Amy Faust
Amy began practicing yoga four years ago and quickly experienced its power to heal the body and spirit, transform the internal and external world, and create still and peaceful moments. She has explored many yoga studios in NYC and the east coast and has repeatedly found herself returning to Greenhouse Holistic in Brooklyn, where she studied with three deeply talented teachers - Leigh Evans, Summer Quashie, and Paul Manza- and received her 200 hour Yoga Alliance teaching certification in 2010. Amy believes entirely in the transformative power of yoga, through asana, meditation, and philosophical study. Her classes are gentle, yet challenging, thought-provoking, yet light. Amy will ask you to do things with your body and spirit you never thought possible, all the while supporting you in finding the innate capacity present in all beings to get there. She is humbled to have studied with so many passionate men and women and is honored to offer all people the power of yoga.
Stephanie Conway
A childhood spent in Virginia doing handstands and cartwheels in the grass, climbing trees, and going to dance and gymnastics classes led Stephanie to appreciate the freedom that can come from exploration through the physical body. She found yoga after the birth of her daughter when she was searching for a healthier way to balance motherhood with her frenetic work schedule in the film and entertainment world. As soon as she took her first breath in her first asana, she felt like she had come home. Soon after, Stephanie found Ashtanga yoga, and loves the vigorous practice for the intense calm and focus it brings to her mind. With a background in art, photography, and film, Stephanie is an accomplished observer and cherishes the insight and intuition this brings to her teaching. Using this sensitivity, she strives to help her students safely create space in the body in order to invite mental space and emotional peace. Along with the beautiful teachers of Greenhouse Holistic, Stephanie has studied with Susanna Finocci and Jens Bech at Astanga Yoga Copenhagen, and has taken workshops with Eddie Stern, Lino Miele, and Sharath Rangaswami. Stephanie completed her 200hr Yoga Alliance Certification in Vinyasa yoga in 2010 from Greenhouse Holistic in Brooklyn, NY with Leigh Evans, Summer Quashie, and Paul Manza. She is eternally grateful for all of her teachers who have helped to bring light into her world.
Mara Galus
My introduction to yoga was at Park Slope yoga with Robin, a Jivamukti trained instructor. At some point, in the middle of the class, a physical asana sparked an emotional release and I silently began to weep, not tears of despair but tears of joys at letting go of something that had been stored away for a long time. And that was the moment that I knew that yoga could help me live a life filled with positive transformation and the possibility of greater freedom.
I took my practice and my studies to Kerala, India in 2004 to the Vinjana Kela Vedi Cultural Institute, where under the tutelage of my swami practiced asana three hours a day and studied the sutras and other yogic philosophical texts for two hours a day. The Institute offered an introduction to ayurvedic medicine and cooking, which I also studied during my one month stay. Once my studies were completed I journeyed through parts of India touching down in Goa, Mumbai, New Delhi, and cities throughout Rajasthan. Many people say that a trip to India will change you and for me this statement held true.
Upon returning to New York, I deepened my personal practice by adding meditation to this practice, studying with lamas in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism.
In January of 2010 I served as a volunteer for the Moments of Magic Foundation, in the town Boquete, in North West Panama. While in Panama I worked as a volunteer in a government run orphanage and in a private shelter for teenage women who had either been sexually assaulted or raped. The psycho-social trauma that these children and women had suffered ran deep and lacking specific clinical training, I sometimes felt uncertain how to proceed, not wanting to cause more emotional damage. It was then that I decided that I would return to New York City and pursue a yoga teacher training with the intention of returning to Panama to bring yoga and breath work relaxation techniques to these women and children.
My goal as an instructor is to serve underserved communities: at risk youth, the homeless, the elderly, veterans, PTSD survivors of war, natural disaster, physical and sexual assault, who may not have access to yoga or knowledge of meditation techniques.
I believe that yoga and meditation can bring some relief to the challenges that these underserved groups face. As an advocate and instructor I will work to bring the positive transformation that I have seen in my life to others.
With gratitude to all of my teachers.
Isabel Castellanos
Isabel Castellanos has been practicing yoga for many years. Her intent when teaching yoga is to offer students the same peace and tranquility she has received from the practice. She practices yoga for the physical strength, kinetic connections and internal space it gives the body and for the quietness it brings to the mind. Her classes are based on proper body alignment while offering students of all levels an opportunity to experience the beauty of fluid movement by engaging the breath. She finds joy in the possibilities that exist in each and every class and welcomes new opportunities to teach, practice and learn. Isabel received her Yoga Alliance Certificate from Greenhouse Holistic in Brooklyn, NY after recently completing the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training.
Emily Hyberger
Emily was introduced to yoga through the world of theatre and is happy to share its transformative magic with storytelling and music-rich classes. After completing a 200 hour Teaching Training at Greenhouse Holistic, she’s joined with her class to create the Yoga for Charity Project, offering classes at various public spaces in Brooklyn and Manhattan. She believes thinking of the body, mind and spirit holistically as an expression informs any art, and her classes focus on the joy of being alive and showing it. She also believes that the practice of yoga and increased bodily awareness are building blocks for compassion and therefore instigate and inspire social change. She’s beginning to teach a basic level class at the People’s Garden in Bushwick, and is happy to be the representative yoga instructor for the Motherlodge Live Arts Exchange between NYC and her hometown of Louisville, KY.
Ashley Arostegui
Ashley came to find yoga shortly after moving to New York City and was right away drawn to it as a way to connect the body, mind, and spirit. Her classes draw from Vinyasa and Iyengar traditions, offering a mindful alignment-based flow. As a teacher, Ashley strives to share creativity, compassion, attentiveness, and love through asana, pranayama, meditation, and song. She is inspired by the different ways in which we can inform our lives and actions through the practice of yoga, transforming ourselves and our relationships with the world, and hopes to share this with her students in a meaningful and thoughtful way. She received her 200-hour certification under the guidance and instruction of Leigh Evans, Paul Manza, and Summer Quashie at Greenhouse Holistic in Brooklyn, and would like to thank all of her teachers for their sincere effort, sensitivity and empathy. Her blog, teaching schedule, and bio are available at The Excited Life.
