HYC Chico Family
Andrew has been a Bikram certified instructor since spring 2003 and has been teaching in Chico since 2004. He is the 1985 Del Dayo Elementary School limbo champion. If you would like to get to know him better, start talking about food.
Born and raised in Chico, Lisa started her journey with hot yoga in 2011 at the Hot Yoga Club studio. After her first class, she became captivated by the Classic 90 series, and began to crave the heat. With her newfound love of yoga and motivation to deepen her knowledge and her practice, Lisa traveled to Koh Samui, Thailand in 2012. She studied the Absolute Hot Yoga series, and received her Yoga Alliance 200-hour certification.
Lisa has been teaching the Classic 90 and Classic 60 classes ever since. She loves the discipline and determination the Classic 60 and 90 classes require, and how wonderful you feel after class. It is not only a great workout, but an amazing test of personal strength, and time to “get out of your head”. There really is nothing like the high you have after a hot and sweaty yoga class!
Kalaka is devoted to finding peace of body, mind, and soul, through yoga and meditation. He began practicing meditation 30 years ago, and yoga 23 years ago, with a committed practice over the last 10 years, studying regularly with local Chico instructors, Rex Stromness, Cheri Neal, Lisa Weber, Tom Hess, and Amanda Correia. Kalaka is enthusiastic about sharing all that yoga truly has to offer, based upon his lived experience of how yoga can transform us in the most incredible ways. He is a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) at the 200-hour level through Spira Yoga School. He graduated with certificates of academic excellence in each category his training covered. Kalaka is passionately interested in and intensely curious about the profound truths explained in the traditional philosophy and practice of yoga, and how this knowledge can be applied in all aspects of our daily lives. He blends a classical approach to yoga with his own unique modern interpretation of traditional methods and styles to develop a unique practice of vinyasa yoga, emphasizing breath, alignment, and mindful awareness, as a form of meditation in movement. His personal practice and teaching style is deeply rooted in the Krishnamacharya tradition as it has been passed down to our modern society through Krishnamacharya’s students Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar, T.K.V. Desikachar, and Srivatsa Ramaswami, and through their students in turn. It is his great honor to take place in the long line of yoga teachers stretching back into the mists of antiquity. Kalaka follows the path of yoga for his own continued personal growth and spiritual unfolding, with the intention to be of loving service to the community at large.
Ashton is a certified yoga instructor who has studied under various yoga instructors in the Chico area. She integrates proper alignment, breathing techniques, and attention to cultivating compassion, loving-kindness and fun into her yoga classes. Ashton believes yoga should be non-competitive, rooted in mindfulness and inclusive of all bodies, ages and abilities.
Autumn started her hot yoga journey in 2021 at the Chico Hot Yoga Studio. She fell in love with the heated classes and has shown up consistently since. She went on to complete her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training through the Hot Yoga Studio as well as a 55- hour Yoga Fit Flow Training which utilizes weights and strength training to support a regular yoga practice. She has a strong desire to help others feel motivated, supported at all levels & in alignment through her classes. She is currently teaching Vinyasa, Hot Fusion & Yoga Fit Flow.
Kaiani, also known as Kai, is a 200-hour certified yoga instructor, having completed her training through Spira Yoga School in 2023. She began her yoga journey about five years ago while attending Southern Oregon University in Ashland, where she was a member of the Women’s Wrestling team. Yoga quickly revealed the disconnect between her mind and body, leading her to discover the power of breath as a tool to regulate both — a skill she brought into her athletic training.
Over the past four years, yoga has become an essential part of her life, and she often reflects on how transformative that first step into the studio was. Kaiani is passionate about creating a welcoming, supportive space for all students, whether it’s their first class or their hundredth.
Kanade’s yoga journey began in Hawaii, where she started practicing yoga outdoors as part of her postpartum recovery. The movement and breathwork quickly became an essential part of reconnecting with her body and managing the physical and emotional challenges of early motherhood.
Inspired by the impact yoga had on her life, Kanade sought a more intentional, alignment-based practice. In 2018, she completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training under Laura Mary Linsley, Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Science.
In addition to her yoga training, Kanade is a certified NASM personal trainer with specializations in behavior change, weight loss, and corrective exercise. She is known for creating creative, thoughtful sequences that are both empowering and accessible. Her classes are rooted in alignment-based vinyasa flow, designed to help students build strength, improve mobility, and deepen the connection between breath, body, and mind.
Liv has been dedicated to helping people stay active and healthy for over a decade. As an active Licensed Clinical Massage Therapist, she specializes in myofascial and deep fascial tissue release, psoas release, chronic pain relief, and injury/surgery rehabilitation. Liv decided to start teaching pilates, when through her own experience as a student of pilates, she realized the far reaching health benefits that pilates has to offer, particularly in core stability and back strengthening, as well as joint mobility and stability, both of which are vital to injury prevention, especially as we age. In addition to practicing massage and teaching pilates, Liv is a Kundalini Yoga instructor, and has been a full time mom since 2013. She looks forward to sharing her love of health and wellness with you.
Anna was divinely guided to yoga after a major brain injury ended her collegiate water polo career. Yoga showed her the light amongst a season of darkness. She once said “I used to think that yoga saved me, but really, yoga showed me that I had the power within me to save myself” And that is what she desires to share with others, the impact yoga had on her life and can have on yours, too. She is a dedicated yoga student and teacher, willing to learn, grow and flow through any obstacles. Anna teaches with passion, holding space for her students to flow through their own journey with ease and intention. Anna completed her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training in Boulder, CO in 2019.
