Faith Scimecca
Faith Scimecca is a Level 2 Authorized Ashtanga Yoga teacher and owner of Woodley Park Yoga. She studied extensively in Mysore, India, with Shri K. Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois, and has led the city’s longest running Mysore style Ashtanga program since 2007. In addition to her yoga teaching, Faith is a board certified hospital chaplain specializing in trauma, palliative, and end of life care. Faith brings the same clear, compassionate guidance to her students as she does to her patients, honoring tradition with deep respect for the human spirit.
Elsie Scimecca
Elsie began practicing yoga over 20 years ago in Faith's classes and fell in love with Ashtanga yoga. When she met Pattabhi Jois, and his daughter Saraswathi, at one of his New York City workshops, their loving encouragement to her as an older beginner with chronic running injuries and stiffness inspired her to do the same for others. Elsie has been featured twice on WUSA9’s Get Uplifted and is the Yoga model for The Essential Guide to Trauma Sensitive Yoga by Lara Land. She has a special interest in teaching beginners, older students, and runners.
Kate Belber
Kate started practicing yoga in 2000 to overcome stiffness from riding horses. She soon realized the many gifts that ashtanga has to offer. She was privileged to study with Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois when they traveled to the U.S., as well as attending David Swenson's teacher training in 2002. She continues to be grateful to ashtanga and to all the teachers who help her in her practice.
Diana Aram
Diana first encountered yoga in 2004. Although she could barely touch her toes that first day, something about the energetic movement with breath clicked with her and kept her coming back. She soon witnessed firsthand the power of the primary series to transform the body and mind. In addition to maintaining a daily practice, Diana continues to develop her understanding of Ashtanga Yoga by traveling to Mysore, India and assisting her teacher, Faith.
Kim Miller
Kim began her yoga practice in 1998 on the shores of Lake Erie. At the end of her first class, she sat up from final resting pose as the sun set into the water and felt a deep sense of peace, an experience that has kept her returning to the mat. She is a Yoga Alliance RYT-200 trained at YogaWorks and an Ashtanga teacher rooted in traditional practice. She studied in Mysore, India with Saraswathi Jois and with Sharath Jois during U.S. visits. In 2026, Shraddha Jois authorized her to teach the Ashtanga Yoga Active Series. Her teaching emphasizes breath, alignment, and consistency.
Gail Harris
Gail has been teaching yoga for over 30 years. She began her practice in 1974. In 1978 she went to Canada and became certified as a Sivananda Yoga instructor. Gail has always had a vigorous teaching style and found herself drawn to Ashtanga in 1994. After taking a number of workshops with nationally recognized teachers such as Richard Freeman, Gail made Ashtanga her primary practice. Gail has studied directly with Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Jois on their world tours in New York as well as senior Ashtanga teachers Dena Kingsberg and Lino Miele.
Jeselene Andrade
Jeselene’s yoga journey began in India while working in villages with women to promote maternal health. The physical practice was introduced to her by her host mother who practiced every morning and invited her to join. She is a 200hr RYT from Roots Love Yoga School Lead by Marie Belle Perez Rivera and practices Mysore daily at Woodley Park Yoga with Faith Scimecca. She also holds a BA in the Community Health & Biology and a Master’s in Public Health.