Meet Our Instructors
Irene Pernick
Studio Manager, Instructor
Irene has been a yoga enthusiast and practitioner since 2007. She is an E-RYT 500 receiving her 200 hour certification in August of 2015 and completing her 500 hour Advanced Certification in November of 2017 with Raji Thron at Yoga Synthesis. Irene holds additional certifications in Advanced Personal Training and Group Fitness Instruction.
Irene’s enthusiasm and love of all things yoga and fitness are evident in every class that she teaches. Her intention for anyone walking through Humble Yoga’s doors is to have them feel welcome, safe, happy and watch them leave their practice feeling challenged, encouraged, and above all else, smiling!
Alicia Markuske
Instructor
Alicia began experiencing elements of yoga as an adolescent in her dance studio training. Formally introduced to yoga and sound bowls in a course at Montclair State, she found it to be profoundly healing. Alicia stepped into the world of professional dance, teaching dance and dance fitness. Yoga has always been her solution to center, rest and rejuvenate. After a labral tear injury lead to hip surgery, Alicia became more involved with mantras, meditation, breath work and mindfulness as a self practice. With this balance, she continued teaching body connection and movement. 200-YTT has been the biggest blessing to deepen Alicia’s practice and help her feel even more in harmony and flow mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
Patti Lewis
Instructor
Patti is a 500 hr. ERYT, receiving her training at Bamboomoves Yoga in Englewood, NJ and HOMe Yoga, Mahwah, N.J. She continues to add to her training through workshops and immersive trainings. She is also a Gold Instructor for Inside Flow ( revolutionary style of vinyasa). Moving from a place rooted in the philosophy of yoga, the poses carry not only form but focus on transformation inside and out.
Patti’s experience as an artist and her love of dance shows in the imagery, strength, and flow of her class.
Anthony Loffredo
Instructor
Anthony began his yoga journey in 2003 when he found Bikram Yoga to restore and recover from injuries he sustained competing in sprint triathlons. With a desire to teach, he completed his 200RYT in 2018. An injury while practicing Bikram became an opportunity to reassess his practice and teaching style. He discovered Become One Wholeness (BOW) and, under the direction of Jody Domerstad, completed a 50hr Yin training.
Attracted to the Functional Yoga style he continued his training with BOW in 2022 and formally completed his 500hr RYT in 2023. He is currently pursuing his certification to become a Licensed Yoga Therapist.
Anthony’s personal motto is “repetition, over time, without breaks and done with love creates change.” Most importantly, yoga is a practice designed to help us down-regulate our nervous system and with daily nervous system regulation you can create the capacity to choose love over fear.
Bianca Pereira
Instructor
Bianca’s love for movement began in her childhood in Brazil, when she started taking dance classes. Her mother fondly remembers her as “the girl who walked on her hands.” In her adulthood, Bianca discovered yoga in 2003 and instantly fell in love with the practice. Her passion for movement led her to earn a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy and become a licensed physical therapist in 2006. However, she soon realized that traditional Western medicine alone couldn’t fully heal her. Inspired by this realization, Bianca decided to deepen her yoga practice and also incorporate pilates into her routine. In 2021, Bianca earned her 200hr Yoga Teacher certification from Lori Zucker and Ellen Anderson of YogiAnatomy. She is currently pursuing her 300hr YTT with Raji Thron from YogaSyntesis.
In addition to her yoga teaching, Bianca continues to work as a physical therapist where she utilizes her degree and expertise of pilates and emphasizes the importance of stability and strength to help her clients. She holds a certification in “LSVT BIG,” a specialized movement retraining program for active individuals living with Parkinson’s disease. Bianca also teaches strength, core stability, and flexibility classes. Bianca’s yoga and pilates classes emphasize form, breath, and well-thought transitions of postures. This creates a beautiful meditation with movement experience that builds strength, flexibility, and mindfulness.
Jeannie Podest
Instructor
Jeannie Podest is a yoga practitioner of 20 years whose class style welcomes students of all levels, regardless of experience, age, gender or background. Each class is an invitation to link the breath with the movement while connecting the mind, body and soul.
