Meet Our Team

Neena comes to this work with 20 years as a classroom teacher and teacher leader. She has taught mindfulness in over 30 classrooms from transitional kindergarten through sixth grade. Neena has also coached teachers, provided teacher and staff training, parent classes, as well as educator retreats and public speaking engagements.

A Bay Area native, she now lives in Southern Oregon, where she draws upon the natural world as a deep resource to embody her mindfulness practice. Neena is founder of Into the Forest Revelations, an organization that seeks to bring clarity and wisdom for those seeking their life’s purpose.

April Frazier considers herself a lifelong learner of yoga and mindfulness as a tool for self-empowerment and social justice in diverse, resilient communities. In 2010, she completed her 200-hr teacher certification through Dharma Yoga certification and has since held space for yoga in under-performing schools, trauma centers, and addiction centers to cultivate inner healing.

Prior to being a yoga instructor, April was a middle school teacher at an under-served school in the South Bronx. She believes, regardless of background, we are all in our breath and body, so might as well tap back into our inner wisdom to navigate life’s challenges.

April was part of the first year cohort at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Columbia University where she combined education, social activism, entrepreneurship and mindfulness. April has also been certified in laughter yoga, yoga for 12 step recovery, off the mat and into the world, and various trauma-informed and mindfulness in-schools programs.

She earner her bachelor’s degree with a focus on Anti-Racist education from Mount Holyoke College and her  master’s degree from Columbia’s Spirituality Mind Institute Masters in Education.

A’aron B. Heard is an artist, learner, and educator rooted in love, curiosity, and community. Described as the ‘heart of the team,’ she is grounded in purpose, leads with enthusiasm, questions with a critical curiosity, and prioritizes learning, reflection and growth. A’aron started her teaching career in East Oakland teaching ELA, Social Studies, and Theatre and she now facilitates workshops for educators on the topics of Art, Healing, and Social Justice.

Aáron received her Bachelor’s Degree in English: Creative Writing from University of Southern California and her Master’s in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University. In addition to this, Aáron holds a certification as an Arts Integration Specialist.

In addition to working at Mindful Schools Megan is a Teaching Artist teaching vocal music K-12 in multiple schools in the greater Los Angeles area. Megan also teaches mindfulness in schools and has been running her own mindfulness business for the past seven years. Megan is a GRIP facilitator teaching a transformational yearlong curriculum, created by Jacques Verduin, to incarcerated men at Avenal State Prison.

Megan has a Bachelors Degree in Music/Vocal Performance from Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY. She has trained at Mindful Schools and is a certified Mindful Schools teacher. Megan is currently enrolled in the UCLA/MARC 2020 TMF program.

Megan is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher and certified sound bath practitioner.Megan loves connecting with students from all over the world on the practice, understanding, and transformational powers of mindfulness.

Stefanie brings 14 years of experience as a middle school educator in Montgomery Township School District, NJ.  Specializing in global leadership and character education, she brings Mindful Schools curriculum to her classroom, conducts professional development for teachers and parents, and hosts before and after school sessions to support students. Stefanie is also active in sharing mindfulness locally and globally with the Mariposa Foundation DR, Girl Scouts, The Boys and Girls Club, and Health Body Healthy Mind Initiative. She frequently speaks on topics of wellness, leadership, and the global community. Stefanie is passionate about sharing mindfulness with youth and empowering her students to mindfully change the world one breath at a time. Her favorite pastime is engaging in sustainable travel where she has explored over 35 countries.

Stefanie received her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and her Master’s Degree from Rutgers Graduate School of Education in Elementary Education and a specialization in middle school social studies. Stefanie is a certified MBSR-T instructor, Mindful Schools teacher, and a certified yoga teacher through Little Flower Yoga and Rainbow Yoga.

Rachel is a school administrator and she creates and teaches mindfulness classes, workshops and retreats. She provides information, coaching and mentoring for organizations and schools seeking to create comprehensive mindfulness programs. Rachel has certificates in mindfulness facilitation from UCLA”s MIndful Awareness Research Center and Mindful Schools.

Kelli Love, M.Ed brings 15 years experience to the field of contemplative education since receiving her degree in Early Childhood Education from Naropa University in 2001, where mindfulness was integrated into the higher education experience. She develops mindfulness curriculum with a focus on self-awareness and emotion regulation and currently teaches at Girls Prep Bronx Elementary, where yoga and mindfulness are embraced as a school wide content area. In 2015 Kelli created a short film, Aliza and the Mind Jar, to demonstrate the impact of yoga and mindfulness curriculum on school communities. She is a former classroom teacher and believes all children have a right to experience the empowering life skills that yoga and mindfulness offer. Kelli is a national speaker at related conferences, is partnering with Columbia University and NYU to contribute to the research in mindfulness education, and consults organizations on implementation and curriculum development related to yoga and mindfulness in K-8 schools.

