Our Teachers
Our teachers are some of the best trained in the nation. All possess nationally-recognized certifications and have been studying the rich tapestry of yogic wisdom and practice for years.
Each teacher brings their own unique style to the classroom based upon training, special talents, and personal perspectives. Having been inspired and transformed by yoga themselves, they are all eager to help you experience the profound and life-changing benefits of this ancient practice.
Our founder is Eric Walrabenstein, a best-selling author, ordained Yogacharya, and one of the most sought-after authorities on the application of yogic technology for self-healing and empowerment in the nation. For 30 years, Eric has been dedicated to making the ancient power of yoga practical for use in our everyday lives.
In addition to his work here at Yoga Pura, Eric is also the creator of the BOOTSTRAP Yoga System for troops and veterans and the BrightLife Yoga Collective. When not teaching at Yoga Pura, Eric regularly travels the nation speaking about wellness and self-empowerment.
Since 2006, Laura Goethe Rankel has been a dedicated practitioner and teacher of yoga. It was with her very first yoga class that she first glimpsed the healing power of yoga.
That initial experience was in her words “a life-changing event” that would ultimately give her the tools to help manage an entire range of chronic health conditions that had been plaguing her for years.
Since that time, Laura has devoted her life to the study and teaching of this ancient practice, completing Yoga Pura’s 500 Hour master-level yoga teacher training program, including going on to become a mentor and teacher in that very same program.
Laura’s classes blend a genuine love of the practice with detailed instruction that helps her students get the very most out of their practice. Because of her great success in using yoga as a healing force in her own life, she has become a sought-after teacher for those wishing to use yoga to navigate chronic health challenges of every kind.
When not practicing at Yoga Pura (her second home), Laura dedicates her time to her daughter Alexis and her two dogs, Kona & Baxter.
Nyla Moore is devoted to the continuous experience of her own diving nature as well as the divinity within those around her. She also has the innate ability to connect each student to their own inner divinity. With a background in personal training, Nyla has a deep understanding of the body and shares her knowledge freely with her students.
She’s a certified teacher who has studied primarily with Kat Puralewski Myers and Jordan & Martin Kirk.
Michelle Phillips considers herself “born and raised” at Yoga Pura. Drawn to the practice over a decade ago, Michelle began with the studio’s Intro Series and later completed the 500hr Advanced Studies and Teacher Training Program.
Michelle communicates the authenticity and transformative power of yoga in a way that allows her students to take yoga’s most important teachings off the mat and into their lives.
Caroline Cucchiara's teaching focuses on awakening the true Self through awareness, truthfulness, and movement of Divine energy. Her classes embrace a wide range of hatha yoga traditions, including Iyengar, Ashtanga, Viniyoga, and Kundalini.
Caroline has completed the Yoga Pura Advanced Studies and Teacher Training Program and Level I-II teacher training with Tias Little.
Sue Scales has been practicing yoga since 2011. She knew she wanted to share yoga and its power of life transformation with others and found her way to Yoga Pura’s Teacher Training and Life Mastery Program in 2018.
Sue aims for the perfect blend of challenge and encouragement in her classes, so every student can feel safe to explore outside their comfort zone. She brings her knowledge of massage therapy and Reiki to yoga practice, and she loves answering questions. When Sue is not in the yoga studio, you’re likely to find her writing, hiking, or going for a run.
Hayley Kaminsky completed her yoga teacher training at Yoga Pura in the fall of 2018. Since then, she’s been teaching in California and now at her Phoenix yoga home. Her favorite thing about yoga is the connection between movement and breath that naturally comes with the practice and quiets the busy mind.
When she’s not creating fun yoga flows for her students, she’s creating beautiful artwork or hanging out with her daughter, Sunny.
Kelsey Jung started practicing yoga in 2014 and fell in love with the practice pretty much instantly. Just four years later, she graduated from Yoga Pura’s 200hr Life Mastery and Teacher Training program. She’s been teaching corporate and studio classes ever since!
Kelsey aims to help her students fully enjoy the gift of mindfulness that comes from regularly stepping on their yoga mat.
Bridget Collins attended her first-ever yoga class in 2006, when she took a leap of faith and began experiencing the Intro Series at Yoga Pura - it felt like coming home. From there, in order to deepen her own practice and understanding of Self, Bridget completed the Advanced Yoga Studies and Teacher Training Program in 2008 as well as Yoga Pura's premier program for Yoga Nidra Facilitator Training in 2009.
Since then, she has been committed to her passion of sharing the benefits and experience of Yoga Nidra with groups and individuals in a variety of settings. She is honored to have the opportunity to share the essence of Yoga Nidra with the Yoga Pura community.
Jennifer Cunningham was led to her first yoga class in 2001, following the pressures of graduate school. She completed Yoga Pura’s 500hr Advanced Studies and Teacher Training in 2006. Now, two decades into her practice, she especially enjoys and prioritizes meditation as a means of self-study and transformation.
Outside the studio, Jennifer teaches Latin to 7th and 8th graders and snuggles a lot with her chihuahua, Teeny.
Erika Fritz initially came to yoga to find better work-life balance. After moving to Boston in 2015, she completed her professional teacher training and began teaching yoga full time, teaching in various public, private, and corporate settings –from heated power flow to chair yoga.
Erika is also a classically trained Ayurvedic practitioner (traditional Indian medicine), coupling her knowledge with healthy doses of humor and humility to translate the ancient wisdom for clients in a way that makes the information easily digestible.
Erika currently resides in Scottsdale, AZ, with her two cats Matilda + Jasper.
Jenn Daniel started her journey with yoga back in 2007 at Yoga Pura. She completed a 200-hour YTT in San Diego in 2016 followed by several years of teaching.
After returning to Arizona in 2021, she knew she wanted to reconnect to her personal practice and was eager to participate in the 200-hour training with Yoga Pura.
Yoga has helped her navigate the hardest time of her life and kept her mind in a healthy place. She loves to share with others how profound a yoga practice can be, not just to feel good in the body, but to liberate the mind from struggles and to find inner peace.
Addie Applewhite who considers herself “Yoga Pura raised”, was 9 years old when she began coming to the studio for Kid's Yoga. She returned to Yoga Pura as a teenager seeking relief for anxiety.
Seeing the impact yoga had in her life, and the transformation around the anxiety, she knew she wanted to share it with others and completed Yoga Pura's 200hr Yoga Teacher Training and Life Mastery Program in 2018. She completed Yoga Pura's Yoga Nidra Facilitator Training in 2019 and is a certified practitioner of both Reiki and Sound Healing.
Addie hopes to help guide her students to their own sense of inner peace.