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Meet the Yoga Haven Fam
At Yoga Haven SD, we pride ourselves on having a knowledgeable and educated team of instructors who are dedicated to helping you achieve your yoga goals. Get to know our team by exploring their unique backgrounds and approaches.
Owner & Yoga Instructor
Troy Hopcroft
Troy has been practicing Yoga for 13 years. As a traditionalist in most things he prefers to practice and teach traditional Hatha. He likes the fundamental poses and core strength building. Troy is a certified Massage Therapist with multiple modalities and Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP). When not teaching, you can find him riding his motorcycle, which is his favorite form of moving meditation. His main focus in life is being in the here & now. The past is gone and the future can wait…
Yoga & Budokon Instructor
Zach Brown
Zach firmly believes that the Yogic path is accessible to everyone. He is sincerely committed to living more skillfully and finding peace with the world, and he is passionate about helping his students discover their own paths of self-discovery.Having recently survived cancer, Zach's connection to the yogic path has become even stronger. He encourages each of us to delve deeper, uncover common threads, slow down, and embrace life through mindful breathing and movement.
Zach's yoga journey includes a 200-Hr Budokon Yoga Certificate in 2015 in Miami, and in 2022, he completed his 200-Hr Hatha Yoga Certificate and Yin training from Pilgrimage of the Heart in San Diego. Additionally, he holds a Budokon Red Belt. His teaching approach is centered around recognizing each person as a unique individual, viewing their journey as a creation of their own. Zach understands that yoga is not a one-size-fits-all practice. While you'll learn various well-known postures in his classes, he also encourages you to explore your own sensations and thoughts, which may vary from day to day. Zach firmly believes in continuous learning and encourages viewing life with a beginner's mindset.
Yoga Instructor & Community Cooridator
Elyssa Swann
Elyssa has been a dedicated personal fitness & lifestyle coach and health activist since 2002. While she has practiced yoga for 25 years, she attained her Yoga Teacher Certification in 2013 and has been working as an enthusiastic yoga instructor ever since. She has taught at high-end gyms, The Yoga Expo in Los Angles, corporate businesses, music festivals, popular yoga studios and worked with personal clients. Elyssa has worked hard to offer knowledgeable, balanced and challenging classes that are accessible to her diverse practitioners. She strives to stay educated and up to date with the health and yoga industries to continually keep classes fresh and fun. She has always been drawn to building community and was inspired to create her own movement and social club called Wolf & Lion.
She has been committed to offering the San Diego yoga community unique classes and experiences that encourage students to be healthy, authentic and to embrace what makes them unique.
If she's not hanging at the studio, you can find her spending time with her husband and their daughter, dancing under disco ball sparkles or hitting the road for an adventure.
Yoga Instructor & Sound Healer
Katie Lewis
Katie is a Yoga Facilitator, Sound Healer, Trauma-Informed Personal Trainer, and Liberation Coach. She has been facilitating group work since 2017 and has a deep passion for supporting others on their liberation journey. Her own path of healing childhood and intergenerational trauma led her to Yin and Restorative yoga and she developed a profound appreciation for lifting weights as a means for creating safety and strength in the body. With her thirst for knowledge Katie has acquired over 1,000 hours of certifications including her 500 ERYT, Yin, Restorative, Yoga Wall, Trauma Awareness Yoga, Success and Life Coaching, and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer. Katie sees her “dharma” or “purpose” in serving as a guide to facilitate collective liberation. She is the creator of Spiritual Ventures a community-based organization working to create decolonized spaces for body liberation including monthly moon ceremonies, a hiking and yoga club, a collective liberation book club, and more. Katie is here to help you reclaim your body, embody emotional freedom, and reconnect to your Self so that you can live a life of joy and ease.
Tai Chi Instructor
Maryann Cason
Maryann has been practicing various styles of martial arts since the age of 11. Her passion ignited after seeing the karate kid movie. As a child, Maryann was shy and had difficulty making friends. Since practicing martial arts her confidence and skills grew. She eventually earned her black belts in the styles Kung fu and Tai Chi, has won first place in several tournaments and made life long friendships along the way. Maryann is excited to be sharing her passion for Tai Chi at Yoga Haven, hoping to grow a community bonded by the shared interest of martial arts. Outside of practicing martial arts Maryann enjoys taking yoga classes, going on hikes and traveling.
Yoga Instructor & Sound Healer
Amanda Joy Spitzfaden
I enjoy a life of healing, practice, study, being a mom and becoming my true self 🤍 Join me for vibrational sound healing, sound bath massage, and energy~healing yoga.
Yoga Instructor
Sean Cahill
Hi, I’m Sean Cahill. For over a decade, I have developed positive learning environments that promote personal growth for students and athletes of all ages. My passion for diversity and inclusion in education has led me to work with individuals with different backgrounds, cultures, religions and socio-economic statuses. I specialize in team building, while emphasizing individual development. My journey as an educator has taken me to big cities and rural communities all over the United States. Wherever I am, I look forward to building strong relationships with those that I work with, teaching life lessons on and off the mat.
