Meet your Mentors

  • Pause + Purpose Dr. Nancy Byrne

    Dr. Nancy Byrne

    Dr. Nancy Byrne is an Acupuncturist and a Certified Yamuna practitioner with over 21 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. She can’t wait to share her knowledge with you, so you are empowered to play a role in your own healing.

  • Pause + Purpose Laura Cuervo MPH

    Laura Cuervo, MPH

    She is a Certified Health Coach from Institute of Integrative Nutrition from New York, a yoga teacher, and a Mental Health Advocate, who is passionate about introducing meditation to even the biggest skeptics and complete beginners.

  • Morgan Edmunds

    Morgan completed a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training at West Hartford Yoga, studying under Barbara Ruzansky. She is an athlete who loves the connection with Spirit, through the body, that yoga facilitates. Her practice is influenced by her travels in India and Nepal and her study of Tibetan Buddhism and Hinduism. Her classes encourage students to meet themselves where they are with honesty and compassion.

  • Pause + Purpose Dana Errichetti

    Dana Errichetti

    Dana's personal experiences in healing have led her to continue to support mental health and therapeutic offerings through yoga and meditation. It is her goal to be trauma informed and accessible to students across various walks of life while promoting health, healing and introspection.

  • Chrissy Mahanna

    Chrissy is an executive leader at a local social service organization, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and certified yoga teacher.

  • Pause + Purpose Franciska Marczy Farkas

    Franciska Marczy Farkas

    Franciska is an Ayurvedic Practitioner and herbalist, yoga teacher, and sound healing facilitator. She has been teaching yoga, meditation, and breathing exercises for over 20 years and has a specialized focus on pelvic floor health and movement. Her Ayurvedic practice focuses on personalized digestive health, herbal support, lifestyle (re)education, and spiritual support.

  • Pause + Purpose Dr. Tanvi Gandhi

    Dr. Tanvi Gandhi, ND, L.Ac

    Dr. Tanvi Gandhi is a Naturopathic Physician, and Licensed Acupuncturist in CT and NY. She is the founder of Shiva-Shakti Acupuncture and Ayurveda LLC. Her powerful techniques combine the best of holistic medicine practices and assist clients on their path to self-healing.

  • Pause + Purpose Lea Grimaldi

    Lea Grimaldi

    Lea is an author, intuitive guide, reiki master, yoga, barre, fitness, and meditation instructor with more than 20 years’ experience teaching yoga and barre classes to people of all ages. Her book, Increase Your Peace from A to Z: Simple Steps to Find Calm Amid Chaos, is a mini-directory for stress relief in which she shares her daily practices to keep anxiety under control.

  • Pause + Purpose Katie Kozlowski

    Katie Kozlowski

    Katie Kozlowski is an energy and embodiment coach with a passion for creating freedom, transformation and growth. She is the creator of the transformational method, ShaktiBomb® and her mission is to empower others to create the life they want by leading from the heart.

  • Deb is an experienced Mindset Coach helping people establish their “north star” and sustain their personal growth even when life is busy, distracting and all-together, triggering.

    Deb Lauren

    Deb is an experienced Mindset Coach helping people establish their “north star” and sustain their personal growth even when life is busy, distracting and all-together, triggering.

  • Pause + Purpose Raven Lee

    Raven Lee

    Raven is a Licensed Social Worker, psychotherapist, certified yoga teacher, and Reiki practitioner. Her innate curiosity and deep understanding of the complexities of being human is what led her to pursue her BA and MA degree in Forensic Psychology and then her Master of Social Work degree.

  • Josh Liebling

    Josh is a life-long learner. For the past 15 years he has explored many different types of meditation modalities ranging from transcendental meditation and mantra meditation to mindfulness and breathwork. But it was in Qi Gong that he found a practice that enriched his life so much that he wanted to share its benefits with others.

