Our Philosophy
At Majestic Yoga Studio our teachers, deeply steeped in the Tantric Yoga vision, look for the intrinsic goodness in all of our students, all things, and within ourselves. In our yoga instruction we strive to attend to each unique individual. With joyful hearts we teach every body in our small classes, therapeutic classes, workshops, and private instruction. Here, there is no standardized yoga practice. Each student must find his/her own way to yoga asanas. Movements in every pose are carefully coordinated with the breath to guide students inward. We are committed to empowering our students, building self awareness, and sharing our knowledge of neuromuscular alignment in a playful and lighthearted atmosphere. Shri.
The Studio
Majestic Yoga Studio was established in 1997 in Concord, Massachusetts by Lindsay Gibson. In 2000, Majestic Yoga Studio moved into a fabled Cambridge, Mass elementary school and arts center. We were delighted to open our doors to our bright and cheerful studio in the heart of Observatory Hill, a lovely and vibrant neighborhood just outside of Harvard Square. In 2017 Majestic relocated to our current, beautiful, light filled studio overlooking Huron Village. Majestic is dedicated to yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and therapies. It is a truly friendly sanctuary where yoga and natural therapies inspire well being.
Teachers
Lindsay Gibson, MS
Lindsay is the Founder and Owner of Majestic Yoga Studio and the non-profit, The Yoga Training and Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lindsay has been a devoted teacher of yoga and mindfulness for 30 years. Her unique and skillful approach to teaching and practice are multidimensional, delicately, carefully weaving her deep knowledge of human anatomy and physiology and an essential appreciation of the mind-body connection. Specializing in Therapeutic Yoga, Lindsay brings insight, awareness, and passion to the practice of yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and the healing arts. Lindsay has developed the online courses: Connecting to Your Heart: A Path Inward and The Body: Self Love. As a teacher’s teacher, she is dedicated to training instructors and promoting their professional and spiritual development. Lindsay brings to everything she does a special sensitivity to individual needs and differences, an enduring respect for the wonders of the human body, and a passionate regard and commitment to her students, pears, and teachers.
Sara Bravo
Sara began her practice in 2014, drawn to the awareness of body and mind connection and stress release. She quickly witnessed the transformative power of yoga asana by beating cervical cancer. Ever since, she returns to her mat daily, as asana becomes her self care routine. Beating cancer, with the help of asana, allowed Sara to dive deeper into the practice. She explored different styles from her Chilean, Indian, Indonesian, and German teachers, completed a 200-hour teacher training in Goa, India, and started teaching in 2019 in Salzburg - Austria, and Santiago de Chile. Always a student first, Sara cultivates humbleness and practices asana under her teacher's guidance, every week. Sara's goal is to facilitate a space of exploration, and self-awareness through a simple, yet challenging fun vinyasa flow. She likes to work on bringing awareness to the body and mind with proper body alignment while moving and breathing. Movement efficiency allows the body and mind to nourish fully from asanas so that ultimately, we can be the best version of ourselves (on and off the mat).
Malissa Brennan
An educator by day and a yogi by night, Malissa first stepped onto the mat in 2007. Feeling both humbled and empowered by an invigorating vinyasa practice, she soon embarked on her 200-Hour teaching certification with Suzanne Leitner-Wise’s US1Yoga School in Alexandria, VA. Inspired by the rhythmic movement of vinyasa flow and the precise alignment of Iyengar, Malissa uses fluid sequencing to blur the seam between power and grace. A registered yoga teacher since 2010, she seeks to empower her students to rediscover their inner strength—just as her teachers have done for her. As a teacher, practitioner, and student, Malissa firmly believes that that a yoga practice can become a transformative agent of peace, joy, and self-acceptance.
Enrica Filippa
In combining years of passion and cultivated knowledge, Enrica’s creative and contemplative approach to yoga fuses fluid movement, breath exercises, and relaxation techniques to bring greater grounding and upliftment to each individual, as well as integration and expansion. In the balanced and harmonious process, one learns how to focus awareness, build resilience through alignment, and steady the mind.
Gail Keeley
Gail Keeley has been studying and practicing yoga since 1993. She is certified by two master teachers, Barbara Benagh and Erich Schiffmann, and began teaching in 1999. Gail draws on many yoga traditions to find the approach that best serves her students. She continues to study with Barbara Benagh and Erich Schiffmann, as well as with John Schumacher and Doug Keller. Alignment, use of the breath, and the mind/body connection are emphasized in her Slow Flow classes. Her knowledge of Aurveyda, a long-held interest, also informs her teaching and practice. Gail sees herself as teacher and learner, a mix that keeps her yoga teaching and practice fresh. She hopes her students learn patience, persistence, self-acceptance, and the joy of yoga through her teaching and example. She is enchanted by nature, and sees the oneness of all living things reflected in nature every time she looks.
Jennifer Miles
The practice of yoga is not about the picture perfect poses on the mat, but more about how we interact with the world (and ourselves) off the mat. As a former competitive gymnast, the athleticism of yoga was very appealing, as were the feelings that became present as a result of the practice; calm, clarity and space. The meditative qualities of a vinyasa asana practice allowed Jennifer to quiet her mind amidst a very busy life with 3 boys, 2 dogs and hockey! After attending a workshop led by Natasha Rizopoulos, Jen was completely inspired and wanted to learn more about alignment, philosophy, meditation and how to prevent injury. In 2013, she completed her 200-hour teacher training with Natasha, who has strongly influenced her teaching style.
