About Us

Bernal Yoga is centrally located in the heart of Bernal Heights on Cortland Ave. Students will find the studio to be a warm and nurturing environment that not only welcomes the first time student but offers a variety of classes and instructors for the more experienced practitioner. Bernal Yoga is a neighborhood and city studio for all ages and levels. Bernal Yoga's In structors offer not only their teaching and practice experience but also their passion for Yoga.

Bill Wyland: Bill is the co-owner and co-director of Bernal Yoga. He graduated from the Sacred Movement Center for Yoga and Health in Venice, California where he studied under Max Strom, Shiva Rea, Saul David Raye and Sherry Brourman PT. He also completed the Thai Yoga Therapy Massage program at the White Lotus Foundation with Saul David Raye.

Bill's philosophy is rooted in the Vinyasa tradition where the practice of yoga is applied to the overall approach to living. One should use the skill and awareness yoga creates to all the foundations and rhythms of life, including health, relationships, work, and personal evolution.

He teaches Vinyasa and Thai Yoga classes at the studio in Bernal Heights, San Francisco, CA and at select retreats worldwide. He can be reached directly at bill@bernalyoga.com>

Savonn Wyland: Savonn is the founder and co-director of Bernal Yoga. Together with Bill, her brother, she oversees the growth, development and vision of the studio.
Savonn's approach to teaching yoga is to provide grounded inspiration, skillful instruction and mindful intention.

Her classes, workshops and retreats offer an opportunity to tap into the transformational energy present when a group comes together to practice without losing the power of personal inquiry and expression. Her one-on-one sessions help to better tailor a personal practice, to address individual concerns, modifications and questions, and to make sure the practice stays safe, nurturing and fun. Savonn recognizes the importance of an integrated approach to health and wellbeing. She believes that yoga and other meditative and expressive arts are a great complement to athletic, professional and creative pursuits.

Savonn holds Yoga Teaching Certificates in "Flow/Vinyasa" from the White Lotus Foundation, "Pre and Post Natal Yoga" from the Seattle Holistic Center and "Yin/Yang" yoga from Sarah Powers and Paul Grilley.

Savonn recently moved to Portland, OR with her husband and their son. She returns to San Francisco, frequently, to teach and reconnect with the amazing community of people that practice at Bernal Yoga. If you would like to contact her directly, please email:savonn@bernalyoga.com

Gizella Donald: Gizella began her studies and practice in 1990 at the Sivananda Yoga Center in San Francisco. Since then she has practiced in different classical Yoga traditions as well as the more physical Ashtanga, Iyengar and Bikram styles. Gizella integrated this wealth of experience into a process towards true and lasting transformation.

As a certified Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga instructor, she emphasizes alignment, breath and ease of movement. She inspires her students to extend the practice of yoga by encouraging them to bring the love of yoga into their everyday life.

She offers a fresh approach to yoga that responds to the vitality of city living. She combines an energizing rhythmic flow style with great music and detailed adjustments.

Rosey Kobliska-Becker: Rosey Kobliska-Becker is a compassionate teacher who believes deeply in the healing aspects of yoga. She holds Yoga Teaching Certifications in Hatha yoga from Darren Main and Vinyasa yoga from Seane Corn. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work and offers counseling to children and families throughout the Bay Area. She blends aspects of social work into her yoga teaching creating a nurturing, supportive style of yoga. Her family yoga classes create a safe space for children and adults to connect and have fun. Rosey currently leads Teacher Trainings for Caregivers, Therapist, Educators and Health Care Providers. For more information about Rosey please see www.yogawithkateandrosey.com

Kate Roades Sosnowski: As a teacher of adults, children and families, Kate's classes are a combination of flowing movements, playful postures and strength based sequencing. She has practiced yoga since 1998 and completed Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training at It's Yoga, San Francisco in 2003. She earned her Elementary Education Teaching Credential in 2004 from San Francisco State University and began to combine her two passions-youth and yoga. In her work with both adults and children she creates the space and safety for people to connect to themselves and their own inner wisdom. Kate currently teaches classes to people of ALL ages in schools and studios, and leads Teacher Trainings for Parents and Educators all over the Bay Area and beyond. For more information about Kate please see www.yogawithkateandrosey.com

Kate Truka: Kate experienced the healing power of coordinated breath and movement as a dancer for many years before discovering yoga in the Japanese countryside in 2001, rendering a lifelong asthmatic condition inert. She is grateful for many luminous teachers and received her certification from the Integral Yoga Institute in San Francisco. With reverence for breath awareness as connection to the universal energy that sustains us, Kate is keen to cultivate the kindness that flowers from the alignment, the union, that is yoga.

