LEADERSHIP & STAFF
YOGA FARM ITHACA TEAM
LEADERSHIP, STAFF, BOARD MEMBERS, YOGA TEACHERS & CONTRIBUTING EDUCATORS
We are pleased to share with you the amazing team at this nonprofit that delivers classes, teaching, videos, and decades of refined Wisdom every day of the week.
The nonprofit Yoga Farm Ithaca was cofounded in 2018, building on the foundation started when the Yoga Farm Facility first opened its doors in June 2015.
Our Educators & Teaching Team
Yoga Farm Ithaca’s programs are guided by a collaborative team of experienced educators, practitioners, and facilitators who bring depth, care, and integrity to their teaching.
Our team includes yoga teachers, meditation instructors, movement specialists, and wellness educators with diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. We teach using trauma-aware, consent-based language, emphasizing accessibility, curiosity, and nervous-system awareness across all of our offerings.
As a nonprofit organization, we value collaboration over hierarchy. Our educators are not presented as gurus or authorities to follow, but as guides supporting learning, reflection, and skill-building in a respectful and inclusive environment.
How Our Team Teaches
Across all programs, our educators share a commitment to trauma-aware teaching, choice-based participation, and adaptable learning environments.
Practices are offered with options, and students are encouraged to engage at their own pace. We emphasize thoughtful cueing, ethical teaching standards, and practical application — whether learning takes place online or in person.
Our approach supports both new and experienced students, creating learning spaces that prioritize safety, inclusion, and integration into daily life.
JEANNIE O'NEILL
M.ED, E-RYT500, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeannie O’Neill is the Founding Executive Director and Lead Educator at Yoga Farm Ithaca.
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As a seasoned interdisciplinary educator and a doctoral student in Transformational Leadership and Coaching, her work centers on designing non-hierarchical, collaborative education spaces that empower students to become agents of their own growth. Her doctoral research focuses on Leadership Consciousness in adult education, examining how shared leadership, relational trust, and contemplative practice cultivate participatory and transformative learning environments.
With an M.Ed. specializing in contemplative pedagogy and transformative curriculum design, Jeannie has developed and facilitated numerous innovative programs across diverse educational settings. She created the Radiant Warrior Yoga Teacher Training, Kundalini Warrior, and Spiritual Warrior Yoga Teacher trainings, and countless continuing education programs.
Jeannie is a 500E-RYT Vinyasa and Kundalini Yoga teacher, Mindfulness Meditation instructor and Ayurvedic health practitioner. She serves on the advisory committee for the American Yoga Council.
JESSICA ENGLISH
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Jessica comes to us from a long history of working within the alternative holistic education field after having spent over a decade working for the Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca NY.
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In her role as Campus Director there she supported the staff with heart centered leadership and she looks forward to continuing in this tradition at Yoga Farm.
She loves that she gets an opportunity to support the student experience throughout the process from initial inquiry though to alumni status.
When she isn't helping our community figure out which course is the right fit for them, she oversees the direction of marketing, outreach, and programming.
She is excited to utilize her passion for travel and events as the point person for retreats. Bringing students on in person adventures and trainings around the world is one of her favorite things.
MATT O’NEILL
DIGITAL COLLECTIONS LIBRARIAN
Matt is an archivist responsible for the curation, selection, acquisition, organization, accessibility and preservation of digital materials related to the broad mission of Yoga Farm Ithaca.
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The Digital Collections Librarian oversees all aspects of digital educational materials, from capture of new materials, organizing existing materials, to preservation in database, to surfacing materials for use in ongoing promotions and education, and developing a public facing library of Wisdom and Knowledge related to the core topics and domains of Yoga Farm Ithaca educators.
JOSHUA REYNOLDS
MULTIMEDIA CREATOR, MUSICIAN, TECHNICIAN
Joshua is a talented musician and artist that films and edits video and audio for our outreach, free offerings, course classrooms and much more.
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Joshua is responsible for delivering all media, primarily audio, video, photography, and written content that furthers the mission and upholds our vision of ‘Education for a United Humanity’
Joshua creates high quality assets for use in our online courses, both live and pre-recorded, and for promotions of the courses, the brand and the farm itself.
Sabrina Trapani
STUDENT SUPPORT & SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER
Sabrina is a 500 RYT within Kundalini, Vinyasa Yoga and Mindfulness. As a Reiki Practitioner and Kundalini Reiki Master, her passion lies within ‘The Yoga of Awareness’, Kundalini Yoga and the 10 Bodies.
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She combines these practices of presence as avenues to heal deep layers of the body, mind and being. She leads from the belief that everything you need is within you. Through these practices we learn and unlearn, we embrace our uniqueness and truly embody the essence of who it is that we are, and how to use our energy to live our dharma | path. Understanding the love and courage that it takes to find one’s way she is devoted to holding space for others. We feel and fuel our dreams through our presence in practice, learning to trust our intuition, tap into our truth and lead a fulfilling life of authentically.
