Yoga Synergy Instructors are certified, registered yoga teachers with Yoga Alliance; each with their own unique styles and insights to share, and all who are trained to keep you safe and hold space.

Annie Leeks began her journey into yoga while in college looking for an alternative way to exercise. It wasn’t until 2012 that she seriously began to explore yoga both as a student and as a teacher. She began teaching in 2012 as a 200 RYT. It wasn’t until 2015 that she decided to leave her full time engineering career to focus on teaching yoga. She received her 300 RYT in 2017 and teaches at numerous yoga studios in Connecticut. Her classes are creative, fun, and challenging. Classes focus on Vinyasa flow with build up to peak postures. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, dining out and practicing hot yoga daily.

Kara Peters has recently completed her 200 hour teacher training at Kaia Yoga. In her classes you will find a devotion to teaching focused, intelligent sequences and medicine for the soul with her hands-on adjustments, proper alignment cues and eclectic music.

Kara first explored mindful movement during her Shakespearean acting training at RADA in London. For the past eleven years, she has practiced abroad with influential teachers such as Cat Alip-Douglas (Jivamukti London), Shiva Risi (Dharamsala, India) and Lara Roux (Yoga Shala in Cape Town) and she is delighted to be able to share all she knows and continues to learn with other practitioners in this Fairfield County community. She believes that beyond the grace of the meditative movement, the depth of the breath and pure joy of practicing with intent, that it is the soul connection one can experience on the mat which is the essence of yoga, and it is from this sacred place that she intends to teach.

She continuously encourages her students to recognize their own limitations and work towards deepening their Asana practice in a safe way, developing both the physical and energetic body. With her strong background in dance, drama, and teaching high school English, Kara strives to ensure that each yoga class is a joyful, playful, and soulful experience.

Lisa began practicing Bikram Yoga in 2008 and fell in love with the detoxifying element of the heated room. In 2009, Lisa first tried Vinyasa yoga, and was drawn to its creative flow and strength building. Shortly afterwards she developed a regular practice. The benefits of yoga in its entirety, the asana, meditation and pranayama practice, began to manifest in ways on and off the mat for her; where yoga becomes a lifestyle. Lisa’s classes have a focus on strength building with a balance of flexibility, and are often sprinkled with more challenging balancing transitions, as well as, mindfulness and breathwork. She is a hands-on teacher, offering adjustments and verbal cues throughout class. Lisa completed her 200hr teacher training in 2015 at Kaia Yoga in Westport, and has recently finished her 300hr teacher training there as well.

Over a decade ago, Sarah’s yoga journey began overlooking the Andes Mountains. Since then, her practice has evolved in many ways, but what has remained consistent is her desire to be forever a student, and forever learning.

Sarah’s classes are soulful and sweaty. Linking breath (pranayama, or life force) with movement, in a challenging yet mindful approach, she will take you through an alignment based vinyasa practice. Expect to hear bumpin’ beats to help you tune out and turn in.

“To me, yoga is moving meditation. It is athletic poetry. It is also a way for us to “yoke”, to join, to unify, body and soul. I think what yoga really helps me to do is to connect more deeply to myself so I might be able to better connect to the world. But my practice continues to grow and develop, and I think that is what makes it so nourishing and exciting. Yoga is a life’s work, it is a life practice.”

Having lived abroad, travelled to various corners of the globe, and rich personal experiences, she grounds her teaching in wisdom of a closely observed life. Some of her most profound lessons and reflections come from her work as a literature teacher at Fairfield Ludlowe High School.

Her 200-HR. YTT from Saraswati’s Yoga Joint, a Masters Degree in Education and the incredible teachers she continues to meet along the way, have had a profound impact on her asana and philosophical approach. In both the high school classroom and the yoga room, she truly believes that the best teachers are life long students, and she continues to learn some of life’s most poignant lessons through her students.

Stephanie was introduced to yoga as a child by her mother, a follower of Paramahansa Yogananda, sparking a lifetime interest in spirituality. Stephanie grew up in New York City attending Sivananda, Jivamukti, and Iyengar yoga classes throughout high school and continuing her studies while at Columbia University, concentrating in Psychology and Eastern Religion. Beyond college, her passion for yoga and rock climbing, along with her French and Russian roots, led her to travel to over forty countries, including living in India, attending several yoga teacher trainings, and spending time with various teachers including Mata Amritanandamayi, Swami Bua, and Guru Nitya.

Her yoga classes are guided by her personal practice of staying positive and present in each moment and her desire for students to find their edge and fulfill their own intentions and goals on and off the mat. She considers herself to be a lifetime student constantly looking for opportunities to challenge herself and collaborate with others. When not teaching yoga, you can find her in her day job of guiding students in the college process, sweating it out with her daughters in a yoga class, or concocting her latest plant-based creation.

Stephanie has always enjoyed living a healthy and active lifestyle.  She began practicing yoga 15 years ago and fell in love with heated vinyasa flow.  Yoga became a form of physical and mental therapy, a place to clear her heart and head. After years of teaching fitness, cycle, barre and personal training, she decided to switch her focus to Yoga, her true passion.

In 2019, she completed a 200-hr RYT at Kaia Yoga.  Stephanie enjoys teaching to all levels and helping guide her students to grow.  She believes that Yoga is a journey not a destination, a true passion you can continue to develop for a lifetime.

X