Zoreh is the founder of High desert yoga, she has been teaching yoga since 1985 and is certified with the  Yoga Alliance as an Experienced RYT 500. She is a faculty member of the High Desert Yoga Teacher Training Program since it origins 15 years ago.  For the past twenty years she has been offering public classes and offering private yoga therapy sessions to help many with back, neck, shoulders, hips, knees and ankle issues become pain free with proper alignment and mindfulness.

She enjoys her passion of yoga and exploring the heavenly spots in the world by offering yoga and meditation retreats in inspiring locations such as Mexico, South America, India and New Mexico.  Zoreh has created in a beautiful outdoor studio, Yoga del Pacifico on the beach in Troncones, Mexico where she hosts many retreats.

Zoreh's upbringing started her on the path of Sufism and she has studied numerous paths and methodologies including Iyengar, yoga therapy, meditation,  Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, and the yoga methodology of the American Yoga College. Zoreh's joyous personality and sense of humor endear her to her students with a teaching style that is both nurturing and fun. Her teaching combines a delicate knowledge of the body that allows a compassionate spiritual expression of the postures to emerge.

Kim was introduced to eastern philosophy as a child and began studying yoga in 1971 at age 18. In 1981 he met his Guru and began more formal studies in the yoga sutras and other aspects of yoga philosophy. Around that time he was also introduced to the Iyengar system of asana practice. In 1985 he was certified to teach yoga through the Temple of Kriya yoga. He was ordained a Swami in the Kriya lineage in 1986. He has taught ongoing yoga classes, teachers training programs and workshops here and abroad since that time. Though asana and pranayama have become primary disciplines, the philosophy of yoga is still at the heart of his practice and teaching. 

Supriti is a lifelong devotee of Yoga and has been teaching for over 35 years. In 1978, she traveled to India and took public classes at the BKS Iyengar Institute with the Iyengar family. She continues to study primarily in the Iyengar tradition with visiting senior instructors. She practiced Therapeutic Massage for 25 years. She continues to deepen her understanding of the workings of yoga while teaching and studying with the staff of High Desert Yoga. Supriti is certified by the Yoga Alliance as a ERYT, 500 hours. She is a lover of poetry and inspires her students with readings from the masters of many wisdom cultures. Supriti was General Manager of High Desert Yoga until 2012 and is gratified by the explosion of interest in Yoga and the growth of so many of her students into teachers in their own right.

Patti has been a physical therapist for over 35 years and a yoga teacher for almost 10. She is a life long learner, and creative in the process of integrating her vast studies as a PT and the wisdom of yoga. She brings together experience in manual therapies, trauma resolution, sensory integration and yoga wisdom in ways that make yoga accessible to everyone....no matter the challenge. In her private practice as a physical therapist, Patti utilizes a depth of understanding and curiosity to assist her clients become more empowered in their bodies. As a yoga teacher, she assists students in becoming more creative and curious in personalizing their yoga practice. She also teaches yoga teachers to be more skillful when working with students with challenges.

Judy, E-RYT, is an experienced teacher who brings her nursing knowledge into her practice of yoga. Intrigued by the system of yoga, she is dedicated to her practice and studies. Judy has been certified at the basic level of Silver Age Yoga and has assisted in the Teacher Training at High Desert Yoga. She developed and teaches the Senior Yoga Teacher Training. She teaches multiple levels of students and has furthered her understanding of necessary adjustments and assists for special needs while working with many private students. Through her teaching, the true spirit and science of yoga are revealed.   Judy teaches the High Desert Yoga Senior Yoga Teacher Training.
Learn more about Judy, her teachings, trainings and classes on Judy's Yoga Website.  (www.judysyoga.com)
Click here to Like Judy's Yoga Facebook Page. 

Avery has been practicing yoga since her teenage years. She completed her 500 hr. teacher training through the Temple of Kriya Yoga, and High Desert Yoga. Inspired by her practice and our human capacity for happiness, compassion, and evolutionary transformation, she began teaching in 2005. Avery's teaching style is influenced by her love of nature, Vipassana meditation, her playful, creative attitude, and her deep gratitude for her Teachers. She loves helping students find just the right approach for letting the gifts of yoga benefit their lives. Avery teaches with reverence, sincerity, joy, attention to alignment, stability, and the breath; and an earnest intention for all beings to live their soul's dream, thereby restoring balance to our world and enabling true freedom and peace. She is also a radical mother, artist, musician, grassroots circus performer, queer activist, and organic gardener.

Emily has practiced yoga for over 12 years. She recently completed the 500 hour teacher training program at High Desert Yoga as well as a prenatal yoga teacher training with Colette Crawford. A mother of two, she believes that practicing yoga can help women find the balance between effort and surrender that pregnancy, birthing, and motherhood require.

