We teach Synchronized Vinyasa Yoga. This is not just a kickass hot yoga class. This is a blueprint for living. We believe that Synchronized Vinyasa has the power to make everyday lives extraordinary. We believe that this kind of yoga can help us reconnect with ourselves, with one another, and with every aspect of life. We believe that by offering Synchronized Vinyasa we are offering a non-invasive, highly accessible, extremely effective alternative treatment for day-to-day anxiety, low self-worth, destructive thinking patterns, and social isolation. Regular practice of our style of yoga not only creates new habits in order to free us from detrimental ones, but also dramatically raises the bar for our everyday living. Synchronized Vinyasa seamlessly matches movement and breath. 

All PPY instructors have at least 200 hours of training with Live Love Teach, a national yoga teacher training school based in Jamestown, Rhode Island, that has been instructing teachers in Synchronized Vinyasa for nearly 20 years. It is one of only a few Yoga Alliance-recognized yoga teacher training schools to maintain a five-star rating. LLT’s cofounders, Philip Urso and Renee Deslauriers, base their teacher trainings around their belief that yoga is a widely-available, low-cost, pharmaceutical-free, and reliable option to developing resilience against anxiety. At PPY, we apply their teachings in Yoga-Based Stress Reduction (YBSR) to maximize the therapeutic power of our classes. 

Shelby Cogan

Shelby basically grew up at PPY—she began practicing as a teenager for the sweat and the workout. But the practice truly clicked when the studio switched to synchronized vinyasa. She began to understand how what she did in class showed up outside of class. Since then, yoga has helped her challenge her impulses, be more patient, and be more present in small and big interactions. As a teacher, Shelby hopes to help her students recognize how building a personal connection between breath and movement can impact their responses (and, ultimately, their entire day) and to understand that they, too, have a choice in how they show up. She works as a therapist and loves the beach, her three cats, and her plants.

Sam Connolly

Before she began to practice at PPY, Sam was often late, often rushing, and always pushing herself to do more and “be better.” Power yoga was an extension of that. To her surprise, the practice instead taught her to slow down and to cut herself some slack. As a longtime educator and new mom, Sam sees teaching yoga as a continuation of her interest in how people learn. “To me, this practice allows curiosity and exploration in the most productive way,” she says. “It’s real and powerful, and at the same time not at all serious. It reminds me every day who I am and what’s important.” She lives in Portland with her husband, baby, cat, and dog.

Eliot Douin

Eliot had no experience with yoga when he followed his friends to PPY in 2017 with a shabby $5 mat from Reny’s. He quickly realized it didn’t matter. “Everyone had their eyes on their own mats, there was no judgement,” he says. Right away, the synchronized aspect of the practice forced him to understand how his breath related to the tension and release he felt not only in his muscles, but in his mind—and even in how he related to his fellow yogis. As a teacher, he aims to facilitate that feeling of connectivity for his students—between him and them, their minds and their bodies, and each other, on and off their mats. In addition to power classes, he also teaches yin. He is PPY’s biggest soccer fan.

Severina Drunchilova

Severina moved to the United States from Bulgaria 20 years ago. While she was pursuing her MBA at USM, she took a yoga class as a way to balance her busy schedule, and mind.  In savasana, she found a place where she was able to relax and be herself, and right away, she knew she’d be doing yoga for a very long time. She’s since pursued several yoga teacher trainings, including yin and nidra, has studied all kinds of teachings and explored a variety of styles. (She is also trained in barre and sculpt; Sevi loves a training!) To Sevi, synchronized vinyasa represents what yoga is truly all about: breath, movement, mindfulness. Her hope as a teacher is to help students find through yoga the same profound peace as she has. She lives in Portland and loves hiking, traveling, and reading.

Julie Fournier

Julie had no idea what to expect when she signed up for her fist class at PPY—she just lived in the neighborhood. In the years since she began teaching, she has learned something new about herself—and about showing and receiving support, compassion, encouragement, all while keeping a sense of humor—from her yoga and meditation every single day. As a teacher, she aims to help students be more present in their everyday lives, rather than just going through the motions of their habits and routines. In class, she places great emphasis on breath awareness in the hopes that students will learn to call on it throughout the rest of their days, in both challenging and joyful times. She loves hip-hop music, her family, and an ocean plunge.

Alyssa Giacobbe

Alyssa started practicing yoga because she was naturally flexible and it seemed like an “easy” way to get a good workout. Yoga, and particularly synchronized vinyasa, has taught her a lot about letting go of expectations, and helped her get better at accepting situations even when they’re not how she thought they would or should be. As a teacher, she aims to encourage students to notice, and break from, their habits; to resist comparing themselves to others and to lose the “shoulds.” And as a stay-at-home writer, she appreciates how teaching forces her to take the time to connect. She didn’t exactly choose a house because it was within walking distance to PPY, but she didn’t not do that, either.

