Our Instructors
Studio Photos

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Kristina Berano, BS, RYT, Director is a certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher. She received her training from Kripalu Center in 2005 and has taught steadily since then. She hopes to complete her 500 Hour Advanced Teacher Training in 2008.

She was the Vice President on the Board of Directors for the Woodbury Yoga Center from 2005-2007. She is a member of the Kripalu Yoga Teachers Association as well as the Yoga Alliance.

She blends her Kripalu training with her training in Kundalini Maha Yoga. She is a devoted disciple of Shri Anandi Ma, the spiritual leader of the path of Kundalini Maha Yoga. She received Shaktipat Initiation in July 2003 from her beloved Guru and has continued her trainings in this lineage. These advanced trainings include Meditation, Pranayama Techniques, overall lifestyle integration, the science of Sanskrit, as well as the ancient science of Vajra Panjar.

She continues her training through Kripalu as well as through Dhyanyoga Centers. She has found yoga to be her passion and path to truth and love. She is as dedicated to her students’ growth as she is to her own.

Shawna Barber has always felt the benefits of quieting the mind and becoming more introspective through her practice of yoga. More recently she has discovered the healing and connection to spirit that yoga can bring.

Shawna decided to delve deeper into her studies once she discovered Kripalu Center. She began taking workshops, practicing Jnana Yoga (the study of scripture and the Self), and deepening her home practice. This past summer she decided to take time off from her corporate career and experience the month-long 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training offered at Kripalu.

Kripalu has become a home away from home for Shawna. She has since assisted in several programs with the intention to give back to the community that she has gotten so much from. She is thrilled that Star Sanctuary for Yoga has become Kripalu affiliated and looks forward to becoming a part of this community and even more so to serving the members of that community. Yoga has become a transformative force in Shawna’s life and she looks forward to guiding you through a yoga experience that can facilitate the discovery of your own life’s journey and path.

Frank Thomas has studied and practiced yoga, meditation, and Eastern philosophies for over 30 years. Several years ago, he began deepening his practice and, he says, reclaimed his life through regular classes, teacher-training, and dedication to, as he describes it, the spiritual science of yoga.

Frank has his 200-Hour Teacher Certification from Lotus Gardens, LLC, and is a registered teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance. He takes the greatest joy in sharing through teaching what he has learned and continues to learn. In his classes he integrates his knowledge of Astanga, Anusara, Forrest, Iyengar, Kundalini, and Vinyasa Flow yoga with such other disciplines as Tai Chi and mindfulness meditation to provide a safe, open, environment in which all students may find their way to the unity of body, mind, and spirit that is yoga.

Nancy Hirsch, RYT, is a 200 hour certified Kripalu Yoga Teacher and member of Yoga Alliance. Her mixed level classes involve modifications, guided breath, stretching and strengthening. A slow, steady pace keeps focus on alignment. Postures flow from one to the next creating interplay of body and mind. Detailed guidance into the postures makes Nancy’s classes beginner friendly along with modifications offering a challenge for the more advanced student.