Prana Yoga Center is a community-centered studio offering a variety of classes for those seeking greater health, vitality & ease.
Prana Yoga Center is a beautiful studio in the heart of downtown Denville, New Jersey. Beginning as “Adaptive Yoga Dynamics” in the early 90’s, Prana has a long history of being a welcoming and inclusive, community centered and dedicated space. We offer a wide range of classes from Restorative and Gentle to more active Beginner through Intermediate, Pilates, and in the Summer, SUP Yoga. Our instructors have backgrounds in a variety of styles and are experienced in making yoga safe, accessible, and beneficial for all. We offer fun and educational workshops, teacher trainings, retreats, breathwork, and sound healing events year round. Prana Yoga is gratefully owned and managed by sisters Christy and April Linson who are honored to have been awarded Morris/Essex Reader’s Choice award for best Yoga studio in 2016, 2019, and 2021.
Prana Instructors
Amanda Amabile
Amanda is a graduate of the Aligned Flow 200hr Yoga Teacher Training program, designed and taught by Christy Linson. As a former dancer, Amanda originally came to yoga for the support it provided for a body constantly in motion. Since then, she has come to know the other benefits of yoga- the community it provides, the spiritual study it offers, and the emotional release that is sometimes experienced during a yoga practice. Currently a hairdresser and continuous student of yoga, Amanda finds her purpose in serving others. She is always willing to share her latest studies with her clients in the salon and fellow yoga students on the mat. Her classes are designed to hold space for students to have an individual experience in their unique body.
Arnaldo Ortiz
Arnaldo began his journey to yoga through a love of physical fitness and interest in a more mindful practice. He pursued a deeper practice in 2013 and completed his 200-hour yoga training in 2014. Since then, Arnaldo has taught at many studios across the NJ counties, and has thoroughly enjoyed bringing this practice to everyone he meets. Arnaldo does his best to use his many experiences as learning opportunities, in order to create teachable moments, both for himself and others. Arnaldo teaches a variety of classes, but does love an open-level, challenging, powerful practice with dynamic vinyasa flows, drawing awareness to the breath and focus to the mind. He’s spent the last several years exploring and developing his practice both on his mat and in his life, and continues to do so in hopes of sharing that practice with others.
Becky Lucas
After receiving her certification by the American Council on Exercise, Becky began her career in the fitness industry teaching and training step, spin, Pilates, and kickboxing classes. In 2000 transformational events occurred in her life. During that time she evaluated her intentions and direction and began to seek a new path that incorporated mindfulness into her physical movement. That year after attending a few yoga classes Becky knew she had found her spiritual path. In 2003 she received her 200 hour yoga certification and has been teaching yoga ever since. Although Becky stays active in the fitness industry, she receives gratification from and takes great pleasure in teaching her vinyasa style yoga classes.
Becky has established an unwavering commitment to her own practice and to her teaching through the years. She shares yoga philosophy with her students and infuses that study of knowledge and concept in the asana practice.
Becky continues to expand her knowledge by attending workshops, extensive reading and attending a variety of class styles. Yoga has brought peace and balance to her life and helps her remain calm and grounded on a daily basis in her challenging job as a Clinical Nursing Director. She received her Bachelor of Science in 2012 and her Masters in Science in 2015. Becky’s nursing background combined with teaching experience allows her to deliver a holistic and creative practice. Her compassionate approach enables her to teach classes that find strength, flexibility and stamina both in movement and in stillness.
Cheryl Wilson
Cheryl Wilson is an RYT500 yoga instructor with over 700 hours of additional training. She specializes in yin, energy healing, mindfulness meditation, and therapeutic yoga.
Cheryl’s yin classes consist of a unique blend of her Buddhist studies, Mindfulness meditation, along with her Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy training. Cheryl holds space in a unique way, which allows for her students to develop an awareness of what’s happening now in the direct experience of their bodies and minds in the present moment. Through developing this awareness, it can lead to change and transformation from the mat to daily life. Join Cheryl this Thursday at 11am for for this transformative yin yoga class.
Christy Linson
Christy Linson is an E-RYT500 and YACEP through Yoga Alliance, a licensed massage therapist (LMT), a SUP Yoga and paddling instructor, and a Holistic Health Coach. She began practicing Yoga in 1999 while attending massage school in Hawaii. Her curiosity about the mind-body connection and love for beautiful places led her to study Contemplative Psychology, Somatics and Traditional Eastern Arts at Naropa University in Colorado. She completed her 200 and 300 hour Yoga teacher trainings at YogaWorks in NYC and her teachings have been influenced by many incredible teachers including Helena Berg, Nataraja Kallio, Maty Ezraty, and Janet Stone.
She is blessed to own the award winning Prana Yoga Center in Denville, NJ with her sister, April, to direct the Aligned Flow® 200 & 300 hour teacher trainings and workshops, and lead retreats in beautiful places around the world. Her massage practice began by working with professional windsurfers and surfers in Hawaii and has included athletes of many backgrounds over the years including 7 years with the NY Jets.
