Victoria Marchese Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Victoria moved to Portland in 1991. She actively takes full advantage of the year-round playground we live in! Victoria is also a Realtor for Meadows Group Realtors. As a health and fitness advocate Victoria discovered Yoga at her gym. She immediately connected with the practice and years later began training to become a yoga instructor to share her passion with others. She completed the 200 hour Yoga Alliance approved teacher training program and continues to study the many different styles of yoga. Yoga keeps her mentally and physically balanced. With the combined practices of Yoga, Pilates, Belly Dance and Nia, she hopes Poise Studio LLC can enhance the lives of people in her community. "Dance is the hidden language of the soul." Sarah Haroldsen Sarah began her Yoga Practice in 2000 and has been committed to the health benefits of the fitness industry ever since. This commitment has resulted in degrees & certifications to teach a wide variety of specialties in Yoga, Pilates, and strength training to students of all ages and experience, from early childhood to the golden years. She takes great joy in helping others with their journeys toward wellness. She passionately seeks knowledge related to the human body and personally practices new and proven methods of Yoga and Pilates. She believes these disciplines, when properly practiced, create clarity, balance, and connection with the true self. Her commitment is to always provide training in proper techniques that will assure a deeper connection with the “true self.” Sarah opened Poise Studio with the intention to create a space for healing of the the mind, body, and spirit. Sarah is a native Oregonian, and has learned by extensive travel that this is where she belongs. She and her kids enjoy the benefits of this beautiful state year-around. They are snowboarders, campers, hikers, and true lovers of the outdoors and nature. Sarah's wonderful kids keep her on her toes, and she loves every minute of it. Life is great! "I love my job! I witness healing everyday. Whether it's healing the physical or emotional body, I love witnessing these beautiful transformations towards a healthier life and I love standing for my clients in their commitment towards health. I feel honored they share this journey with me. Thank you to all my clients, past, present & future." "Learn to relax. Your body is precious, as it houses your mind and spirit. Irene Bonn, Yoga Instructor Simon Menasche, Yoga Instructor Aerlyn Pfeil, Yoga Instructor Amy Harris, Yoga Instructor Tara Atkinson, Yoga Instructor Iris Mason, Yoga Instructor RYT Kari Parkinson,Yoga Instructor, ACE Perrine Solara, Yoga Instructor April Young Haroldsen, Yoga Instructor, RYT 1.) Bridge the body and mind by offering a strong practice that feeds the need for a workout. 2.) Leaves students with a euphoria that eventually opens their heart. April enjoys teaching to all skill levels, finding individually where you are in your practice, and inspiring you to move forward. Her personal goal for her students is to strengthen and release the body from head to toe, find serenity in the practice, and not take ourselves too seriously. "The beauty is that people often come to class for the stretch, and leave with a lot more." ~ Lisa Ciano April is a certified Yoga Instructor with Yoga Alliance (RYT), CorePower Yoga, and YogaFit. Monika Gold, Yoga, Pilates & Pilates Reformer Instructor Sada West, Mat Pilates & Pilates Reformer Instructor Georgette Hauck, Pilates Instructor Sedona, Belly Dance Instructor Valerie Valenza "Molicka," Belly Dance Instructor Jan Holt Carol Gonzalez, Nia Instructor
Co-founder, Operations Manager, Instructor
RYT, AFAA
— Martha Graham 
Co-founder, Marketing and PR Manager, Instructor
RYT, Stott Pilates and Pilates Reformer
Inner peace begins with a relaxed body."
— Norman Vincent Peale
Over the past seven years Irene has studied many different forms of yoga including Vinyasa, Yin, Bikram, Iengar, Anusara, and Vini-yoga. In the Spring of 2005 it became clear to her that she wanted to share her love for yoga, and yoga’s healing powers, with as many people as possible. The best way to follow through on this realization would be to learn to teach. She received her teacher training certification from The Yoga Institute and Bookshop, under the instruction of Lex Gillian in October of 2005. She as been continuing to learn and teach ever since.
