Amara Reed
Lead Instructor & Co-Founder
RYT-500, E-RYT 500 · 14 years teaching
Amara founded Lumen Yoga in 2014 with a single rule that still guides everything we do: no student should feel unsafe or unteachable in their own…
View profileThe teaching team
Teachers you will actually get to know
Every Lumen instructor holds current certification, carries liability insurance and still teaches at least four classes a week. We cap cohorts, we film and review our own lessons, and we answer our students directly.
David Okafor
Meditation & Yin Instructor
RYT-500 · Certified Meditation Teacher · 11 years teaching
David came to yoga through a decade of clinical mental-health work, and it shows in how he teaches: slowly, with an emphasis on what is safe for a…
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Lena Ortiz
Foundations & Alignment Instructor
RYT-500, ERYT-200 · Pediatric yoga specialist · 10 years teaching
Lena is a physical therapist who came to yoga through her work with runners and post-surgical patients. That background makes her the person our…
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Maya Patel
Restorative & Prenatal Instructor
RN, RYT-500, CYT · Birth & postpartum specialist · 9 years teaching
Maya is a registered nurse and certified yoga therapist whose clinical work includes a decade in labour and delivery. She wrote our Restorative &…
View profileHow we work
Standards we hold ourselves to
We publish these because a school that will not tell you its standards is not a school.
Current certification, verified yearly
We re-check every RYT and continuing-education credential each January. Lapsed credentials are not permitted to teach here, including for our founders.
Liability insurance on every instructor
All instructors carry professional liability coverage, and every studio maintains premises coverage. Students get a copy of our certificate of insurance on request.
Cohorts capped at sixteen
Teacher training caps each cohort at sixteen students so every person teaches a live class and receives mentor feedback on it. We turn students away rather than dilute it.
Free community clinics, monthly
Each studio runs a free clinic for beginners, over-60s, and people managing chronic pain. No membership and no purchase required — just show up.
Choosing a teacher
Questions students ask us about instructors
Yes. Private sessions are available in Austin, Denver and San Diego from $95 per hour, and all-access members get 10% off. Send us a note and we will match you with the right teacher.
Amara and David teach at other studios for income diversity, which we encourage. All of them remain contracted to Lumen and abide by our safety standards everywhere they teach our students.
We hire from our graduate pool. Graduates can apply for studio substitute and assistant-teaching roles, and we run a hiring round every March and September.
Of course. Email us and a member of the teaching team — not a generic inbox — will reply within one business day.
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