Heather awakened to the healing power of yoga as it was a necessity in her search to find refuge. Since then, she has devoted her life to serving the community and deepening her own connection to Spirit. She has been inspired by her teachers and their love and care for the well-being of humanity and is brought to life by following these teachings. She strives to uphold the integrity of the yogic traditions by focusing on the spiritual essence of the practice and leading her students to their natural state of being. Her presence offers a warm healing space where all feel welcome to rest in their heart and look deeply within.

Nicole found the sacred space that is Renew when she moved to Petaluma from Texas in 2014, went through teaching training here in 2015, and has been in love with this space and community ever since. Her classes invite people to fully embrace and accept where they are in their personal practice, in each pose, in each moment and in life. Creative sequencing woven together with breath and groovy music encourages each student to connect with the deepest, truest, most joy-filled parts of themselves. She is also a certified massage therapist who enjoys connecting with people one on one to unleash their sleeping potential through intentional bodywork and an increase of one’s own body awareness. Nicole has a deep love for each person and experience that make up this thing we call life and wants nothing more than to help people fall deeply in love with themselves and their life in that same way.

From living in a group home for at-risk youth to becoming a renowned yoga teacher and musical innovator, MC YOGI is on a mission to bring good music and good energy into the world. Having grown up immersed in hip hop culture before finding yoga in his teens, he naturally began to integrate the two, setting yogic wisdom to hip hop beats. The result was a compelling new sound and a series of successful albums. His first three records were all #1 on I Tunes World music and his latest, Ritual Mystical, was #1 on Electronic Music. He has since toured the world many times over, headlining at every major yoga festival. In 2017 HarperOne published his memoir, Spiritual Graffiti which won a silver Nautilus award for best memoir. When MC YOGI is not on tour, he lives with his wife Amanda and teaches at their studio, Point Reyes Yoga, in Northern California.

In 2008, while studying to take his stock brokers exam, Shane took his first yoga class. Leaving behind the stock market aspirations, he spent six years studying yoga throughout the Bay Area and found his home in the practices of Bhakti and Hatha yoga. In 2014, he left a 15 year career in the field of clinical cardiac technology to teach yoga full time.

Raised in religious studies, a student of anatomy,physiology and existential philosophy in college, and a classical musician for the last 25 years, Shane teaches from a synthesis of philosophical thought, musical artistry blended with therapeutic movement .

He currently teaches weekly and leads the Yoga teacher training at Renew Yoga in Petaluma, the studio where he took his first yoga class and met two of his most influential teachers: Pam Maldonado and Nick Giacomini aka Mc Yogi.

Since the pandemic, in addition to teaching Shane has established an office of functional rehabilitation in Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

Miki leads her class with clarity and connection. She encourages her students to find meaning and presence in the practice of yoga. As a long time occupational therapist and yoga practitioner, Miki has worked with people of diverse ages and abilities, and at various stages of health. She began the journey of yoga in 1992 at Sonoma State University and is a 2018 graduate of the Renew Yoga Teacher Training program. Her warm teaching style balances fun and fluidity with vigor and vibrance. Miki’s class is spirited and wholehearted.

David’s method of teaching is a simple one – to walk in love and encourage all those around him to see themselves as they truly are – their inner light, their shine, their amazing gifts. With over 20 years of experience as a personal trainer and a background in professional ballet and competitive gymnastics, David took his first yoga class and knew he had found a place to call home. David sees yoga as a way of being – to love, to serve, and to step into a softness with ourselves that can only lead to a radiant openness of heart. David’s classes focus on releasing self-judgment and an acceptance of all pieces of who we are. By doing this we create the most spectacular garden of compassion within us and our yoga practice becomes a lifestyle that simply cannot be contained within the four corners of our mat.

Curating dynamic movement experiences for nearly 15 years, Anj has become known for a potent class with a whole lotta soul and a creative, whimsical flow. She believes that a yoga class is a powerful place to forget ourselves and remember ourselves all at the same time.

Anj is a passionate guide, weaving students through a rhythmic, music-filled, breath-guided journey on their mats, encouraging the whole tapestry of the human experience to be felt, held, honored. Her classes often incorporate mantras and chanting, philosophy, meditation, visualization, lots of sighing, essential oils, challenge and space for a personal unfolding.

Anj has studied a lot over the last 20+ years, and chronic illness/pain has led her to engage with many healing modalities that influence her classes. She aims to create a safe, sacred space always.

Alex was always been very interested in meditation as a child. Music and nature were his refuge. However, like many find, this refuge was not enough and he found himself amidst some rather dark and depressing influences. Fearing for his future, one day his parents decided to send him on a community service trip to Thailand where he would come to the gates of a Buddhist monastery, an encounter that which would alter the course of his life forever. He stayed with a monk who taught him the practice of meditation. Very fortunate indeed was he to find such a teacher. It was not until years later, in the midst of a life shattering event, that he truly felt the need to commit to the daily practice of meditation. Not long after making this commitment to himself did he wind up in a vinyasa yoga class with Pamela Maldonado. He was convinced! Yoga and meditation became his life. He dropped out of college as an environmental studies major to live in an ashram in Nepal, studying yoga in its traditional form. His studies brought him to many teachers across the world, from sages in the Himalayas to shamans in Mexico and Thailand to an Ayurvedic doctor in Los Angeles. If there is one thing he has learned that is most valuable to him it is to honor his home, the land, and the people and to understand that the true teacher is within the one heart we share as a community, something that is shared with all beings. He is devoted to bridging the wisdom of the ancient traditions to our modern world and does so through the study and practice of yoga and Ayurveda. He is deeply grateful for the opportunity to be of service at this time and hopes to share many moments in awe and wonder for this beautiful gift of the spirit, body and mind.

Pamela has a long history of teaching Vinyasa Yoga which has flowed over the past 20 years here at Renew. Her classes are Spirit driven, heart centered practices which encompass some of the incredible history of this ancient wisdom practice. Come to your mat and feel your vitality and the potency of your Inner Most Being. Pam is currently living in Rhode Island and teaches at her sisters studio. She also comes back a couple times a year and graces us with her teaching presence here at Renew as well.

Jensen is a Sonoma County native and seventh generation Californian. With a background in weight loss and personal training, Jensen has worked in health and fitness since 2006. His classes, retreats and workshops draw upon the traditions of vinyasa, hatha, restorative, yoga nidra and Buddhist meditation—incorporating all into an understandable, but continually changing and widely inspired practice. Jensen leads and participates in yoga teacher training programs, meditation programs and wilderness fasts. He has traveled in India, Japan, Peru, and Europe studying yoga and meditation.