teachers
lauren borchard
lauren borchard came to tranquil space bethesda
in search of a refuge from the dance studio and
regular life. yoga provided a safe space and
then gave her many new ways to approach the
body, the spirit, practice, and life. lauren
completed her teacher training at tranquil space
and is thrilled be able to contribute to the
place that has helped to bring her to both joy
and peace. she knows she’ll continue to learn
from her own practice, her teachers at tranquil
space and elsewhere, and always from her
students.
lauren is a historian who also teaches dance to
adults and children. she even performs on
occasion; currently, she dances with an
improvisational modern dance company. a native
of new york state, she moved to dc in 1998 for
graduate school in american studies. lauren’s
experience with many genres of movement and her
continued adventures in teaching dance inform
her yoga practice and teaching.
michelle cohen
michelle completed her 200-hour yoga teacher
training from tranquil space in 2007. she began
practicing yoga shortly before getting married,
to help relieve some of the stress of wedding
planning and to find balance as she transitioned
into a new stage of her life. she fell in love
with yoga immediately and knew it would make her
grow and change beyond her wildest imagination.
michelle enjoys cultivating a spiritual
connection through her asana, pranayama and
meditation practice. her teaching style is
supportive, playful and energetic.
she encourages her students to uncover and
embrace their inner wisdom to empower them to lead a
more truthful, conscious and passionate life. she
would like to express gratitude to all her tranquil
space teachers for illuminating her divine spark,
and her husband for his amazing and endless support.
when not on the mat, michelle is a fundraising
professional for a community arts organization based
in capitol hill. she is an active volunteer for the
tranquil space foundation and the make-a-wish
foundation. michelle holds a masters in tourism
administration from george washington university and
a b.s. in mass communication from towson university.
christina conrad
christina's fascination of movement, music and the human body has been a lifetime pursuit. her discovery of vinyasa yoga happened in 2000 when she sought an alternative to knee surgery caused by a quite painful torn meniscus in her knee. vinyasa yoga not only combined her favorite elements (and helped her avoid surgery!), but she was also immediately drawn to the sense of complete surrender to the moment and glimmer of a clearer, more focused mind.
in her yoga teaching, christina strives to create a supportive playground in which the yoga practitioners discover their physical and mental edge with a sense of curiosity and openness to what may or may not happen. she believes in getting out of our heads and into what else is transpiring on other levels, and connecting the practice on our mats to the other hours of the day.
christina completed her 200-hour yoga alliance certification at tranquil space in 2006 and continued her training at the 500-hour level at om yoga in new york city, focusing on anatomy and yoga therapy for chronic conditions.
andrea creel, andrea@tranquilspacebethesda.com
andrea is a registered yoga teacher with yoga
alliance, having received training through the
tranquil space 200-hour teacher training program.
andrea’s classes emphasize the power of
the breath to still the mind and create peace
in the heart and body. her calm, gentle presence
creates a nurturing space in which students can
relax and allow their inner beauty to shine through.
she believes that asana is the gateway which guides
the spirit to deeper levels of consciousness and
self-realization. andrea is inspired by nature
and the changing seasons, and often creates flowing
sequences to align the body’s energy with
the energy of the earth.
andrea enjoys sharing the benefits of yoga with
yogis of all ages. she has received specialized
training in prenatal and postnatal yoga from tranquil
space and baby om, and is certified to teach children
and teens through the radiant child yoga program
and yoga 4 teens. She has also received training
in integrated movement therapy (imt) from the
samarya center.
her inspiration comes from the joseph campbell
quotation, "if you do follow your bliss you
put yourself on a kind of track that has been
there all the while, waiting for you, and the
life that you ought to be living is the one you
are living." she believes that following
her bliss is what put her on the path to become
a yoga teacher. through her teaching, she hopes
to give her students the encouragement to follow
their own bliss and lead more joyful lives.
andrea serves as the coordinator for tranquil
space bethesda’s baby & me and yoga
4 kids programs.
gretchen eyth
gretchen creates an energetic and compassionate
class environment in which she encourages
students to move towards their edge and to
explore what it means to take yoga off the mat
and into their own lives. her love of animals
and former animal-related careers inspire her to
help her students move with a natural grace and
power in their vinyasa practice. gretchen has
followed a path leading to a career teaching
yoga since age 13.
yoga has always come naturally to her. she has
been standing in tree pose while cooking and doing
dishes since long before she even knew what tree
pose was. gretchen has over 10 years experience
practicing yoga including a year living in
switzerland where she studied iyengar yoga. after
giving birth and focusing almost exclusively on
raising her two sons 18 months apart, gretchen
turned to vinyasa yoga to help her rediscover
herself and to bring balance back into her busy
life. she is a recent graduate from the tranquil
space 200-hour teacher training program and is
certified through yoga alliance.
september fortier, september@tranquilspacebethesda.com
september is thrilled to be teaching at tranquil
space, where she completed her 200-hour yoga teacher
training. she is the coordinator for tranquil
space bethesda’s prenatal program and first
came to yoga in 1997 in the hopes of finding a
little inner stillness after the death of a loved
one. what she found was so much more and she's
been hooked ever since.