Sabrina has studied with Yoga Farm Ithaca since 2020 through our Radiant Warrior, Kundalini Warrior, Spiritual Warrior, Kundalini Rebirthing and more trainings. She is our Student Outreach and Social Media Manager and is also a Kundalini Teacher here with us in studio and online. She considers herself as a forever student and has currently been studying Human Design and ways to incorporate that wisdom within her practices.
Outside of her studies she enjoys most spending time with her partner, two teenage sons, golden retrievers and friends!
eden gilson
STUDIO FRONT DESK STAFF
EDEN BRINGS HER WARMTH AND CONNECTION TO HER ROLE AS ONE OF OUR FRONT-OF-HOUSE STAFF. SHE HELPS MAKE YOGA FARM A WELCOMING SPACE IN THE COMMUNITY.
PHOEBE ENGLISH
STUDIO FRONT DESK STAFF
PHOEBE LOVES BEING ONE OF THE FIRST FACES PEOPLE MEET WHEN THEY COME TO THE YOGA FARM STUDIO. SHE IS NATURALLY WARM AND WELCOMING AS SHE HELPS PEOPLE FEEL AT HOME HERE.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS, SERVING 2024-2025
MAR PEREZ, BOARD PRESIDENT
PENNEE BARRESI, VICE PRESIDENT
MERRI GOODROW, TREASURER
ERIN MUNOZ, SECRETARY
Acting Members
JAZMIN HUPP
AASHISH PATEL
BEA NELLENBACK
BRIAN WINTERS
We thank the volunteer Board Members of the nonprofit for their incredible service and leadership
YOGA TEACHERS & STAFF
Bryan Isacks
M.S. L.AC.
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LEAD Educator
Bryan has been training, teaching, and practicing acupuncture, Oriental medicine, and qigong in the Finger Lakes for over twenty years. During his career he developed a qigong curriculum for people in recovery at Cayuga Addiction recovery services.
Additionally, he has contiually run a high volume acupuncture practice in Trumansburg, NY specializing in sports medicine and pain management since 2007. Isacks has also served on the faculty of the Finger Lakes School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine for thirteen years, where he taught Tui Na (Chinese medical massage), and Qi Gong since 2007. He has hosted dozens of students and interns who came to learn acupuncture and body work in his clinic, and has assisted some of the finest practitioners of East Asian healing arts in the world in teaching Chinese medical massage, qi gong, and tui na in Europe, Canada, and the United States.
madeline natale
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER, ONLINE EDUCATOR
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In June 2019, Madeline completed her first 200-YTT at Yoga farm. She has since completed the Kundalini Warrior YTT and is continuing her education by studying Prenatal Yoga and Kundalini Chair adaptations. Additionally, Madeline teaches Religious Exploration at the First Unitarian Society in Ithaca.
Madeline was introduced to yoga at a young age to manage adolescent anxiety and navigate the hardships of youth. She feels passionate about introducing yoga to young people as a means to take care of their mental and spiritual health.
SHULA STERN
YOGA TEACHER, YOGA TEACHER TRAINING ASSISTANT
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My Experience: In June 2019, I completed my RYT 200 hour teaching certificate through Yoga Farm. I have taken multiple continuing education weekends including restorative, yoga nidra, meditation, kundalini and laughter Yoga. I am always a continuing student, and I love learning, growing and sharing my newfound knowledge.
My “WHY”: Through my yoga practice, I have come to find peace in my mind and body. I have released a lot of fear, stress, injuries, and limiting beliefs. Though yoga I have really embodied the energy of love and self acceptance. I am passionate about helping others heal from the inside out and experience more peace and joy in their lives. It is truly an honor to offer and share the gift of yoga with people.
My Conviction: Love is something within us. Focusing on your own self care and worthiness allows love to begin to blossom within you, around you, for you and for others in your life. Yoga is truly the path to falling in love with ourselves, healing and shining our inner light.
ZARRA LEONARD
B.S. EXERCISE SCIENCE, EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGIST, CPT, RYT-500
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School Studio Manager, Yoga Teacher, 200 hour YTT teaching assistant.
Zarra is a passionate yoga teacher and movement specialist who finds true joy in sharing her passion with others. Her journey to becoming a movement specialist started in 2018 when she earned her certification as a personal trainer through NETA. She then earned her RYT-200 certification in 2019 and RYT-500 certification in 2022, both through Yoga Farm Ithaca. In 2023, she obtained a degree in Exercise Science with a Sport Sciences concentration from Ithaca College.