For over 20 years, Lucy has taught children and youth in a variety of classroom and therapeutic settings from instructing teens at North Outward Bound School to educating young people in preschool. She currently teaches Kindergarten.

As co-founder of Design to Connect, LLC, Lucy facilitates professional communities of practice focused on cultivating restorative school communities and increasing capacities of mindful well-being in students, educators, and families.

Lucy received her Masters In Education, Mindfulness for Educators, from Antioch University New England and her Early Childhood Montessori Credential form the Center for Guided Montessori Studies.

Erica Marcus has over fifteen years of experience in formal and informal educational settings, serving as a mindfulness educator, middle school English teacher, outdoor educator, and wilderness youth therapy field guide. She has a MAT from Trinity Washington University, a BA in sociology from Haverford College, as well as Mindful Schools and Kripalu Yoga certifications.

She founded Wise Minds. Big Hearts. in 2015 to bring mindfulness to students, families, and faculty around New England. In the fall of 2020, she is transitioning to the role of Mindfulness Director for Cape Elizabeth Middle School in Maine.

Erica published a book about mindfulness for new mothers in the fourth trimester, and is currently working on a new project about mindful technology use for teens. She is invested in exploring the myriad of ways mindfulness can support us in actively working towards a more compassionate equitable world.

Crystal is registered with Yoga Alliance at the E-RYT-500 level, with a specialty RCYT for children’s yoga. She leads Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher trainings, facilitates professional development workshops, and speaks nationally about the impact of yoga and mindfulness on the health and well-being of children, adolescents and adults. Crystal also teaches public classes in New York City and curates transformative wellness retreats which explore her own mindful vinyasa practice, her curiosity about anatomy, and her passion for intelligent sequences that sow vigor and softness in body, and a more peaceful mind through mindfulness meditation.

Aiming to build and strengthen community through a deeper understanding of our individual, complex human selves, Crystal teaches to who is in the room, making all of her programs accessible, relevant, inclusive and adaptive to the physical, emotional and social needs of a full spectrum of populations.

Before joining Mindful Schools Nathalie worked for 15 years for non-for-profits providing continuing education, and arts for all programs for low income and immigrant families. She also managed wide community service events with corporate foundations in NY

Nathalie is French with a Caribbean and Parisian background. She practiced dance for 7 years before taking her first yoga in 2003 just after her daughter’s birth. Yoga and meditation has been a long and interesting journey ever since. A journey where learning was not only about the body, but the self. Tapping into her former study of philosophy, she loves to make mindfulness a simple and practical tool for our everyday life.

She led “Education & Art For All” programs in France for many years before coming to New York. Combining her passion for movement and philosophy, she teaches yoga and mindfulness on a regular basis to young students, teachers and parents in NYC public schools with The School Yoga Project.

Angela is a long time high school teacher of language arts, drama, speech, and leadership in Oregon. She has also served as a district-wide instructional coach and new teacher mentor. About a decade ago she began building and teaching a yoga and mindfulness program that has become her full time assignment and serves hundreds of students each term.

Angela earned her BS in Speech Communication and Theatre Arts from Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon and then her Master of the Art of Teaching from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. In 2011 she became a Registered Yoga Teacher after training with Sarahjoy Marsh of The Daya Foundation in Portland, Oregon. In 2018 Angela earned her Mindful Teacher Certification from Mindful Schools.

Angela enjoys working at Mindful Schools where mindfulness and the support it offers educators, students, and communities are at the core of every step toward our growth and service. Being able to participate in and contribute to this momentum keeps her learning, stretching, and enjoying the process.

Jelena is a school psychologist by training and a peacebuilder by heart. As a mom and Teaching Peace in Schools Leadership Council Lead for The Peace Alliance, Jelena aspires to educate, advocate, and mobilize others in co-creating a culture of peace. Her passion is facilitating dialogs that are grounded in mindful awareness and empathy.

Jelena spends most of her time in circle with educators and students, is a facilitation trainer for Soliya and Erasmus + Virtual Exchange where she guides others in facilitating virtual cross-cultural exchange dialogs. She serves on the advisory board for Cities4Peace, facilitates virtual circles for Millennium Forum and the Peace of Mind, and hosts weekly Hope Story Circle podcast series for the Peace Alliance. She guides mindfulness retreats for educators at the Copper Beech Institute, leads international At Home In the World family retreats, and is co-founder of Design to Connect LLC, an educational consulting organization, that assists schools in their efforts in skillful, integrated and sustainable schoolwide implementation of mindfulness and peace education practices. She believes in the power of storytelling, single-tasking, and the importance of starting conversations that create genuine connections, move us toward transformation and help us foster a culture of nonviolence.