Kristie Dahlia Home: Kristie is devoted to the practice of yoga as a healing art; a collaborative creation on the canvas of being. Her spontaneous Hatha classes have a focus on joy, energetic flow, and functional precision of alignment. Kristie finds the clean ground of the beginner and the carefully tended garden of the experienced practitioner equally fertile for practice and study. Her curiosity and desire to serve each student uniquely have led her to extensive studies in various yoga lineages, therapeutic uses of practice, and healing modalties. Kristie has been teaching since 1995. She shares yoga for people with cancer at UCSF's Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, is a longstanding member of the Integral Yoga Institute's Teacher Training faculty, and her book Yoga: Natural Fitness for Body and Spirit has been translated and published worldwide. She is currently inspired by her studies with Saul David Raye and Angela Farmer, practice of thai yoga massage and reiki, and the fiddleheads of the ferns unfurling in the yard. For more information about Kristie please visit www.athayoga.com

Katie Lewis: "What is the body? That shadow of a shadow of your love that somehow contains the entire universe." Rumi
The pace of breath and movement are mindfully slowed in Katie's classes in order to listen to the inner body as creator and teacher. Students are invited to explore the interior landscape of their bodies through visualizations, breath and meditation. While working to strengthen the core, students will also focus on releasing their bellies & deeply stretching their spine, shoulders and hips. The combination of both restorative and physically assertive asana will enable students to experience yoga as a practice of surrender and empowerment

Katie has been practicing yoga asana for ten years and teaching to adults and children for the past five years. She has completed asana teacher trainings with Angela Farmer, "The Undoing of Yoga," Lesvos, Greece 2004, Shiva Rea, "Vinyasa Yoga," Kripalu, MA 2002 and Larry Schultz,"Ashtanga Yoga," SF, CA 2001. Other teachers whose understanding has inspired her are Pattabi Jois, Manju Jois, Dena Kingsberg, Richard Freeman, Victor Van Kooten and Devorah Sacks. She studies the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Kate Holcombe, a senior student of Desikachar and has recently begun to study nondual tantra with Dharmanidhi Sarasvati.

The practice of yoga awakened Katie's fascination with the body and what it means to be embodied and she began to study bodywork in 2002, receiving a certificate in Asian Body Systems from the Mckinnon Institute. Presently, she is completing an apprenticeship with Hugh Milne in Visionary Craniosacral Work and has embarked upon a long journey with Isa Gucciardi for certification in Depth-Hypnosis and with Gilles Marin for certification in Chi Nei Tsang. Katie is inspired by the inherent and unerring intelligence of the body to heal from within and she loves to share what she learns with others. If interested in scheduling bodywork or yoga, please call her at 510.388.1737.

Elizabeth Walker: Elizabeth's inspirational instruction has been at the heart of the Bernal Yoga Pilates program from the studio's beginnings. She believes movement is life and that every body has a healer within. In her mat classes, Elizabeth guides her students through the map of their bodies - uncovering hidden strengths, taking control of weaknesses and improving overall mobility. Like many Pilates instructors, Elizabeth was first exposed to Pilates while rehabilitating from a dance-related injury. Through this healing experience she was inspiried to spread the word and went on to receive her formal Pilates training and certification from the Ellie Herman Studios/SF in 2001. Her teaching is influenced by her passion for all things movement as a dancer, athlete, and dedicated yoga student. Elizabeth recently opened Pilates Heights, a Pilates studio on Cortland Ave.

Stephanie Bernstein: Stephanie's teaching draws from over 10 years of yoga and life study. Now a certified Anusara-inspired teacher, her teaching has a lot of guidance from John Friend and the Universal Principles of Alignment and the extraordinary therapeutic value of that tradition. She is also strongly connected to her foundation training at OM Yoga Center in New York, which incorporates Shambala Buddhism with asana, emphasizing breath and mindfulness. Stephanie's classes are challenging, yet playful and focus strongly on the uniqueness in each of her students. She has taught in NYC, Maui, Boulder and throughout the Bay Area.

Kate Schox: Kate experienced her first yoga class in 1996 while studying to be an Applied Anthropologist at the University of Maryland. Drawing on her love of culture and learning, she went on to experience a variety of yoga classes across the country including: Iyengar, Kripalu, Integral, Ashtanga, Hatha, Flow, Restorative, Anusara, Yin, and Jivamukti. In December of 2005, she graduated from the Greenpath Teacher Training Program in San Francisco.

