Our Instructors
Bree Pondor
Bree Ponder(E-RYT 200) discovered a new enthusiasm for life and a way out of depression when she opened the door to Yoga in 2005. She received an incredible education & Yoga Teacher Certification from Yoga Works in 2007, since then she has participated in trainings, apprenticeship programs & workshops including: Core Power, Hot Yoga, Restorative & Vinyasa Flow. With over 2,000 hrs of teaching experience, including private clients & specialty workshops, Bree has the ability to thrill all levels. Her most recent & rewarding experiences come from teaching yoga to recovering addicts and leading 2 Yoga Teacher Training Programs. Bree’s intention as an instructor is to safely guide students through a moving meditation to stimulate the physical and metaphysical healing benefits of Yoga. Shanti~Shanti~Shanti
Sesa O’Connor
Sesa (Say-sha) O’Connor, ERYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) was born and raised in a family that lives and breathes true yoga, she grew up learning and practicing mantra meditation and yoga as a lifestyle. Having grown up living around yoga her whole life, she decided to go to college to get her AA degree in International Business. After graduating with honors, she soon found herself unexpectedly pregnant… This hiatus from the things that were primarily taking up her time and energy, college and surfing, Sesa was forced to return to her yoga roots. This is when she realized how important yoga was to her, and although her life experience and knowledge of yoga extends far beyond what a few hundred hour yoga certification course offers; always humble to learn more, she became a Yoga Alliance certified yoga instructor through Tamal Yoga School. Sesa wants to share the amazing life changing powers of yoga that have molded her into the – daughter, sister, mother, lover, and friend – she is today, with everyone.
Aleesha Herde-Villegas
Aleesha is grateful to share and guide others through their journey and practice of yoga. Upon experiencing her own transformation while becoming a dedicated yoga student she became interested in sharing this gift with others in her community and truly feels blessed in assisting others into an enhanced way of life through overall health and self awareness. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and has 400 hours of certified trainings in both Vinyasa Power Flow and Hot Yoga, which she enjoys infusing these elements and styles into the diversity of classes she teaches and will bring attention to alignment.
Her passion and desire to learn has led her to attend workshops, be dedicated to self studies, and has also participated in internship programs. Aleesha had been an athlete and competitor in various sports but has found her true joy in yoga after the relief of many past injuries as well as stress and has never felt more healthy, happy, or fulfilled. She’s enthusiastic about sharing the many benefits that yoga has to offer. Regardless of the style of class Aleesha is teaching she provides her students with a joyful, uplifting, and peaceful environment where they can experience an elevated level of confidence, focus, peace, and will embrace the physical, emotional and spiritual strength that is available to each individual that attends her class.
Kelly Buskirk
Raised in Los Altos, CA, Kelly was a dancer for 14 years. While attending college at UC Santa Barbara, Kelly was first introduced to yoga. She fell in love with yoga’s beautiful balance of effort and ease and found a greater sense of connection to life and living in the present moment. She has been enjoying her practice for over 10 years now. After college, Kelly did fundraising for non-profit organizations. Then, following her love of yoga, she changed paths and received her yoga teacher training in 2004 at the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, CA. After becoming a yoga teacher, Kelly traveled Southeast Asia and lived abroad teaching yoga in Malaysia, Bali and Thailand. More recently, Kelly lived on Kauai where she gave birth to two kids and worked as a Spa Manager. During her pregnancies, Kelly was inspired to teach prenatal yoga, and in 2008, Kelly also became a certified Prenatal Yoga Teacher at Bodhi Baby Yoga in Grass Valley, CA. Just recently, Kelly moved to San Juan Capistrano with her husband and her two young kids. Now, she enjoys being a mom and teaching yoga to her students.
Jessica Seabern
Jessica Seabern’s yoga journey began at the age of sixteen teaching yoga to teens for her Mothers fitness business. After taking several years off and settling in San Clemente, California she rediscovered her early passion for yoga and has enjoyed sharing this passion with all levels and ages of practitioners’ for the past twelve+ years.
