Jill Koontz - Studio Director

My brother Brad brought me to my first Bikram Yoga class back in 2001. I had been running and working out with a trainer for quite a while. Brad said “Jill you need to come to yoga with me, the running and lifting is too much. You will love this yoga.” Like most people I was a little nervous about the heat. Now, it’s impossible to make it too hot for me. I immediately fell in love with how the yoga made me feel both physically and mentally..a real game changer.

My first Inferno Hot Pilates (IHP) class was in 2016. I had been looking for something (both for myself and for my clients) that would complement Bikram Yoga. I had specific requirements: 1) A practice that had a strong history and lineage 2) Demonstrated or documented health benefits and 3) Something to build strength more quickly, because strength is so important to a safe yoga practice and a healthy body. I remembered my Pilates practice from when I was practicing classical ballet and then right away Inferno Hot Pilates went on my radar…hot and pilates? A match made in heaven.

I attended Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in 2003 and Inferno Hot Pilates training in April 2016. At present, I am working toward my 500-hour Pilates Certification. I just love everything about teaching, and I have done it most of my adult life (yoga, pilates, kindergarteners, managers and leaders). I love seeing the “light” come on for others, seeing others become aware – really aware – of how amazing they are, seeing their strength, determination and compassion. This is what sustains me and inspires me to keep improving. And as my interests change, my teaching evolves. Later in life, when we start to get injuries or feel a little “older,” I became fascinated by how the human body works and how to keep it healthy longer and as we age.

I usually practice Bikram 5 to 6 times a week and IHP 1 or 2 times a week. There are so many mental and physical benefits to both practices for me. I manage my autoimmune disease (excess inflammation in the body) with my practice and clean eating. I am also much more calm and attentive when I practice on a regular basis.

The universal challenge for everyone is time. I am at the studio every day and still it can be challenging to take the time for myself. I have to keep reminding myself that I have more for others if I take the time for myself. These practices really sustain me and keep me energized and healthy. We have to make an investment in ourselves: the most important person in your life is YOU. Take care of yourself so you have more for others.

I like to tell my clients: “Start easy, go slow, be consistent. You have the rest of your life to practice.”

Studio

Mimi Hall

I started practicing Bikram Yoga in Boston in 2004 when I moved back to Boston from San Francisco and couldn’t get warm. I finally lost that chill in my bones after the first class, so I kept going back for more. I’d practiced yoga for years, but I had never encountered anything like this - the heat and structure of the challenging postures in Bikram Yoga continue to captivate me.

I knew I wanted to deepen my own Bikram practice when I went to teacher training, but I wasn’t sure that I was going to teach. Then, when I came back from training, I fell in love with the practice of leading people through their series and taught yoga full time for several years. My favorite part of teaching is watching people fall in love with the series and the way that it transforms them. My favorite quote about Bikram Yoga is “Yoga makes you, you.”

I love the meditation, ritual and community that Bikram Yoga offers. For me, this is a practice of ego-busting acceptance in each class. There’s something about the act of remaining calm while suffering that’s allowed me to take on increasingly greater challenges in all aspects of my life and to generally suffer less outside of the hotroom.

Kylah Monroe

I started practicing Bikram Yoga regularly right after I graduated from college. I began practicing in earnest to achieve the physical benefits. I soon realized that the sense of peace and equilibrium that Bikram Yoga brought to my mind was the crucial benefit that I couldn’t find anywhere else.

In the back of my mind, I always thought I’d go to teacher training: “Someday.” In reality, I was never going to feel “ready” and it was never going to be the “right time.” At a time when I was going through a really difficult stretch of life where nothing felt right, a Bikram Yoga teacher asked me why I didn’t go to the teacher training that was to start three weeks later. That was the nudge that I needed: I booked a flight and never looked back.

Bikram Yoga makes me feel like a different person when I enter and when I leave the room. The ability to wipe the slate clean mentally and physically in 90 minutes still continues to amaze me. A Bikram Yoga class gives me a clearer, brighter outlook on whatever is going on in my life, and makes my body and mind feel calmer, healthier, and more balanced. That may be why my favorite quote about Bikram Yoga is “Re-energize, revitalize, reorganize”.

Steven Phan

I dragged my friend to my first Bikram Yoga class in 2009, and I have been practicing regularly ever since. I noticed immediately that I had increased mental clarity, and emotional strength and stability. In that way it’s changed my life, only for the better. Before Bikram I was shy and unfocused; I had little drive and motivation. Now I know that I’m able to own whatever is coming my way - with a little bit more grace and occasionally a bit of style.

I went to teacher training to develop my own practice and my own being. Teaching has allowed me to be a better person all-around. I love teaching because it allows me to share this amazing practice with others. The best part of teaching Bikram Yoga is seeing the amazing changes people go through in their practice! It’s so rewarding to see students come in stressed, sad, angry, etc. etc. etc., and see them leave a lot more relaxed and happy.

One of the things that I love most about Bikram Yoga is that it is constantly changing. It’s a different class with its own unique challenges every time I step onto the mat.

Sharon McGrath

I went to my first Bikram Yoga class on January 5, 2002. A physical therapist referred me to it for plantar fasciitis (which is a particularly painful and annoying running injury). I have been practicing pretty much continuously since then; on average 6-days a week.

I became a Bikram Yoga teacher because I wanted to share what I have learned from Bikram with others. This yoga has given me so much - more energy, better sleep, better mood, increased flexibility, less arthritis pain, increased immunity (I rarely get sick ever) - that I want others to experience that overall well-being and an improved quality of life.

