Biographies

Tricia Philpott

Tricia is the Co-Owner and Master teacher at Empower Yoga studio. Tricia combined her business background and education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with her passion ( YOGA) and is now living her dream!

Tricia has been working in the Health and Fitness industry for the past 22 years. She is a certified personal trainer, group exercise instructor and registered yoga teacher with the National Yoga Alliance. She completed trainings under Baron Baptiste, Gregor Singleton and Claire Este-Macdonald. She has also studied under Rod Stryker, Seane Corn and Ana Forest. Tricia is currently taking another 200 hour teacher training offered through Empower. Tricia has always believed that when you stop learning..you stop growing and is constantly diving deeper into her own studies and understanding of all that Yoga has to offer. She gains so much Joy from sharing this knowledge with her students.

When Tricia’s dad suffered a heart attack and then a major stroke while recovering from surgery, she made it her life’s mission to help people live healthy lives! She took care of her Dad for 2 years before he eventually passed away. He was and always will be the inspiration and driving force behind her ambition and desire to teach people to take good care of themselves.

Tricia’s classes are Invigorating , Uplifting, Challenging and at the same time Heartfelt and Inspirational. Her Passion shines brightly through her teachings of Yoga!

Tricia lives in Manchester Mass with her two sons DJ and Alex Porter..and their Dog Mason!

Lisa Williamson

Lisa first stepped onto a yoga mat over 30 years ago while living in Munich, Germany, and via a circuitous route of occupation and events, she’s bringing her passion and first-hand experience of the healing powers of yoga, to Empower Yoga Studio. What began as a physical practice to ease the pressures of a demanding high-visibility corporate job (where she was told she would have to cut her hair to be “successful”), metamorphosed years later into “a fuel line to the heart”, the courage to overcome many obstacles, and ability to manage life-threatening diseases. She’s completed Baptiste Level 1 Teacher Training, and a 200hr RYT program with Gregor Singleton and Claire Este-McDonald.

“The energy of yoga; what you cannot see, is what really excites me.” The knowing that develops over time, the ability to hear your heart speak, that’s what keeps me curious and on my mat. I experience an intimacy with myself that fosters a profound sense of self-love and perpetual healing. My heart feels twice its natural size and I have abundant love and light to give “out there.”

Lisa positively nourishes her soul with the company she keeps, and where she keeps it. She shares her tiny cottage on the vast and beautiful Plum Island beaches with her wonderful husband Mark, their beloved daughter Olivia, and a cat, Domino who thinks he’s a dog. “When you love yourself and who you are, you allow others the freedom to be who they are as well.”

Hayley Haberman

Hayley came to yoga shortly after the birth of her children looking to ease the stress and fatigue associated with being a new mom. From her very first class, she was surprised by how exhilarating and fun yoga was, and by how natural the poses felt. Yoga offered her techniques to alleviate the aches, pains and exhaustion which she assumed were just part of growing older. With regular practice, she uncovered a more focused and relaxed mind, and a more toned and limber body. Now, yoga serves as a tool to align with what was always there waiting beneath the surface: A more grounded, confident, powerful, balanced, healthy and happy self. She strongly believes that these benefits are accessible to everyone, and that life is better with yoga!

Hayley completed a 200 hour teacher training with Tricia Philpot and Elizabeth Huntsman DeAngeles. She has also done trainings with Beryl Bender Birch, Marc St. Pierre, Natasha Rizopolous, Gregor Singleton and Claire Este MacDonald. Her hot power classes are detoxifying, physically intense, tension releasing and fun. They are appropriate for beginners and practitioners of all levels. Universal alignment is emphasized and students are taught to modify poses to meet their own individual needs. They are encouraged to explore and to listen to their instinctive inner wisdom and be true to themselves.

Claire Este-McDonald

Claire Este-McDonald, RN, BSN, is a certified Baptiste Master Teacher. An emergency room nurse for more than 15 years, she came to yoga after four back surgeries. She believes that understanding well-being and vitality allows each person to tap into the heart of life and bring that energy into everything they do. Through anatomy, physiology, and using play and experience to feel the flow of energy, students have tools that can transform how they see and experience the world. Claire is known for teaching an intensely physical and dynamic practice infused with intelligence, compassion and joy.