Julie began yoga in the tender first months of motherhood. That was eight years ago. Finding the space within to practice can be a challenge. The benefits of a regular practice, no matter how short, are infinite. As parents the discipline of devotion to our children is our practice. Asana (postures) will support and enliven this practice. Julie has completed the 500 teacher training and Mini Yogis certification offered at High Desert Yoga. She teaches family yoga and kids yoga in schools. She also holds a BA in Religous Studies from The University of New Mexico. Julie has been Office Manager of High Desert Yoga since late 2012.

Niki has a long background of being in love with movement.  She did many kinds of dance as a child and teenager and has always loved exercising outdoors and being in the mountains.  Niki found Yoga in 1995 during Massage School and soon after started teaching both Massage and Yoga.In 1999 Niki attended the High Desert Yoga teacher training.Niki believes that yoga is a powerful tool for feeling at home in your body, empowering yourself, and releasing tension.  In her Yoga classes she combines strengthening and flexibility.  Core strengthening, Slow Sun Salutations and Restorative self-massage techniques are always used.The flow portion of Niki’s class is called “Surprise Sun Salutations” because she sneaks different standing poses into the sequence.  Deep, full exhalations are always encouraged to breathe out tension and laughter is welcome.Niki’s eclectic blend of Yoga styles include: Iyengar, Kripalu, Vinyasa Flow, Pilates, and “Follow your intuition.”All levels are welcome in Yoga for Lunch.

Jude is a 500 hour certified yoga teacher who has been teaching for six years. Her studies in meditation, eastern philosophy and yoga began over 37 years ago. Jude encourages students to develop their inner and outer strength and flexibility and to move beyond perceived limitations and fears. Her alignment based classes are fun, supportive, challenging and inspiring- helping students to tune into their breath and find the joy of being alive in their bodies! Jude recently received “The Five Mindfulness Trainings” from Thich Nhat Hanh who she considers one of her most significant teachers. Her teaching is also inspired by Traditional Thai Yoga Massage. Jude has been the trip leader on numerous yoga, bike, kayak, cultural and philantropic trips to Peru, Guatemala and Alaska. Recently she was a visiting yoga teacher in Ilha Grande, Brazil. 

Katja has completed advanced Certification at High Desert Yoga. She is also certified to teach Children’s and Teen Yoga, and has attended many workshops/trainings with the gifted Yoga teachers High Desert Yoga brings to town.  Katja loves dance and movement and has studied yoga and taken dance classes for 15+ years.  She credits her massage therapist/musician father and Yogini mother with instilling this love.  In her classes she seeks to create a space to explore, listen to, and connect with ourselves, our bodies, and the bigger picture around us, through mindful, intentional movement, and inner awareness. Katja holds a BA in Creative Writing and Art from the University of New Mexico.

Sarah is a seasoned and certified Pilates teacher specializing in group instruction. Bringing to the table years of experience in dance, yoga, fitness, and massage, Sarah trained and mentored extensively under master Pilates teacher, Alexander Garcia, first as a dedicated student, and then as a teacher at his studio in Albuquerque.  When Sarah is not challenging her students in mat class, she can be found practicing her “other” job as an attorney and mediator, composing creative nonfiction, doing cartwheels in the park, or even, sometimes, swinging high above the ground from the flying trapeze.   Sarah’s love of movement and affinity for communication markedly inform her enthusiastic and passionate teaching style. 

Tim began his Yoga training in 2000 in the Ashtanga Vinyasa and Iyengar traditions. He has studied for the past 10 years with Tias Little and Prajna Yoga, as well as completing the first 3 levels of teacher training. He has also studied the chanting and philosophy of the Yoga Sutras with Sonia Nelson at the Vedic Chant Center. Tim is a Licensed Massage Therapist and just finished his first year of study at the Ayurvedic Institute. This past September he completed a month long training “The Heart of Yoga” at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in India. Tim has taught private and group classes for the past 7 years.  His classes focus on helping students to have their own deep experience in a safe and sacred space

Bill has practiced yoga for over 25 years and completed the 500-hour teacher training program at High Desert Yoga. He is a Registered Yoga Teacher (500 RYT) of Yoga Alliance. His approach to yoga is based on what the internationally acclaimed author and teacher trainer Donna Farhi calls the “technology of yoga.” In other words, if you practice yoga, you can enjoy greater physical and emotional well-being; belief in any particular philosophy is not required. Bill spent 15 years working in Latin America and Central Asia as an English teacher and diplomat. He came back to New Mexico to plant roots and stay put! 