Simon Menasche has been practicing the healing arts in Portland, Oregon since 1970. He is a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher at the highest levels of E500 and T500. Simon is also a counselor, massage therapist, meditation teacher, workshop facilitator, and he serves on the faculty at Oregon School of Massage. Simon's yoga style is infused with influences as diverse as B.K.S. Iyengar, Moshe Feldenkrais, Angela Farmer, Emily Conrad and Gabrielle Roth. Simon lives in the Portland area, working with small groups and individuals. thenaturalyoga.com
Aerlyn has been practicing Kundalini Yoga since 1993 and is a certified KRI Kundalini teacher. She was first entranced and inspired by Kundalini Yoga because of the breath-work and mantra. Since then, she has incorporated Yogi Bhajan's teaching and meditations into her daily life. Her personal teachers include Yogi Bhajan, Shamsher Kaur, and Holy Kaur and Hari Dass Khalsa. Additionally, she is a midwife, doula, and Maya Abdominal Massage Practitioner.
Amy is a certified Yoga instructor with Yoga Alliance (RYT), Core Power Yoga, Yogafit, and AFFA. After studying with Beth Shaw, founder of Yogafit. She began teaching yoga in 1999. Instruction came natural to Amy, who specialized in science as an elementary school teacher. Countless hours on the mat and in workshops continue to motivate Amy to share her love of Yoga and its therapeutic benefits with others. She especially enjoys her advanced studies in Prenatal/Postnatal Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Power Yoga. Amy enjoys yoga for its ability to help improve posture, balance, health, comfort, peace of mind, strength, and athletic ability.
Tara teaches our Sunday night Power Vinyasa class. She is a life long athlete and outdoor enthusiast, who loves how yoga complements and helps her recover from her other endeavors. When Tara is not busing teaching, she works as a holistic health and nutrition counselor, raises and educates her 4 sons, runs, hikes, writes and enjoys getting out to play.
Iris has been a student of yoga since 1998. She originally came to yoga to escape from her daily stress as a project manager. Soon after her first class she began to experience the life transforming effects of yoga mentally, physically, and spiritually. In 2004, after the birth of her son, she left the corporate world to focus on being a mom. As a mother, she is aware of the challenges of maintaining a balance in life and finds that yoga is the key in helping her maintain that balance. In 2006 Iris pursued her dream of becoming a yoga instructor. She received her yoga certification through CorePower Yoga in NW Portland and is registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 200 hr level. Her style is relaxed yet challenging, may include some laughter and a sprinkle of yogic wisdom. Devoted to her practice, Iris has spent countless hours on the mat and continues to further her studies by taking additional trainings and workshops.
Kari has had a life long passion for fitness and has been teaching for over 20 years. Her desire for personal holistic wellness drove her pursuit of mind/body practice, first studying and practicing Iyengar yoga and certifying through Yoga Fit. In 2008, Kari made a personal commitment to pursue her passions full time and transitioned her wellness practice to become a full-time certified personal trainer and instructor. Introducing the amazing benefits of yoga postures, breathing and focus not only advances her clients' level of fitness, but also provides therapeutic relief and injury rehabilitation. Aside from yoga personal training, Kari teaches all ages of yoga from toddlers, teens to family, basic Vinyasa or power Vinyasa flow. As Kari continues to live her passion for fitness and now embodies that passion with holistic wellness through her yoga practice and is currently pursuing her RYT in Yoga Therapy. Kari looks forward to sharing her passion of wellness and teaching throughout her life. "I am so grateful to know the benefits of yoga, to have it in my daily practice and for the opportunity to share it with others. I look forward to my many years to come, living and sharing my passions."
Perrine is a multi-discipline practitioner whose goal is to awaken the mind, body, soul experience in her students and help them to integrate the feeling of calmness into their daily lives. She began her yoga experience many years ago at fitness clubs. The calming affects of yoga brought awareness to her and a realization that she wanted to help people achieve this feeling too. In her quest to help others, she decided to leave the corporate world and become a Yoga Alliance RYT-200. Her exposure too many styles of yoga at the gym, the traditional Hatha Yoga training she received at Ananda of Portland, and continuing education through YogaFit lends to Perrine’s versatile teaching style. She enjoys instructing the technical and safety aspects of yoga in a caring and light way enabling her students to have a clear foundation for a safe and productive personal practice. Currently, she is pleased to be teaching beginning, prenatal, and yoga I/II classes. In addition, Perrine is a Reiki Master and in private practice as a facilitative healer and augments that work as a stone medicine practitioner. She helps people of all ages and all species of animals. She works with animals primarily through veterinary hospitals, clinics, and training facilities.