One of Zarra’s proudest accomplishments is returning to school as an adult non-traditional student to pursue her passion for movement. Science has always been Zarra’s North Star, her guiding light that keeps her moving in the direction of her truth. Her love of science and her background in anatomy and physiology allow her to approach yoga with a scientific depth. Zarra is committed to continual learning, growth, and evolution, applying her ever-expanding knowledge to her own life and enthusiastically sharing what she discovers with others.
Zarra is dedicated to helping yoga practitioners understand the intricacies of their bodies while honoring the interconnection between the physical and subtle body.
kristine Bishop
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER, BOARD MEMBER
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Kristine offers wellness practices as a somatic mindfulness and inquiry coach, yoga teacher, and Reiki practitioner. In group and 1:1 sessions, she is passionate about helping people become unstuck, manage anxiety and other energy, regulate the nervous system, and heal trauma so they can have the impact they want while doing what they love. Developed during years of biological and ecological research and instruction in academia, and originating in her apple farm upbringing, Kristine applies her keen eye to the vast ecosystem within us. She is dedicated to rediscovering the body as an incredible intelligence and listening to and trusting the body's ancient wisdom and intuition to make soul-aligned actions. She guides us in replacing burnout, anxiety, and limiting beliefs with a regulated nervous system, confidence in purpose, and joy for life. She believes in empowerment through embodiment using mindfulness, movement, breathwork, and vocalization and gently leads us into the wise stillness within.
Certified though Yoga Farm in Vinyasa Yoga and Trauma-Informed Somatic Mindfulness and Inquiry, Kristine also blends aspects of Kundalini, Yin, Qigong, Chair Yoga, and Reiki into her offerings, KristineAverill.com.
katALIN lustyik
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER
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I started practicing yoga as a graduate student and decades later completed my RYT 200 hour Yoga and Mindfulness teaching certificate through Yoga Farm, NY. I love teaching gentle neighborhood and community classes outdoors for people of all ages and levels. I have studied Buddhism and Tibetan yantra yoga in Hungary.
With a Ph.D. in Media Studies, I worked at Ithaca College and other universities around the world, more recently developed Digital MIndfulness courses to support our "digital well-being."
rose zonetti
YOGA TEACHER & COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
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While my main passion is massage therapy, I’m also a committed student of yoga. I’m a 200-hr Registered Yoga Teacher, and my yoga practice and love for inquiry-based movement deeply informs my work as a massage therapist.
In January 2012, I accepted a position in Admissions at the Finger Lakes School of Massage (FLSM) in Ithaca, New York. Just three months after, I started as a student at FLSM and graduated in 2013.I also hold a B.A. in Writing from Ithaca College, where I focused on creative nonfiction. I continue to write in my free time, and I find that this inspires my approach to bodywork: Creative practice cultivates my capacity for deep presence, curiosity, and wonder, all of which deepen the way I offer massage therapy.
PENNEE SQUIER BARRESI
YOGA TEACHER, BOARD MEMBER
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My Experience: In May of 2017, I completed my RYT 200 hour teaching certificate through Yoga Farm, Lansing, NY and in June of 2018, I completed a 30 hour Restorative Yoga training at Kripalu with Judith Hanson Lasater. I teach meditative, gentle flow classes and Restorative Yoga class at Yoga Farm Ithaca.
Now retired, I served in public education for 30 years as a School Psychologist. During that time, I began my exploration into the many benefits of Mindfulness as an extension of my own mediation practice.
My “WHY”: Through my yoga practice, I have come to recognize how the quality of my life can change when I respond from love rather than react from fear. Discovering that yoga is really not so much about self-improvement, rather it is about a radical self-acceptance with fierce compassionate, opened me to my own self-love. It is a honor for me to offer support to others on their journey.
My Conviction: Loving yourself with all your heart, will allow you to truly love all sentient beings on this Earth. Yoga is that path.
JACKIE BLAKE
PRE-NATAL YOGA TEACHER
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Jackie began her career in wellness in 1999 as a personal trainer at Equinox Fitness Clubs in New York City.
That first year working as a personal trainer, she took a Pre and Post Natal Fitness Training certification and fell in love with working with pregnant women and new mothers. She then fell in love with yoga in 2004 and did her 200 Hour teacher training at YogaWorks in NYC.
She has since been teaching private and group yoga classes in person and online. Jackie also is a dancer as well as a dance instructor, certified in the Groove Method. Most recently, she completed the 100 Hour Kundalini Pre and Post Natal yoga certification from Yoga Farm.
Jackie was so inspired by the profundity of this certification, that she has shifted the focus of her work entirely to pre and postnatal yoga to share this passion and knowledge with other pregnant people.