Jeannie’s teaching style is a balanced flow that mindfully offers the opportunity for students to arrive as they are, wherever they are on their yoga journey and leave class with a strengthened body, full of heart and lifted spirit. Classes are prepared with a meaningful dharma that serves as fuel for the spirit and supports our yoga lifestyle off the mat.
Cheri-Ann Santini
Instructor
Cheri-Ann, a 500-hour certified yoga instructor under the guidance of renowned teachers Raji Thron and Steph Ball-Mitchell, is a passionate advocate for holistic wellness. With a deep-rooted understanding of ancient yogic principles, Cheri-Ann empowers students of all levels to unlock their full potential through mindful movement and breathwork. Her classes are thoughtfully designed to cultivate physical strength, mental clarity, and emotional balance, creating a sanctuary for relaxation and rejuvenation.
As a dedicated teacher, Cheri-Ann fosters a welcoming and inclusive community where individuals can connect with their bodies, minds, and spirits. Through her expertise in alignment, breath awareness, and mindfulness, she guides students towards a deeper sense of self-discovery and inner peace. Join Cheri-Ann on a transformative journey of self-care and empowerment.
Cristy SyCip
Instructor
Cristy May SyCip teaches Yoga, Barre, Pilates, Meditation and Circus Yoga to all ages and abilities. Cristy is certified in Yoga through Zhenya La Rosa, she is also certified in Booty Barre, Classical Pilates, Cycle. She is a Reiki Master through Dorothea Grant and a Third Degree Black Belt in MMA through TCMA. Cristy also holds certificates in Sports and Culinary Nutrition through Matthew Kenney, Progressive Ballet Technique and continuing studies in Blue Throat Yoga, Global Bowspring and Rajanaka.
To love life for all its diverse resplendent offerings. We consciously align with the totality of nature, we recognize our default reactions that don’t serve us and choose to create dynamic harmony to complete healing, maximum regeneration and powerful unimaginable transformation. May we magnify exquisite beauty, extra extraordinary love and experience the many levels of joy from a place of unbounded freedom.
Darrah Phykitt
Instructor
Darrah has been a massage therapist for the last 42 years. She found yoga 22 years ago and realized that in correlation with her massage therapy, she could provide her clients additional relief for their injuries. She earned her 200 hour yoga certification in 2017 and has been teaching for the last four years. She is passionate about her own practice and about pushing her limits to meet her body’s fullest potential, in safe ways. This, among the additional gifts of movement and breath, are what she opes to pass onto her students during every class.
Eilish Bresnan
Instructor
Eilish has been practicing yoga for over 25 years. Eilish graduated from Fire Shaper’s 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2017. In 2020 and 2021 she found herself, like much of the world, focusing on herself and self care. In January of 2021, she graduated from a second 200 hour yoga teacher certification in yoga and mindfulness from Yoga Farm in Ithaca NY.
Eilish is also a certified Antigravity Fundamentals, Antigravity Yoga, and an Antigravity Pilates instructor through Antigravity fitness in NYC. As Christopher Harrison reminds us “we are only as young as our spines are flexible.”
Eilish completed her 300 hour Pilates Certification through the Evolve Your Studio Pilates teacher Program in Harrington Park, NJ.
Eilish is a true believer that yoga and pilates are for everyone. She can be heard saying in her classes….. “to take a moment. A moment to be grateful. Grateful for the bodies that we have that allow us to be here. And grateful to the person and/or people that give us the time, space and place to be here.” - quote from Eilish Bresnan
Jenn Damashek
Instructor
Jennifer is a passionate yoga teacher. Yoga has accompanied Jenn on her journey since young adulthood, but it wasn’t until recently that she decided it time to share her passion with others. Jenn completed her training with Chromatic Yoga led by Matt Giordano in 2024. She loves the challenge of developing creative classes and views this process similarly to putting together a jigsaw puzzle. She layers postures, building sequences that fit together progressively to help her students continually sink deeper. Her greatest strength lays in her strong and detailed cueing which supports technique and proper alignment. This makes her a perfect fit for beginners and students looking to deepen their practice alike. An affinity for teaching has long lived within Jenn’s heart as prior to becoming a mother of three she was an elementary school teacher. You can count on her to create a warm and supportive environment in which to move and enrich both mind and body on and off the mat.
