long-term, sustainable movement are paramount. She is the owner of Alignment REScue studio in Toronto and is proud to be a Founding 15 member.
Galina Denzel — Restorative Exercise (Colorado)
Galina Denzel is a movement and trauma specialist, whose work with nervous system regulation and whole body movement helps people of all ages live with freedom and deep trust in their bodies. She combines multiple healing movement modalities together with trauma informed approaches to support integration and full expression of ones potential — physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. She works in the areas of chronic pain and traumatic stress, as well as recovery from emotional eating, seeing the multifaceted human experience through a complex system lens. She is a Restorative Exercise Specialist (trained through Nutritious Movement), a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, a Neuro Affective Relational Model and Somatic Practice Practitioner. Her personal and professional experience have made her a sought after author, speaker and educator. Until April 2019 she maintained a thriving private practice at MOVEWELL, a studio serving a chiropractic clinic and the community of Rancho Santa Margarita, California. She travels to Europe and her home country of Bulgaria to lead retreats and workshops and serves individuals and organizations all over the world. You can find her latest book Eat Well Move Well Live Well everywhere where fine books are sold.
Katy Lush — Pilates, GYROTONIC®, Restorative Exercise (Illinois)
Katy Lush empowers real people, with real bodies, for real life through mindful movement. She is the owner of Chicago River North Pilates, is a Pilates Educator, GYROTONIC® Pre-Trainer, Restorative Exercise Specialist and Certified Movement Analyst. Having taught movement for over 20 years, Katy’s expertise is with the aging population, clients with traumatic injuries, post-cancer treatment, and training Pilates and GYROTONIC® instructors. Katy’s unique and intuitive methods of teaching, combined with an unwavering focus on well-being, have given her clients a decidedly fresh, holistic and balanced approach to mind-body health.
Lindsay Chapman — Classical Pilates (New York)
Lindsay’s style is hard-core and dynamic with classical flow. She likes to emphasize stretching and strengthening- especially in the feet! Her beautiful anatomical cueing is spot on as she moves you with energized flow from one exercise to the next. You will leave her classes with a bright sweat and a serious recharge. Lindsay is prenatal and postnatal certified and highly sought after for the knowledge she brings to her pre/postnatal classes and privates. She is a Southern transplant to South Brooklyn where she lives with her husband and three children.
Madison Page — Pilates and Functional Moves (Oregon)
Madison Page is the CEO and Co-Founder of Core to Coeur, and proud to be a Founding Teacher on the platform. She teaches Pilates, Functional Movement, and self-massage classes that spark humor and joy on and off the mat. Her sessions rely on modeling a therapeutic relationship, and Madison sees firsthand her clients’ movement patterns improve by cultivating a trusting bond.
Marimba Gold-Watts — Contemporary Pilates (New York)
Marimba Gold-Watts is a Pilates instructor and studio owner based in New York. She is a former professional dancer who first began studying Pilates in 1999. She completed her Pilates certification at The Kane School of Core Integration under the direction of Kelly Kane in 2007. From 2010–2011, Marimba was a teacher trainer for The Kane School of Core Integration in the Comprehensive Mat and Equipment Certification programs and has taught pilates at Articulating Body Inc., Westside Dance Physical Therapy, Kinected, The Kane School, Danish Ballet Masters Summer Intensive, David Barton Gym, Peridance, and Ballet Academy East. Marimba is also certified by the Pilates Method Alliance and is a Registered Certified Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist®.
In addition to a two-and-a-half year comprehensive training in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, Marimba has completed workshops in Dance Medicine, The Thoracic Spine, Scoliosis, Osteoporosis, The Psoas, Sacro-Iliac Joint Dysfunction, Gait analysis/foot mechanics, prenatal pilates, the Neck, Functional Anatomy for Movement and Injuries (FAMI) workshop, Gyrokinesis, and Advanced Teaching Techniques. She has studied with Master Teachers Kelly Kane, Christine Wright, Dr. Kate Klemer, Marika Molnar, Madeline Black, Jean-Claude West, Rebekah Rotstein, and Kuan Hui-Chew.
