Faculty

Dr. Kimberly Grocher is a licensed clinical social worker, executive & wellness coach, and a certified yoga & mindfulness meditation teacher. She integrates yoga and mindfulness practices into her work with her coaching & psychotherapy clients in addition to offering individual and small group yoga sessions with new yogis in mind. For more information visit www.kimberlybondsgrocher.com.

Yoga Haven founder and director, Betsy Kase, RYT-500, C-IAYT, has been practicing yoga since 1991. She began during a time when her work and personal life were considerably stressful. Almost immediately, she found a simple yoga practice unlocked a layer of peacefulness she had been searching for since she was a teenager. After a couple of years of practice she finished her teacher training at Integral Yoga, and then continued with prenatal and postnatal trainings. Since then, she has studied with some of the most accomplished teachers. Realizing that her need to connect with and help people was more successfully accomplished as yoga teacher, she changed careers. After moving back to Westchester from NYC, she found herself somewhat lost trying to meet people, practice yoga and find a like-minded community. So, as the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come”… Yoga Haven opened its doors in 1997, starting as a one room space in Tuckahoe. It worked! People showed up and kept coming. Yoga Haven then expanded significantly, offering 70+ classes a week, taught a variety of levels and styles by highly qualified teachers. In January 2012, Yoga Haven 2 opened its doors in Scarsdale. Many of the students who attended one of our first classes in Tuckahoe back in 1997 continue to practice.  In 2020, Covid unfortunately made it impossible to continue the studios.  Both studios closed mid-March and never re-opened.

Betsy’s passion is finding ways to affect student’s lives in a positive way. She has witnessed yoga’s profound ability to reduce a student’s pain, whether it be physical, mental, emotional and/or psychological. Over and over she sees the results of her work and is thrilled to be intertwined in a community who deeply cares for the studio, herself and each other. Her most profoundly satisfying work is Yoga Haven’s annual 200 hour teacher training program. Directing this program, she is able to share her own 20 year experience and enable new teachers to have the tools to reach their beginner students as they start their own journey.

Jen’s yoga journey began many years before setting foot on a yoga mat.  At the age of 14, she went through major spine surgery to halt the progression of scoliosis.  Many years later and with some caution and curiosity as to whether she could practice yoga with her fused spine, she felt drawn to try a class. Despite her fears, she immediately fell in love with yoga’s physical and mental benefits and came to realize that yoga offered her a path to both understanding her complicated spine and quieting her busy mind. Jen believes that yoga is for everyone and approaches her students with the belief that each body is unique and carries with it its own history, limitations, strengths and weaknesses.  She teaches with a focus on healthy alignment, body mechanics and breath. Jen received her teaching certification at Yoga Haven under the direction of Betsy Kase.  She has completed many advanced yoga trainings, including restorative yoga and yoga for scoliosis.  She is currently completing an additional 300 hour advanced teaching certification with Jason Crandell.

A graduate of Manhattanville College, Silvana Larkin holds a BA in dance/theatre with a concentration in dance therapy. She has studied locally and performed for Gabri Crista of the Bill T Jones Company and Carlos Orta of the Jose Limon Dance Company. Mrs. Larkin has been with Steffi Nossen since 2004, teaching creative movement and ballet throughout Westchester to mainstream and special needs populations. She became a certified ZUMBA instructor in 2011.

Raised in Newton, Mass., David Leventhal received his formative ballet training at Boston Ballet School, RAD in London, and with teachers David Wall, Donald McClennan, Marjorie Mussman, Zvi Gotheiner and Marcus Schulkind. After graduating from Brown University with a BA magna cum laude with honors in English Literature, he danced with the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1997-2011. During that time, he appeared in more than 40 of Mark Morris’ dances, including 19 world premieres, performing principal roles in Mark Morris’ The Hard Nut, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, on Motifs of Shakespeare, and L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. He also worked extensively in opera, performing in productions at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, English National Opera, New York City Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. His work with the company has involved several television appearances, including Live from Lincoln Center on PBS (2007), a Richard Rodgers celebration on PBS (2002), the Kennedy Center Honors on CBS (2000), and the UK’s South Bank Show (2001).  He received a 2010 New York Dance and Performance Award (“Bessie”) for his work with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Prior to joining MMDG, David danced with José Mateo’s Ballet Theatre of Boston and Spencer/Colton, among others. David has taught for almost 30 years and serves on the faculty of the Mark Morris Dance Center, where he has offered ballet and modern classes to a wide range of students, from children to adults.

Tara Mazurek’s passion for outreach began as a young dancer performing at nursing homes, local charities, and elementary schools. She trained and performed with the Eastern CT Ballet Company, where she was the first student to be asked to teach for the school at just 18 yrs old.  After receiving a BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan, she performed professionally in musical theater and cheerleading. She then continued in outreach as a teacher, bringing dance to after school elementary programs in CT, creating a ballet program for the Hasidic community in Brooklyn, and teaching at studios in Manhattan and the tristate area. Recently relocated to White Plains, she loves working with organizations in Westchester through Steffi, serving adults with special needs and preschool students.

Tara teaches our Moving Wheels & Heels classes in our year-round and summer Adaptive Dance programs, Ballet & Tap combo class, and classes throughout our Outreach Programs.

Wendy Morsberger, trained at School of the Dayton Ballet and Buffalo Ballet Center, eventually making her way to the Royal Ballet School.  After a performance career, culminating in the Royal Ballet (England) and Frankfurt Ballet (Frankfurt, Germany) taught ballet, pointe and injury prevention at Boston Ballet, Harvard and more dance schools in Boston and Westchester.

A trained physical therapist holding an MS in Physical Therapy from Massachusetts General Hospital, Institute of Health Professionals, Wendy has trained in the acclaimed Mark Morris Dance for PD program in Brooklyn, NY.

Allison Ray Jeraci is an international yoga teacher who specializes in prop variation, pose-groundwork and variations for accessibility. She is a featured teacher for Yoga Anytime, a featured presenter for Yoga International and has co-created and led multiple yoga trainings for various studios and online platforms. Allison is also a featured writer for Yoga International and YogaUOnline.

Allison currently leads her own series of continuing education for Yoga teachers via her ARJ Yoga Hub programs where she offers an online library of on-demand yoga videos, meditations, and workshops, as well as live classes, and 1:1 mentoring.

In addition to her Prop-tastic and vinyasa classes, she released a meditation album called Yoga Nidra: Meditations to Relax and Move Forward which can be found here.

Outside of yoga, Allison is an avid, amateur artist, 3rd degree blackbelt and language aficionado. She is fluent in Spanish and often travels to Latin America.

Michelle is a yoga + movement educator and teacher trainer.  She has been teaching yoga for ten years and called Yogaworks in New York City her home for many years.   Her mindful approach invites inquiry into movement and she is skilled at demystifying complex postures into smaller, digestible pieces.   She is deeply interested in how the body moves and enjoys making yoga feel accessible to beginners and advanced practitioners alike.  Her yoga classes are open to all levels and explore building strength, awareness, grace and resilience in the body, not only through traditional asanas, but through playful movements as well.   In her classes you can expect thoughtful sequencing and natural movement that you can take with you into your daily life, and practice is always followed with an opportunity to restore the body.