Jodi Levenson
Instructor
Back in college, Jodi avidly participated in yoga, dance and sports. But it was yoga that gave her a blissful feeling from the very first class. Jodi has been a practicing Speech Therapist for over 35 years. After taking a 10-year hiatus to raise her 3 beautiful children, she went back to her yoga practice in the late 1990’s and then made a decision to take a yoga teacher training to deepen her practice with no intent to actually teach. To her surprise she has been teaching since 2008 and in addition to teaching yoga classes, she has been able to share the mindfulness teachings of yoga with many of her adult therapy patients and has made a difference in their lives. She has practiced many styles of yoga but has a special love for the movement of Vinyasa and enjoys sharing it with others. For Jodi, yoga is an unending journey that teaches her more about herself each and everyday. She hopes to bring this opportunity to her students doing it with a vigorous, challenging & joyful approach.
Maria Salvatore
Instructor
Mama, teacher, speaker and spirit junkie, Maria Salvatore has been teaching yoga and meditation for over a decade, and has been studying with master yoga teachers since 1994. Maria offers movement and meditation as a way to approach our world with realistic reverence and gratitude. Her classes are a masterful, candid blend of artful alignment and attention cues for your body, mind and heart.
In addition to her yoga practice and philanthropic work, Maria is also a certified Usui Reiki Level II Practitioner. As well as a YACEP, which is a Yoga Alliance designation for individuals that teach continuing education courses, mentoring & certifying teachers. She has most recently added sound healing as a modality for healing in her offerings. E-RYT 500,YACEP
“Her primary intention is to help people realize they have the power to heal themselves.”
Melanie Ax
Instructor
Movement has always been a main source of medicine for Melanie. A classical dancer and professional performer, yoga was introduced into her routine as another outlet to further build balance, strength, lung function and mind-body connection. She completed her 200 Hr training with Stacey Bell and Carrie Parker through Powerflow Yoga in 2019. Mel focuses on alignment, breath, strength, and fluid flows that help you move out of head and more into the heart space. Mel also has certifications in Lotte Berk and other Barre methods and has created her own dance company and community, Thrive Up Movement.
Raluca Minea
Instructor
Raluca is a dedicated yoga teacher passionate about empowering individuals of all ages to discover their inner strength and balance through the practice of yoga. With years of experience guiding both children and adults, Raluca brings a nurturing and inspiring approach to every class, fostering self-awareness, confidence, and mindfulness. Through creative sequences, breathwork, and an emphasis on personal growth, Raluca creates a supportive environment where students can thrive and carry the lessons of yoga into their everyday lives.
Renée Scherer
Instructor
Renée is a 500 ERYT with a diverse background in martial arts and pilates, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to her teaching.
As a dedicated yoga instructor and sound healer, Renée blends these disciplines to offer a holistic approach to well-being, focusing on the harmony of body, mind, and spirit. Her classes are dynamic and fun with an emphasis on challenging sequences with energetic, upbeat music.
Shira Gadot Teichmann
Instructor
Shira is a proud mom of three, a certified yoga teacher, and a therapist and clinical social worker. She is excited to teach at Humble Yoga where she appreciated the intimate and personal atmosphere.
Shira starts her classes with stretches and heart-openers, gradually building the flow to make it more challenging, and conclude with a soothing Shavasana. Shira believes that yoga is a practice that integrates both mind and body. It involves moving with intention, shifting and creating energies, and focusing on what serves us while letting go of what doesn’t.
Shira’s happy place is with her kids and family, and at the beach — feeling the sand on my feet and breathing mindfully.
