Instructor Bios
Instructor Biographies
Gabriel Hall 
Gabriel Hall is the founder and co-owner of Yoga World. Gabriel together with his wife and co-owner Michelle have been building and running Yoga World Studios in long beach since 1997. He has been teaching yoga in Long Beach since 1996. He began practicing yoga at the age of nineteen while enrolled at Santa Monica College. Since then, he has been an avid student of yoga continually seeking a greater understanding of its many facets. Gabriel studied and practiced yoga throughout college while completing a degree in philosophy at Cal State Long Beach. It was there that he was introduced to Iyengar style of hatha yoga. Later he spent a summer working at the front desk in exchange for classes at the Iyengar Institute in Los Angeles. At the institute Gabriel practiced with Leslie Peters and Karin O’Bannon. Years after he would complete two modules of teacher training courses conducted by Karin O’Bannon in Costa Mesa. It was in early 1999 when Gabriel completed a rigorous and thorough teacher training program at Yoga Works in Santa Monica. The training was a blend of Ashtanga and Iyengar styles of yoga. While the initial course was taught by Maty Ezraty and Lisa Walford the prominence of Yoga Works attracted many of the country’s most elite teachers. Over the course of many years Gabriel has been afforded the opportunity to study with Aadil Palkhivala, Gary Kraftsow, Dona Holleman, Kofi Busia, Judith Lasater, Bryan Kest, Richard Freeman and John Friend. Gabriel has also completed a concentrated teacher training course taught by Erich Schiffmann. Following the course Gabriel enjoyed a brief assistantship with Erich in Venice at Sacred Movement. As a complement to his study of philosophy and practice of yoga Gabriel has been trained in the tradition of Thai Yoga therapy under the watchful supervision of Saul David Raye. In addition to incorporating elements into his yoga classes he also conducts private sessions of Thai Yoga therapy. Gabriel teaches a variety of different leveled classes available weekly at Yoga World in Long Beach. In addition, Gabriel teaches 8 week sessions for beginners and intermediate students for the city of Yorba Linda and the city of Irvine through their recreation departments. Regardless of the level of difficulty Gabriel’s classes are infused with humor, positivity and caring support. His sequences are safe yet challenging and always allow for individual modifications. His classes are well varied and rarely the same twice. It is most beneficial when practiced regularly and the best way to maintain a consistent practice is to enjoy it. So come and enjoy. Private Instruction Available Upon Request.
Cara Pierce, Studio Coordinator 
Cara has been practicing yoga since her early teens. After moving to Long Beach in 2000 she began taking classes at Yoga World Stuido; and began studying under Gabriel Hall. Cara never imagined she would eventually become a yoga teacher, but after being asked to sub at Yoga World she felt compelled to offer yoga to others. After taking a teacher training with Erich Schiffman, she started teaching at Yoga World on a regular basis. In 2005 Cara moved to New York City where she took classes at Om yoga and Jivamukti on a regular basis. She also taught yoga at New York University while attending graduate school. After moving back to Long Beach in 2007, Cara began teaching at Yoga World again. Cara designs her classes to accommodate all who come to the studio—whether it’s a person’s first time in a yoga class or they’re seasoned yoga students. She offers variations for each asana so that each person gets out of the class what they need. Whether she’s teaching a flow class or a basic class she focuses on safety in the poses; and likes to encourage her students to find a connection with their breath and body; and to have fun with their practice. She believes in teaching safety in each pose as well as focusing on building strength in the various poses.
Alison Cameron
Originally from England, Alison came to the States to marry her American sweetheart 30-odd years ago. After careers as diverse as chef concierge and kindergarten teacher, and taking time out to mother her beautiful daughter, Alison began studying yoga in 2005. It was clear to her from the start that yoga was far more than simple exercise: the calming effects on the mind intrigued her. Yoga naturally led to an interest in meditation, which eventually led to rigorous annual ten day silent retreats. Alison has attended workshops all over the L.A. area with luminaries such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Amma the Hugging Saint, Jack Kornfield, and Sharon Salzberg. The spiritual questing continues with Voice Dialogue, art and collage, inquiry, book study and small meditation groups. Always, yoga is the constant: so many teachers over the years offering their different styles: physically challenging classes, fun classes, meditative classes, classes heavy on ritual and chanting and breath work. Recently Alison took the plunge to become a teacher herself and completed Yoga World’s first 200 hour teacher training with Gabriel Hall. She continues to grow in finding her own voice. She incorporates the teachings of many of those early teachers who so inspired her, but her preferred style is to teach gentle yoga, or as she puts it, “lots of rolling around on the floor with bolsters.” Now in her 60’s (and still happily married!), Alison is delighted to have found what she wants to be at long last. Her classes are designed to stretch, strengthen and relax the body, and soothe, focus and balance the mind, while using large dollops of humor and inspiration. All are welcome
Bridget Ingham 
Bridget has a life time experience in various forms of dance and moving arts including the disciplines of ballet, modern, pilates and earning her B.F.A. in dance from Cal State Long Beach. She has done her yoga teacher training with Karrin O’Bannon in Iyengar Hatha Yoga, Saul David Raye in Holistic Yoga and is a certified Yoga Tune Up® teacher with Jill Miller. She has also studied with Gary Kraftsow’s American Viniyoga, Shiva Rea’s teachers practicum, and Zhandor Remte’s Shadow Yoga. Her yoga background began over 15 years ago with an interest in the mind/body connection and to learn from and heal her personal physical imbalances created from the daily tolls of living and working. She now has been teaching for a decade and continues to learn from and shares her knowledge with her students. She infuses fun creative sequencing with an emphasis on precise alignment cues, physical awareness in space, mindfulness in action, breath awareness and meditation. She believes that moving from the simple movements towards the bigger and more complicated movements should be an arrival from the pathway that is set forth. The how, why and what you are doing to get there and not just the end result is what is important to ones well being both physically and mentally. She enjoys helping people understand the biomechanics of how their bodies move both on and off the mat so they can see where they may have neglected, hindered or even injured themselves. Her aim is to create a safe space that allows one to tap into their true potential to feel, heal, grow and transform both physically and mentally. Private Instruction Available Upon Request.
