Emily Burton, Founder/Teacher

I am an anusara-inspired yoga teacher with over 15 years experience. After living in Los Angeles for many years, I followed my heart and relocated to Northern California. Over the years I have had the pleasure of leading teacher trainings, teaching at festivals, facilitating retreats and workshops, and most recently adding the online platform for The Yoga Dive. But, it was always my dream to own a yoga studio-to have a physical space. With Laura Brownell’s help- we were able to open The Yoga Dive in Nevada City- and oh what an adventure it’s been!

In the last 5 years our studio has gone through a lot; new babies, the tragic and unexpected death of my husband, a relocation to Grass Valley, and then Covid. It amazes me how this little place continues to push on. My intention is always to create a community of the heart with yoga being the tool for us to access spirit and love. The life changes keep coming and the yoga keeps helping us navigate them. I hope you will roll out your mat with us and receive the blessings of this practice. You deserve it.

Laura West-Brownell, Emotional and Technical Support / Founder

I started doing yoga in 2011 after my daughter was born. I found new motherhood very overwhelming, and needed something to use to carve out a sliver of space for myself. Yoga was it. It made me feel comfortable in my body and my mind; sometimes, after a good flow, it made me feel like I could do anything. It kind of made me understand why superheroes aren't very surprised when they find they can suddenly fly. Then I met Emily, and I told her she had to be my friend. She inspired me. She made me want to open up and let people in, to go for things that were scary, to embrace what made me uncomfortable... Again, the superhero effect. That's what I want with this studio. I want to make a space where people feel inspired and encouraged to do things they don't think they can; things they didn't even know they want to do. 

Mandy Lucchese, Teacher

I teach because it feels natural.  Being at the front of the room is comfortable because it allows me to create. I am recognized for my love of sequencing and creativity designed within the framework of a class. There is nothing flashy, trendy, or incredibly innovative about it, except that I am constantly present with what I am teaching, constantly looking at my own practice and seeking out what is valuable and potent and offering that out. My teachings may stretch beyond traditional yoga with the influence of other forms I study which inspire me; sculpture, poetry, therapeutic body work, pilates, travel, and so much more. Regardless of what I teach, what style, level, or form, I am always trying it on , questioning, learning what is working, what is skillful, and what can be let go of.  This organic approach to my teaching is accessible and welcoming.  

Mandy is the founder of Kinfolk Yoga Studio in Northern California. She has taught at yoga festivals such as Wanderlust, California Spirit Festival, and Honey Root. She facilitates teacher trainings, teaches workshops and retreats. She has completed teacher trainings in Astanga, Anusara, Restorative and Therapeutics, and Tantric Hatha Yoga. She has a Master's Degree in Art and sculpts life-size figures in clay.  Her life of art touches all aspects of her practice and teaching.

Lisa Deniz, Teacher

Yoga connects me to my truth. My mat is mirror of reflection that reveals today's flavor, feelings, and creative inspirations. Through the integration of breath and movement, this poetic practice deepens my connection to spirit and community, softening the chatter of the mind so I can hear the gentle winds of my spirit and authentic self. A fourth generation native of Nevada City, I've returned home, bringing my passion for Yoga and Art with me. I completed my 200 hour Teacher Empowerment Program at Spotted Dog Yoga of Folsom, a Baptiste Affiliate Studio. Come experience a grounded, full throttle, get big, and light it up empowerment practice. My classes weave intentional movement with sweat and play, supported by gentle assists, alignment focus, and self awareness. Founder of the YogArt Experience, I also provide retreat and workshop offerings that ignite the creative spirit. A guided journey that combines breath, meditation, inquiry, and yoga to unleash the power of creativity. 

Erin Wen, Teacher

I have a background in classical ballet that naturally led me to yoga. I obtained my vinyasa certification in 2009 and taught for several years in New York and London. My understanding of yoga continued to deepen as I lived in India for one year and received teachings under the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre and the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram. I am also a certified osteopath from the UK and my classes combine both my knowledge of the human body and the yoga practice. My website is erinwen.com

Schuyler Bright, Teacher

I received my Hatha Yoga certification (RYT) with 500 hours in Restorative and Vinyasa styles in 2003 from the Yogic Medicine Institute; in Swedish and Asian Massage (CMT) with 775 hours from Mueller College in 2005. I graduated in 2011 as a Clinical Ayurvedic and Pancha Karma Specialist (CAS and PKS) with over 2,000 classroom and internship hours from California College of Ayurveda.

From the Chopra Center and my green yoga studio, Yoganic, in San Diego, to Mexico and Northern California, I have taught thousands of students over 20 years. In addition to yoga studios and gyms, I am most proud of developing programs for and/ or teaching at SPIRIT Peer Empowerment Center (for mentally challenged folks), Golden Empire Nursing Home, Hospitality House (homeless shelter), Common Goals (recovery center), Nevada City Veterans Hall, CalWORKS (Welfare-to-Work), Wayne Brown Correctional Facility, Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition, now Community Beyond Violence, Charis Youth Center, Earle Jamieson School (for truant youth), Friendship Club, and Sierra County Drug Court. I also offer Ayurvedic Health Consultations for clients in my private practice, as well as being a Certified Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Counselor, and teaching women’s self defense classes with RAD Nevada County.

I have been published in Consumers Health Digest, Everyday Ayurveda, the International Yoga Therapist Association's publication Yoga Therapy Today, and The Union newspaper. I have led or taught in four Yoga Alliance Certified Teacher Trainings, of which my Yoga for Trauma Recovery Institute is a Registered School (RYS). I am a continuing education provider for Yoga Alliance and National Ayurvedic Medicine Association, and am certified as a Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) by International Association of Yoga Therapists. I have presented at NAMA's annual conference and the Accessible Yoga conference.

