Welcome to Season 2025!
The Yoga Trail offers yoga classes in Central Park, NYC since 2012, and has received the 2024 Tripadvisor Traveler's Choice. We love to inspire people to reconnect with Nature through Yoga, even in the heart of a big city such as New York. Come join our community!

The Yoga Trail Team

Silvia Neri, founder

Sara Cousins

Olivia Qiu

Catherine Gagulashvili

Courtney Bauer

Arielle Jacobs

Detbra Rosales

Lucy Wolff

Lorine A. Bamberg

Jessica Zhao

Andrea Bogdanovic

Alexis Cash

 COURTNEY BAUER, E-RYT 500, @courtneyebauer
Courtney began her extensive training in yoga, pilates, neuro-muscular massage and Thai bodywork as a complement to her masters in psychology. Years of integrative studies inspired a unique approach for mindbody fitness and healing, called the ANYA Method. In 2009, she founded ANYA, a boutique yoga, Pilates and aerial yoga studio in New York City where she trained and mentored hundreds of aspiring wellness practitioners in her method.
Courtney is the author of Mastering the Art of Posture and loves to teach yoga as a way to strengthen the body and awaken beauty, insight and healing.

LORINE A. BAMBERG, RYT- 200, @SwayingTreeYoga
Lorine studied for her 200hr RYT yoga certification at Bamboo Moves in Queens, NYC. She has a dance minor from LIU CW Post, is a former aerobic/body toning instructor (...back in the day when wearing leg warmers and slouchy socks was originally cool!), 3rd
degree Reiki practitioner and former Dance for PD volunteer. The outdoors is her haven and healer. The trees are her movement inspiration. She marvels at nature and its adaptability and draws from her Reiki and Yoga studies, gym workout routines, love
of nature, and openness to alternate methods of healing when she teaches. Her Hatha classes encourage the students to express poses in their own interpretation; one that fits best to their bodies and their needs in that moment. But mostly, this life-long NYer
hopes her students find curiosity and joy in their yoga journey as much as she does!​

SARA COUSINS, RYT-200, @sara.cousins
Sara earned her 200-hour YTT in Rishikesh, India after years of living in 12 cities across the globe. Her global journey deepened her understanding of the mind’s power and led her to study Vinyasa, Hatha, Yoga Therapy, Ayurveda, Reiki, and Vipassana meditation. Her classes blend breath and movement to foster introspection, self-compassion, and growth—challenging and nurturing in equal measure. Off the mat, Sara works in investor relations, explores the world, and enjoys trying out new hobbies.

ARIELLE JACOBS, RYT-500, @yogashouldbefun
Arielle has been practicing yoga for 20 years, and is deeply grateful for the mind-body connection that it has given her throughout the many phases of her life. Arielle found that teaching yoga ignited a creative spark that she didn't know she had and aims to incorporate this feeling into her classes, with flows that feel both familiar and new at the same time. Arielle trained at Three Sisters Yoga in Manhattan and participates in continuing education on yoga anatomy in order to provide her students with a practice that fits each person's unique needs.  She believes that in addition to yoga being therapeutic, athletic, meaningful, or so many other things, that it should also be fun, and tries to bring a sense of levity to each class.

JESSICA ZHAO, RTY-500, @jesshzhao
​Jessica began her yoga journey in the Himalayan foothills, training in Sattva Yoga and completing her 500-hour RYT in Rishikesh, India. Her classes blend kriya, vinyasa, pranayama, and meditation, rooted in silence and the Himalayan tradition to guide students back to their inner wholeness. Now based in NYC, she balances teaching yoga with building a healthcare tech startup. Off the mat, she’s a runner, climber, artist, and foodie who brings creativity, peace, and connection into every class.