Jennifer's classes combine Ashtanga's emphasis on connecting breath with movement and Iyengar's emphasis on proper alignment. Leading students through intelligent sequencing, with a focus on alignment, offers Jennifer's students the ability to build both strength and flexibility AND quiet the mind. In her life off the mat, Jennifer enjoys walking Fresh Pond with her husband and two dogs and has recently taken up women's ice hockey. Jennifer holds a Masters in Education from Lesley University, volunteers weekly at St Peter School and has been actively involved in the Hydrocephalus Association since 2008, raising money and awareness about this complicated condition.
Jennifer is extremely grateful to all of the teachers with whom she has studied including Natasha Rizopoulos, Julie Gudmestad, Patricia Walden and Lindsay Gibson. She is especially grateful to Coeli Marsh, who first teacher, who encouraged her to find her voice and teach.
Ute Thiermann
For Ute, the purpose of teaching yoga lies in the sharing of experiences, connection, compassion, laughter and relaxation. Her classes vary dependent on the intention of the day and the energy of participants in the room. She likes to combine flow-inspired sequences with in-depth study of selected poses. All classes aim at cultivating fullness of breath and meditative moments of stillness. Ute trained in a 350-hour program at triyoga London, led by her inspirational teachers Mimi Kuo-Deemer and Jean Hall. At the moment, she is finalising her doctoral research degree for which she studies the link between mindfulness and planetary well-being at Imperial College London and the Cambridge Health Alliance Center for Mindfulness and Compassion. Her research and practice of mindfulness are a continuous source of enrichment for her teaching of mindful yoga classes. Find out more about Ute on her personal website utebarbara.com.
Laura Valenstein
Laura's classes empower yogis of all ages and abilities by emphasizing stabilizing and foundational postures and alignment, all while simultaneously engaging actively with the breath. Building on this fundamental idea through a practice of empowering and l postures that foster movement and mindfulness.
Laura completed her 200-hour RYT training at Coolidge Corner Yoga's New School of Yogic Arts under Goldie Graham, Tatyana Souza, Laura Ahrens and Andrew Tanner. Laura has specifically pursued continued yoga education under Joanne Lloyd, specializing in a Therapeutic Yoga Training for Those Treating Children with Trauma History.
On top of her commitment to yoga, Laura is a licensed clinical social worker in Massachusetts and provides school-based mental health counseling to youth in Boston Public Schools. She has been able to seamlessly intertwine these two passions by incorporating a focus on wellness, healing, and mindfulness into her social work with youth in a therapeutic environment.
Laura's continued exploration of yoga continues to help grow her own practice of breath, mediation, and mindfulness, things she hopes to bestow upon others through her various class offerings.
Laura Zittrain
Laura first encountered yoga while working in the tech world of Bangalore, India in 2005. Since then she’s studied around the globe, combining her love of yoga with her studies of the history of artificial minds. After completing her masters in the history of science from Harvard, she embraced her yoga practice, completing her 200 hour teacher training with Lindsay Gibson in 2018. Her teachings closely mirror her practice, focusing on bringing an introspective and playful experience to people of all backgrounds. Her wish is for her students to find an illumination within, using physical yoga practice as a portal to discover that the inner journey is the one with the most profound vistas. After all, each of us has within us all the answers we need.
Testimonials
"When you first walk into Lindsay's light, elegant studio, you know that you've entered a special realm. She's created a space in which people can find their best selves, heal old wounds and grow in health and spirit through practice and mindful yoga. Lindsay brings a rare combination of warmth, intelligence, physical ability, detailed knowledge, and gentleness to her teaching. By looking carefully at you as an individual, helping you to find your learning edge, and offering specific cues, Lindsay gracefully brings out extraordinary development of mind, body, and spirit."
"My gosh, what would I do without Lindsay? I dare not imagine. Lindsay has done more to heal my chronic injuries and imbalances than any other practitioner I have ever consulted – and I've seen a slew of physicians, physical therapists, massage therapists, chiropractics! Lindsay is able to give intensively individualized attention to every one in the class. She is a tireless teacher – constantly and patiently adjusting cues to help all her students, with all their individual histories and physical quirks. She's the best-kept secret around."
"Lindsay's practice of gentle focus and attention to the particular, invites you to make small changes that yield large and lasting results. I've enjoyed working with Lindsay for over ten years. I am awed by her ability to help me recover, in a lasting way, from a debilitating injury. She has enabled me to reach beyond what I presumed to be my physical limits. Lindsay is a remarkable teacher, she brings rare gifts to her practice."
"The calm and warmth of Majestic Yoga Studio is the result of Lindsay's approach to her work. She is gentle and encouraging as an instructor and completely respectful of her students. Lindsay's ability to guide us through poses, while learning about the strength and power of our bodies, is unique. I leave her class feeling stronger and relaxed. I am so grateful to have Lindsay as my teacher."
"I suffered a serious lower back injury which left me in chronic pain and struggling to walk. Under Lindsay's clear and mindful tutelage, I gradually healed and gained the confidence to approach more complex asanas. Oh, even more importantly, studying with Lindsay is fun!"
"At 94 my body has some serious limitations. With Lindsay's keen guidance, I feel stronger and am able to manage the myriad tasks of my life. I can walk, drive my car, cook, shop, and proudly stand erect and 'tall' (I am 4' 5")! Lindsay has helped me respect my body and better enjoy my pain-free life. Thank you Lindsay."
"I am lucky to have discovered Majestic. I work in Harvard Square and it is so easy to get to the studio. There I leave all my cares outside, and relax into yoga. My friends and I adore Lindsay – she's fun, expert, and exciting to watch!"