She uses her experiences from the variety of classes she has experienced, her training at Greenpath in flow yoga, as well as her regular continuing education courses, to create a dynamic and diverse yoga experience. In harmony with the yogic lifestyle, Kate is also an avid environmentalist, a volunteer yoga teacher, and an artist. For more information about Kate please see www.schoxyoga.com

Tania Varela-Ibarra: Inspired by the transformative and healing power of yoga, Tania Varela-Ibarra started teaching hatha yoga in 1998 to a group of willing co-workers. Since then, her teaching platforms have ranged from yoga studios, senior centers, offices, private homes and most fun, a bowling alley. From 2004 to 2006, Tania taught weekly classes at Om Yoga in Manhattan. During her time at Om Yoga, she was invited to teach at retreats and workshops for the Garrison Institute's Wellness Program for Domestic Violence Shelter Workers. Her teacher trainings include Integral Yoga, Vinyasa with Shiva Rea, Om Yoga with Cyndi Lee, Relax and Renew (restorative yoga) with Judith Lasater. She completed her first Anusara immersion in 2006 with Katchie Ananda and Jayne Hillman.

Tania's personal practice is guided by the yogic principle that the process and journey are equal to the goal. As a teacher, she invites her students to begin where they are, see their own uniqueness and to practice with compassion and courage. Her classes are framed in a vinyasa-flow style, integrating healthy alignment with purposeful sequencing.

Nadine Johson: Nadine began practicing yoga in 1994 at It's Yoga. She was finally drawn to teach 10 years later. Safety,patience and inward focus are key elements of her practice, which is grounded in Ashtanga Yoga as taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in India. Taking yoga off the mat, into everyday life is a key inspiration of her teaching. Nadine has completed teacher trainings with Clayton Horton at Greenpath Yoga and David Swenson. She also continues her education through workshops and trainings with senior teachers such as David Williams, Richard Freeman, Jonny Kest, Ana Forrest and Sarah Powers.

Amanda Harper: Amanda's inspiration to deepen her yoga practice came from experiencing for her its effectiveness and true healing power after several sports injuries. She felt compelled to share her belief in yoga with others and completed a teacher-training program in New York, studying ISHTA yoga with Alan Finger. A valuable part of her routine, yoga helps her regain her center, ground herself emotionally and perform better in her regular physical activities, such as swimming, biking and her greatest passion, surfing. She enjoys the anatomical accuracy of Iyengar, the energizing qualities of Ashtanga, the opening nature of Yin Yoga and the beauty and grace of Vinyasa yoga practice. Amanda feels that the role of a yoga teacher is to provide expert guidance to a practitioner; helping them to fully utilize whatever unique tools and qualities they possess to develop their own individual practice to suit their needs. As a teacher she aims to cultivate a non-judgmental, safe environment, and to promote a student's mental and physical well being, reduce suffering and share the love and benefits of her yoga practice with her students. More information about Amanda and her approach can be found at www.tentoesyoga.com

Jim Donovan: I teach yoga to support people connecting authentically with themselves. Through a mixture of challenging poses and deep relaxation, I provide the space for you to come back to the center of your being. I see each student as an individual with their own unique strengths and challenges, and take the time to find the best way to support you in exploring balance. My journey with yoga started 12 years ago when my Mom brought me to a neighborhood yoga class in NY, and since then the practice and teaching of yoga has become a passion and an essential element of my daily routine. My personal practice has led me to such masters as Ramanand Patel, Rodney Yee and Karl Erb, and being able to share their wisdom with my students inspires me. People of any level of ability are welcome in all of my classes.

Justin Sternberg: Justin practices and teaches yoga as taught in the lineage of Sri T. Krishnamacharya. His classes utilize sequential preliminary vinyasa to open and prepare the body for a foundation of sun and moon salutations. He emphasizes the supervision of breath, the coordination and intelligence of movement, and the balance of energetic principles in order to cultivate a strong and graceful practice.

Bonnie Gaynor: As a dance minor at SFSU, Bonnie first used Pilates to help rehabilitate her knee and condition her body for performing. Shortly after, she became pregnant and re-injured her knee. After her third major knee surgery two months postpartum, she restarted Pilates training. The combination of Pilates and physical therapy helped her regain strength both in her core and in the weakened knee. One year later she was back dancing and never felt stronger.