Kaisa Mann

Kaisa has been working at PPY for more than a decade. In her day job as a therapist, she helps her clients identify and overcome self-limiting beliefs and get unstuck, a talent and interest she carries into her role at PPY as a teacher and co-facilitator of personal development programs such as 40 Days and Sober October. She is compassionate and disciplined, goal-driven and hilarious. “I’m fiercely dedicated to the health, healing, and transformation of my students and clients in the same way that I have been about getting the life that I want for myself,” she says. “Yoga has taught me not to let my thoughts be my directive, and that my body can do more than my mind will let it believe.” She is a marathon runner and obsessed with cats.

Cory Theberge

As a student, Cory loved PPY for the physical practice, and the heat. He enrolled in teacher training as a “retreat” rather than with the intention to teach. But the experience was transformative: He finally began to understand why he felt so relaxed after an intense yoga class, and why he’d begun to feel more control over his reactions to certain events and people in his life. The biggest surprise was learning how the synchronized flow of class was a subtle way of  “tricking” him into meditation, a tool that became even more important as he transitioned from a desk job to a physical labor job. His hope as a teacher is to help students harness a bit of the peace and joy he feels during class, and to learn how to pull themselves back into the present in the face of distraction. He’s a father to two boys and lifelong musician.

Tim Young

Tim started yoga in late 2018 after a lifetime of trying different things to help regulate his Epilepsy, and has found tremendous support in the practice’s physicality and emphasis on breath management. Yoga has helped him make significant shifts in various areas of his life: He’s since taken up running, something he was never sure he could do, and has run several long-distance races, including the Maine Half-Marathon. He finds comfort in the patience and the consistency of the practice, both in the teaching and the doing. “The PPY team and community as a whole has pushed me to be better,” he says. “Teaching, specifically, has helped me slow down and appreciate.” He lives with his family in Gorham.

Nicole Chaison

Nicole has been practicing at PPY since 2007. She attributes her sanity, strength, and ability to deal in the midst of crisis to her practice. She considers herself an expert on greeting yogis and cleaning up sweat. She runs the college program at Long Creek Youth Development Center, where she also teaches writing and public speaking, and is learning how to play the ukulele alongside her students. She loves to write and garden in her backyard in Portland.

Erin King

Erin, who works behind the scenes in membership support, was never one for group exercise and rooms full of mirrors; she shied away from yoga thinking it was all about achieving the “perfect pose.” She came to PPY on the promise of none of those things. She enjoyed how the modifications allowed her to avoid putting pressure on herself. She can be found walking her pup along the Eastern Promenade when not on the hunt for the perfect dumpling or a kitchen gadget she doesn’t need.

Joni Lee

Joni has taught fitness of all kinds—Jane Fonda aerobics, high impact, step, Pilates, spin, yoga. Still, she was intimated to come to PPY with a friend. She was terrified of the heat and the crowds. But her anxiety lessened, and her sleeping improved, she stopped living so much in the past, and worrying about what was to come, and she kept coming back. At PPY, she lends a hand to front desk staff, greets students, helps them to their mats, and otherwise offers support as needed. She likes that it holds her accountable and enables her to be part of the community. She spends the rest of her time in patient care as a medical assistant at Portland Gastroenterology.

Juliet Plouff

Juliet took her first class at PPY in 2021 after moving back to her native Maine from Salt Lake City. After two classes, she canceled her membership. (“I thought the teacher forgot to turn on the music” she says.) Luckily, she gave it a second chance. “Once I experienced the flow state, I was able to observe myself in a way that I hadn’t before, and for the first time, feel freedom from my constant thoughts,” she says. Her yoga practice has helped her become a more patient person, and to quit anticipating what comes next or ruminating on the past; in PPY, she has found a safe, accepting community. When she’s not at the studio, Juliet can be found reading, knitting, and hiking in the White Mountains with her dog, Dug. She makes excellent playlists.

Chelsea Cogan

Chelsea joined the front desk team when she moved back to her native Maine from Denver. Although she’s practiced yoga since high school (she’s Darcy’s oldest daughter), she’s found that synchronized vinyasa allows her to slow down and step out of autopilot in a way that she’s never experienced elsewhere. “The practice doesn’t necessarily shut out my thoughts, but it makes it possible for me to turn down the volume and decide how and when to respond versus react,” she says. Outside of the studio, Chelsea loves reading horror books, listening to spooky podcasts, and spending time with her family, friends, and three rescue cats and dog. She is the front desker most likely to agree to working at 6 a.m.

Michelle Wissley

A Cape Elizabeth native, Michelle first came to PPY when she moved home from California. Her first class didn’t go as planned. She was confused: “why no mirrors, why no music?” She found herself returning to the studio, a lot, and the “cons” turned into pros. She wondered if maybe yoga wasn’t about the music or mirrors, or any other distractions that kept her pushing through class, but about noticing the discomforts and choosing to be OK anyway. PPY’s most unfailingly cheerful staffer, Michelle says her hope is for everyone who walks through the doors to have an experience that brings them joy and a feeling of togetherness. She works in advertising software, has two cats, and enjoys spending time with her family and friends.