Elizabeth Huntsman

Elizabeth Huntsman has been teaching yoga since 2000, and working closely with Baron Baptiste for nine years; she is one of only seven Master Baptiste Teachers. Elizabeth has been a full time teacher at the Baptiste studios in Cambridge and Boston, and has assisted Baron on his world renowned Bootcamps around the globe. Her yoga studies are supported by the classical traditions of BKS Iyengar, TVK Desikichar, and Patthabi Jois.

Jeanne Magazu

Jeanne is a lifelong health and fitness enthusiast who originally sought out yoga to compensate for the toll that years of strenuous physical activity had taken on her body. She immediately loved the de-toxifying aspect of the practice and over time she began to understand the transformation that was taking place within her. Through her yoga practice she discovered how tense and out of balance her body and her life had become. Yoga practice awakened the dormant spirit within her and she is now practicing yoga in all aspects of her life.

"Yoga provided me with so much more than I was looking for. Yoga has become my vehicle of choice as I navigate my way thru the ups and downs of life. When I'm struggling with pain, resistance or difficult decisions I step onto my mat to seek comfort and clarity. In times of happiness and joy my mat is where I can express the freedom and lightness I feel in my heart."

Carleen Pimental

Carleen started her training with Yogiraj Bikram Choudhury in Los Angeles. She lingered in the west coast exploring with Anna Forest & Shiva Rea then journeyed back to Massachusetts and studied extensively with Mary Hart at Iron Crow Yoga Studio. In the process Carleen has attended numerous intensives with Baron Baptiste.

"Yoga is the assembly required to operate a graceful and inspired life. We all deserve nothing less" C.J.P

She holds an undergrad in Physical Therapy and is an I-ACT certified cleansing therapist, licensed massage therapist and NAMASTA certified yoga instructor. Carleen embraces faithfully the continuous life work though Shamanic Healing exercised by the remarkable mentor and author Cynthia Barnard.

Carleen is the originator of Shaucha Body Therapies, a successful private practice in Beverly Farms since 2003. Shaucha Body Therapies invokes a personal purification process with spiritual guidance, premier herbal cleansing, deep tissue bodywork, polarity therapy,breath and body awarness.

Carleen is delighted to be part of the team here at Empower Yoga studio. You will find her teaching Core, Power and Restorative Yoga class. These classes incorperate uplifting mix of music, teachings of foundational sacred geometry principals mingled with unique expressive movements geared toward opening the chambers for healing and true core strength. Her intention is to create a safe place for each individual to trust their feelings of embodment leading toward a refined connection to your innate genius.!

Carleen lives in Beverly with her cat "Patience". : )

Available for private yoga sessions & Shaucha Body Therapy

Carleen6655@yahoo.com

Nan Greer

Nan did her formal training with Jen Ryan and Susan Himml of Infinity Possibilities. However, her education did not stop there. "No down dog is ever the same day-to-day. Learning to accept what IS and to let go of the expectations of what should be takes courage. Then we are able to welcome the possibilities both on and off the mat." Nan came to yoga after playing competitive tennis, teaching cardio-kick, step and Body Pump classes. A knee injury prompted the surgeon to suggest yoga. "I was attracted to EMPOWER because of the joy and the calm acceptance that the sky is the limit". Tricia Porter puts the POWER in my yoga practice showing me how to balance strength with flexibility while letting the breath be the spark! Practicing regularly, I find the courage to follow my curiosity. Learning to stand on my head absolutely changed my practice. Seeing the world up side down is exhilarating. Any inversion can offer this extraordinary experience, this reversal of energy. My own practice has evolved and strengthened and continues to be enlightened because of my own amazing teachers. I hope to pass this enthusiasm on to other students by making it fun, seeing it as rewarding and finding community.

Melissa Harrington

Ask Melissa if she'd rather be doing yoga or ...nah, just skip it. The answer will always be yoga. But that was not always the case! Near the end of Melissa's first-ever yoga class some twenty years ago, the teacher instructed everyone to lay down and do nothing. Nothing! Thinking the teacher was out of material or lazy, she complied, but managed to write a complaint letter in her head during the ten minutes while others nothing-ed in Savasana. Melissa shares this story often because it's a reminder of how patient this practice is with us...how sweetly it meets us where we are.

Fast forward twenty years and you'll find Melissa happiest on her mat sharing a practice with other like-hearted souls. She believes that yoga is a way to come home to ourselves (again and again) and that our practice is a mirror for the way we are living our lives. As a teacher, Melissa favors a vigorous practice with a strong emphasis on proper alignment. Students of any level are welcome if they bring an open mind, a willingness to play and take risks, and promise to laugh at at least one of her jokes!

