Our People Define Your Experience
We hope you will feel right at home with our committed staff of highly trained yoga educators who are here to help you feel better in your body, mind and spirit.
Our teachers never stop learning and never stop practicing. We each maintain a dedicated personal practice and know what it means to be a student and show up for yourself on the mat.
Although we each bring our own style, we come together over a few constants: mindfulness, technique/alignment, and breath; the fundamentals for any style or level of practice. We choose to honor the traditional maps of physical alignment but prefer to see them as guides rather than absolutes. We know every body is unique and use a wide range of skills to help you find what is best for you.
We love what we do and are here to share the yoga love with you!
CJ Lamborn
Owner / Instructor
500E-CYT, Aerial, YTU, Pilates
When we stop trying to be and do who and what we are not, we learn to see what is: unlimited possibilities. I believe in the power of practice. I believe in the limitless potential of the individual. And, I believe that yoga is many things and at least one of those things is for you.
My goal in every class is to encourage students to let go of expectations and experience their bodies with presence and intent, taking it all in one breath at a time. Life offers enough stressors, yoga shouldn’t. I lean towards a functional approach and am eternally fascinated with technique and transitions. I aim to show the power of resilience yoga has to offer and lead classes that inspire self care. Be it sweaty and strong, or slow and peaceful, I believe the mat to be where we come with compassion and service to the bodhichitta within.
For me, yoga is a grounding force and has been for over 20 years. I am grateful for my main teachers, Laura Mullin, Pik Chu Wong and Jason Crandell. Although my practice has changed through the years, the foundations remains the same. It centers me: mind, body and soul. I believe consistent practice of asana, breath, movement and meditation quiets the noise, ultimately revealing itself as practice of uncovering life’s beauty.
Show up, do the work, spread the joy.
Kaylee Pullin
Instructor
Maria Odenese
Instructor
Melissa Williams
Instructor
Wes Linch
Instructor
Melanie Woods
Instructor
Tina Rath
Instructor
Marlena Salinas
Instructor
Julie Conrad
Instructor
Kaylee Pullin
200-hour RYT by Meghan Currie Yoga
Why Yoga: I love yoga because yoga taught me how to love myself. Through yoga I discovered my personal power and deep respect for what my body is capable of.
Started practicing regularly in 2011 (9 years) and became certified in 2015 (5 years of teaching)
I believe… in the good things coming.
Melissa Williams
Certifications: 500 CYT, Yoga Tune Up® Level 1
3 words to describe my teaching style: Compassionate, engaging, versatile
Why Yoga: After 15 years of practice Yoga continues to widen my awareness which positively affects all aspects of my life.
Maria Odense
500RYT
In 2004, I found my mat on a cold winter night in the mountains of Whistler British Columbia and was instantly hooked. After 10 yrs, 5 cities and 2 countries, I realized how important it was to have balance in my life. It was that realization that brought me straight back to my mat. In 2016, I plunged into teacher training to become RYT200 with CorePower Yoga. With a strong personal practice and svadhyaya, I found Jason Crandell in San Francisco and completed his 300hr training at Love Story Yoga in 2019. In 2020, as a forever student, I became a certified Yoga Tune Up® Instructor, a style of conscious corrective exercise that strikes a balance between the worlds of yoga, fitness, and myofascial self-care. Today, I continue to spark excitement within myself to spread and share my yoga experience through physical and mental movement focusing my asana teachings on strength, function, and range of motion.
Wes Linch
Wes is a Hatha Yoga instructor, with over 15yrs of practice and having received over 1200hrs of training, primarily in the Krishnamacharya lineages. He has studied extensively modern Vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Shadow Yoga, and Viniyoga. Currently, he is continuing his training and studies with Nicki Doane (Maya Yoga), Kristin Bosteels, and Eddie Modestini(Yoga on the Inside). He has had the privilege of studying in-depth with Mynx Inatsugu(Yogaworks and Viniyoga) and Mark Horner (Shadow Yoga).
Wes focuses primarily on bridging the gap between breath, alignment, and awareness. He aims to make the energy of the practice relevant on and off the mat by introducing traditional yogic teachings with a modern twist. His classes are fun, sweaty, challenging, and full of great humor and heart.
Melanie Woods
Melanie discovered yoga while solo traveling India in 2009. Inspired by this initial experience, she developed a devoted asana practice which inevitably lead her to train further in the subtle practices of pranayama, meditation, and reiki. Her classes will guide you through an embodied experience of self discovery, empowerment, and reconnection towards a more integrated state of being.
Alongside the many classes, workshops, and self study over the years, the training courses she completed from the Yandara Yoga Institute’s 200hr program and Yoga Tree San Francisco’s 500hr program have greatly shaped her as a teacher. Believing there is always more to learn, she recently finished Kia Miller’s Prana & Pranayama Training and is looking forward to deepen further with Kia’s Radiant Body Yoga program.
To compliment her yoga studies, Melanie finished her undergraduate degree from SF State in Kinesiology Movement Science and worked as a physical therapy aide. She is also a Usui Reiki Master and has been a reiki practitioner for over ten years.
She is looking forward to connecting with the Raga Yoga community and is excited to share the practice with you!
Marlena Salinas
I started studying and practicing yoga casually after the birth of my son in 1996, and have always known that one day I wanted to teach it as well. I completed a 200 hr yoga teacher training program in 2011, and have been teaching ever since. Teaching yoga has brought me the inner balance I’ve been searching for my entire life, and it has become my passion to share that journey with my students. It is my goal with every class to keep students present in the moment, to cultivate a fun atmosphere, to challenge every practitioner to explore the depths of their physical and mental abilities, and to show them that yoga is for everybody at every level, health, age, and stage of life.
Forever a student, I like to teach the way I like to practice, so in my classes, you can expect to be challenged and encouraged to try new things within your comfort zone and maybe just past your perceived boundaries. Mindful movement, communal motivation, meditation, and fun are always anticipated… and humbly leaving pretension and stress in a pool of sweat on your mat is inevitable. I look forward to sharing my journey of yoga with you and seeing how we can grow and learn together.
Tina Rath
We are thrilled to welcome @tinarathstudio to our staff!! Her thoughtful and creative sequencing is the perfect add for our community🙏🏼. In fact, we’ve created a class just for her and we can’t wait to share it with you.
Drawing upon her 25-year practice with various styles including Ashtanga, Anusara, Iyengar, Vinyasa, SATYA, and Yin, she brings you Embodied Flow: an introspective experiential practice designed to nourish your nervous system, move your body, and support your joints. This practice is for everyone! Somatic movements developing greater body awareness combine with yin holds to hydrate and strengthen your connective tissue is something we ALL could use more of.