Our Instructors
Vidal Bitton
A gifted teacher and mentor, Vidal Bitton inspires his students with his wisdom, energy, passion, and humor. Vidal’s 35-plus years of martial arts training, combined with extensive study of yoga and meditation, enable him to create a warm yet focused environment where students of every level feel accepted, encouraged, supported and challenged.
Vidal holds fifth degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido and Tai Chi. His interest in yoga and meditation date back to 1994, when he used yoga and Tai Chi to heal an injury. Vidal has also studied Kriya yoga (yogic breathing) with John MacAfee.
A man of many passions, Vidal is also an accomplished chef who won the “Best Chef on the Eastside” award in 1996. He enjoys incorporating many types of music into his classes, and his love of music inspired Vidal to produce his own CD: Yochido. The music, like his teaching, flows from his heart. Vidal balances the spiritual and physical benefits of yoga to help his students grow, both in practice and in life.
Rachel Bassett
Rachel took her first yoga class at Lakeview yoga when she was 15 years old and her love for yoga has continued since. Yoga has helped her through many challenging times in her life and she experienced how yoga can help heal, both physically and mentally. After graduating from college, she began to deepen her practice and decided to complete her teacher training to help spread her love for yoga to others. She has been teaching at Lakeview since 2018 and loves the calming studio and strong sense of community. She continues to practice as a student at the studio to keep learning and become a better teacher.
Tammy Lord
Tammy started her yoga journey in 2005 when she attended her first hot yoga class taught by Vidal Bitton. She has always been a very active person but was surprised to find how challenging yoga could be, both physically and mentally. Tammy loved the heat and the benefits a hot room provides. But most importantly she loved the peace and serenity her yoga practice brought into her life. Becoming a yoga teacher was not Tammy’s intention when she took her yoga teacher training in 2017. She wanted to deepen her practice and understanding of yoga. But she found that she enjoyed teaching and sharing her passion for yoga. Yoga makes Tammy feel stronger in body and mind and she strives to help her students feel that same empowerment.
Shyrah Tharp
Shyrah began her yoga journey back in 2002 in Seattle, when her husband (then boyfriend) took her to her first Bikram class. She instantly fell in love with the practice. It was cleansing, purifying, and rewarding. For her, it helped her spiritually, mentally, and physically. Soon after she took her first class she was a regular at the Kirkland Hot Yoga studio. She knew yoga was her calling, and that becoming a teacher would fulfill her need to help others the way it helped her. She was finally able to fulfill her dream to teach when she completed her teaching training program in January of 2012.
Sarah Truly
Sarah began her yoga journey 15 years ago and joined the community at Lakeview Yoga shortly after. She was surprised to find that yoga was not only the challenging workout she was looking for, but also had the capacity to heal. She got her certification to teach with the intention of deepening her own practice but immediately loved the opportunity to contribute to the journey of others. As a teacher, she wants to help others find and cultivate peace and connection on the mat, to overcome fear, and discover the joy of stillness. Sarah is a Pacific Northwest native who loves to be outdoors, spend time with her family, and move her body.
Joyce Macfarlane
Joyce began her Journey into Yoga early 2000, by 2004 she had a regular yoga practice at the Woodinville Hot Yoga Studio. Owned by Andrea Coccione
2008 Attended and Completed 9 week training with Bikram Choudhry
2010 Attended and Completed ReCertification Training with Bikram Choudhry
2013 RYT 200 Vinyasa Training with Piper Sandifer
2014 Yin Yoga Training with Saiko Shima
2017 Vinyasa Training at the Ashram with Gary Olson
2023 Jedi Training in Colorado with Esak Garcia
Yoga is a Journey for life. The road is not straight, the road is not flat. There are detours, there are sight seeing excursions, there are dead end roads, there are roads with forks...in other words your journey is not linear. It is a life long learning, unlearning and relearning. The goal is to be where you are NOW...not where you have been, not where you are going. You are right where you are suppose to be.
Kevin Hart
I discovered yoga around 2007 and it rocked my world. Combining strength, alignment, focus and deep breathing, all while challenging physical and mental limitations, opened up doors I didn’t even know were there. In 2011 I was blessed with a teacher training that allowed me to share yoga with others. Then, through Raja Yoga, I discovered a direct pathway to align my own energies with something very wonderful and profound, a great unifying power and gentleness, a guiding internal presence. From here so many wonderful gifts have been discovered, which help to go ever deeper and break through all kinds of even subtler limitations. This yoga is certainly meant to be shared, for in the sharing there is so much we all learn. Blessings!
Sara Farhat
Sara took her first yoga class in 2009 and immediately fell in love with yoga and has been practicing since then. She wanted to give back to the practice that gave her so much and decided to complete her yoga teacher training in 2018 with focus on holistic yoga flow. She is a certified yoga instructor and teaches as well as practices yoga at Lakeview studio. Her style is leaning towards power and cross training. She enjoys doing some breath work during class.
