teachers

Elizabeth Rossa is the founder/director of SHRIYOGA, once upon a time known as the much celebrated studio voted “Best Next Generation of Yoga” by New York Magazine and now known as the petit underground laboratory of genuine yoga, meditation and Self-Inquiry practices.

Originally certified to teach hatha yoga almost 12 years ago by notable master teachers, Erich Schiffman and Max Strom, Elizabeth remains as dedicated to her on-going studies as she is to teaching.  Her principal teachers are the incomparable meditation and tantric philosophy master, Sally Kempton and the wildly brilliant yoga master Richard Freeman.  Elizabeth credits Sally Kempton as her primary influence and mentor of the last 8 years, and honors Sally’s teachings, along with Richard Freeman’s, as the foundation of what she offers in her classes.  She respectfully acknowledges each of them, along with teacher, Mary Taylor (one of the yoga world’s genuine gems) for giving her the model of what it means to teach with the highest of integrity in the modern spiritual world.

Further training and certification credentials include Richard Freeman’s month-along 200 hour Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training at his Yoga Workshop and subsequent advanced intensives world-wide;  Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan at Yoga West, LA; Reiki Mastership through Wendy Miner of Memorial Sloane-Kettering’s Integrative Medicine Center;  and extensive silent retreat experience and Self-inquiry practice with Adyashanti.

With immense gratitude she bows to Ram Dass as the teacher who opened the gates to an ever-unfolding devotional love.  His teachings of his direct experience with Neem Karoli Baba intimately shifted Elizabeth’s perspective on what it is “to be here now” and more acutely to be “still here.”

As a contemporary teacher of yoga, meditation and Self-inquiry practices, Elizabeth holds space for clarity and freedom. She offers a fresh perspective which allows the ancient and esoteric to become modern and real.  Students are encouraged to cultivate curiosity as they pause and breathe, deeply listening for the internal cues of Life. Primarily committed to Shriyoga’s NYC laboratory classes, Elizabeth also teaches retreats and workshops worldwide, is on faculty of the Open Center in NYC and is a guest presenter at Kripalu.

Philanthropically, she helped to spearhead a successful Give Your Yoga benefit for Women For Women International at Urban Zen in 2010.  Personally inspired by WFW founder, Zainab Salbi’s mission, Elizabeth has also sponsored two “sisters” in Rwanda, a third in Nigeria, and hopes to bring more awareness to this powerful organization which recognizes an inherent unity amongst us all.

Please see the KARMA YOGA page of this website for further information on the inspired 2010 benefit co-taught with Elena Brower at Urban Zen.
Emma-Kate Croghan is an Anusara inspired teacher who grew up in Australia. She is a writer and film director. She became a dedicated Yogi when Yoga become a life-line in the transition to motherhood and America. Her teaching is motivated by her desire to share the life-enhancing gift that yoga has been to her. Her classes are fun and life affirming. Her teaching is inspired by her mentor Shriyoga director Elizabeth Rossa. Her Passion for yoga is reenergized daily by the great New York yoga community. With particular thanks going to her teachers Ross Rayburn, Zhenja La Rosa and John Friend. Emma-Kate spent the last year sailing the world with her family and has recently returned to NYC after many adventures at sea. Read more about her year at sea at: www.sailingondine.com
Cari Friedman O’Connor has been teaching in New York both as a private and class instructor for 11 years.  She is a dedicated and gifted teacher. She combines exceptional technical knowledge with the capacity to tailor to each student’s individual needs. Regarded for her ability to impart a clear understanding of basic alignment principles, Cari’s classes manage to be both challenging and nourishing. Most importantly, Cari creates a safe space for all students, inspiring trust, risk-taking, vulnerability, and, ultimately, confidence. A recent mother to two amazing girls, her primary motivation in teaching is to help students establish the strong foundation that allows them to reclaim their essential selves. In the words of one student, practice with Cari provides a “lasting balance.”Formerly an Anusara yoga teacher, Cari has logged hundreds of hours studying with John Friend, completed a certified teacher training with Max Strom in 2001 and a year long training in 2002 with Jimmy Bernaert & Ellen Saltonstall.  A lifelong learner, Cari continues her yoga education with teachers of all styles and traditions.These days, her greatest teachers are daughters Monet and Joni, and husband Todd, who inspires her practice at the most intimate and fundamental level. Cari also holds a BA at the Boston Conservatory of Music.
Betsy Haddad feels blessed to have had many great teachers and considers her practice a weaving of their teachings.  She received her certification in 2005 from the kind and humble yogi Dharma Mittra, with whom she continues to study.  She is guided by the Tantric Meditation teachings of Sally Kempton and her lineage.  Recently she has become influenced by the healing and connected, spiraling movements of Ba Gua and qi gong.  She is continually awed by the intertwined relationship of the physical, emotional, energetic and spiritual.  She is touched again and again, as both a student and a teacher, to see the flowering of yoga – with each individual student as well as the class as a whole.  Betsy has an MSc in Computer Science, and lives with her husband and children, dog and cat in lower Manhattan.
In addition to Sally and Dharma, she would also like to acknowledge other influential teachers in her life: Isam Salah, Elizabeth Rossa, Kevin Courtney, Michael Johnson, Wendy Miner and Loomis Reade.