Melissa has completed numerous yoga teacher trainings, workshops and master classes and her teaching style reflects a synthesis of various traditions. She is also a STOTT Pilates Lead Instructor Trainer and national conference presenter, a NSCA certified personal trainer, TRX trainer, Holistic Health Counselor, and former elementary school teacher. She is crazy about her husband and stepdaughter and big, goofy dog. When not on the mat, you will find her with a book, on a bike, or packing to travel.

Jacob Bosse

Jacob Bosse is not only a student of yoga, he is also a teacher. Throughout his life, he has enjoyed a variety of competitive athletics, always staying active and concentrating on his overall health and fitness. Enthusiastic about technology, Jake enjoys his professional career at a high tech company as well as spending his time volunteering at The Boys & Girls Clubs teaching inner city youths both yoga and weight training.

"We live in a fast paced "OnDemand" world, where anything we want or need is a click away. As much as I enjoy our technologies, Yoga allows me the space to tuck away the iPhone and just simply breathe. I can get inside my body and find my balance once again ... It prepares me to adapt patiently to the challenges we face in a demanding outside world."

Jake's teaching allows for yoga as a practice to be accessible to everybody and encourages exploration and creativity for students to find their own unique practice, creating space for new possibilities in their everyday lives.

Kristan Marden

Kristan worked in the fitness industry as a Wellness Specialist for over ten years before leaving Boston to raise her three children in Marblehead. With a BS in Health and Fitness, she is also certified in K-12 Physical Education. Kristan was initially drawn to yoga as a way to manage the chronic pain of migraine headaches. She quickly discovered the truth in BKS Iyengar's words: "Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured."

Kristan completed her 200 hour teacher certification at Empower Yoga in Beverly, MA with Gregor Singleton and Claire Estes McDonald from Divine Play Yoga. As a teacher, Kristan favors a vigorous practice with a strong emphasis on both breath, and compassionate action; providing a balanced mind/body connection. With her unique and gentle sense of calm, Kristan imparts a peaceful, serene atmosphere in the studio. Thus allowing each student to cultivate physical strength, along with emotional balance and clarity. She hopes to inspire courage, grace and a desire to live wholeheartedly on and off the mat. When not on her mat, Kristan can be found practicing her "yoga" outside, walking with her dog around Marblehead.

Kristan's yoga journey has been guided by Patanjali's quote, "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your conscious expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be."

Nancy Doyle, RYT

Nancy’s teaching career began 20 years ago teaching actors to find their authentic voice. When Empower opened their doors , Nancy found her new passion, yoga. And like so many of us who practice, Nancy began that endless journey into the present moment. Her practice has infused her with strength and courage to live life with eyes wide open, come what may.

In 2009 she completed her first 200 hour TT with Jen Ryan and Susan Himmel and in 2012 completed her second 200 hour TT with Gregor Singleton and Claire Este-MacDonald. She has also studied with David Magone and Rodney Yee. Nancy teaches with an emphasis on breath, as a way to untangle the knots and habits of daily living, so each day can be lived with an open heart. She teaches a warm, Vinyasa flow grounded in alignment and focusing on the union of breath and body.

Everyday, she is thankful for the wonderful teachers at Empower who feed her body and yoga soul.

She teaches at Empower Yoga and Redwing Yoga which is her 6 mat home studio. Nancy also teaches YogiGirls an on-going class for teen girls emerging into budding yogis.

She lives on a lake in Hamilton, Massachusetts. She loves her family, dogs, and friends and is a small time chicken farmer. She can talk forever about yoga or chickens.

redwingyoga@gmail.com.

Lisa Garlitz

Lisa Garlitz is co-owner and co-founder of Empower Yoga. After college in Virginia, Lisa acquired business experience while living in California for a year and in Madrid for 2 years. After living in Spain, Lisa settled in Boston where she started a successful telecommunications company. After 10 years of building her business in Boston, she decided to pursue passions outside of the telecommunications industry. She moved to Manchester-By-The-Sea and focused on raising a family.

After the birth of her second child, Lisa discovered yoga. As a life-long fitness and sports enthusiast, Lisa enjoyed the physical challenge of hot power yoga, combined with the mental peace and tranquility. As a runner, she found yoga to be a perfect workout to balance frequent runs and essential in preventing injury as she trained for two marathons. As a busy mother, she appreciated the serenity that yoga provided.