Melanie Camellia — Adaptive Yoga (Washington DC)
Melanie Camellia (nee Williams) (they/them) is a yoga teacher and advocate, called to create profoundly accessible spaces for self-inquiry by integrating mindfulness and adaptive movement practices with the spirit of social justice. Melanie’s classes are trauma-informed and often intermingle gentle, dynamic flow elements with skill-building postural work and opportunities for individualized exploration.They believe that the goal of yoga, as of life, is collective liberation and in turn challenge contemporary yoga practitioners to dismantle the systems and beliefs that hold us all back. Melanie teaches group and private classes in the Washington DC Metro Area and as one of the 15 Founding Instructors on Core to Coeur. They offer regular workshops exploring queer identity, body image, and agency. Beyond their direct work with students, Melanie co-leads the Yoga & Body Image Coalition and trains teachers in accessible teaching methods for all bodies and abilities through their one-on-one teacher mentorship program and as an Accessible Yoga Trainer.
Melanie McGray — Pilates (Costa Rica)
Melanie McGray is a contemporary Pilates instructor with an extensive (20+ years) teaching background in dance, anatomy, and movement that gives her an expert eye for alignment and pacing. She has the unique ability to guide deep muscular connections into the body, bringing awareness and endurance to your movements, (aka kicking your butt!), all with a positive and encouraging vibe. Melanie’s cueing is rich in detail and metaphor using a contemporary Pilates approach. Her smooth flowing Pilates classes will leave you feeling connected, strong, free of tension, and renewed with energy.
Michelle C. Johnson — Yoga (North Carolina)
Michelle Johnson is a social justice warrior, author, dismantling racism trainer, empath, yoga teacher and practitioner, and an intuitive healer. With over 20 years of experience leading dismantling racism work and working with clients as a licensed clinical social worker, she has a deep understanding of how trauma impacts the mind, body, spirit, and heart. Her awareness of the world through her own experience as a black woman allows her to know, first-hand, how privilege and power operate. Michelle published Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017; she teaches workshops in yoga studios and community spaces nationwide. Michelle is a 500hr YTT and has studied flow/vinyasa, yin and restorative yoga. She is on the faculty of Off the Mat Into the World, and she serves as the Co-Director of 18 Springs Healing Center in Winston-Salem, NC.
Ruth Hulett — Yoga (New Mexico)
Ruth is dedicated to helping you discover a way of approaching yoga that leaves you feeling healthier, happier, and able to move more freely. Her teaching uses her background as a Doctor of Oriental Medicine & Yoga Therapist (CIAYT), intensive study of anatomy, and my passion for yoga. She loves helping students find a way of practicing that leaves them feeling more at ease in body and mind.
Sarah Carrasco— Pilates (Texas)
Sarah is a former professional dancer, her degree in dance led her to NYC where she pursued a career in musical theater. The shift out of professional dance led her to The Kane School of Core Integration, where she earned mat and apparatus certifications in 2007–2008. In addition to teaching in Manhattan, she was a teacher trainer at the Kane School from 2011–2012, and has opened her own studios in Kauai and Texas. Now located in Austin, she owns Moontower Pilates where she specializes in post-rehab Pilates. She has studied extensively with Madeline Black, she’s a Buff Bones® licensed instructor and she completed a year-long mentorship with Wendy LeBlanc-Arbuckle, studying her 3Core Connections® Embodied Approach to movement. Sarah emphasizes whole-body movement to help you feel grounded, centered and buoyant in her mat classes.
Shayla McGrady — Strength, Health, and Nutrition (New York)
Shayla is a powerhouse teacher whose classes will make you sweat and laugh at the same time! Her specialties include strength building, core and balance exercises to ensure that her students lead a long and vibrant life. She is is the owner and operator of “On The Go Gym” and “Be Still Integrative Wellness Life Coaching”. Shayla provides one on one, group training and coaching throughout Rockaway, Brooklyn and Long Island. She holds a Master of Science degree in Human Services Administration and a BA degree in Psychology. Prior to taking on the entrepreneurial world, Shayla dedicated 10 years of her life to working with college students in housing, advising and mentoring.
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