She is a life-long student always in the middle of several books and courses, a sunset lover, and an enthusiastic aunt to her one, very loved niece. You can connect and practice with her on demand at AlignedFlow.com
Dee Schneider
Dee Schneider is certified through Power Pilates, NYC in mat work and apparatus and has been teaching for more than a decade. She loves the challenges and rewards that come with teaching Pilates, helping clients move and feel better. Dee continues her Pilates education thru Power Pilates with concentration on the teachings of classical Pilates. Her classes are for all levels and are focused on form that is true to the classical method.
Jessica Danz
Jessica received her Y200 teacher training through Aligned Flow® and has practiced yoga regularly at Prana Yoga Center for seven years. She approaches both her personal practice and her classes with a sense of curiosity and fun; focusing on making yoga accessible for every one through proper alignment, building a solid foundation, and safely challenging the boxes we build around ourselves. Jessica believes that every body is a yoga body, and her goal is to help students connect and nurture the mind and body by providing a safe and welcoming space to practice yoga. When she’s not on the mat, Jessica works for a national healthcare company dedicated to improving whole-person health, where she creates sales strategies aligned around the company’s mission. She also enjoys reading, running, writing, and cooking (usually with her cat, Noodles, nearby hoping for a crumb to drop). “For me, yoga is not only about embracing the strength of what our bodies can do, but about challenging a noisy mind and celebrating a brave spirit. Vulnerability, strength, courage, fear ... all of it.”
Loretta Napolitano
Loretta Napolitano has lived in Denville for 37 years and has taught group exercise all of those years at various gyms: spinning, jump rope, pilates, boot camp and many other things eventually led her to yoga. Loretta is a 500-hour EYT and trained with Yoga-Fit and the School of Yoga and Ayurveda. She has taken trainings with Rodney Yee and Bryan Kest and continues to learn from other yogis. Loretta enjoys meditation through movement and likes to work hard and earn savasana. “I took yoga way back in college from a ‘weird’ lady and I still remember feeling really good after the class. Now I am that weird lady who hopefully makes people feel good after a yoga class.”
Malia Luzzi
My goal for each class is for everyone to leave feeling powerful, rejuvenated, and beautiful. The classes I teach are not limited to a certain level of ability; I try to design them to be as inclusive as possible for all bodies, levels, and ages with a strong emphasis on body alignment, awareness, and becoming our best selves.
Michelle Radley
Michelle has retained a passion for yoga since she was 16 years old. She took her 200 hour training at Yoga Impact with Nancy Candea and also completed her advanced 313 hr training. Yoga has been a practice and a discipline that facilitates strength and guidance in her work and personal life. She is known for her insight and candor, and by example she shares this with everyone she encounters. Yoga has been a constant through all the tides of her life and she intends to share a sustainable practice focusing on strength and core conditioning as well as flexibility.
Nancy Cook
Nancy has been active in the fitness industry for over 35 ears. She has taught many different types of fitness classes, including aerobics, step, toning, Yoga, Pilates, Barre, aqua, HIlT, senior fitness and classes for children. In addition to teaching Nancy conducts private training sessions for several local clients. Nancy has vast management experience in the industry, having owned and operated a women's fitness studio for eight years. Nancy loves learning and attends training workshops and teacher training regularly. She has earned several certifications throughout the years, including two fitness certifications from the Aerobic and Fitness Association of America, three certifications (fitness, personal training, and nutrition) from the American Council on Exercise, Pilates certificates from Balanced Body Pilates, Power Pilates, and Powerhouse Pilates, Barre certification from V Barre, and her 200 hr RYT from Yoga Fit. Nancy is Yoga Alliance E-200 RYT as well. She also graduated from Seton Hall University school of business earning an MBA in finance and computer science. Nancy hopes to motivate her students to move their bodies and develop habits that encourage them to lead healthy lifestyles.
Robert Von Schalscha
Robert became involved in Yoga in 2014 and quickly became aware of the benefits of the physical practice. Robert, a certified 200 RYT, was drawn to the history & science of Yoga and living by the guiding principals of Yoga. Robert, a retired police officer, has enjoyed the benefits of Yoga in mind, body & spirit and his classes reflect that passion. He has found that practicing yoga has helped him work through many of the experiences he had in a twenty-five year career in law enforcement. Robert feels that “Yoga is the perfect evenness of mind”. His goal is to share the teachings of Yoga to benefit as many people as he can. His teaching style is to focus on connecting the breath to the movement to maximize the benefit of the practice for the student. He enjoys offering a Mindful Vinyasa Flow to his students.
Russ Roy
Russ is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. He has been practicing for 13 years and he continues to deepen his practice through various immersions and his own practice. He brings a balance of alignment and humor to his classes. Russ is a professional Baker and cake decorator. His love for yoga is matched only by his love for food!