When she is not doing yoga, you can find her designing and doing creative things. She lives in Kenmore with her son, husband and two cats.
Jenny Lazo
Jenny Lazo is a Miami native, ex-corporate marketing expert turned Yoga Teacher, Reiki Master, Sound Bath, & Shamanic Healing Practitioner & Proud Latina.
Jenny’s yoga classes include both fun musical themes and interactive experiences using Yogic Teachings, Breathwork, Meditation, Sound, Light, and themed poetry readings, focusing on both physical and spiritual elements of the practice.
As a lifelong learner, Jenny continues to expand her yoga knowledge, taking continuing education credits to expand her offerings which include: Vinyasa, Hatha, Yin, Slow Flow, Power, Restorative, & Family Kids Yoga.
Taryn Torgerson
Taryn began her yoga journey in 2010 when she took her first Bikram class in Seattle. When she left, sweaty and grounded, she realized she must have more! At the time, she was working downtown as an interior designer, and quickly learned that yoga was a way to not only get a good workout, but also a way to escape the stress of her job and reconnect with herself.
Soon after, she decided to leave the corporate world and when an opportunity arose for a teacher training with her favorite studio, she jumped at it and signed up for a 200hr course in the Gosh style of yoga. She began teaching immediately after her training, and was soon teaching up to fourteen classes per week and managing a studio in Capitol Hill. She taught all through her first pregnancy, then decided to take time off to become a full time mom. About three years later, her second child was born and she was completely dedicated to mom life, but managed to maintain her own personal practice; grateful for an opportunity to be a student again.
Years later, when both of her kids began full time school, she longed to be back in the studio, teaching the practice that has taught her so many things like patience, self love, and the beauty of breath and stillness! She has been leading Hot Hatha classes at Lakeview now since January 2024 and loving every moment! Most recently, she has completed a second 200hr YTT in vinyasa yoga and started leading some power and slow flow classes. She believes wholeheartedly that yoga is a healing practice and welcomes all of her students with an open heart and a great sense of humor.
Jenna Schmidt
Jenna discovered yoga in 2010 when she attended her first hot yoga class and realized the beauty of this practice. In addition to the physical health benefits, Jenna found that her yoga practice brought focus, calmness, and peace to her life that had not existed before. Yoga affects us - mind, body, and spirit. Jenna moved to Kenmore in 2012 and began practicing at Lakeview Yoga where it quickly became her home studio. Lakeview is where she discovered her love and appreciation of Yin yoga and the supportive, welcoming community here has meant a great deal to her over the years. Seeking to deepen her own practice, Jenna completed her yoga teacher training in 2020 with Sampoorna Yoga in Goa, India. She is very grateful for the opportunity to teach, as well as to continue practicing with and learning from the wonderful teachers and students at Lakeview.
Susan Marx
Susan’s first exposure to yoga was the Iyengar practice in 2005 when her mom became a teacher and focused on gentle yoga for beginners and seniors. It wasn’t until Susan sustained a knee injury from skiing that she rediscovered yoga as a practice, specifically hot yoga (formerly Bikram) in 2013 and later, yin yoga. After 10 years of practice, Susan was accepted into the UW’s yoga teacher training program in the summer of 2023. Susan was credentialed as an RYT-200 in September 2023 and is inspired to create safe spaces and accommodations for those with physical limitations.
Heather Williams-Brown
I have been teaching yoga for over a decade and practicing for almost 30 years. I love yoga because even with all that time there are still new things to learn and no practice is ever the same as the last one. I think yoga should serve your body, that your should leave any practice room feeling sweaty and accomplished but always willing to come back to do it again tomorrow.
Zovig Garboushian
Zovig began practicing yoga in 2011 and, in 2015, became a 200-hour certified instructor in Baptiste hot power vinyasa in New York. While she loves the physical practice of yoga, what Zovig values most is that it challenges her to look at herself through an honest lens. As a teacher, she brings fire, accountability, and a ton of heart and love. Before joining Lakeview Yoga, she taught at Lyons Den Power Yoga and TMPL Gym in New York and Be Luminous in Seattle. Zovig is also the fiery force behind Boldness Ablaze Coaching, a boutique organizational development firm that delivers executive coaching, training, leadership development, and keynote speaking. She was born and raised in California and spent 17 years in New York, so she considers herself a New Yorker at heart. She moved to Seattle in 2018 and now lives with her husband and two dogs in Woodinville, WA.
Brooke Hill
Brooke grew up swimming competitively and playing water polo. Her yoga journey began in 2020 after she took her first hot yoga class at Lakeview Yoga, taught by Vidal. She was hooked! Three months into her newfound practice, the world shut down. Brooke missed the heat and challenge of yoga. She returned in 2022 and hasn’t stopped since. When the opportunity to become a yoga teacher presented itself in the spring of 2024, she took the leap. It had always been a dream, and the timing was right. Brooke loves teaching and practicing everything from an energetic, sweaty vinyasa class to a calming and restorative yin class. Beyond the mat, Brooke enjoys reading and loves to travel!
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