Yoga Teacher Training

For the past 25 years, I’ve been teaching people all over the world the principles of deep listening through restorative and slow flow yoga and mindfulness practices. To me, slowing down, turning inward, and deeply listening to our body and heart is perhaps the most meaningful form of self-care work we can do. When we are more compassionate and connected with ourselves, we are able to be more compassionate and connected with others and the world around us. In this way, our practice not only benefits us, it benefits everyone we are in relationship with, and everyone we come into contact with. This is truly why I practice, and why I offer the classes, retreats, workshops, and trainings I do. But relaxing didn’t always come easily to me.

Jannice is the general manager and owner of Be Yoga Studio, she is a Yoga teacher and Yoga Therapist, (E-RYT 500) YogaWorks certified trainer, and a forever dedicated yoga student. Jannice started her own Yoga Practice in 2001, over the years she has studied with highly respected and acknowledged teachers from around the world. She has assisted her Senior YogaWorks teachers for more than 600 hours, to become a YogaWorks Teacher Trainer and has in addition to her Yogaworks 500 hour training – completed several trainings, together over 2000 hours.

Liz Defour is the owner of Full Lotus Yoga studio, a certified YogaWorks Trainer, and has been teaching yoga for over a decade. She began studying yoga as a teenager and was immediately aware of the importance a consistent practice made on her physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Now a certified E-RYT 500 Liz is dedicated to sharing yoga with her community full time.

Beginning with and grounded in Ashtanga yoga, Liz now likes to weave many modalities of movement and training into her teaching. Liz considers herself a voracious student of the Yoga Sutras and loves to discuss how we can incorporate this ancient ideology into our modern day lifestyle.

Monica nourishes her body through movement and soul through love. She continues to practice and share her passion for yoga, fitness, and community.

Monica is a 500-Hour RYT who teaches studio classes, online classes, events, workshops, teacher training, private sessions, and retreats. Her upbeat, athletic, and flowing yoga style emphasizes technique and alignment while cultivating the connection between breath and movement.

Be prepared to sweat and move freely, while building strength, flexibility, endurance, balance, and relaxation. Monica encourages students to challenge the physical body while calming the mind and spirit — leaving them feeling stronger, more energized, and more balanced.

YogaWorks teachers are expertly-trained, impassioned educators who make yoga accessible to every body. They’ve been featured in international publications and programs, led sold out workshops and retreats, and shared their love of yoga in destinations near and far.

No matter which instructor you have at YogaWorks, you’ll be learning from an industry-leading yoga trainer who’s ready to simplify your learning process. Each member of our widely-respected training team has hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of training, and you’ll be led by and learn from their immense wellspring of expertise.

YogaWorks trainers are well-studied and have the skills to structure, organize and teach you how to teach others. In addition our trainers are highly skilled in teaching both online and in-person. Think of your trainer as your personal coach, guiding you through every detail as it unfolds, so you can train with confidence and ease.

Alicia Cheung has been a movement junkie since childhood, and started teaching group fitness classes at fifteen years of age. In her early 20s, she expanded her repertoire as a personal trainer and yoga teacher. Her journey continued through injuries sustained during a snowmobiling accident that left her unable to move for four months. With Yoga and acupuncture as her main modalities for healing, this led her to eventually earn a Masters of Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine. She has also studied and received certification in mindfulness and meditation, craniosacral therapy and nutritional counseling. While her classes are steeped in mindfulness practice, she never dismisses the power that movement has on healing, recovery and overall wellbeing. “Motion is lotion and movement is medicine,” she often tells her students.

During trainings, Alicia focuses on functional anatomy and movement, yoga psychology and philosophy, bridging the physical with the psychospiritual and relating the deeper threads of Yoga to daily life and relationships.

For the last thirty years, she has empowered her students to embody and love their anatomy, to move skillfully with great attention and care, and to establish sustainable relationships with the Earth, people and food.

Alicia loves teaching vinyasa flow, therapeutic Yin yoga, Yoga nidra, myofascial roll-n-release, online mindfulness courses, nutrition and breath work. She is a teacher’s teacher and one of many talents.

Physical Therapist, Yoga Therapist, and Teacher Trainer.

Having spent two fulfilling decades in Los Angeles, Olivia played a pivotal role in numerous YogaWorks yoga teacher training programs, including training the trainers. As an accomplished author, she penned the YogaWorks Teacher Training Anatomy Manual and contributed to shaping the curriculum.

A proud UC Berkeley alum, she pursued her passion for healing by earning a Master’s in Physical Therapy with Honors from CSU Northridge.

Her journey in movement studies commenced at the renowned San Francisco Ballet School and to this day, she still finds her groove in dance classes of all varieties.

Currently, she is actively involved in training and mentoring new teachers with the Center for Yoga Los Angeles. Recently, she has joined the Kinesiology Department at Santa Rosa Junior College, further expanding her reach and impact.

Jodie Rufty was the East Coast Director of Trainer Development for YogaWorks from 2015 to 2020 and has been a Senior Trainer for both the 200 and 300-hour Training for the past 19 years.

She has been teaching Yoga since 1995 throughout New York, California, and Internationally. Jodie co-founded Amrita Yoga Center NYC in September of 2002 and helped launch Nava Yoga Center in Zagreb, Croatia, in June 2004.

Jodie has continued her education with many teachers, including Rodney Yee, Genny Kapuler, and Ana Forrest, completing several Training Intensives in 1998, 2000 & 2003. While living in California in 1998, Jodie taught at the Yoga Studio of Mill Valley. She continued her studies at Yoga Works in Los Angeles with many teachers, such as Lisa Walford, Eric Schifmann & Shiva Rea. Jodie is registered to teach through Yoga Alliance at the E-RYT 500 hour level, receiving several 200 & 300 hr certifications by Alan Finger in the ISHTA lineage, Alison West of Yoga Union, and YogaWorks.

She is also the author of “The Art of Yoga Sequencing” published in 2008. Jodie has continued her education with many teachers, including Rodney Yee, Genny Kapuler, and Ana Forrest, completing several Training Intensives in 1998, 2000 & 2003. Jodie currently resides in NYC, where she continues to study, practice and teach Yoga . She continues to draw much of her spiritual inspiration and guidance from Amritanandamayama or (“Amma” “Ammachi” the hugging mother from India). She is incredibly grateful to all her teachers over the years. Jodie also teaches many workshops and retreats worldwide throughout the year.