Jessica’s early training in the ashtanga method led her to an eclectic Vinyasa style of teaching which has been strongly influenced by a variety of yoga styles, Jessica has enjoyed sharing these styles with students in both public and private classes and has been leading teacher trainings for YogaWorks since 2007.
Jessica offers a vigorous and challenging as well as a calming class pairing the physical and spiritual aspects of yoga for her students. Blending the heat building and detoxifying teachings of ashtanga with lighthearted yet specific instruction in a flow of asanas (postures) with an emphasis on alignment and a safe practice. She offers a challenge for those who desire and modifications for students new to this journey. Jessica’s goal is for students to leave feeling uplifted, inspired, peaceful and strong.
Nicole Regan
I took my first Bikram yoga class in 2000, I attended class occasionally for many years. While pregnant with my 2nd baby in 2009, I started a regular Vinyasa practice and quickly noticed the benefits. More than just being physically fit, I felt centered and relaxed. My mat became a place of reflection, growth and peace. First and foremost I am a yoga student as there is and always will be so much to learn. I incorporate what I learn into my classes, meeting the students where they are on their journey so they can have fun but also feel challenged. I am very grateful for the teachers I’ve had in the past and for the teachers I am blessed to be learning from today. I promote a warm and inviting space where we can practice yoga together, learn from our experiences on the mat, and come out feeling balanced and rejuvenated.
Sunny Heydari
My first exposure to yoga was at age six watching my father trying to balance himself on his head or trying the full camel pose in our living room. I watched in amusement!!!
At the age of seventeen I moved to Orange County, California, where I completed my undergraduate studies in Computer Science. Thereafter I joined the work force and before I knew it I was caught up in the same daily routine: sitting in traffic, working, gym and sleeping. I stopped enjoying that robotic life, which was so different from the light and carefree moments of my younger days. Everything seemed tedious and I wanted some sort of a change but I did not truly know what the change was and how I was to go about it.
In the summer of 2008 a good friend of mine who had just moved down from Berkeley, CA, convinced me to attend a Vinyasa style yoga class. I used to think my spinning classes were challenging until I tried Vinyasa flow yoga. While my spinning classes were demanding I had never sweated in any of them the way I did in that yoga class. I could not believe how much I sweated by the end of the practice. Afterwards I was not tired but indeed energized. The amazing feeling that followed that 90 minute session opened the door to my yoga path.
Subsequently, I practiced Vinyasa yoga at YogaWorks for two years. In January of 2010, my manager asked me to set a New Year’s resolution to achieve a personal goal that would allow me to relieve my stress and enjoy life a little bit more. The first thing that popped into my mind was completing the 200 hour yoga teacher training program and to become a yoga instructor. I truly believe that this was a turning point in my life, an experience that changed me forever. Along with learning how to share this wonderful practice comes the understanding that true happiness and peace comes from within and that the most important lesson of all times is knowing how to treat the mind and body which are the “the greatest instruments one can ever own.”
Yoga has become a great passion of mine, and it is rewarding for me to share my love for yoga and its life changing effects with others.
Namaste.
Desiree Lee
Desiree’s first experience of yoga began with a very gentle Hatha Yoga at Orange Coast College back in 2002. After exploring a bit of ashtanga yoga and some Bikram yoga, Desiree grew roots in Vinyasa Power Yoga. After a steady and consistent practice, she experienced such an amazing and tremendous change in her life that Desiree decided that she must learn to teach and share her passion for yoga with others. She offers a powerful and open hearted approach to your Yoga practice. Through movement and music, you will experience asanas incorporating the power of the breath to movement, meditation through movement and strength of the human spirit.
Barbara Champins
An avid fitness and an outdoor lover, Barbara’s passion for yoga developed at an early age. Her interest in healthy living and her mother’s study of Ayurveda, a form of indian medicine that involves diet, meditation and yoga evoked in her the thirst to know more about this art.