  • Pause + Purpose Emily Marr

    Emily Marr

    Emily is a Certified Core Energetics Practitioner and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. Her passion is exploring the mind-body connection and helping individuals tap into their innate ability to be their own greatest healers.

  • Neileauna Medley

    Neileauna is a passionate holistic wellness educator seeking to unify, create community & spread the knowledge and practice of yoga to all regardless of abilities, class, race, or any other limit that we may put on ourselves. She received her Reiki 1&2 certification, Restorative Yoga Certification, 200 RYT, and Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy.

  • Mary Patel

    Mary is certified as a RYT 500 yoga instructor and Trauma-Informed Yoga and Somatics. Aways honoring the roots of yoga, she safely guides her students through each asana (posture) while focusing on the breath. Integrating creative themes into each class, encouraging students to explore what feels supportive and nourishing through curiosity, self-awareness, and compassion. With an intention to cultivate peace, resilience, and strength from the inside out.

  • Kristi Pena

    Kristi Pena graduated from her 200 hour yoga teacher training from The Raja Center in 2022 and feels extremely passionate about the practice. She is an Occupational Therapist and a lifelong learner who enjoys exploring the marriage between Eastern and Western philosophies when it comes to healing. She is certified to teach vinyasa yoga as well as yin yoga and I am also a Reiki practitioner.

  • Pause + Purpose Lydia Picoli

    Lydia Picoli

    Lydia is a Level Two Reiki Practitioner and received a B.A. in Philosophy with a minor in Peace Studies. Lydia founded RE SELF, the digital platform empowering conscious living through guided learning, and started hosting the podcast, As It Goes. Her intention in each class is to create space for you to connect with, come home to, root in, live from, and empower your true self.

  • Emily Vartanian-Tuttle

    Emily Vartanian-Tuttle, the founder and director of programming at Pause + Purpose, is a powerful advocate for intentional living.

  • Julie Vincent

    Julie is a yoga instructor (RYT200) and Certified Mindset + Wellness Coach (IIN). She was lucky to learn yoga philosophy, anatomy and specialty studies firsthand from Yoga Vida senior teachers, Heather Lilleston, Adam Vitolo, Chloe Kernaghan and Chrissy Jones.

Our Community Partners and Collaborators

  • Maria Allen

    Maria is licensed in CT and NY as a massage therapist. She has completed and incorporates Level 1 and 2 of Upledger Craniosacral Therapy into her practice, and also holds a 200-hour yoga teacher training certification from Kripalu.

  • Catherine Barrett, from Grounded Meditation, began her meditation journey seven years ago and has been committed to it ever since.

    Catherine Barrett

    Catherine began her meditation journey seven years ago. She completed her teacher training in the Shamatha style of meditation, holds a Reiki Master certification, and is trained in Pranayama Teachings.

  • Suzy Bessett

    Suzy has a proven track record of helping her clients shift from chronic dieting to sustained changes. She developed a proprietary, 12-week program that helps clients unwind generational, disordered eating and get on with living.

  • Jacqui Bongiovani

    Jacqui Bongiovani is a coach, yoga instructor, and meditation teacher who is dedicated to helping others tune into the frequency of abundance and consciously create their reality.

  • Cheryl Bundy, MAR, MPA

    Cheryl is the Director of Spiritual Care at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan. She runs psychoeducation groups and counsels individual patients on spirituality, spiritual practices, grief and loss, and finding meaning.

  • Kurtis Brand

    Kurt is a multi-disciplinary contemplative artist who incorporates themes of emptiness, meditation and Buddhism into his work. He started on the path of the Dharma almost 20 years ago.

  • Abbey Chase

    Abbey is a professional yoga instructor who understands how to work with individuals of varying fitness levels, ages, injuries and limitations. She encourages her students to realize that consistent practice leads to real, measurable results.

  • Jennifer Close

    Jennifer is a life coach certified through the Integrated Wellness Academy with a background in cheer coaching and counseling.