KIM WUNNER
YOGA TEACHER & BUSINESS EDUCATOR
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Kim is an Italian American woman, LGBT identified. She spent 25 years in Philadelphia, navigating a wild and diverse marketing career. She has always been passionate about inclusivity and accessibility, motivated by strengths in our intersectionalities and the obstacles we have had to overcome.
Her experience in corporate environments revealed that while these settings often adhere to linear and prescriptive roles of success, there is substantial potential for growth when diversity is genuinely embraced and encouraged.
As a woman and member of the LGBTQ+ community, she have personally experienced the constraints imposed by rigid identity expectations, which can detract from one’s productivity, creativity, and overall well-being. This realization drove her to seek more effective approaches to fostering inclusivity.
She has devoted herself to studying the socio economic structures of capitalism and its demands on gender identities and the inequities it produces.
She is also a Reiki Practitioner and Kundalini Yoga Teacher. Her style is strategic, curious and celebrates the intersections of the person, going deep to reveal the greatest truth.
heather gilles
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER
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Heather is a 500 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher, and Yoga Farm Graduate. Having recently relocated to Ithaca from New York City, she is looking forward to sharing and passing on the deep healing, truth and wisdom that can be found and experienced through trauma-informed yoga.
She is passionate about making the practice of yoga accessible to all body sizes, shapes, ages and levels of mobility. Yoga Farm is an incredible facilitator for healing, community, self-awareness and service. Heather is honored to be a member of this great family.
NATALYA COWiLICH
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER
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Natalya took yoga teacher training with Yoga Farm Ithaca in 2020 and became a certified 200 hour Radiant Warror Instructor, as well as a 300 hour Kundalini instructor. Natalya offers accessible Kundalni classes and community classes at the Ithaca Yoga Farm Downtown location on Tuesdays ans Sundays. She has also been belly dancing since 2012 and continues to belly dance in the ithaca community. Let's build a Sanga together! Sat nam.
krista hagman
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER
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Krista has been practicing yoga for close to 2 decades, and teaching for more than 1 decade. She comes from a Hatha Yoga and Iynegar background, with a strong emphases in yoga therapy. Her aim is to encourage stability and freedom, while honoring each practitioners unique needs. She combines humor, physiology, breath awareness, and somatic inquiry into her classes. Her joy is for yoga to be accessible and pleasurable for all.
JENNI cunningham
STUDIO YOGA TEACHER
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Jenni's journey into yoga began over two decades ago, with a deep dive into Hatha and Iyengar practices to
enhance her physical and endurance training. However, yoga soon revealed itself as more than just a way to stay
fit—it became a transformative path. When Jenni discovered Ashtanga yoga, she felt an instant connection, as if
she had finally found her true yoga home. This passion led her to complete both her initial and advanced training in
the Ashtanga tradition, earning her an E-RYT-500 certification.
Jenni's classes are unique, blending the foundational teachings of the traditional 8-fold path with the creative
energies of Vinyasa, Power, HIIT Yoga, and Yin styles. Her approach is rooted in tradition but infused with a
modern twist, making her classes both grounding and dynamic - and fun. Alongside her yoga expertise, Jenni is a
Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach under NASM, ensuring a holistic approach to wellness.
Beyond the mat, Jenni enjoys life’s adventures with her partner Eric, daughter Lily, and their dog Lola, exploring
the outdoors, hitting the lake, wandering through forests, and soaking in the magic of Broadway shows. Jenni also
dedicates her time to mentoring new yoga teachers, guiding intermediate students, and consulting with
wellnesspreneurs. Whether through yoga programs, one-on-one mentorship, or private intensives for beginners,
Jenni shares the gift of yoga from her heart, helping others to find balance, strength, and serious joy in their lives.
Sasha Salayda
ONLINE QIGONG TEACHER
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Sasha is a certified Qi Gong instructor and has been practicing Chinese internal arts since 2018. She discovered Qi Gong through Chinese internal martial arts on her quest to heal a shoulder injury while also regulating her nervous system and improving mental health. Sasha has studied Bagua Zhang under Yoga Farm’s Head Qi Gong instructor Bryan Isacks, as well as through the lineages of Internal Arts International and Tang Shou Tao Association. Sasha has also studied under recognized somatic experts such as Yoga Farm’s Lynn Fraser and others such as Irene Lyon and Karden Rabin.
Sasha holds an A.A.S in Natural Resource Conservation, a B.A. in Psychology, and is currently pursuing an M.S. in Health Programming and Behavioral Wellness. In addition to serving Yoga Farm’s mission, Sasha also teaches weekly Qi Gong classes for Cornell’s Wellness Program and in the local community.
To learn more: https://www.blackwolfinternalarts.com/
SUPPORTING EDUCATORS
We are pleased to be supported in our trainings by amazing Contributing Educators, including:
SUPRIYA SHAH
MIKEL MOSS
TASHA EDWARDS
LYNN FRASER