Jonah’s mama, founder and co-owner of Virayoga, Elena has been teaching yoga for 14+ years. After graduating from Cornell University in 1992 with a design degree, she worked in textile and apparel design for 6 years, trained to teach with Cyndi Lee, then began studying Anusara® yoga with John Friend and became Certified. After ten years of study with Douglas Brooks and Hugo Cory, and recent in-depth study with the Handel Group™, Elena’s teaching offers the practices of yoga as a way to approach our world with reverence and gratitude. Her classes are a masterful, candid blend of artful alignment and attention cues; pure empowerment for your body, mind and heart.

From the Museum of Modern Art to the Great Lawn at Central Park in New York; from the playa at Burning Man to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, she is honoured to offer larger-scale experiences of yoga, but Elena’s true privilege and service is in shifting awareness within the smallest interactions; one family, one household at a time. She holds Reiki Levels I/II Certification and practices Pranic Healing. She loves collaborative teaching, alongside colleagues such as Sianna Sherman, Christina Sell, Noah Maze, Christy Nones, Amy Ippoliti, Bill Mahony, Ross Rayburn, Elizabeth Rossa, Schuyler Grant, Nikki Costello, Leila Astarabadi, Seane Corn, Faith Hunter and Kathryn Budig. She’s been featured in the New York Times, Yoga Journal, Natural Living, the Element Yoga for Beginners DVD series, FitYoga, ABC News, NBC News and is the voice for Deepak Chopra’s groundbreaking video game LEELA, which blends meditation with game play. Elena is also the Executive Producer of ON MEDITATION, a series of short films regarding the reality of meditation, to be released in 2012. Recent classes are available online at Yogaglo.

Along with her own Art of Attention writings, Elena contributes to the Huffington Post, Kris Carr’s CrazySexyLife, elephant journal, TheDailyLove, and is an original board member of YogaEarth. Elena’s recently developed an essential oil blend called GIVE that proudly benefits Women For Women International, with another scent in the works that will benefit Every Mother Counts.

Photo credit: Chloe Crespi

Video

ARTE TV New York 3.0

White Yoga Session - Paris, Oct. 2011

Yoga on the Great Lawn June 22, 2010

Articles

2011 Stylesite profile (.pdf)

Photos