she loves yoga's emphasis on present moment
awareness and acceptance as well as its noncompetitive
nature, and feels herself blessed to be among
so many wonderful creative people at tranquil
space. september is a former dancer and professional
cheerleader and holds an MFA in acting from the
catholic university of america in washington,
dc, where she studied stage combat, suzuki, tai
chi and the alexander technique.
she is a member of the actors' equity association,
and when not on the mat she can be found performing
onstage and working behind the scenes as a founding
company member of catalyst theater company.
september is also a reiki II practitioner and
will be completing her reiki III master certification.
joann kester
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joann is excited to be teaching at tranquil
space bethesda where she has been practicing
yoga and working as a studio assistant for two
years. she completed the 200-hour teacher
training at tranquil space and is a registered
yoga teacher with yoga alliance.
joann has worked for environmental nonprofits
for ten years and was drawn to yoga as a way to
fit exercise and relaxation into her schedule.
she discovered joy in the movement of yoga and
also a greater sense of peace and awareness in
the present moment. she found that going to yoga
regularly made her more able to connect with her
staff and peers. she loves both the physical and
mental challenges in yoga and tries to take
lessons from yoga off the mat into her daily
life.
in addition to working to protect the
environment, joann love spending time in the
outdoors and has hiked the grand canyon and done
backpacking trips to glacier national park and
mt rainier national park.
joann would like to thank siobhan for her great
teachings and launching the nurturing community
of tranquil space bethesda. joann hopes to bring
some of the joy and peace she has found in yoga
to her classes.
marianne leal
although she feels like she has been practicing
yoga all her life (evidenced by early childhood
photos of her in eka pada sirsanana), marianne
was formally introduced to yoga in 1999 and immediately
fell in love with the poetry of meditation in
movement. She is certified at the 200 hour level
with the yoga teacher’s alliance having
completed her teacher training at tranquil space
in 2004 and has done additional trainings with
sarah powers (yin), paul grilley (yin & anatomy),
shiva rea (vinyasa), cyndi lee (vinyasa) and judith
lasater (restorative).
marianne is honored to be a part of the tranquil
space community and hopes her classes will provide
the space for students to cultivate inner awareness,
joy, and compassion while enlivening and nourishing
the body, mind and heart. she loves that yoga
teaches us that every breath, every moment, is
a moment of potential practice and that we already
possess all we need to be truly happy.
she wishes to thank all her teachers, past and
present, for being constant examples of how to
live your yoga practice and her daughters, tracy
and kristin, husband, chris, and her own yoga
mat for their daily inspiration.
marianne is a registered nurse with over 20
years experience in women’s health, and
a returned peace corps volunteer.
jenni pfeiffer
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jenni came to the practice of yoga through a chance meeting with a wise, old indian man at a local college coffee shop. in 2002, she moved back to the DC area and found tranquil space in a church off of 16th street. in 2007, she completed the 200-hour teacher training program at tranquil space.
working as a teaching assistant for the equally engaging, yet different anne thiel and danielle pollen has helped to nurture her understanding of the art of teaching yoga. she believes that tranquil space is the best yoga studio in DC because of its community, people who are dedicated to practice yoga off the mat and in their daily lives.
her favorite definition of pranayama is "life force extension," and she believes that the most powerful practice lies in the balance of pose and breath. she loves the vinyasa style of yoga because it invites the yogi to creatively explore the possibilities of the practice.
jenni encourages all yogis to give their best, and let the rest be given to them…
"the sage sees things as they are, without trying to control them. she lets them go their own way and resides at the
center of the circle." – tao te ching, chapter 29 (stephen mitchell translation)
geri smith, geri@tranquilspacebethesda.com
geri’s love for studying the movement of
the body began with ballet training while living
in the rugged australian outback, where she danced
with the australian dancers company. after dancing
for many years, she began teaching and choreographing
for adults, teens and children. geri is a registered
yoga teacher through yoga alliance. she is a graduate
of the tranquil space 200-hour teacher training
program, and has also studied yin yoga under paul
grilley. geri also completed specialized training
for teaching yoga to teens, and is our teen yoga
program coordinator.
geri embarked on her yoga journey several years
ago, practicing yoga to complement her other loves:
running, hiking and kayaking. she soon discovered
the profound states of peace, focus and bliss
that yoga generates. yoga brought geri many unexpected
benefits, too. she suffered from chronic neurological
pain in her extremities for a decade that no specialist
was ever able to diagnose. shortly after beginning
her regular practice, her symptoms diminished
to a barely-perceptible level. now she is pain-free.
she also credits yoga for the transformational
development of her appreciation for and acceptance
of the value of the non-perfect in all areas of
life.