“I had tried a variety of yoga classes and nothing quite clicked with me, until I tried hot power yoga. I was immediately drawn to the intense physical challenge. I came out of that first class, drenched in sweat, and completely invigorated. Over time, I discovered that yoga strengthened my body on all levels - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It is a workout that is so complete. Everyone needs this type of yoga.”

Lisa and Tricia joined forces in 2003 and combined their efforts to create Empower Yoga. With Lisa’s business background and experience in starting new ventures, combined with Tricia’s extensive knowledge and experience in teaching yoga and fitness, they decided to partner up and bring hot power yoga to the North Shore of Boston. With her three young children keeping her busy, Lisa handles the finances and administration of the business, while Tricia enjoys teaching the majority of classes at Empower. With the growing success of Empower Yoga, Lisa and Tricia plan to extend Empower Yoga beyond Boston’s North Shore, opening locations in other areas of Massachusetts and Florida.

Gregor Singleton

Gregor grew up in Scotland. He studied English Literature and Theatre at Trinity College, Dublin and trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. It was while he was a classical stage actor in London that he took his first yoga class. More fully engaged with his body, he began to see that the truest form of self expression was not to be on a stage playing at being someone else, but to fully and completely inhabit his own being. After a few years of exploring the power of transformational work, Gregor found Baptiste yoga, and at once saw that its intense physicality offered unique opportunities for breaking free of disempowering cycles and patterns, creating a safe atmosphere for students to take on and fully engage with their own lives.

Gregor sees his classes as a chance to step outside the everyday and explore the energetic possibilities of the group -- possibilities that continually amaze and delight him. "When we approach our practice from a place where there is nothing to prove, nothing to improve, we open ourselves up to the simple wonder of being alive. My reason for teaching is for my students to leave their mats with a palpable sense of readiness for whatever shows up in their lives"

Gregor is Master Teacher at Baptiste Power in Cambridge, and is delighted to be part of the Empower Yoga community as well.

Susan Himml

Susan's interest in athletics led her to the practice of yoga to gain strength and flexibility. She quickly acquired not only physical benefits but emotional and spiritual benefits as well. Her passion for yoga inspired her toward the path of teaching others, where she has combined natural teaching ability with learned training skills from her background in corporate training. She teaches with patience and compassion and encourages her students to see beyond their self-imposed limitations.

Susan studied with Patty Townsend of the Yoga Center Amherst, where she completed her 200 hundred hour certification progam and continues to study. She also completed Ashtanga teacher training with David Swenson and is a registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance.

In addition to teaching Yoga, Susan teaches Human Resource Management as an adjunct faculty member at North Shore Community College. Susan holds a B.S. degree in Business from Babson College and an M.S. degree in Human Resource Management from Lesley University.

Willa Worsfold

Born in NYC, raised in the Berkshires and schooled in the midwest, Willa found her yoga soul in Chicago. It was there that she discovered the power of Astanga, the alignment of Iyengar, and the lift of the Universal Style. She is so very grateful to have advanced her personal practice with Daren Freisen, Paul Weitz, Quinn Kearney, Joe Lubitsch and others at the wonderful Chicago teaching centers: Moksha Yoga and YogaView.

Furthermore, Willa has explored multiple styles through advanced workshops with Tim Miller, Richard Freeman, Anna Forest, Shiva Rea, Seane Corne, Dharma Mittra and most recently, teacher training with David Magone in Boston. She has taught privately since 2003 and having two lovely daughters of her own, delights in teaching teen and children’s yoga as well.

Landing on the east coast in 2004, Willa was introduced to Baptiste Yoga with Tricia Porter at Empower in Beverly, MA and most recently to David Magone and the PranaVayu Style of Yoga. PranaVayu is a form of power yoga that uses sequencing to make more difficult poses easier, pays mindful attention to the entire body, is fun and lighthearted, and closes with a delicious 15 minute guided meditation and savatsana.

In 2007 Willa completed her PranaVayu teacher training with David Magone- and now teaches a unique style of PranaVayu yoga accompanied by refreshing alternative music.

For additional information about Willa or PranaVayu, please visit: Insideyoga.com and threeoms.com or email Willa at: willaworks@mac.com

Kerri Shea

Kerri has been a student and teacher of yoga for almost 10 years. She received her 200 hour certification through YogaSpirit Studios and has done various other trainings with Baron Baptiste, Shiva Rea and John Friend. Her style is a blend of form and power and is occasionally humorous, always fluid and hopefully fun! She fell in love with yoga when she quickly saw a transformation in her life after only practicing a short time. Yoga has become her chiropractor, psychologist and overall healer and she hopes to pass this ancient gift down to anyone who will give her 90 minutes.