Because of the freedom of movement she was able to regain, Bonnie chose to dedicate herself to teaching Pilates. She is a proud graduate of Carol LeMaitre and Sharon Gallagher's teacher training course and is currently studying the Janda Method of Neuromuscular Reprogramming with Lizz Roman. Combining knowledge of dance, yoga, physical therapy, pre- and post-natal exercise, and Pilates, Bonnie's approach focuses on total body strengthening and alignment. Her teaching style combines classical Pilates repertoire with modern approaches to the Pilates method.

Megan Windeler: Megan's practice and teaching is rooted in the heartfelt belief that Yoga is simply a good thing. Her practice began by accident nearly twenty years ago during the deep dark freeze of a Chicago winter. After stumbling blindly into an Iyengar Yoga class in hopes of eluding the freeze, it was revealed to her that 'living is much easier if you breathe whilst doing it.' Over a decade and half on she is still trying to figure that one out, but, she practices it every day and has found life easier.

Megan completed the Teacher Training at The Yoga Tree in San Francisco in 2005. While she continues to study with Dharma Mitra, and find great inspiration from Stephanie Snyder, Jane Austin and her dear friend Les Leventhal, her main teacher these days is her 6 year old son. Megan's classes are filled with love and humor, sometimes silence and now and again a little Led Zeppelin. Come one, come all, do some yoga, find some ease.

Jane Austin: Jane teaches prenatal yoga and has been involved with the birthing community for ten years. She has worked as a homebirth midwife,labor assistant and childbirth educator. A mother of two, Jane practiced yoga during both of her pregnancies. She continues to deepen her practice as both a teacher and student of yoga.

Rebecca Goldfader: Rebecca Goldfader was trained and certified in Pilates through Body Arts and Science Intl, (BASI). She is co-founder of Pilates Heights, and also teaches Pilates and foam roller classes at Gold's Gym. A certified Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, Rebecca enjoys integrating a holistic, encouraging approach to the Pilates repertoire for all body types.

Laura Noss: Laura Noss is a Certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher who studies under the guidance of yoga masters Sharon Gannon and David Life. An activist on and off the mat, Laura shares with students the power of yoga as both a physical and spiritual practice to awaken and experience freedom in this lifetime. She infuses her classes with fun but challenging postures, inspiring lessons and an enthusiastic attitude and passion for yoga.

Laura helps students seek a stronger relationship and trust with themselves in a safe, engaging, interactive environment, and guides students to find simple ways to take their yoga off the mat and into daily life. Laura's classes incorporate chanting to help students find their voice; Sanskrit lesson and commentary; a vigorous asana class; and the tranquility of meditation. She is a student of Vipassana meditation, and volunteers her time at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. She has found guidance and lessons studying with a range of masters in the west including Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Judith Lasater, and Rod Stryker.

Kari Zabel: Kari has been interested in the philosophy of Oneness since she was a small child. She sensed the injustice and sadness that separateness caused in the world around her. Determined to bridge the separation forced on certain disenfranchised groups, Kari immersed herself in social justice work. Frazzled and overworked, she discovered yoga in 2000 while working at the ACLU in New York. She completed her first yoga teacher certification in Denver while on a hiatus from law school, intending to practice public interest law. Following her heart and intuition, Kari permanently retired from law school and flew back to New York to complete the Jivamukti Yoga Teacher Certification under the guidance of her gurujis Sharon Gannon and David Life. In the classroom, Kari infuses the playfulness of sequencing, the precision of technique, the beauty and vibration of sound with her passion for philosophy and devotion.

Britt Fohrman: Britt's greatest joy is found in sharing her love of yoga with a wide variety of people. She encourages her students to approach yoga as a way of life, to practice with lovingkindness and sincerity. Her unique style of teaching places a strong emphasis on alignment, sequencing, breath and inner awareness, while her approach is imbued with warmth, humor and honesty. Since 1993, Britt has studied primarily Iyengar Yoga, though she weaves influences of other traditions, especially Viniyoga and Vipassana (Buddhist Insight) Meditation, into her teaching. One of her specialties is working with pregnant women and new mothers, where she also employs her skills as a photographer, birth doula, and bodyworker. Along with being an avid surfer, Britt loves to do headstands on mountaintops and beaches all around the world. After witnessing tremendous healing within herself through Restorative Yoga, Britt was inspired to become certified to teach Restorative Yoga by Judith Lasater. Though she now enjoys an active practice as well, Restorative Yoga continues to be the foundation of her well being. Go to www.brittfohrman.com to find out more about Britt and her practice.