INSTRUCTOR BIOS
TRACY BRENNAN
Tracy is the Owner/Director of both Claremont Yoga and the CY Teacher Training Program. She feels blessed to have found yoga and mindfulness during a transition from corporate marketing in the software industry in 2001. Yoga helped her manage the stress of leaving a career and finding a new path of teaching and sharing the joy of yoga. Tracy has been a Certified Iyengar Yoga Instructor since 2005 and continues to study with Senior Iyengar Teachers. Tracy loves having a family, begin part of the yoga community and exploring the world.
Sonia Shaeri
Sonia is a certified Iyengar Yoga teacher and has been teaching in the Los Angeles area since 2004. Her path of yoga has led her to India to learn directly from BKS Iyengar and his family and to many conventions and workshops in the US and abroad with senior teachers. What drew Sonia to yoga at first was a deep interest in Eastern philosophy and mysticism. What keeps her deeply rooted to the Iyengar lineage is its systematic approach to life-long learning which provides the tools to explore the depths of consciousness within the clear and practical confines of a physical practice. Sonia strives to teach with calm and clarity, challenging students while creating a supportive and safe environment that is conducive to learning and building community. She infuses her teachings with humor, sharing wisdom and joy of the transformative practice of yoga.
Genevieve Gantney
Genevieve began practicing yoga at the age of 5 with her father. Today her practice has helped her to recover after injury, manage anxiety and daily stress and to be present in each moment as a mother and partner. She completed the 200 hour teacher training program at Claremont Yoga in 2020 and will always be a student of the practice. She thanks daily yoga for a sense of grounding and community. It is this sense of community and self discovery that she strives to bring to each class.
MONICA MATHEWS
Monica Mathews is a registered E-RYT 500 and YACEP for continuing education with Yoga Alliance. Monica completed her 200 hour teacher training with Yoga Works. She obtained her Myofascial Release certification with Erik Dalton. Monica also teaches soft foam roller rehabilitation and Yin yoga classes. She taught step and yoga for 10 years at the University of LaVerne. Her specialty is Senior Yoga and teaching students body awareness to recognize their imbalances and repetitive movement patterns and work towards symmetry and alignment in the postures. Her Vinyasa Flow level 1-2 classes are full of fun choreography and combinations along with music to motivate and make you smile. Visit her website: monicamathewsyoga.com
JOANNA LORD
Joanna was first introduced to yoga through dance more than twenty years ago, but it was not until joining the Claremont Yoga community that her practice transformed. Yoga has since become a vehicle for navigating life and practicing peace. Yoga brings balance, strength, connectedness and joy to her life; qualities that she is now sharing with others through her teaching. You can expect a blend of vinyasa, alignment-based yoga, and playful movement in her classes, along with playlists curated with love. Joanna is excited to continue to learn, evolve, and share the joy, physical and mental benefits of yoga, and believes that yoga is for everyone!
Sarah Sawyer
Growing up, much of my life centered around sports and competition: gymnastics, dance, collegiate cheerleading, running, and weight training. took a studio yoga class in 2005 and found yoga to be more than an activity but a life-long passion that has provided support through life’s struggles and successes. Sarah is a E-RYT 200-hour and RYT 500-hour yoga instructor registered with Yoga Alliance. She is trained in vinyasa, yin, prenatal and aerial yoga, and is a Yoga Alliance Certified Education Provider. My yoga practice has changed my life profoundly, and I want to support you through your own personal yoga journey. I hope to see you in a class soon! Namaste.
SARAH LITTLE
Sarah Little is a joyful teacher of yoga, mindfulness and meditation. She seeks understanding and humor from everyday experiences of living. Sarah’s own practice of yoga and meditation intensified after becoming a parent and experiencing postpartum depression. Sarah’s classes are peppered with anatomy facts, exploration of inner spaces, poetry, breath work, imagination and laughter. She uses her strong understanding of the human body and correct alignment to challenger her students to find greater freedom. Sarah teaches Vinyasa Flow, Gentle, Hatha, Restorative and Kundalini yoga and practices massage and Reiki. She is registered with Yoga Alliance as an eRYT200. . Sarah is also an instructor in the CYTT program.
JENNA MANN
Jenna Mann (RYT-200) came to the practice of yoga after the death of a dear friend. She found that the focus on mindfulness and breath practice offered a strategy to deal with sorrow and anxiety. As she continued in the practice, she grew to love the rhythmic, steady matching of breath to movement offered in yoga and especially grew to love the Vinyasa Flow style. She found that yoga uniquely offered a holistic process to engage the mind, body, and spirit. It is this balanced, energizing approach of strengthening and empowering the whole person that Jenna endeavors to share in her yoga classes.
AVALON ALVA
Avalon has been actively practicing yoga for over a decade after being introduced to the Yogic studies of Paramahansa Yogananda and the Self Realization Fellowship as a child. After years of diligent practice and self study she earned her 200 hour teaching certification in 2019 through the UCLA Yoga Leadership program facilitated by Dr Isabelle Du Soleil.
Although dynamic vinyasa is at the heart of her practice, Avalon’s true passion is teaching Prenatal, Postnatal and Women’s Yoga. She has been certified by Devi Ma Yoga and has over 110 hours of training in Prenatal Yoga, Postnatal Yoga and Yoga for Labor and Delivery. As a mother of two, Avalon has first hand experience in how prenatal yoga can transform the birthing experience. It is this deep rooted experiential knowledge that she hopes to share with others on their sacred journey into motherhood.
ANDREA BELKNAP
Andrea is a RYT 500 and C-IAYT Yoga Therapist. She holds a certifications in Trauma-Informed Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Somatics, Ayurvedic Nutrition, and Mat Pilates. With 15 years of personal practice yoga has been a central part of her life and growth.
Andrea teaches Vinyasa Flow. Yoga is far more than a physical discipline; it’s a profound path of self-discovery, healing, and transformation. Yoga has the power to restore balance and awaken inner strength.
Elizabeth Morgan
, E-RYT 500, has been practicing yoga for over two decades and teaching professionally since 2010. Her specialty is the Vinyasa Flow practice, but she also enjoys teaching Hatha and Gentle classes. She loves sharing the practice with others and helping people discover yoga’s many physical and personal benefits including improved strength, flexibility, confidence, and adaptability. Her teaching style is direct and precise, focusing on physical alignment and discrete anatomical cues that help students advance through the many expressions of each pose. She endeavors to bring elements of fun and challenge to every class she teaches.
CHARLOTTE O’DONNELL
Charlotte O’Donnell is a Reiki Master Teacher trained in Yoga, Meditation, and Sound Healing. A lifelong intuitive, she has practiced yoga and meditation for over 30 years, weaving her path of spiritual growth into her offerings. Guided to Reiki through her own journey with grief, she completed her Master training in 2012 and has since supported individuals through pregnancy, cancer treatment, hospital and NICU care, and hospice settings. Charlotte also creates healing tools—such as crystal sprays, oils, and chakra resources—to support personal practice, trainings, and workshops. She invites you to Harmonize Your Energy + Illuminate Your Path.