  • Shirley Chock

    Shirley Chock, known as "The Stressbender," is a Tai Chi expert and owner of Aiping Tai Chi. With a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, she combines her financial acumen with her mastery of Tai Chi.

  • Mary Dobson

    Mary is among the first nationally awarded with post-graduate education certification in the provision of family-focused school-based mental health intervention services.

  • Bianca Dusic

    Bianca is a Mindset & Transformation Coach. With certifications in Hypnotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, Holotropic Breathwork, and Health Coaching, she uses different tools and techniques to reprogram the subconscious mind to create long lasting changes.

  • Pause + Purpose Leah Kragh

    Leah Kragh

    Leah is a holistic pediatric occupational therapist living and working in Connecticut. Movement is a key ingredient for her mental health and she loves to incorporate it in all of her work with children and families.

  • Pause + Purpose Alexis Lawton

    Alexis Lawton

    Alexis is a scholar of philosophy, a mother, and an artist, and she’s been hosting goddess circles since 2016. She’s skilled in a variety of modalities to heal the whole person.

  • Lisa Miller, Ph.D.

    Dr. Lisa Miller

    Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and her new book is The Awakened Brain.

  • Diane is the founder of Grounded Meditation and has been teaching for about ten years and has been fortunate to be able to share her knowledge with students in both the private and corporate world.

    Diane Nickelberg

    Diane is the founder of Grounded Meditation and has been teaching for about ten years and has been fortunate to be able to share her knowledge with students in both the private and corporate world.

  • Caitlin Oliveros

    Caitlin Oliveros is a licensed physical therapist in NY and CT. After working in traditional outpatient clinics, Caitlin found that conventional models of care in PT were overall standardized, limited, and impersonal. Caitlin is currently specialized in functional movement, chronic pain, pelvic floor, scoliosis, and hypermobility. Outside of physical therapy, she is also a pilates instructor, health coach, and reiki practitioner.

  • Lisa Pak

    Lisa discovered yoga, meditation and chanting as a way to unplug from the daily demands of working in Manhattan as graphic designer for major advertising firms. Today, she is the “guardian” of Connecticut’s very first and ONLY Harmonic Egg®.

  • Rocky Progano

    Rocky Progano is a Certified Guide with the Flow Genome Project (FGP), who specializes in harnessing peak performance and transformational leadership principles. Beyond his professional pursuits, Rocky is the founder of RIPROUR, a local outdoor adventure community dedicated to fostering connections with nature while giving back through various fundraising events.

  • Marisa Raguso

    Dr. Marisa Raguso, PT, DPT is a pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist and the owner/founder of Reform Physical Therapy. She is an expert in female pelvic health conditions, including but not limited to incontinence, pelvic pain, and postpartum rehabilitation.

  • Aimee Raupp, MS, LAc

    Aimee Raupp is a renowned women’s health & fertility expert, celebrity acupuncturist & coach, and best-selling author of many empowering books.

  • Pause + Purpose Ginger Richardson

    Ginger Richardson

    Ginger is a Certified Integrative Health Coach, Facial Gua Sha Practitioner and a Sauna and Cold Plunge facilitator. She utilizes many holistic modalities to attain a balance in life and enjoys sharing what she has learned about their benefits.

  • Christian Rosstad

    Christian Rosstad is an artist and mindfulness expert who combines his passion for mindfulness with his art. He received his Level One Teaching certification in MBSR from Brown University and has been studying mindfulness for over a decade.

  • Morgan Shear

    Morgan Shear is a certified holistic health coach with a mission to help women live their healthiest and most authentic lives.

  • Yael Shy

    For the past fifteen years, Yael has been using the transformative power of mindfulness, rooted in her 20+ years of study in Judaism and Zen Buddhism, to support herself and others through the pressures of life.

  • Tina Sicsico

    Tina has been practicing for over 10 years and prides herself on helping others achieve their healing goals. She is certified in many modalities of healing, but specializes in the power of sound healing combined with reiki.