DETBRA ROSALES, RYT - 500 @movewdetbra
Detbra is a bilingual biologist and dancer who discovered yoga in 2013 while pursuing graduate studies. Seeking relief from stress and anxiety, she immersed herself in asana, pranayama, and meditation, finding yoga to be a powerful tool for managing both life’s demands and her rheumatoid arthritis. With a scientist’s love for learning and teaching, Detbra brings a thoughtful, informed approach to her classes. Her training includes a 300-hour Jared McCann Vinyasa certification, Rocket Yoga, Mat and Burn Lab Pilates, and Restorative Yoga. She teaches to share the transformative power of movement and breath, helping others find strength, ease, and resilience—on and off the mat.
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OLIVIA QIU, RYT- 200
​Olivia is a yoga teacher and a community pharmacist. She holds a PharmD from Rutgers University and she completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training certification at Yoga Vida in New York City. She loves teaching in public spaces and she is passionate about making yoga accessible. In her classes, she aims to create a fun and easeful experience where her students can lean into what feels good in their bodies. Outside of yoga, Olivia enjoys reading, eating home cooked meals and spending time with her cats.

ANDREA BOGDANOVIC, RYT-200, @movewandrea
Andrea started her personal practice about 8 years ago. Her curiosity led her to teacher training, and she eventually graduated from Mula Yoga with a 200 RYT certification. The harmonious connection between mind, body, and breath has become completely transformative. Her teaching style and values are a reflection of understanding asana, as well as, what's beyond the physical. Her passion is to share the tools of yoga with students so they can begin to build their own practices with confidence.

LUCY WOLFF, RYT-200
Lucy is a yoga teacher and software engineer. She started practicing yoga during covid with YouTube videos and outdoors with the Yoga Trail during a summer living in NYC. Realizing her passion for yoga, she jumped right into a 200 hour YTT at Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto. Since that training, Lucy has been certified in Pre/Post Natal Yoga, Chair Yoga and Hands-On assists. Now back in NYC, she is excited to join The Yoga Trail team and lead classes that are accessible and fun to a wide range of people. 

CATHERINE GAGULASHVILI, RYT-200
Catherine has been practicing yoga for many years, and completed her 200 YTT with La Casa Shambala in Monchique, Portugal. Since then she maintained a strong vinyasa and ashtanga based personal practice, and an interest in the study of Tibetan Buddhism that she often interweaves into her classes and meditations. She believes that the physical practice of yoga is key to preparing the mind for meditation, and while flowing through the asana practice, she hopes her students find peace of mind and deep focus. Her classes are dynamic and focused on building balance, strength, and flexibility, ideal for beginners and intermediate practitioners of yoga alike.

CECILIA FONTANESI, PhD, RYT-200
Cecilia is a dance therapist, yoga teacher, contact improviser, and holds a PhD in Neuroscience from CUNY, The Graduate Center. Cecilia completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Laughing Lotus (NY), is a certified movement analyst at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, LIMS (NY). She currently works helping people living with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Cecilia also collaborates with Jody Oberfelder, and is a co-founder of the Parcon NYC dance collective.

About the Founder

SILVIA NERI, E-RYT 500, Founder of The Yoga Trail
Silvia's Yoga teaching focuses on a strong connection between breath and movement, as a means to honor the body, calm the mind, and find harmony within, acknowledging our divine nature.
We all have unique bodies with limitations and strengths, so understanding the individual range of motion and anatomical differences is key for a safe practice that stimulates the deep potential within ourselves, while recharging the body, and releasing tension and stress.
Sivia developed the idea behind The Yoga Trail in 2011 while she was traveling in Latin America, sharing her yoga practice with fellow travelers immersed in beautiful Nature: what an inspiring and powerful combination! Everybody should experience it!
Silvia was born and raised in Italy and lives in NYC since 2004. She received her 200hr Yoga Teacher Training at Ananda Ashram, NY under the guidance of David Hollander, and her 300hrs training in India with Raghunath and the Supersoul Yoga Team, focusing on Bhakti, Yoga Vedic phylosophy and Ayurveda. She is a certified Yin Yoga teacher after a training with Corina Benner at Integral Yoga, NY. Silvia is also a second level Usui Reiki practitioner. and she incorporates the flow of Reiki energy in her classes to stimulate the natural healing processes in the body.
Silvia has her own channel at Online Yoga TV, a video platform powered by Yoga Magazine, and she appears on Yoga Downloads in the Life Force Project channel.