The Panelists:

Leslie Booker is Director of Teacher Trainings for the Lineage Project where she brings awareness-based practices, like yoga and meditation to incarcerated and court involved youth. She is also the founder of Urban Sangha Project a collective that supports the sustainability of people in direct service and front line ChangeMakers through midful yoga, meditation and dialogue. Booker began to support the empowerment of youth affected by incarceration through these practices in 2007, and has worked with several programs in NYC that serve LGBTQI teens and women in recovery. She is a graduate of the Mindful Yoga and Meditation Training at Spirit Rock and is greatly honored to be part of the teaching faculty for 2014-15. Booker is a regular presenter of conferences around the country and is committed to collaborations that support bridging the gap between practice and grass roots activism. 

Will Duprey A native of Vermont, Will learned at a young age to listen to the land, meditate with the mountain and breathe with the wind. Devouring texts and sitting at the side of his beloved teacher Sri Dharma Mittra, he eventually received his initiation and blessing to teach. In Los Angeles will took up studies of the Siddha medical system. Having studied for 5 years he now incorporates these theories with a strong Hatha approach. When not teaching Will immerses himself in studies of classical mantra and philosophical texts with his beloved teachers Dr. M.A. Jayashree and Sri M.A. Narahimhan of Mysore.

Dana Flynn is co-creator of Laughing Lotus Yoga Center. Fiercely innovative and independent, Dana honors and knows well the ancient traditions and codified asana systems of the yogic practice. During her many years of study she wanted to explore what it meant to move like herself. “That was my greatest longing.” A successful businesswoman with studios located in Manhattan and San Francisco, she is about to embark on the creation of a third Laughing Lotus outpost in Williamsburg. Her studios are home to a very diverse community of creative, spirited, and playful yogis.

Megan Garcia is a plus-size model and author of "MegaYoga," the first yoga book just for curvy women. Megan took her first yoga class at Smith College in 1991, and after graduation studied Iyengar Yoga under J.J. Gormley at the Sun and Moon Yoga Studio in Virginia. She received her teacher certification in 2001 from the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and is an instructor in their 500 hour YTT where she demonstrates how to modify classical asanas for round bodies.  She teaches workshops for teachers and plus-size students at Omega Institute, Kripalu and other yoga schools throughout the east coast.  In 2004, Megan partnered with the plus-size clothing line Just My Size to create "Just My Size Yoga With Megan Garcia," a best-selling yoga DVD with modifications created for plus-size beginners.  In November 2011, Megan released her second yoga DVD entitled "MegaYoga."

Jyll Hubbard-Salk took her first yoga class 20 years ago and it was love at first breath. She is founder of Urban Asanas, the first yoga studio in Crown Heights. There she incorporates flow, alignment, meditation, intention, healing and empowerment in her classes. Her guiding forces are inclusion, self-expression and breath.  The focus of Urban Asanas is on movement through music, collaboration and heart and the studio welcomes yoga practitioners of all levels and socio-economic backgrounds. Jyll has a passion to diversify the yoga community with classes that cater to every ethnicity, gender and budget. A native of Canton Ohio, with her husband Daniel, she is the parent of three glorious young women. 

Brette Popper is the Publisher and Founder of YogaCity NYC, New York City’s premiere website for local yoga news, reviews and events. She is also a 500 Hour ERYT.