Carmen believes yoga is a system that invites us to walk with clarity and attention to that inner place we call home. This way, we can experience a state of being and presence. Yoga offers us the opportunity to sense a peaceful and quiet mind through tools that will empower our will, attention, and goals in life, guiding us always to the liberation of the mind from its fluctuations.

Her first encounter with yoga was in her late teens, in the Andes of her native Venezuela at the Universal Great Brotherhood. She received her 200-hr Certificate in 2012 in Orlando, Florida at the Yoga Teacher Training of Central Florida, School of Hatha Yoga. She began to teach at studios, wellness centers, senior living communities, summer camp programs, and gyms. She also received training in Kids Yoga by Kidding Around Yoga, and also trained in the method of Creative Relaxation for Children with Special Needs. In 2019, she received her 300-hr Certification from Beloved Yoga Sanctuary. She also attended Beloved Yoga’s Trauma-Informed Yoga training, as well as Pranayama and Yin Yoga Training.

In 2017 she participated as a yoga instructor for adults and kids at the Floyd Yoga Jam Festival in Willis, Virginia. She also had the opportunity to lead one-week retreats in the Dominican Republic at Caribe Yoga in 2017 and 2018.

Carmen’s approach and orientation is friendly and welcoming, where participants are provided with practical and accessible tools to be able to experience wellness, but most importantly, a calm and peaceful mind.

Carmen is also a former professional contemporary dancer with more than 15 years of experience. She was a resident member at the Teatro de Bellas Artes in Venezuela, and she had the opportunity to participate in several international festivals around the world.

Carmen also holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing.

Dante Baker has been a native to the Washington DC area his entire life, growing up in Reston, VA. Since his childhood years, Dante has always had a fascination with the human anatomy and all of its abilities to heal, move, and process. This interest led Dante to studying and receiving a variety of personal training and massage therapy certifications. Through Dante’s own personal life experience and the influence of family and peers, he embarked on a journey that would ultimately move him in the direction of providing health on a more holistic level. In 2011, Dante was introduced to transcendental meditation by Dr. Mahapatra Gyanendra one of the personal physicians of the Mararishi meditation course. This practice shined a light on his own inner stillness that he never experienced before at that time.

 Dante was fascinated by the Eastern philosophies such as Chinese medicine and enrolled in a nine month Qi Gong and Tai Chi Ball certification with Master Nianzu Li (L.Ac) in 2013. He went on to strengthen his Qi Gong practice and began to teach personal clients as well as larger classes at various health studios.  The passion to discover different modalities of holistic health lead him to discover Singing Bowls and Tibetan bowl in 2013. By linking up with different yoga instructors like Atticus Mooley, he integrated singing bowls into yoga classes as a unique way to allow students to find deeper levels of meditation during savasana.  Being a part of many different yoga classes inspired him to take a 200-hour Yoga certification from SOYA(Canada) in January of 2016. As a E-RYT 200 Yoga Instructor, Dante holds CEU courses around the D.C Metropolitan area teaching other yoga instructors how to play sacred instruments and use their voice to create vibratory frequencies that promotes wellness.

For Dante, Yoga is much more than just a form of exercise; it is a path that opens the doors to explore the mind, body and spirit. Students in Dante’s class are directed to stay focus on creating proper alignment within the asana and to consciously relax into each posture. Challenging asanas are suggested but never forced upon anyone, and modifications are always demonstrated to ensure that everyone can participant no matter what level they are at. At the end of class, students leave feeling physically restored and mentally rejuvenated.   

Ania is a Registered Yoga Teacher RYT500. Additionally, she is a certified Yin Yoga Instructor, holds Compassionate Senior Training Certification and Trauma Informed Yoga Training Certification with Beloved Yoga ,Therapeutic Yoga in Trauma Recovery with Arielle Schwartz (who greatly inspires her teaching style), and Yoga Teacher Training for Special Needs. She also completed Leader Training for “Stay Active and Independent for Life (SAIL)” with the Marymount University Regional Training Office.

Ania has been practicing yoga for over 25 years and still remembers her very first yoga class and how it made her feel. As a teacher she wants to share that feeling with her students. Her special interest is to create inclusive and fully accessible classes for all. She teaches chair and gentle mat-based classes to seniors, neurodivergent young adults and special needs children throughout Fairfax, Arlington and Loudoun Counties.

Linda is a health educator and gerontologist, published author, professional speaker, and trainer. She is a 500-hour certified yoga teacher, specializing in trauma-informed yoga and special needs yoga. Currently, she is a member of Beloved Yoga's trauma-informed teaching team at Newport Academy. 

She received both her master’s degree in exercise science and her doctorate in health education from the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her undergraduate degree, B.Sc. cum laude, in exercise physiology, at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.