Wellness Staff

Fitness Instructor

Olivia has been a group fitness participant at Northeastern University in Boston for three years. Taking several classes a week, she soon fell in love with sculpting and how it resulted in positive changes in both her mind and body. Now after months of training, she has achieved her goal of becoming an AFAA certified group fitness instructor. Olivia is excited to create sculpting classes that are challenging for herself and for her participants. She hopes to show her participants that sculpting is rewarding, fun, and for everyone!

Yoga & Dance Instructor

Sarah is and will always be a student of all things related to movement. Currently, she has 12 years of dance education with a bachelors degree from Columbia College Chicago and 6 years of yoga education with a certification through Amber Daniel Cook. She is working to continue her higher education in physiotherapies and psychotherapies to eventually cultivate a private practice as well as a community building service.

For the last four years, Sarah has worked with children and adults instructing or coaching dance, yoga, swimming, and rock climbing. She has an enormous amount of gratitude for each and every student, colleague, and teacher along the way. She approaches her classes with a compassionate awareness and applies the science of movements to improve her students compassionate awareness with their bodies.

In her time outside of moving, she‘s learning about astrology, history, morbid curiosities, and music of all kinds. She looks forward to sharing a movement practice with you and would love to know which movements allow you to feel most empowered.

Yoga Instructor

Monica is a Forrest Yoga & Mindful Meditation Teacher as well as a Shamanic Healer who has been taking yoga classes since 1998 and studying various energy healing modalities since 2009. Studying with Ana Forrest for an intense 200 hour month deepened Monica’s years long moving meditation practice by bringing her Shamanic sensibility to a very modern practice of Yoga. Monica asks each individual to tune into her/his unique physical and energetic abilities and needs without judgment; combine movement with breath to renew energy and feel a sense of accomplishment; all while keeping a sense of humor. In the Forrest tradition, she encourages you to make your body delicious to inhabit and do at least one thing each day to delight your spirit. You are an amazing being of light. Let her help you shine brighter!

Tai Chi Instructor

Peter began the study of Tai Chi Chuan and Qigong in the late 1980s. Tai Chi is sometimes called a moving meditation and Peter was initially attracted to the slow, relaxing movements of the form as a way to counteract stress, keep his body flexible, and develop internal energy. As his practice of the ancient healing arts as deepened, his body has become more relaxed, more integrated and more grounded, his mind more calm, and his spirit more lively and compassionate. Peter has taught Tai Chi and Qigong classes in Chicago and the northern suburbs for over 10 years. He is a member of IMAAHE (Internal Martial Arts Association for Health and Enlightenment) and continues to study Tai Chi and Qigong with Master Sam Tam and Daoist Qigong with Eva Wong.

Yoga Instructor

Jim has had a mad love affair with Yoga for over two decades. What began simply as a way to manage low back pain grew into a thirst for more: info, asana, teachers, styles...you get it.
Jim owned the Yoga Shop of Old Irving Park for 8 years, a super welcoming and inclusive studio with amazing teachers of all styles. Dharma for Jim is bringing people–all people–into the transformative world of Yoga. Jim is also a Wellness activist and published author.

Yoga Instructor

Yoga Instructor

Sonya began a regular yoga practice while recovering from an injury from long distance running. She was nervous to take her first yoga class because she imagined students doing hand stands and complicated postures that she wouldn’t be able to do. She’s grateful for stepping outside of her comfort zone that day because she discovered that yoga was so much more than just the physical postures. Sonya has been teaching yoga for over 6 years and her mission is to make yoga accessible to all in order to share the many benefits - the physical, mental and spiritual.

Yoga Instructor 

Garrett started practicing yoga in 2010 casually upon invitation from a friend. As an active and competitive runner, he quickly became attracted to yoga’s many physical benefits to offset typical injuries resulting from high impact activities. As time passed, Garrett continued in his career as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and psychotherapist. Throughout the years, Garrett has evolved a deeper interest in the philosophy of yoga, and its many mental benefits. As a result, in 2020 Garrett completed his 200hr teacher training at Bloom Yoga Studio in Chicago, IL, and is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. 

Garrett continues to seek a deeper enlightenment, specifically in nurturing, understanding, and balancing the nervous system. His studies were from an integrative perspective, focusing on Iyengar, Ashtanga and Vinyasa Yoga.

Yoga Instructor

Bri has a passion for health and wellness, and a mission to share her enthusiasm with others. She is a physical therapist by trade, but has dreamed of becoming a yoga teacher since 2013 when she took her first class. During the pandemic, Bri completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Yogaview in Chicago. She enjoys teaching vinyasa and slow flow classes with a focus on anatomy and alignment. As physical therapist, she has a strong background in anatomy, kinesiology and rehabilitation. Bri believes yoga is one of the most helpful tools for getting to know your own body and learning how to move it. 

Bri is a neighborhood local and would like to bring together community members with yoga. Aside from physical therapy and yoga, Bri spends her free time running, cooking, and reading about nutrition and meditation. She is passionate about the environment and strives for a zero waste lifestyle. Balance is the goal not only for her classes, but for her life. She believes yoga is a journey that is constantly evolving, and she enjoys learning from her students.