After indulging in Bikram Yoga for many years, and experimenting the many different styles through her travels to Costa Rica and Indonesia, Barbara deepened her practice and found in yoga the physical benefits of exercise plus the mental and spiritual connection she was craving. A certified massage therapist and a graduate of the Marianne Wells School of Yoga in Costa Rica, Barbara brings a cultural flair and an ample knowledge of body mechanics and alignment to her classes. Acknowledging the body as a vessel that carries spirit, Barbara believes that yoga helps lift the mental and physical veil that may block the full expression of the spirit within. Join Barbara in her journey to honor the body and mind in a fun class with a dance like sequence flow of yoga postures and breathing awareness while tapping into the inner wisdom.
Sheree O’Brien
Sheree’s yoga journey began nearly ten years ago with an injury- after spending most of her teens and twenties participating in sports such as tennis, hockey, and horseback riding, she was sidelined with debilitating back pain. Her physical therapist suggested yoga as part of her rehabilitation, and she has been practicing ever since. She has explored Bikram, Iyengar and Kundalini yoga, but found her home in practicing and teaching Vinyasa Power Yoga. In 2010, she completed her initial 200hr training through Corepower yoga and she continues to attend workshops and trainings, deepening her knowledge as a student and practitioner.
After personally experiencing the inner peace and physical benefits of practicing yoga, Sheree hopes to empower others on their own yoga journeys. Her classes incorporate compelling music matched with spirited asana sequences and breathwork . She strives to provide a safe, light-hearted atmosphere that allows students of all levels to feel successful in their practice.
Elsa Stephen
I have always enjoyed working out, running, biking, hiking, anything that gets me moving and sweating. I loved working out so much; I got my personal training certification (NESTA) in 2008 to be able to share my passion with others. Shortly after, I stumbled into a yoga class and was instantly hooked. Not only is it a great physical workout, but I soon started to observe many other benefits that came from yoga. I am so much more positive, and have a much bigger appreciation for simple things, and am able to roll with the punches of life with so much more ease after practicing yoga. In Feb, 2009, I completed my 200 hour yoga training. I now teach at many studios in the area, and have started my own free yoga in the park, as a way to give back. I have been blessed with numerous kind and gifted instructors that have helped me on my yoga path, and am honored to share with others what my teachers have taught me. I hope to create an environment of transformation and healing, while leading students through a challenging physical practice.
Amy Wyman
Amy is a passionate yogi with an enthusiastic and playful approach to teaching. She is 200 hr RYT certified by CorePower Yoga. However, she views herself as an eternal student. She hopes to learn from her students as much as they learn from her. Her goal as a teacher is to allow her students to be inspired by their yoga practice and enable them to experience the union of their body, mind and spirit. With an eager yearning for more knowledge, she humbly accepts the lessons in each day and invites the blossoming promise of tomorrow’s present. She looks forward to her journey of sharing her passion for yoga and the health of the body and environment. Honoring the teacher in all things, Namaste.
Debi Berardi
Debbie began practicing meditation, guided imagery and visualization “spiritual practices of yoga” as tools to help deal psychologically and emotionally with an early diagnosis of breast cancer. The physical practice of yoga began as a natural progression to recuperate from the intense treatments for this challenge.
As a child she danced, as a teenager she competed in gymnastics and as a young adult she taught aerobics. Debbie was also a student athlete on the Women’s Crew Team at UCI, competing in regattas at the NCAA level.
Debbie’s physical yoga practice has evolved since her first Hatha Yoga class in the early 90′s. She has studied and practiced Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Anusara, Tantra, Yin, Iyengar, Viniyoga, Restorative and Kundalini. She’s completed both the 200hr. Teacher Training and 300hr. Master Training with Cloud Nine Yoga. Debbie has also completed 100hrs. of Teacher Training in the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga with Tim Miller and continues to study with him at his studio in Encinitas.
She is a Cloud Nine Yoga School faculty member and co-leads 200hr. Yoga Alliance recognized Teacher Trainings. She also teaches group classes, private sessions and workshops around the Orange County area. Debbie’s classes are the result of inspirations from many styles of yoga that she embraces. Building on the rich traditional lineage of Ashtanga, she weaves in elements of other modes that are suitable for the class. Her aim is to guide each student on their own individual path, to be a small yet positive part of their journey as an encouraging and compassionate ally.