Michelle Barge – RYT, Writer and Eco-Living Expert
Michelle has been practicing yoga since 1996 following a life dedicated to classical ballet. She teaches an integrated Vinyasa practice focused on proper alignment and building core strength. Her style fuses her training in traditional Hatha yoga schools – Iyengar and Ashtanga – with her studies in dance and Pilates, combined with a deep knowledge of eastern philosophy and meditation.† Michelle has a strong background in Ayurveda and incorporates it into her practice. She has trained in some of the top yoga studios in New York City and continues to train under some of the leaders in the field: Dharma Mittra, Paula Tursi, Schuyler Grant of Kula Yoga Project, Sadie Nardini, Alison West and Tao Porchon-Lynch.† She is a graduate of Sadie Nardini's Core Strength Vinyasa Flow program and a 200-hour level RYT through the Yoga Alliance of America.† Michelle is also certified to teach yoga in a corporate environment through Balance Integration and does so in some of the top companies in the country, including AOL/Time Warner and Yahoo! She also teaches yoga at the high school level in the New York City Public School System through Bent on Learning, which brings the joy of yoga to low-to-moderate income and gifted students. To offer her clientele unique yoga offerings, Michelle leads yoga retreats in eco-friendly resorts in the Caribbean, Europe and South America. Michelle’s retreats are a unique mixture of yoga, environmentally conscious dining and living, while giving back to the communities where the retreats are held.
Michelle’s commitment to wellness also extends off the mat to her charity work as the Board President of Concrete Safari - a Harlem-based, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the joy of fitness and healthy eating habits to inner city youths through personal training, nutritional counseling, and outdoor adventures. Michelle is on the Advisory Board of the Ananda Ashram and on the Board of Directors’ Advisory Committee for the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York. Michelle also has over 12 years of marketing, branding and public relations experience having worked at some of the top agencies in the city. She is a regular contributor to Vital Juice Daily, an online resource for health and wellness, Her Sport + Fitness, and is the Eco-Living expert at beYOU.tv where she writes on topics related to green, sustainable and organic living. She also is a contributing writer to the United Nations’ BluMail Project, which address issues relating to the “digital divide” and lack of Internet access in developing countries. She covers issues for BluMail on health, wellness and microfinancing in the third world. Michelle currently teaches at some of the top studios in New York and Los Angeles including Exhale, Golden Bridge and Paula Tursi’s Reflections Studio in the heart of Times Square. Michelle also teaches yoga at Hunter College where she is the director of their yoga programming.