McKenzie Meserve

Mckenzie found her Yoga Practice 7 years ago looking for something to compliment her busy horseshow schedule. It was a comfort to know that your yoga is where ever you are. Have mat will travel!

She took a year thinking about whether she wanted to teach and get into a training. In that year she found David Magone's Pranavayu Style in Boston and was hooked. She finished 2007 and began 2008 in training with him in Boston, MA. After that took every opportunity offered to teach yoga! The studio's she practiced regularly took a big part in that, and is thankful for such a support system.

The summer of 2008 brought workshops with Desiree Rumbaugh, Sean Corne, and Shiva Rea. Further adding to her own teaching style.

Mckenzie loves to offer modification and variation. So if there's any interest in taking your Cresent Lunge to Flying Crow or Eagle to Tri-pod Headstand come on down!

At the end of the summer of 2008 Mckenzie was ready to dive back into more training. Then life took over. She found herself and her fiancé expecting there first child. So still teaching a lot of Yoga is also preparing for this new role.

Stacie Nardizzi

Mary Poppins with a yoga mat!
Stacie fell into yoga by accident. A professional actress in San Francisco, Stacie had explored, and endured, many dedicated years of dance techniques, Feldenkrais Method and Alexander body work. Her constant exploration of connecting mind, body, breath and spirit was a natural progression into the universal pathways of yoga. She found herself at Bikram's Yoga College of India in SF. She practiced Bikram diligently for many years before moving to the East Coast. Firmly grounded on the North Shore, doors opened to new forms of yoga, specifically Iyengar and Vinyasa.

Inspired by her two athletic daughters, and the physical demands placed on them, Stacie decided to pursue a path of teaching yoga to young people. "Yoga is so amazingly important to young people, especially children approaching their teen years and well into young adulthood. The amount of stress and expectations we have on our children is so very great in this modern era." Yoga for young people allows them to "be who they are" on the mat and explore, without judgement, asana and pranayama.

Under the tutelage of Marsha Wenig of YogaKids International, Stacie completed her 443-Hour practicum in 2009. She is the founder and owner of YogaKids North Shore, where she sometimes likens herself to "Mary Poppins with a yoga mat" as she bounces around the North Shore teaching and sharing the joy of yoga with as many kids/teens as she can reach. Stacie is currently embarking on her 200-Hour Adult Certification with Elizabeth O'Shea Sullivan of Yoga Bohdi in Marblehead. Stacie is happy to finally add this piece of her yoga puzzle to help propel her into a fully rounded yogini.

Stacie is thrilled to be a new part of the Empower team. Her love of Iyengar yoga, infused with a gentle Vinayasa Flow, helps her teach from her heart to people of all ages and abilities. "To be able to celebrate who you are and empower yourself with the connection of mind, body and breath is a gift that is deserved by every body."

Jenn Parisella

Jenn has been a group fitness instructor and personal trainer on the North Shore for the past 25 years. Along with a Level 1 CrossFit certification, ACE Personal Training and Spinning certification, her specialties include TRX, cardio & strength training, indoor cycling, teen sports conditioning, boot camps and in-home personal training. She lives in Beverly with her husband and four children.

Carleen Rivers

Carleen's journey into yoga began in 2007 as a way to improve her physical fitness, strength and flexibility. Initially afraid of "Hot Power Yoga" she was amazed to discover how much more flexible it allowed her to become and it's detoxifying effect that it had on her. After several classes she quickly found that her practice had started to transform her physically as well as mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Through a daily practice she was able to feel acceptance and true inner peace.

It is for these reasons that she chose to become a yoga teacher. Carleen wants to share her love and passion of yoga with others and always encourages her students to just be present and have an open heart. Her classes are physical, energetic and fun with an emphasis on alignment and posture. Her goal is to help her students find their foundation and maintain a peaceful mind and body.

Carleen received her 200-hour YTT from Divine Play Yoga where she studied with Claire Estes McDonald and Gregor Singleton. She is trained in the Baptiste flow and has taken several other training workshops. Carleen is forever grateful to all her teachers for igniting here inner fire and for inspiring her to do what she loves. She is thankful for them for sharing their wisdom, knowledge and their personal journey's.