Shannon Brasovan

Shannon, a native of Birmingham, has been practicing yoga for over 16 years and teaching for 10. Shannon is an ERYT-500 hour certified teacher and seeks to teach a style of yoga that is integrated philosophically, mentally, physically, and spiritually. You can expect a slower pace and a more athletic class, as well as a class centered around a yogic theme. Shannon seeks to teach to the class you come to, but also to the bodies in the room, so if you have requests- bring them on!

Ellen Gomory

Ellen began taking Power Yoga in high school and loved the discipline and concentration that yoga required. The practice allowed her to move her body and sweat but with more focus and less frenetic than her usual workouts.
She practiced for 10 years prior to taking her 200Hr training with laughing Lotus in NYC and is working on her 500 Hr with Laughing Lotus.
Students can expect a creative and flow-y class set to vibey tunes and her teaching style is straightforward and relaxed.
Her teaching mentors are Mary Dana Abbot, Miriam Wolf, Kate Cariati, Dana Trixie Flynn, Sheri Celentano, Ana Forest and Lara Heimann.

Whitney Renfroe

Whitney Renfroe has spent her entire life immersed in the arts and fitness industries. She obtained a degree in Dance Performance from Birmingham-Southern College on a merit based scholarship in 2009. Whitney enjoyed a professional career in classical ballet with Atlanta Festival Ballet and Birmingham Ballet. In 2013, she transitioned to contemporary dance. She moved to Boston, MA to dance as a company member for BoSoma Dance Company and SundanceX. During this time, she also worked as a personal trainer and took a deep dive into her personal yoga practice. She sheltered herself from the harsh winters in steamy yoga studios, falling in love with the physical and emotional benefits.

Whitney returned to Birmingham upon the birth of her first child. She later founded Formations Dance Company in 2018, with aspirations to bring professional contemporary dance to her hometown. Simultaneously, she took the plunge and completed her RY-200 teacher training under the instruction of Shannon Hancock, followed by gaining her Paddle Board Yoga instructor certification with Leisha Knight. Whitney is a level II Reiki practitioner, after studying with Reiki Master Terri Ann Heiman. She also has a huge appreciation for Kinstretch and FRC and maintains a regular practice with Hai Nyguen.

Whitney enjoys finding new ways to merge her passions, cultivating flows that feel like dancing while challenging the body to find stability and strength. She also places heavy emphasis on connecting breath to movement and working intelligently within each person’s own functional range of motion. She embraces the fact that the human body is an ever changing instrument for movement, and as such must be tuned in different ways on different days! Her classes are designed to ignite body + mind + spirit. (And to create sweat.)

Pilar Taylor

Yoga Lab Bham owner
Pilar’s yoga journey began in the early 2000’s with Emma Terndrup at the Birmingham JCC. She initially went to recover from a running injury and stayed because there was so much there. She received her 200HR teacher training from North Shore Yoga in Chattanooga in 2009, 500 HR from Laughing Lotus on NYC and working towards a Smartflow® certification from Annie Carpenter .
Students can expect to find a purposefully sequenced class that builds upon itself with options for varying levels all set to her newest playlist (really for her true DJ ambitions).
Her yoga mentors are Kenny Frisby, Mary Dana Abbot, Dana Trixie Flynn, Emma Terndrup and Annie Carpenter.

Lauren Gilbert

Lauren first found yoga during her senior year of college after sustaining a running injury while competing for Louisiana Tech’s cross-country team. She not only fell in love with the complexity of yoga but also recognized the benefits that came from increased strength and flexibility. After graduating, Lauren moved to New Orleans to pursue a career in film acting. It was during this time that Lauren chose to travel to Wisconsin to pursue a 200 hour power Vinyasa certification with Deborah Williamson, the former CEO for Baron Baptiste. Lauren believes in bringing yoga to everybody and every body. She has taught the practice to private clients, yoga studios, CrossFit gyms, traditional gym settings, and outdoor spaces. There is yet to be a limit she has found or depths that she won’t go to share the practice with others. 

In 2020, Lauren made the exciting and difficult decision to move from New Orleans to Birmingham to pursue her master’s degree in Counseling with a concentration in Clinical Mental Health at UAB. Her yoga classes are laced with thought-provoking messages of self-acceptance, and though her flows are physically spicy, the goal for each class is for every student to honor their own physical and emotional needs and transform judgments into curiosity. 

Renny Ratliff

Renny’s first class was at Core Power® yoga with her mom. It didn’t really resonate except as a form of exercise. After studying Philosophy in college she took another venture into asana and recognized the value of combining physical movement with internal exploration.
She practiced for a few years before getting her 200HR with Kula Collective in Costa Rica in 2016. She also has Hot Yoga training from Yoga Pod in Boulder, CO.
Students coming to her class will find high-energy powerful flows with groovy music and good vibes.
Her current yoga mentors are Chelsey Korus, MC Yogi and Jiya Randal.

Kristin Rand

Kristin knows that magic is real. She infuses this sentiment into all of her work. She believes it is our deepest calling to wake up to our own unique light and come back home to ourselves.

A graduate from a 200hr core-strength RYS with additional certification in prenatal and accessible yoga, Kristin’s passion is working with anyone who might not feel ‘ready’ or “enough’ to practice yoga: primarily queer, bigger, and pregnant/post partum bodies. She wishes for all folks to reclaim a relationship to their body in way that empowers them.

Expect to ground down and connect to joyful movement in her classes.

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Martee Hewitt

Martee received her 200 hour RYT through Melissa Scott  Sacred Glow teacher training program in 2016. She’s registered through the Yoga Alliance and has more than 1700 hours teaching yoga.

Martee is on a mission to bring you a more energetics lifestyle, no matter what your age. She draws on decades of experience teaching group exercise to create classes that are safe, effective, and challenging. You can expect to have fun with creative, dynamic sequencing with great music. 

Martee hopes you will find a deep connection with our yoga community and that you will fall in love with the practice. She wants you to know you are complete and perfect exactly where you are.

Alex Ngo

Alex Vu Ngo is a bilingual, Vietnamese-American yoga teacher originally from San Jose, California. Alex wandered into his first yoga class back in early 2017. After that class ended, he was taken aback. He didn’t realize how invigorating and powerful yoga was. He found himself showing up time after time again wanting even more. Curious of the many types of yoga, Alex has practiced a variety of different styles, but was drawn to the creative sequencing of Vinyasa and the strong straightforward approach of Power Yoga.Alex has practiced consistently with Pilar Taylor and Martee Hewitt in Birmingham, and with Core Power Yoga and Christine Chen in the Bay Area of California. After honing a practice of 5 years, Alex trained at Yoga[Lab] under the guidance of Pilar Taylor and Haley Duggan for his RYT-200 with Yoga Alliance. He cites Martee Hewitt, Haley Duggan, Christine Chen, and Pilar Taylor as his yoga mentors. Alex’s practice and teaching emphasizes on proper techniques, modifications, and alignment. Expect to laugh and incorporate mindfulness with movements that are culturally dynamic, strong, and engaging. He hopes to add diversity to modern yoga and use it as a means to give back to his communities, while honoring the lineage of which this practice came from.Alex teaches by the beliefs his mentors instilled in him of building strength and finding flexibility within strength.