Practitioners
Buffie Roseanne Gilbert
Buffie Roseanne Gilbert has been practicing Yoga for the past 15 years and received formal training in Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga in Maharashtra, India, at Yoga Vidya Gurukul, in 2007. Her love of Yoga, meditation, and compassionate touch led her to begin her study of Thai Yoga Massage, in 2010, at the Lotus Palm School of Montreal, via Integral Yoga. Buffie is also an actively performing musician, writer, and multimedia visual artist.
Erin Pearce
Erin Pearce, L.M.T., is a graduate of New York’s Swedish Institute. Specializing in Swedish massage, she works with her clients to develop a personalized session that addresses the client’s needs. She considers all massage to be therapeutic massage, whether it’s treating chronic pain, helping someone recover from an injury, or just relieving stress.
Nechama
Nechama is humbled to be of service as a spiritual counselor in her commitment to a daily spiritual practice, offering sessions to help others find freedom from suffering for a life of balance, harmony, and joy. As a hearing-impaired woman, she cultivates a unique, intuitive listening style with compassion in communication, creating a safe and sacred space where clients can surrender and remember their sacred selves. As a member of the School of Women’s Ways since Winter Solstice of 2001, she has a passion for helping women claim their own authority as Divine beings on Mother Earth. Having spent the past 11 years addressing such personal challenges as depression, asthma, and chronic fatigue by encouraging spiritual awareness through self-remembrance, she has found guidance from beloved teachers, among them Deep Arrow Woman, Oh Shinnah Fast Wolf, Hyakuten Inamoto, the Sat Jivans, and Maya elders; from the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism; from food as medicine and meditation coaching; and through certifications as a multi-lineage-attuned Reiki master, sound healer, Kundalini Yoga teacher, and integrative Yoga/essential-oil therapist.
Louisya Graves
Louisya Graves is dedicated to helping people overcome obstacles and incorporate health, serenity, direction, and love into their lives, using the sublimely peaceful practices of Reiki energy, reflexology, spiritual healing, and health coaching. She has walked the path of holistic living and healing for the past 13 years, studying with such renowned healers as Queen Afua, Wendy Coad, Hyakuten Inamoto, and Arnie Vargas.
Annie Foster
A lifelong Southern belle, Annie moved to New York several years after earning her B.A. in theater from Christopher Newport University. She found herself delving deeper and deeper into her personal Yoga practice as a way to navigate post-college life and achieve balance, spiritual awakening, and flexibility of body and mind. In 2010, Annie discovered the Lotus Palm Thai Yoga Massage school and began studying under and assisting Jyothi Watanabe at Integral Yoga, eventually receiving her essential certification. Annie also holds a 200-hour certification through Sonic Yoga, a Kids Yoga certification from Shari Vilchez-Blatt and Karma Kids Yoga, and a Prenatal certification from Karma Kids’s Prenatal/Postnatal expert Juliana Secches and has, most recently, been certified to teach Postnatal and Baby Yoga through Esther Jyothi Larson’s “Yoga Mom, Buddha Baby” program. A resident of Astoria, Annie is thankful to be spreading the metta-ful practice of Thai Yoga Massage at IYI, her Thai Yoga Massage home.
Masami
Originally from Japan, Masami encountered Yoga while living in New York City and working in the fashion industry. Although her lifestyle was hectic, she learned that the practice of Yoga gave her a sense of calm and peace that she had been unable to find elsewhere. She completed her teacher training with Yoga to the People to augment her knowledge and practice of Yoga. Then she discovered Thai Yoga Massage at Integral Yoga Institute. She had a profound experience and became acquainted with something from her inner self known as metta, or “loving-kindness.” Now, as a Yoga instructor and Thai Yoga Massage practitioner, she offers people a simple message that often seems difficult to comprehend: deep love and peace exist within each of us.
Christine Mire Rose
Christine Mire Rose is an experienced massage therapist and Yoga instructor. She is licensed in New York State and nationally certified by the NCBTMB with advanced training in medical massage techniques, Shiatsu, and reflexology. She is a registered Yoga teacher and a member of the national Yoga Alliance. In addition to her private practice, Christine teaches massage at the prestigious Swedish Institute of Health Science and is a frequent instructor at Integral Yoga Institute.
Isabelle Edye
A certified reflexologist, licensed French podiatrist, and Hatha Yoga Level I teacher, Isabelle created and developed a successful private practice with two physical therapists in Paris. In 1991 she studied reflexology there and introduced it into her private practice. In 1993 she moved to Manhattan, where she became a certified reflexologist using the original Ingham method. She loves to bring her Yoga experience and knowledge of podiatry into her reflexology sessions. She is continuing her study of gentle touch reflexology and Reiki.
Sandra “India” Reyes
Sandra “India” Reyes is a graduate of the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York City and holds an associate degree in occupational sciences in massage therapy. She is a New York State–licensed and –registered massage therapist and an active member of the American Massage Therapy Association. Her bodywork repertoire includes Swedish, myofascial, deep tissue, neuromuscular, and reflexology massage.
Kimberly Ross
Kimberly Ross is an ARCB-certified reflexologist who has successfully introduced and practices the holistic arts in the corporate world as well as in her private practice. She is also an Usui Tibetan and Karuna Reiki master and a Thai Yoga practitioner.
Katherine Crye
Katherine Crye specializes in Swedish therapeutic relaxation massage and Shiatsu. She is a graduate of the Swedish Institute School of Massage Therapy and recently studied in Thailand at the International Training Massage School in Chiang Mai. She is a New York State–licensed massage therapist and a member of the American Massage Therapy Association. Having always been very interested in the healing power of touch, she utilizes a balance of Eastern and Western techniques to adapt to a client’s specific needs.
Susan Shockett
Susan Shockett is a licensed massage therapist and certified structural integrator. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, where she began her studies in health science. Susan first learned hands-on bodywork 15 years ago in order to address her own debilitating neck and back pain. She went on to study Western and Eastern massage at the Swedish Institute in New York City and then structural integration (a k a Rolfing) at the School of Integrative Therapies in New Jersey. On the basis of her personal experience, as well as the experience of many of her clients, Susan believes strongly that positive change is possible.
Swarupa Sky Oak Speaker
Swarupa Sky Oak Speaker is an advanced IYI teacher who has spent the past 20 years studying, teaching, and counseling spiritual awareness and practical metaphysics, in private sessions, classes, and clinics. Focused on the integration of holistic and allopathic methods for wellness, he is certified as a hypnotist, a rapid-eye technician, a multiple-lineage Reiki master teacher, and a Yoga teacher.
Shizu Homma
Shizu experienced benefits and enjoyed partner stretching while studying Body Weather, a Japanese method for preparing the body for dancing. In 2008 she began to study Lotus Palm Thai Yoga with Jyothi Watanabe at IYI and was certified in 2009. She is also a student of Ohashiatsu and Yoga, as well as a Yoga instructor, certified in 2006 by Sadie Nardini and in 2007 to teach Yoga to children and teens K‒12 by Asana Alphabet. Shizu is a believer in noninvasive healing methods and body‒mind practice.