Cathy Terrones 
Cathy’s influences in yoga were her first teachers; Bryan Kest, then Gabriel Hall and Catherine Southern. Trainings with Saul David Raye and Yoga Works Santa Monica and encouragement from Gabriel Hall and Cat Southern finally launched her into the role of guiding yoga classes. She has practiced yoga since 1998 and began teaching in 2006. Cathy enjoy sharing practices that engage with the body’s energy in a healing and supportive way. Over the years Cathy has grown to experience yoga as a dance of gratitude, of giving thanks with mind, body, and spirit through the amazing vital life force we each uniquely express. Cathy is also a musician and singer-songwriter, with a B.A. in Music from CSULB. Being a vocalist the body is your instrument. Breathing becomes a powerful and vital tool, which is the same in yoga. Cathy enjoys teaching pranayama, using her vocalist and yoga skills to help practitioners experience their breath as ‘life force’. Cathy loves to incorporate the use of sound and chant in yoga classes to free up and access more life force! In-depth intensives with Gary Kraftsow, Judith Hansen Lasater, and TKV Desikachar have influenced her teaching. Her personal practice of Qi Gong and Energy Healing based on the Chinese understanding of meridians and organ systems influences Cathy’s classes and approach to guiding others in yoga. Please find more information about Yoga Hikes, Healthy Cooking, Private Yoga Lessons, and Music Events at Cathy’s website:chandrasyogatree.com.
Ramona Tamulinas 
Ramona began her practicing yoga over 9 or 10 years ago. At the time she did not really want to do something that made her feel any calmer than she already considered herself to be. She needed something more physical to change her from a calm, sweet girl into a strong powerful woman. Reluctantly she went to her first class not expecting much yet walked away feeling immediately transformed; strangely stronger and more self empowered and self-aware. She stayed in the classroom and did the next class that followed and if there had been another class that day she would have been there. She was hooked on the yoga juice. She never really saw herself as a teacher but one day while visiting a fortuneteller at Venice Beach she had her future given to he. The fortuneteller gazed intently into her rubber beach ball and told her, “You are to be a teacher.” Ramona laughed and walked away but soon that sentiment was repeated when Gabriel hall asked her after a class, “When are you going to start teaching?” So since the door was obviously opening and she was teetering at the threshold Ramona decided to enroll in an Iyengar TT Module under the charming intelligent guidance of Paul Cabanas and Marla Apt. This lead to further training under Maty Ezraty and Chuck Miller and the rest of the TT team at yoga works. The year was maybe 2004? Anyway all that matters is the door was opened and she was walking through it with grace and with caring influences. Those who come inspire each of her classes. She constantly is striving to help their practice grow through challenging sequences that strengthen and allow them to reach new potentials. Her classes explore fun, playful, creative ways to open others up to their fullest potential. She believes in giving simple, careful instructions in a way that enhance each student’s possibility. She wants to see the students move beyond their first encounter; to witness them grow fuels her practice as well as her teaching.
Sally Burns Sally Burns teaches a dynamic vinyasa flow style class, integrating her experience with Hatha Yoga, Iyengar and Ashtanga, by emphasizing the union of mindful movement with the breath, as well as alignment in the poses. A dedicated practitioner of yoga since 1997, Sally began teaching in 2002 and is a Yoga Alliance registered teacher. She has studied with David Swenson in the Ashtanga tradition and Karin O’Bannon in the Iyengar tradition. In addition she has taken many other teacher training workshops with notable teachers such as Max Strom, Saul David Raye and Angela Farmer.