I have been raising two beautiful, mostly well behaved children the last few years. I love to hike when I can, swim in the river, soak in hot springs, ski in the winter, and share my understanding of embodiment and integration in body, mind and spirit with the world!

Cassie Brinkley, Teacher

Cassie took her first yoga class shorty after turning 30 and was immediately hooked! She loved the way it made her body feel and the way it calmed her mind. Yoga quickly became something she practiced daily and, less than a year after beginning her yoga journey, she completed her first yoga teacher training. Since then, Cassie has completed specialty trainings in various styles of yoga including pre- and post-natal, SUP, yin, restorative, and Yoga Nidra. Her classes tend to be alignment-based with a focus on linking breath with movement. 

Danielle Rubio, Teacher

I remember my very first yoga class so vividly. I was 17. I walked in not knowing what to expect, I just knew yoga, from what I had heard at the time was a practice that could help you feel better, connect to spirit and make you stronger- so I was game. I walked in and felt that smooth wood floor under my feet and it felt like a homecoming. The yoga teacher was an amazing very first teacher to have in my very first class. And boy did she deliver. From the first 20 minutes of class I was forever changed. And after the class I thought to myself "this is going to be a part of my life in a very deep way." I hope to bring that sense of home to my students in my classes. 

Six years later I entered my first teacher training. I was living in Thailand as a journalist and in one of those very pivotal moments of serendipity, life tail-spinned into chaos and a woman in my apartment building handed me the book The Power of Now and told me to quit journalism and go to this place called the sanctuary on a tiny Thai island. I listened. And there I entered my first of dozens of yoga teacher trainings. I ended up training and teaching around the globe for the last 15 years from India to Thailand to Central America to Hawaii and the West Coast. Some of my primary teachers include AG Mohan, Mark Whitwell, Nicki Doane, Eddie Modestini and Gary Kraftsow. I have trained in lineages such as yoga psychology, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Maya Yoga, Yoga Therapeutics and Yoga Philosophy. In recent years I have also trained in Trauma Yoga. 

In the past two years I have also become a somatic trauma practitioner, somatic educator and nervous system coach. I like to sprinkle the wisdom of the nervous system and somatic practices into my yoga classes so that students can experientially know what embodying their body in a yoga class is and walk away with the fruits that affords. 

When I am not teaching or offering somatic coaching sessions, I am spending time with my daughter and partner, traveling, and dancing in this beautiful life with community.  

Steven Gracia, Teacher.

My yoga practice started in 2000 to help rehab a shoulder injury.   

What gravitated me to Vinyasa is the freedom to move and connecting movement to breath.

I incorporate other styles in my teaching and encourage students to make modifications when needed.

My goal in my teaching is for students to walk away feeling better than when they arrived-physically stronger and motivated for the day and for life.  

 2004: I took the  Bikram yoga teacher training.  Which I taught full time for two years.  

 2006: I started teaching Vinyasa full time in south San Diego.  I studied primarily under Rebecca Kovacs one of Dharma Mittra top teachers.  

 2006: I took the Budokon teacher training.  Which is a mixture of martial arts and yoga.  Great for strength training and muscle memory for self defense through repetition. 

 2008: I moved to Nevada City and taught at Wild Mountain Yoga 2008-2013.

2013: I took the Vira Bhava teacher training with Kelly Golden.  

2013-2015: I taught at Kinfolk Yoga.  

2015-2016:  My parents passed from cancer and I took a break from teaching. 

2016-2018: I moved to Northern California far off grid.   Life above the cloud line was very healing.  I found nature to be a very therapeutic and a honest teacher. 

 2018-2019: I moved to San Luis Obispo for love and taught at a Climbing Gym.  

2019: I moved back to Nevada City for family friends and a cool community. 

 I’m honored to teach at the Yoga Dive.  Emily has been an inspiration to shine light.  Which makes me happy to contribute.

Bex Nagy, Teacher

Dance, yoga, movement, and somatic practices have shaped my life, teaching me the power of my own presence and adaptability. I began practicing yoga āsana in 2001, and have been teaching since 2010. I’m a Somatic Movement Educator and E-RYT 500+.

Over the past two decades I’ve studied Ashtanga, Iyengar, Vinyasa, Desikachar-style Viniyoga, and Body-Mind Centering®. My current teachers and mentors are Amy Matthews and Nikki Costello. Above all, what I’ve learned from these diverse approaches, is an emphasis on following present-moment-felt sensations including the breath, and supporting each student’s uniqueness. Teaching is a profound way of setting a container for others, offering expertise without determining or overriding their experiences. In this way teaching, like anything else we undertake, can be practiced in integrity as yoga. 

In my classes you can expect to build inner heat, surmount challenges safely and playfully, and rest deeply. I ground suggestions of spirituality in whole-body inquiry. Practicing postures and consciously witnessing your breath are fundamental ways to notice all of your patterns in greater detail. Spiritual practice is not separate from exploring yourself through movement. 

In addition to being a yoga and somatic movement teacher, I’m a Sanskrit and philosophy geek and a writer. You can find my work in Tarka, the quarterly journal of Embodied Philosophy. I cut my teeth teaching yoga in NYC for seven years before moving to Northern California in 2017. My husband and I used to live off-grid near Bridgeport in an earthen home, abiding by regenerative farming principles and raising chickens, ducks, and geese. In June of 2022 we lost everything in the Rices Fire. Now we’re enjoying being closer to civilization; we live in Nevada City and share our home with two wonderful and silly cats.