Heather is a social worker and psychotherapist who integrates the disciplines of her profession with the practice of yoga. She is certified in Somatic Transformation, a modality of healing trauma and shifting emotional states through somatic awareness and movement.  She uses these practices to help students begin to understand, embrace and transform long held emotional and physical patterns. Heather is a graduate of the 500 hour teacher training at High Desert Yoga and has been teaching for six years. She enjoys working with beginning and more advanced students and is passionate about the personal renewal that comes when students reconnect with their bodies and innate joy through yoga.

Sunderjeet Kaur Khalsa took her first Kundalini Yoga class in 2008 and fell in love. Since then, she has attended two years of the Summer Solstice Sadhana and completed her Level 1 Teacher Training. Focused on results, she guides people on their journey to reconnect with their Mind, Body, and Soul through the practice of meditation, prayer, physical exercise and breath.

Sarah has been studying and practicing and teaching yoga since 1991.  She studied at Dharma Delta Yoga Studio in Louisiana in Hatha yoga, Yoga on the Beach, in Key West, Florida and trained in Renzi Zen Meditation in the lineage of Joshu Sasaki Roshi at Dharma Delta Yoga Studio and Bodhi Manda Zen Center in Jemez Springs, New Mexico.  She also has her MFA, installation art, from Louisiana Tech University.  She combines her love of narrative into her art practice as well as her yoga practice, bringing her keen insight of color, design and balance to both.

Zhenya has been a student of yoga since 2004 when she began practicing at Integral Yoga Institute in NYC. Her love for the yoga practice, philosophy and chanting has continued to grow. She has completed the 200hr Teacher Training Program and a Pre-Natal Teacher Training with Collete Crawford both at High Desert Yoga and has studied with many of the Senior Instructors who visit High Desert. She is also a certified CircusYoga teacher and has a deep passion for teaching yoga to children and teens, especially in schools. Her mission is to bring Yoga to the many schools in Albuquerque and also to bridge multigenerational gaps by creating environments where adults and youth can share their practice. CircusYoga has taught her the importance of inclusion and the power of the principals of play. She has taught kids yoga at High Desert and continues to teach kid's and circusyoga in various schools in Albuquerque. Her recent journey into motherhood has also inspired her to learn as much as possible about natural birthing. She considers yoga to be revolutionary and dedicates her practice to help empower and educate mommas-to-be and yogis/yoginis to be. "It is through awareness and connection that we can build a better world! Nowmustplay!" 

Zhenya is also a Licensed Massage Therapist and part of the Kirtan trio, Bija Band

Jill’s love for yoga began in 1994 with her first yoga class.  From 1998-2003 she learned Meditation from a Mahatma (Great Soul!).  Between the years 2001 and 2013 she spent seven years total in India - studying, practicing and teaching in the areas of Yoga Asana, Pranayama, Meditation, Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, Sanskrit and Indian Classical Music.  She did this via various institutional Brahmachari Training Courses and private Mentorships.  In 2010 Jill completed the 500 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher Training Course at High Desert Yoga as well as Robert Svaboda’s Certified Ayurveda Correspondence Course via the Albuquerque Ayurvedic Institute.  Jill teaches with an emphasis on self-awareness (physical, mental, emotional) through breath-awareness and alignment in yoga postures.  She teaches beginning yoga, intermediate yoga, pre-natal yoga, women's yoga, restorative yoga, meditation, pranayama, kirtan and sanskrit chanting.  She presently organizes bi-annual guided yoga tours abroad and teaches workshops and classes in Albuquerque while raising a family, her vegetable garden and her consciousness!

Cynthia Casas is a life-long student and teacher of yoga and believes in the importance of the practice as an intricate and sustaining process of self-discovery and growth. Thanks to previous teacher training with her esteemed teachers at High Desert Yoga, she is able to convey her approach to the practice, which integrates Iyengar-style alignment and energetic flow.  Her intuitive and holistic study of the breath, movement, and dance also serves as a guide for her teaching, study, and continuous exploration of a practice honoring the balance and light of the heart, mind, and body.

Sara is a doula and childbirth educator who was drawn to birth workafter experiencing a tremendous and joyful awakening during her firstpregnancy. She believes that women possess an inherent birthingwisdom, and she loves to help them tap into this knowledge through thetherapeutic practices of dance, yoga, and meditation. Her dream is forall women to feel empowered by pregnancy and birth, and to beginparenthood confident in their bodies and mothering instincts. Whenshe’s not immersed in offering childbirth, breastfeeding orbabywearing support, Sara can be found pursuing her other passions:writing fiction, attempting to garden, and hanging out with herhusband and two young daughters, who continually amaze, challenge, andinspire her.