Sarah Michalowski
Letting go and surrendering is a challenge and a process, which the practice of yoga can help with. We first need to find the steadiness and ease in our own seat (Sthira Sukhamāsanam, Patanjali’s Sutra 2.46), through both asana and meditation. And as we begin to achieve steadiness and ease, we can then remove the mind chatter and fluctuations of the mind (Yogaś citta vrtti nirodhah, Patanjali’s Sutra 1.2). Those two Sutras are the foundation of Sarah’s classes.
Sarah is an RYT-200 and Yin-100 hour trained. She has taken additional advanced level yoga teacher trainings through Aligned Flow with Christy Linson. She has completed trainings in different pranayama techniques, Yoga Nidra and is Reiki Level 2 certified. She takes several different styles and levels of yoga classes, but is drawn to the beginner level classes as she finds it helps her better connect the breath to the mind and body throughout the movement. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Doctorate in Social Work, she understands the importance of the mind-body connection and holistic treatment. She attended Yoga Teacher Training to combine the therapeutic aspects of yoga with mental health. Sarah was drawn to yin and restorative yoga, in which her classes will take you on a healing journey to help you connect with your internal stillness by relaxing your body, calming your mind, slowing your breath, connecting with your spirit, and soothing your nervous system with the use of holding simple shapes, pranayama, meditations, music, mantras, affirmations, and mudras.
Sarah has an extensive amount of experience in the mental health field, including working with those who have experienced trauma, and as a supervisor for those seeking social work licensure. She has worked in academia in both the undergrad and graduate level of social work. She created a course titled: Mental Health, Treatment Approaches, and Self Care Techniques to help students make the connection between yoga, holistic health, and mental health. In January 2020, Sarah traveled to Matamoros, Mexico to provide holistic trauma support through yoga and art therapy to the asylum seekers. Other interests include photography, mountain biking, hiking, and paddle boarding.
Shawn Weiss
Shawn is a graduate of the 2017 Aligned Flow 200hr Yoga Teacher Training created and run by Christy Linson. She’s been involved in instructing fitness for over 2 decades. From dance and gymnastics to kickboxing and CrossFit, Shawn’s love of movement led her to begin a yoga practice in 2007. With each passing year yoga became a part of her everyday life. Through her teacher training she began to follow the 8 limbs of yoga. Guiding others to realize their inner strength and potential is a part of Shawn’s life’s work. She hopes to see you in class!
Sheri Gildersleeve
Sheri, a native of Northern New Jersey, has been practicing yoga since 2002. As an insurance professional in a high stress environment, she began to practice yoga to offset the demands of corporate life. After years of enjoying the physical benefits of yoga the practice started taking on a different meaning. Wanting to explore this further she enrolled in Aligned Flow Yoga Teacher Training at Prana Yoga Center in Denville, NJ where she completed her 200 RYT in 2017. Sheri is currently teaching at several Yoga Studios in Morris County, NJ. Her life experiece and daily practice of yoga create a unique perspective that she enjoys sharing on and off the mat.
Tara Temple
Tara took her first 200 hour Teacher Training with YogaWorks at Highland Yoga in Butler in 2009. Since then she has taken additional trainings in Restorative, Therapeutic Restorative, Therapeutic, Yoga 4 Cancer Survivors, Reiki, Qigong Medical Therapy, and Yoga Nidra.
She furthered her study by taking immersions in Pranayama and Meditation. Tara has studied with Jillian Pransky, Jennifer Reis, Ellen Pfeffer, Tari Prinster, Mark Whitwell, Johnathon Foust, Richard Faulds, Seane Corn, Sharon Salzberg, Kelly McGonigal, Dharma Mittra, and Shiva Rea. She has also taken trainings in Reiki, Reflexology, Medical Qigong Therapy, and Raindrop Therapy. She has recently been accepted into the Kula for Karma program.
Tara thinks of her practice “as a prayer of thanks and a way of deepening my connection with God and my true self. I feel blessed and honored to have the opportunity to share the wonderful gifts with others that I have received from my many teachers”. Some of Tara’s other passions include wildlife rehabilitation, stained glass, gardening, cooking, being of service to others, and nature.
“By believing passionately in something that does not yet exist we create it.” – Wayne Dyer
Tom Casal
Tom is an Anatomy Trains Certified Structural Integrator, LMT, and Certified Yoga Instructor. He began the practice of yoga in 1997, became yoga instructor certified in 2001, and started teaching yoga full time in 2010. Tom then went on to become a certified massage therapist in 2012. In 2018, he completed his Anatomy Trains SI certification. His study of yoga practice and philosophy is varied and includes, Ashtanga vinyasa, Anusara, and Rajanaka Tantra. Tom's yoga class consists of a standard warm up and standing sequence, similar to Ashtanga vinyasa: sun salutation A and B, triangle, revolved triangle, balancing poses, seated poses, etc. The pace is a slow vinyasa style with an emphasis on engaging your muscles during each pose. Throughout class, Tom weaves anatomy and philosophy into the experience—an accumulation of his studies over the past few decades. His class is approachable for all levels of yoga students.
You can find out more about Tom at his website casalmassagetherapy.com