Teachers
Christine Hoar
When you take a yoga class with Christine Hoar, you will find yourself in a room filled with laughter and very loud breathing, and your body will probably end up in a position it's never been in before. As the founder and director of Bristol Yoga, Christine brings a gentle, compassionate, and light-hearted, yet powerful hands-on approach to Ashtanga Yoga. She has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga Yoga for more than 15 years. In addition to her daily classes, she offers workshops ranging in subject, from the Yoga Sutras to Ayurveda. Christine is blessed and authorized to teach by her guru, the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore. She is certified as an Ayurvedic consultant and educator by the Kripalu Institute in Lennox, MA. She is also registered with the Yoga Alliance as a E-RYT 500 Yoga Instructor. Christine travels regularly to Mysore, India to continue her studies.
Natasha Chang
In 1995, on the wise advice of her mother, she took her first yoga class and never looked back. After moving to Vermont in 2000, Natasha discovered Ashtanga at Bristol Yoga and immediately knew that this was the practice and the place for her. Since then her practice has grown both on and off the mat. It’s how she lives her life. Through her teaching she hopes to keep learning and to share some of what she has learned over the years. In addition to being a Yogini, Natasha teaches Italian and serves as a Dean at Middlebury College.
Anna Blackwell
When Anna first tried Ashtanga yoga, she was immediately drawn to the structure, the flow from one posture to the next, and the audible deep breathing. She has studied with Christine for over 5 years, and has done intensive trainings with Nancy Gilgoff, Tim Miller, and Andrew Eppler. Yoga has given her the ability to calm her mind and strengthen her body, establishing positive habits that will last a lifetime. When not in the studio, Anna works as a clinical herbalist and massage therapist. Anna hopes to transmit her love for this practice through her teaching, showing how grateful she is to be part of such a special community of yogis.
Allison Lea
Allison attended her first yoga class in Montana in 1998. It took her seven years to find her way to a dedicated practice at Bristol Yoga. In 2009, Allison took a Yin Yoga workshop with Petrina Plecko and resonated with the way the slow, passive nature of it complimented and balanced her Ashtanga practice, as well as her active lifestyle. She then took a teacher training in Asheville, NC. Allison appreciates how her practice of Yin Yoga has guided her to vast stores of creative energy which can
be discovered in stillness, and invites people from all walks of life and all levels of yoga to come practice with her.
Lonny Edwards
Lonny is in his sixth year of practice at Bristol Yoga. Always athletic, he started his yoga practice as a way to maintain flexibility, recuperate and enhance his endurance in other sports. Over the time he has spent studying with Christine, however, the Ashtanga practice has become more and more the center of his life practice. "Do your practice, and all is coming." The simple and compelling advice of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, has proven to be both genuine and profound guide for life. The practice is the path to unfolding the truth within one's self, and the journey is a rigorous delight. Lonny's teaching style is warm and welcoming to all comers. Compassion, love, kindness, and a healthy dose of humor await you in his classes.
Gracie
Many yoga classes start and end with an Om. We do that too, but at Bristol Yoga our classes really start and end with Gracie. Three parts collie, one part Aussie, 100% Yogi, Gracie lies at the bottom of the stairs during every class—a quiet furry reminder of the contentment we all aspire to with our yoga practice. Though her upward and downward dog are exemplary, Gracie is more often found displaying her belly-up Savasana. It is well earned: during her breeding years Gracie gave birth to more than forty puppies. You'd never know it by the end of class when Gracie hears us Om. That's her cue to come running upstairs and make her rounds with swishy tail and moist kisses before we all head on our way.