I love that Bikram Yoga is for everyone! It literally is for every body. The hot-room is the great equalizer. When we are in the hot-room, we are all the same; we are all working on something. No matter how people come into the studio (tired, stressed, etc.), when they leave the hot-room there is a smile on their face and gratitude in their eyes. Being able to be in the hot-room and personally witness that metamorphosis is truly an honor; and that is really the best part of teaching.

Melissa Alexandrowicz

I’ve been practicing Bikram Yoga since 2011. My first class was a complete blur, but a few days later I went back again, and I quickly fell in love with the practice. After a few years of practicing regularly, I knew that I would continue to practice for the rest of my life. In 2013 I was laid off from my unsatisfying pharmaceutical research job and I was about to get married and start a family. Becoming a Bikram Yoga teacher seemed like the perfect addition to my life because it would allow me to focus on my family and maintain my connection to Bikram Yoga. I love teaching; it always improves my mood. It is so uplifting to see a room full of people working hard!

I practice Bikram Yoga and Hot Pilates. Both have made me stronger physically and mentally. Watching yourself in that mirror as you push your body proves to you in every class that you can do anything as long as you keep breathing. I practiced Bikram Yoga throughout both of my pregnancies; then delivered both children naturally without any pain meds, because I had the confidence that I could breathe through it and do it.

A year after I gave birth to my first child, I started practicing Hot Pilates as well as Bikram Yoga. The positive physical changes in my body happened quickly. I was stronger and leaner, feeling like I was finally getting my body back from the 50-lbs weight gain and looking better than I had before the pregnancy. Plus my Bikram practice benefitted from my Hot Pilates; it made me stronger and gave me even more endurance.

Meredith Evangelisti

I love to move. Growing up my Dad would say on a daily basis, “Why can’t you sit still?” To this day it’s the same, so it is no big surprise that my path has led me to a lifestyle of movement and fitness.

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Manufacturing and Management Information Systems, I worked in various industries but nothing seemed to be the right fit. The one thing that I was sure of was sitting still behind a desk was not going to work for me. Even though from 9 to 5 I was stuck in an office, I had many outlets that fed my passion to move. One was my lifelong competitive roller skating career where I earned national titles in dance as well as inline speed skating. Another was my love and dedication to Bikram yoga, which eventually led me to the 9 week Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in fall of 2009. This training marked the end of my corporate days and the beginning of me finally finding a career that was a perfect fit.

Through teaching yoga I have learned so much about how the body moves. To further that knowledge I went through a 3-month course to become a Personal Trainer and Sports Nutritionist. Teaching Bikram Yoga for almost 10 years I get asked the question of “Don’t you get bored teaching the same sequence over and over again?”. It is actually quite the opposite. The more I have learned about the body the more interesting it has become to see students change movement patterns and realign using these 26 postures. Because we do the same postures it gives us a benchmark to measure progression.

Bikram Yoga has connected me to so many people and places around the world. When I went to teacher training I was thrilled to know that I would have 323 friends from all over the globe that went through the same 9 week training. I never imagined that a vast majority of those people would be wearing yoga clothes that I designed. That training was where my little dream called Hotdrop Apparel began. Because of Hotdrop I have had the opportunity to teach Bikram Yoga in Sweden, Italy, France, Canada, Mexico, Honduras and all across the USA. Hotdrop Apparel took a little hiatus, but I am proud to say the brand is alive again!

Jeanine Poles

I started practicing Bikram Yoga at Bikram Yoga Quincy in summer 2006. I practiced in a T-shirt and running shorts for the first year. When I started, my legs were completely bent in Standing Separate Leg Stretching, my hips couldn’t touch the floor in Fixed Firm and Standing Head-to-Knee was a no-go. It would take everything to pick my foot up and lock my knee — torture. I also hardly spoke: I came in for class and left right after.

In spite of all of that I still felt amazing after class, and by sticking with it I got some control over my monkey mind and started healing my body.

Deciding to go to teacher training in 2013 pushed me to practice consistently. It also came with having to learn the dialogue and actually stand up in front of people and talk. It forced me out of my shell. I went from hardly talking to being able to stand up and teach. This Yoga has been a huge tool for me in enriching my life. My body is healthy and I have met and know so many wonderful people through it. Walking in for my first class I could have never imagined I would be where I am now. I start my fifth year of teaching this year! I still really enjoy it and always try and keep it in my life.

Christian Kline

Those moments when you are so focused on what you are doing, how you are balancing, how you are breathing, what is contracting, what is stretching, those moments the rest of the world is paused because you are so attached to what you are doing in that moment — the present. Those moments are what I am chasing as a student, what I hope to enable as a teacher.

I started practicing Bikram Yoga in 2005 in Seattle. It was hot, confusing, and unsettling - and then I realized that I felt good and was feeling calm. So I kept going back. I went to training in 2008, I just wanted to learn more. I didn’t know that I would teach, but somehow I’ve been teaching ever since then.

Yoga has been a tremendous tool for self-investigation and a tool for calming my head and helping me take care of my body. I love the idea that learning to bring my leg behind my head has no actual benefit in my life aside from learning how to open my hips, how to be patient, how to be a student, how to listen to what my mind and body are yelling at me, how to appreciate the slow change of my body and my mind. Those ideas keep me coming back to my yoga mat and yoga classes.

My favorite thing is that together students and teachers take time for ourselves, time apart from phones and interruptions, and we take care of ourselves.

I have trained with Bikram Choudhury, Noah Maze, and Emmy Cleaves. I’ve spent years teaching yoga and working with teachers that inspire me in one way or another. I’m invested in learning more and sharing that with others.