Yoga & Wall Yoga Instructor
Karen Terra
As a runner, mountain biker, and spin instructor, she began practicing yoga in 1998 for its physical benefits, but soon realized the mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits it offered.
Ten years later, Karen felt inspired to share her love of yoga and became a certified instructor. She now has nearly 1,000 hours of Yoga Alliance certified trainings in Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin, Yoga for Cancer Therapy, Yoga for a Happy Back, and Yoga Wall (Levels I & II).
Karen’s classes are influenced by her many renowned and influential teachers including Gerhard Gessner, Paul Grilley, Robert Birnberg, Rachel Krentzman, Ingrid Yang, and Jason Cull, with an emphasis on promoting spinal health and relieving back, neck and shoulder pain through yoga.
Continuously dedicated to learning, Karen is currently pursuing an 800-Hour Yoga Therapy certification.
Karen's passion is helping others, of all ages and discover the transformative and healing power of yoga, feel comfortable in their practice, and have fun in the process.
Owner
Lauren Scott
Lauren is a co-founder of Yoga Haven, a passion project that emerged after retiring at 70. Though not a yoga teacher, she has been a dedicated student for over 15 years, practicing alongside ballet and ballroom dancing. With a background in nonprofit fundraising, she continues to dedicate her time to meaningful causes while fostering a welcoming space for others to explore the benefits of yoga.
Yoga & Barre Instructor
Danielle Macgregor
Danielle is a San Diego yoga and barre instructor, lover of all kinds of movement, meditator, and retreat leader dedicated to sharing her passion for movement and mind-body connection with you.
Yoga Instructor
Alli Audley
Hello beautiful humans! I am a passionate 200 Hour Certified Power Vinyasa Yoga Instructor with more than 10 months of teaching experience and more than 6 years of practicing yoga. My yoga classes are suitable for all-levels of students—beginners to advanced practitioners. I provide strong posture cues combined with the ability provide hands-on assists to ensure safe body alignment and to help my students feel a different sensation. I customize each class with an electricifying playlist and a reflective theme to spark my students’ inspiration. I am a big positive affirmation girly and provide little affirmations to remind yourself throughout the day of how amazing you are!! I have extensive experience in anatomy and somatic wellbeing. I am Reiki Level I & II Certified. When I am not at the studio, I am either working my nursing job, crafting, or at the beach with my dachshunds. Can’t wait to see you in class!
Yoga Instructor
Allison Aldridge
After practicing yoga on and off for 15+ years, in 2021 Allison’s love of world travel brought her to a retreat in Mexico where she discovered a lineage of yoga that profoundly changed her life for the better. This led her to complete her 200 RYT so she can share this magic with you! Allison brings a balance of fun, casual vibes + deep, purposeful energy to her classes. She believes music and movement are true medicine, and you can expect to hear a wide playlist - gentle indie, pop, r&b, and heavy house beats - in her power vinyasa flow. Come ready to challenge yourself and to sweat! She’s passionate about holding space for you to come as you are - no frills, no expectations, so you can tune inward and connect with your authentic self in order to better connect with the world around us.
Yoga Instructor
Markandeya Rsi
Markandeya Rsi: Born in Argentina, he’s been practicing Yoga since he was very young, thanks to the influence of his grandmother (his first yoga teacher). He trained as a monk in India and other countries for more than 4 years, certifying himself in different styles of yoga, meditation, philosophy and leadership. Now, based in San Diego, CA. Teaching in the most renowned gyms and studios in San Diego and traveling to many cities and countries, giving classes and seminars at universities, TV shows, radio and schools.
Yoga Instructor
Sydney Tafuri
Sydney is a Licensed Mental Health Therapist (LPCC), intuitive healer, psychic medium, dancer, and more!
Sydney has been dancing since they were very little and is trained in many different styles of dance and currently works part-time as a country line-dancer!
Sydney was drawn to yoga many years ago and found its medicine to be healing and magical, especially through the darkest period of Sydney’s life.
Sydney knew that becoming a yoga teacher was something they eventually wanted to do to deepen their own practice and finds immense fulfillment sharing their love of yoga with others!
Sydney’s classes are centered around deepening the connection we have to our bodies and fully feeling any emotions that arise before, during, and after practice and transmuting, alchemizing, and moving them through the physical practice.
Yoga & Kids Yoga Instructor
Kayleigh DiPaolo
Kayleigh has been practicing yoga for 15 years and is especially drawn to advanced vinyasa sequences and power flows. She believes yoga is a transformative experience for both the body and mind, offering benefits that everyone can access, regardless of their ability or experience level. Her classes are designed to be inclusive, empowering, and rooted in the calming mental health benefits of a consistent yoga practice.
Kayleigh earned her 200-hour yoga certification in July 2024 under Gerhard Gessner at Prana Yoga Center. As a lifelong learner, she hopes to pursue a yin yoga certification to expand her ability to share the restorative power of this grounding practice.
When she’s not teaching or practicing yoga, Kayleigh enjoys training for 10k races, teaching gymnastics to kids, spending quality time with her husband and cat, and watching sunsets on the beach.
Ballet Instructor
Natalie
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