‘Being present is important to me because there is a treasure in the NOW.’

Chantelle Broomes is a yoga teacher located in New York City.

1. What style of yoga do you teach? And, where are you located?

I teach Power Vinyasa and Meridian Yoga. I am located in the city.

2. What is your intention behind teaching?

My intention behind teaching yoga is to serve others. It is in my nature and I feel blessed to be able to share my knowledge and help people get more in tune with their inner self.

3. Who are your mentors in yoga?

My mentor in yoga would be my teacher and beautiful friend Erin Rose.

4. What have they taught you?

She has taught me how pranayama, tantra, chanting, asana , acupressure, and ear acupuncture.

5. Please mention a book that you have read about yoga that has had a positive impact on you?

Tantra Spirituality Sex by Bhagwan Rajneesh.

6. What lesson are you currently learning in your Asana practice?

I am currently learning how important the utilization of the breath is during asana. I recently learned how to breathe correctly and it has deepened my practice immensely.

7. How often do you practice?

I practice at least once everyday.

8. How do you implement the other 7 limbs of yoga into your life other than Asana?

I implement the other 7 limbs of yoga by just simply bringing more awareness into my daily mundane tasks. For example , I would only think of pranayama during yoga. Then I wondered what if I tried breath control outside of the studio? Perhaps the next time I was in a scenario where I was really angry or anxious and to my surprise it worked. I wasn't perfect, but I felt myself much more calm than I would have been in the past without that kind of keen awareness.

9. Why is being present so important to you?

Being present is important to me because there is a treasure in the NOW. Often we tend to get caught up feeling so depressed about the past or anxious about the future that we miss out on the blessings in front of us in the very given moment. Being aware and in tune to what's happening in the present moment only invites more awareness. This will bring us just a little closer to rediscovering our true selves.

10. How can we keep up with you on social media? What is your IG handle and FB name?

My instagram is : mysticaleuphorian

My facebook is : Chantelle Broomes

‘You can have the most amazing standing bow and eat all the kale, but if you're not kind to others, you're missing something.’

Ksenia Voropaeva is a yoga teacher based in New York City. She is also the Founder of Anaday- available in our retail section

1. What style of yoga do you teach? 

I teach a mix of lineages that have been taught to me, and that resonate in my personal practice. I believe in teaching what I know. So I combine Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Bikram, Dharma, Kundalini, Mantra, plus incorporate new things that I'm learning and working on myself. I'm forever a student and that keeps me curious and growing. Being a teacher means being a student first.

2. What is your intention behind teaching?

To pass on the teachings and help people feel better.

3. Who are your mentors in yoga? 

So many amazing teachers through the years in NYC! Jared McCann has pushed (and still pushes) my practice to the next level. Erin Rose gives a depth that's like no other. I now notice my kidneys when I practice. Gauri has shifted my life in so many ways through mantra work. My partner, Mario,teaches my everyday how to take the yoga home (om shanti). And I’m always learning so, so much from my yoga community—the amazing humans who I feel like I've known through lifetimes at this point. There's is something so special about deep asana and mediation work with people. You get to know them on another level. It’s like osmosis. These are my mentors.

4. What have they taught you? 

Be present, do the practice every. single. day. (doesn't have to be asana, doesn't have to be on a mat, but it needs to be something), be kind, be of service, love.

5. Please mention a book that you have read about yoga that has had a positive impact on you? 

The Science of Breath.

6. What lesson are you currently learning in your Asana practice? 

Big shifts happen in subtle ways.

7. How often do you practice? 

Everyday.

8. How do you implement the other 7 limbs of yoga into your life other than Asana? 

Through everyday actions. The more I practice and connect with my inner-self, the more I recognize how everything is an extension of my experience—home, health, relationships, career, finances, dreams. Everything is connected. So for me, it's a matter of recognizing my patterns and shifting them. The Yamas and Niyamas are foundation #1. You can have the most amazing standing bow and eat all the kale, but if you're not kind to others, you're missing something. And that something is reflection of our own fears (aka absence of love). Once we start to really confront ourselves and our patterns (of harming, dishonesty, excess, attachment, non-contentment, fill in your Yama/Niyama blank____), we begin to remove the blocks to energy/love/divinity, and the rest of the limbs fall into place. It’s a constant remembering that my home, family, career, everything else in life, has to come from this place of awareness.

9. Why is being present so important to you? 

They say time is an illusion and the present is all there is. That's tough to wrap my head around. What I do know, is that it's only when I'm fully present that I feel a deep sense of connection. When I'm not worried about the future or analyzing the past, and am just doing my asana, my meditation, or creating, my energy flows. Rather than trying or forcing, I become a channel. Stay receptive, as Dharma says. That's only possible in the present. 

10. How can we keep up with you on social media? What is your IG handle and/ FB name?

Find me @heyananday!

Lara Saget describes her motivational yogic journey

I have had the pleasure of knowing Lara for almost 7 years. In all of this time, she has always been kind, gracious and loving. It is apparent in her yoga classes too.

She shares her yoga experience with us...

1. How long have you been teaching? 

I have been teaching for seven years.

2. What motivated you to start teaching and what have you learnt from teaching?

I have been practicing yoga since I was four years old (or perhaps since I could recognize conscious movement). I was my mom's "yoga baby" so to speak. She started doing yoga when she was pregnant with me, and she would have instructors and practitioners come to the house. I always loved yoga, and it has always been an integral part of my life. When I was 17, I worked at an orphanage in Brazil and decided to attempt to teach yoga. I found it incredible how yoga could be such a universal point of connection. In that moment, I knew that spreading yoga was something that I wanted to do. 

3. What is something that you have learnt from a fellow teacher?

I have learned patience from my teachers for sure (well I'm still learning it) and how important the practice of slowing down is. 

4. How many times a week do you practice?

I practice most days.

5. Who inspires your practice?

I am inspired to practice because I think there is always more to play with, more to notice, more to sense, things to learn. Yoga helps me move deeper in a way that resonates with me. 

6. Why is it necessary for you to practice?

I learn a lot through practicing. But I also learn a lot when the meaning of practice changes for me- from a group class, to meditation, to hiking, to running, to swimming- what is that space within stillness and movement that feels grounded and yet fluid?

7. What message do you like to spread through teaching?

I like to spread awareness through teaching. I like to invite inquiry- what happens when it's not about the shape? What comes up when it's hard? When it feels too easy? What are the things that pop up in a yoga practice that must exist somewhere else too? I also like to spread the message that it can feel really really good to be kind to ourselves, to listen to ourselves like we are helpless children and perhaps be able to hone in on what it means to give ourselves what we need. 

8. Where are you currently teaching? 

I am currently teaching private lessons and at Yoga to the People 

9. How has yoga helped your character develop? 

Yoga has made me a more thoughtful person, greatened my threshold for tolerance or discomfort, and I think enlarged my ability to be compassionate to myself and to others. 

9. What has kept you practicing all these years?

Honestly, I just love it. I am grateful for the practice and for my teachers. I truly don't know what my life would look like without the practice of yoga. 

10. What is your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook name? @larasaget 

Larasagetyoga.com