OUR TEACHERS
Kate Stenson, RYT-500, is the director of Nirvana Yoga. She started taking yoga classes in 1996 to carve out time for herself as a new mom. Her interest grew over the years and she graduated from Mama Nirvana’s Teacher Training in 2009. Over the past decade Kate has developed a unique and creative style, incorporating humor and a graceful approach in all her classes. She strives to support each class member in reaching their optimal experience, and looks for ways to make more challenging poses accessible to all levels. She continues to deepen her own practice and completed her 500HR advanced teacher training through the Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts in June 2021.
Alan LeMoine, RYT-200, has been a devoted student of Nirvana Yoga for 7 years. His journey into yoga began while attending yoga classes taught by his spouse, Mary, who has been a yoga teacher for many years. He completed his 200 hour yoga teacher training this past year with Ruth Anne at Nirvana Yoga, and found the experience to be life changing. Alan looks forward to inspiring students in the practice of yoga. In his spare time he enjoys biking, hiking, and spending time outdoors with friends and family.
Anastasia Ezequelle, RYT-500, has been practicing various styles of yoga for over a decade but her dedication to the practice deepened when she took an Introduction to Ashtanga Yoga class in 2013 at Miami Life Center, where she continued to practice under the guidance of Patrick Nolan. She soon learned that Yoga has its roots in spirituality and was more than a physical discipline but a quest for self inquiry. She has maintained a regular Ashtanga Yoga practice ever sense. Anastasia obtained her 200-hour teaching certification in 2015 at Corpo Yoga, and her 300-hour training in 2019 with Beryl Bender Birch through The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute. She continues her studies by learning from senior Ashtanga Yoga teachers who have a deep knowledge and respect for the lineage.
Becca Zanvettor, RYT-500, became Director of Cadence Yoga Center Sunderland in 2020. She discovered yoga in 2000 and became fully immersed in her practice six years later, when symptoms of a nervous system disorder impacted her movement. The results were transformative, resulting in a dramatic and positive influence on her health and overall well-being. These personal changes inspired her to enroll in Mama Nirvana’s 200-hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training in 2011. Becca completed her 300-hour Advanced Yoga Studies in the Classical 8-Limbed Path with Beryl Bender Birch, Sheila Magalhaes, and the faculty of the Hard and the Soft Yoga Institute in 2019. Becca is a certified Reiki I practitioner, holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Springfield College, and is a graduate of the New England School of Architectural Woodworking. In 2020 she completed her 100-hour certification in Mindful Yoga Therapy with Suzanne Manafort. Becca’s classes focus on balancing the nervous system, developing body awareness, and exploring the depths of one’s own strength. She creates a light-hearted, peaceful, and supportive atmosphere, encouraging students to practice self-care, both on and off the mat.
Darlene Morton, RYT-200, practiced yoga casually for ten years prior to attending classes at Nirvana Yoga. In 2018 she enrolled in the 200 hour teacher training program at Nirvana Yoga. That experience deepened her practice and inspired her to share the many benefits of yoga with others. Darlene is level 2 Reiki trained and owns Salon Solace in Easthampton.
Mary LeMoine, RYT-500, has been practicing yoga for 22 years. Her first class series was with Puja Sue Flamm in Northampton. With a full time job as an Applications Analyst and two active daughters, attending yoga classes provided Mary with movement, strength and peace. In 2006 when her youngest daughter broke her foot at a dance competition, she and her daughter decided to attend a yoga class which Ruth Anne was teaching. Mary soon became a devoted daily yoga student. She attended her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2010-2011 at Mama Nirvana’s New Yoga. Mary has since certified to teach Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga™, Love Your Brain Yoga, and Divine Sleep® Yoga Nidra. She has also attended many workshops of Ruth Anne’s, and Yoga for Scoliosis with Elise Browning Miller. Mary completed her 500HR advanced teacher training through the Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts in June 2021. Mary feels the importance of keeping the body moving, the mind calm, and is honored to share this with students. She has a certificate in Interior Design, is an avid photographer, enjoys gardening, biking, hiking, and loves spending time with family and friends.
Susan Moore LMT, RCST, RYT-500, is a craniosacral therapist and yoga teacher. She came to yoga after more than two decades of martial arts and tai chi study. In yoga, she found the opportunity to express the strength and agility of martial arts while exploring yoga’s subtle practices of mind and breath. She earned her 200-hour yoga certification in 2013 from Mama Nirvana's New Yoga, and her 300-hour Advanced Teacher of Therapeutic Yoga through Integrative Yoga Therapy with Joseph Le Page. Additionally she is a Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator with the Center for Trauma and Embodiment, and kinesiology instructor at The Massage School. Susan is dedicated to creating an experience of safety and autonomy in all her classes, to support the journey of inner exploring, healing, and return to Self.
Ruth Anne Lundeberg, the founder of Mama Nirvana Yoga, was the owner and director for 20 years. She leaves a legacy of teaching over one hundred yoga teachers in the Pioneer Valley.
She will remain on the faculty as a guest teacher.
Ruth Anne studied with the topmost teachers of yoga, dance, Buddhism and meditation since 1983. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from New York University, where she studied voice, movement and performance intensively with the top experimental performers/directors in NYC. In 1984, at age 19, she discovered traditional Hatha yoga at the Himalayan Institute and Integral Yoga at Satchidananda's ashram. Later, she studied directly with yoga master Sri Dharma Mittra. In a time when yoga has been re-defined as an exercise and fitness modality, Ruth Anne would offer a rare chance to learn traditional yoga as a method of spiritual awakening.
She will remain on the faculty as a guest teacher.
Ruth Anne studied with the topmost teachers of yoga, dance, Buddhism and meditation since 1983. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree from New York University, where she studied voice, movement and performance intensively with the top experimental performers/directors in NYC. In 1984, at age 19, she discovered traditional Hatha yoga at the Himalayan Institute and Integral Yoga at Satchidananda's ashram. Later, she studied directly with yoga master Sri Dharma Mittra. In a time when yoga has been re-defined as an exercise and fitness modality, Ruth Anne would offer a rare chance to learn traditional yoga as a method of spiritual awakening.