In 1999, April walked through the studio doors of her first yoga class with a simple goal in mind: To escape a stressful workplace for the day. But what she found was something more entirely. In addition to releasing her mind from projects, and her body from tight knots, she found a calming and awakening practice that inspired her to leave the studio feeling stronger in numerous ways. Continuing her practice for the past 11 years, has since created a stronger, more balanced, patient, and fulfilled person. She believes that matching "Movement to Breath" within a Vinyasa Flow Yoga Practice, can:
I have been practicing Yoga for ~17 years, and it impacted my life so profoundly that I wanted to share the experience. I started teacher training and began teaching in 2001, completing my 200-hour RYT in January, 2004. Currently I am finishing up my 500-hour RYT training with Yoga Pearl with more emphasis on therapeutic work and tailoring the practice to specific needs. This interest in helping people take charge was also a factor in my Pilates training. I love working with the equipment and on the mat, and seeing my clients find confidence in their body, the power of breath, and the mind-body connection.
Sada West is a Mat and Reformer Pilates instructor. She received her certifications from STOTT Pilates in 2009 and has been teaching at Poise since early 2010. She continuously pursues new certifications and workshops to expand her knowledge and repertoire. Recently she has taken the Stability Chair and Injuries and Special Population courses.
Sada has been involved with fitness and movement from a very young age. During her childhood and through college she was always involved in some form of dance. She studied all disciplines and was choreographing her own pieces while at college. Sada stopped dancing when she incurred an injury to her spine and suffered chronic pain, later diagnosed as arthritis. During this time she discovered Pilates.
Personal experience has taught her that Pilates is not only wonderful for staying in shape, but in some cases, also to help manage pain. Finding the right amount of postural corrections, muscle strength, and general flexibility, can allow the body to move more efficiently and some times help decrease pain.
As the third of four children Georgette learned from an early age that presence and posture mattered. From the age of 3 to 21, Georgette performed ballet. This love for fluid movement, grace, posture, poise and diligence transferred easily and is exemplified in her 7 plus years of pilates practice. Take a moment to catch your breath and join her pilates mat class.
Sedona has been a natural performer all of her life. Her passion for performance has been supplemented by years of intensive dance and theatre training. Her monumental discovery of Middle Eastern dance has helped rejuvenate and inspire her dancing spirit. Her heart and soul feel deeply connected to this ancient and sacred art, it has given her the perfect outlet to express her innermost self and her creative vision.
With a Slovakian heritage and a love for art, it only seems natural that Valerie belly dances. Some family members would claim it's the gypsy blood that lead her to it. At five foot tall she dances under the name "Molicka," meaning little one. But don't let that fool you – she has been taking formal belly dance training since 2001. Her very 1st Solo Dance, she dared to enter the Belly Dancer Miss USA competition in 2006 and took 2nd place in Alternative Music Category, and has entered and won other competitions thereafter.
Valerie has a great love for teaching and believes, "if you are not having fun, then I am not doing my job. You can exercise all you want, but until your able to enjoy it, it will always be a chore."
Jan Holt invites you to explore a liberating form of yoga. She advocates an approach that helps heal and renew the body. Each person has unique needs and their practice should address these needs. One size does not fit all when it comes to yoga. Yoga has helped Jan heal her own body from cancer, endometriosis, lung disease, chronic illness and the normal stresses of motherhood and life. She hopes that her teaching will bring the same benefits to others. Jan has been teaching since 2006 and has gratefully studied with Simon Menasche, Yolanda Pettinato, Paul Grilley and many other talented teachers in order to develop her own nurturing and quirky style. Her classes are focused on nourishing the heart in order to develop a joyful union of mind, body, and breath.
Carol loves to move and be moved. She earned her BA in Theatre Arts with a Dance Emphasis from UC Santa Cruz, was a member of the Jane Brown Dance Company in Oakland, California, and has performed in a number of original, historical and contemporary works. After leaving the world of dance to work in the dynamic non-profit sector, then having a family and co-founding a cooperative pre- and primary school, Carol discovered Nia and has been on this Nia journey for the last 13 years. She is currently a licensed Nia Black Belt Instructor and a certified Nia 5 Stages teacher. She is passionate about sharing movement as medicine to feel and live better.
