Doug Lyons - Founder

Doug is a former high tech VP who decided to expand his life. He turned to yoga to help navigate toward more fullness of life. Many years of yoga practice later, including training in Kerala, India, he became a certified yoga instructor. 

His classes are tuned to the needs of the high-performance lifestyles here in the Bay Area. 

In addition to a challenging workout, he shows how yoga shifts your life's balance toward a more centered position, balancing the body, the mind and the spirit.  Doug explains from personal experience, “There are many paths to eternity – as many as all of us.  My path has been enriched by yoga.

It helps me balance my mind, body and spiritual dimensions, and to extend that intelligent cooperation to everyone and everything. Yoga has led me to believe that the richness of our journey is paced by our ability to cooperate intelligently, both internally within our own dimensions and externally with everyone and everything.”  

Doug has applied the principles of yoga as a CEO Coach and in high tech consulting engagements. 

He says, "It is a thrill to have my life come together in this way,and to share it all with my wife."

Finally, Doug and Ruby have worked with the San Jose Unified High School District to introduce yoga as a calming and focusing influence at troubled schools.

Ruby (Sanchez) Lyons - Founder

Ruby Lyons is an exercise and nutritional expert who has been active in Physical Fitness for more than 30 years.  Her fitness history includes marathon running and owning a health spa in New Mexico where she grew up. 

After years of daily two hour weight training and aerobic workouts, she realized she needed to incorporate yoga into her life for balance, strength, and flexibility.

Now, yoga has become part of her life. Ruby has leveraged a Masters Degree in Education consisting of 15 years of high school and college level teaching experience, yoga classes, in Kerala, India and classes from yoga masters like Rodney Yee, Seane Corne, Shiva Rea, and Richard Freeman to become an exceptional Power Vinyasa Yoga Instructor. She founded NuLife Yoga with her husband in 2009.

Her physical conditioning is nothing short of incredible. She awakes at 3:45 a.m. for a daily workout that includes two hours of weight and aerobics training as well as one hour of yoga practice.

Ruby's passion for fitness and her teaching skills have been an inspiration to many.

Ruby says, "Yoga is medicine to me: massaging my internal
organs as well as my mental and physical state. My approach to teaching is to give students the ability to work at their own level and be comfortable with it. I have a passion to teach those who want to incorporate yoga into their lives."

Ruby is currently teaching Power Vinyasa and Basic/Gentle Yoga on Mondays and Saturdays at NuLife.

 

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Akari Win

Inspired by her sister Barani, yoga was definitely love at first try for Akari.  Thankfully, her yoga journey brought a much-needed balance into her life after her residency at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital @ Stanford.

Akari finds rejuvenation of the mind, body, & soul, healing, and relaxation through yoga.  She incorporates Hatha and Vinyasa flow while sharing her passion for yoga and uplifting restoration with her class.  

Akari holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree and practices hospital and community pharmacy.  Aside from her role as a pharmacist and a yoga instructor, she enjoys reading, gardening, traveling, biking, hiking, tennis, turbo kickboxing, origami, photography, drawing, baking, and music.

 

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John Nadler

John has made exercise and healthy living a part of his life since the mid 1970s.  He understands you can only perform well in life when you take care of yourself. 

John's philosophy encompasses the entire you; body, mind, and spirit. This includes a smart diet and diverse activity.  He has participated in various activities over the years such as running, rock climbing, cardio, swimming, meditation, weight lifting, yoga, and hiking.  John incorporated yoga into his life in 2003 when he realized how many benefits there were from the practice.  John received his RYT 200 hour certification from Yoga Works and has participated in other teacher training through Yoga Fit, Yoga Journal Conferences and various workshops.  He is always looking for new places and ways to learn.

He enjoys expanding his horizons by taking classes and exposing himself to new experiences as well.  Another part of John’s life is his dedication to helping people.  He volunteers in many areas and has always loved teaching and helping others accomplish their goals.

 

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Grace Vatus

Grace's Flow Yoga has influences from tai chi and qi gong to dance and alignment studies.  Her style nurtures the spine and focuses on breath, bringing awareness to these key aspects of injury prevention.  She enjoys infusing her classes with steady effort, musicality and a little laughter.  As a result, Grace’s vinyasas are slower, deliberate yet vigorous, with something to offer those wanting accessible instruction as well as those looking for a physical challenge.



Barani Win - Partner

Barani Win is a fitness professional with more than 7 years of instructor experience in kickboxing, sculpting, dance, step, yoga, and Pilates.  Her certifications include Turbo Kickboxing and the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America.  Barani’s enthusiasm for fitness includes more than 20 years of running—with 7 marathons to her credit—and 14 years of various aerobics and anaerobic training. 

To balance her cardio workouts, she embraced yoga in 2004 with Doug Lyons’ yoga flows and other yoga workshops.  She finds yoga to be restorative and enjoys sharing the same benefits with her classes. 

Barani’s yoga mixes a blend of Hatha, Vinyasa, and athletic styles, and her classes are known to be fun, energetic, and inspirational.  When she is not teaching, she enjoys running, mountain biking, floral arranging, reading, organizing and traveling.

 

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Andreas Kahl

Andreas is a   certified yoga teacher specializing in traditional Hatha yoga and Vinyasa flow. His journey into yoga began in 2000 and continues to the present.

To counterbalance the daily stressors from working in the high tech industry, he discovered that a regular yoga practice resulted in many positive effects, most notably, a calmer and more balanced state of mind and being. This led Andreas to pursue a path where he could spread yoga within his community and beyond.

After successfully completing the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training in 2008, Andreas devoted several months as a volunteer yoga teacher and full time staff member at the Sivananda Vendanta Yoga Center in San Francisco. During this time, not only did Andreas hone his teaching skills, he also immersed himself completely into the yogic lifestyle, with daily asana, pranayama, and meditation practice.  

Continuing along this path, Andreas uses every opportunity to deepen his knowledge and to progress as a student and teacher. His previous studies also include meditation practice and vedantic philosophy. At the present time, he is in the process of completing his 500 hour certification with Mark Stephens, a very influential and inspiring yoga teacher based in Santa Cruz.

A class with Andreas is never the same as he continuously applies his learnings and openly shares his experience with students.   

“Health is Wealth, Peace of Mind is Happiness. Yoga shows the Way”
                                                                        

-Swami Vishnu-Devnanda

      

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Jennifer Lung

Jennifer is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and has been teaching yoga to all levels of students since 2008. Her yoga teacher training spans from Liberation Yoga in Los Angeles to Mark Stephens in Santa Cruz. Jennifer is passionate about guiding her students on their journey towards the discovery their highest true potential, both on and off the mat. She is a lifetime student of yoga and also serves as a karma yogini at various yoga centers and ashrams. She also holds a certificate in Thai yoga therapy from Ritam Healing Arts and is a vegan chef.

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Christine Yang

Christine first stepped onto her yoga mat in 2009 and has been hooked ever since.  From that first blast of rejuvenation post-class, she knew she had embarked on something pivotal and life-changing.  Christine observed a beautiful metamorphosis in her perspective on life and self.  She found a renewed sense of strength and confidence on her mat with each breath, each practice.  Armed with a desire to learn more about the practice of yoga and an eagerness to share it with others, she embarked on a journey and committed to a 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training under the insightful guidance of Angie Poon and Noell Clark at Just Breathe Yoga.  Christine became certified in 2012 and teaches Hatha-Vinyasa in the Bay Area.  She is thrilled to guide students through an upbeat and energizing practice.  Come breathe and flow with Christine!  Her schedule is updated regularly at http://christineyangyoga.wordpress.com.