as a yoga teacher, geri brings respect for every
student's individuality and place along their
own precious journey. she believes that, if properly
aligned within the physical allowances of her
or his unique body, each student’s expression
of a pose is the perfect place for them to be
in that pose at that time. she believes that everyone
has the potential to benefit equally from each
asana, regardless of how deeply they can physically
go into a posture. her goal in teaching yoga is
to assist her students in allowing their bodies
and minds to find their own beautiful place of
balance, as she has been so inspired to do at
tranquil space bethesda.
geri is the coordinator for tranquil space bethesda’s
yoga 4 teens program.
gina tauschek
gina's yoga journey began in 2000 when she landed
in washington, dc, after some major life changes.
initially, she sought out yoga at her local gym
to manage stress and to counteract the wear and
tear of running and cycling. looking back now,
she couldn't even begin to understand the impact
yoga would have on her life in the years to come.
early in 2005, gina's path became clear to her
and she knew she wanted to teach yoga; she just
needed to find a studio that fit her independent
style. after months of searching, she took a class
at tranquil space and in 75 minutes she just knew.
the rest, as they say, is history.
gina completed her 200-hour teacher training
certification at tranquil space in 2006 and is
a registered teacher with yoga alliance. she believes
that every person has the ability to find beauty
and wholeness within themselves — their
own way — but it is her hope that through
teaching yoga she can contribute to that process
in the tiniest way.
when she's not on her yoga mat, gina can be
found running or biking on the various dc trails
or on the mall walking her main man — her
8-year-old yellow lab. she has a master's in public
administration and for years has worked for a
small consulting firm whose main focus is strengthening
education.
she is grateful to all of the tranquil space
teachers and students who have contributed to
her growth through study, support, and inspiration.
in particular, kimberly wilson for her vision
and siobhan troy for her guidance. she would also
like to give a heartfelt thank you to her mom,
who has been her biggest supporter on this journey.
anne thiel, anne@tranquilspace.com
anne wears several hats at tranquil space; she
is a teacher, certified prenatal yoga teacher,
prenatal program coordinator, thai yoga body worker
and a budding ayurvedic consultant. she completed
the 200-hour yoga alliance-approved teacher training
at tranquil space and has studied with several
nationally-known teachers (shiva rea, sarah powers,
doug swenson, ana forrest etc.).
originally, anne is from germany where she worked
as a midwife and delivered 450 babies before moving
to the united states to pursue an a graduate degree
in german studies. after completing her phd, anne
left the academic world and has since then worked
in various positions in the environmental field.
initially, she began practicing yoga to find
relief from a stressful dissertation-writing process,
but has since then discovered that it is much
richer than just a stress management tool.
"every time i step onto the mat i become
witness of a fascinating interplay of oppositional,
yet harmonious forces. it is an opportunity for
me to quiet my mind and reconnect with a still
center inside myself while getting blocked energies
inside me moving; i seek to cultivate openness
and strength that i then try to carry with me
into my 'practice off the mat.' at the end of
a practice, i usually feel more evenness and peace
in my mind and body; i have connected with a different
part of me; with my classes i hope to offer my
students to experience something similar."
for her prenatal yoga classes, she hopes that
they will support women during their pregnancy
as they prepare for labor and childbirth and begin
the journey of becoming a parent.
siobhan completed her 200-hour teacher training
at tranquil space and is a registered yoga teacher
with yoga alliance. her first class at tranquil
space was in 2001 and then she started teaching in 2002.
in 2004 she embarked with kimberly
wilson on opening tranquil space bethesda.
siobhan enjoys teaching since it allows her to
nurture her students and in turn she has learned
so much from them.
in addition to studying at tranquil space, siobhan
has studied with nationally known teachers: ana
forrest, shiva rea, and baron baptiste. her knowledge
of yoga, past experience teaching and her love
for children motivated her to study with shakta
kaur khalsa, author of fly like a butterfly: yoga
for children. siobhan enjoys encouraging adults
to nurture their inner child while finding their
edge on the mat.
drawing on her experience not only from yoga
but from running three marathons, swimming, coaching,
protecting the environment, and helping to raise
money for AIDS services enables siobhan to relate
to her students. all of us come onto to the mat
with our own strengths and weaknesses, siobhan
strives to help her students embrace these and
see themselves as the beautiful person they are
meant to be.
in 2006, siobhan became a mother to a baby girl.
she and her husband are enjoying their new roles
and have each gained a greater respect for their
parents.
learn more about siobhan>
melissa van orman
melissa began her study of yoga in 1993 as a high
school student in rural maine. since that time she
has practiced several styles, including iyengar,
kripalu, and slow flow, before finding her home at
tranquil space, where she recently completed her
200-hour teacher training certification.
melissa's style is fluid and creative, with a
reverence for classical teachings and attention to
alignment. she emphasizes breath, mindfulness, and
sheer delight in the experience of movement.
witnessing how her own practice changes with time,
she believes that yoga adapts to the needs of each
practitioner. she strives to create a nurturing
space where students can safely explore their innate
gracefulness.
melissa's style has been influenced by kimberly
wilson and the tranquil space team, barbara benagh,
and seane corn. she has a master's degree in health
communication and works as a health educator. |
