Ruth is a Minnesota-born yogi and lover of adventure. Although she first had a background in dance, she began practicing yoga in college to balance the stress of finishing her honors degree during difficult life circumstances. Because of these experiences she also went on to obtain certification in Mental Health First Aid, and still produces informational content on a variety of mental wellness topics. She spends her spare time traveling and has visited 16 other countries so far. She thinks travel is the best way to cultivate more appreciation for the beauty of the world and for all beings. This is one of the reasons that Ruth and her fiancé moved across the country to Malden in September 2019, and they couldn’t be happier with this journey. At her previous studio in the midwest, where she received her Yoga Alliance 200-RYT training,Ruth taught traditional vinyasa, fitness classes, hot yoga, aerial yoga, and adaptive yoga for individuals with special needs. She strives to promote self-acceptance and positive motivation in her classes, and believes that to practice yoga is to tune in to the needs of the body and mind, to connect with your soul, to recognize the light within you and share it with others. 

Feeling called to heal and serve, Angela naturally connected to the sacred space, community, and mission that Naked Feet offers. She feels immense gratitude and honor to have trained in community by Dina and teachers within Naked Feet Yoga’s teacher training. Important values emerged for Angela during her training: Learning to trust the journey, making the practice accessible, caring deeply for one-self as a way of truly serving the world. 

Yoga has helped Angela to overcome years of an active ambitious lifestyle. She has been committed and deepened in her practice ever since she embarked on a self-discovery journey in 2016. The practice has allowed her to slow down to find balance and honor the mind,body,spirit.

For the majority of her life, Angela has witnessed chronic and severe illness within her family and herself. Starting to notice patterns about the interconnectedness of the mind and the body, Angela chose to learn and study how we can live well and healthy. Angela studied Expressive Art Therapies, Mindfulness Meditation, & Self-Compassion and enjoys integrating these qualities into her teachings. She has experience working professionally in health care, and has supported hundreds of people discover their growth potential for transformation. 

Angela’s practice focuses on building self-awareness, gentle self-compassion, creative expression, and authentically knowing and honoring ourselves. She enjoys sharing ways that we can ground ourselves during life’s changes, challenges, and transitions. 

While taking his first yoga class in 2015, Jim realized that he was more aware of his breath, each movement of his body, and the connection between them, than he had ever been before.  It was as if the teacher had removed a blindfold and he was really aware of his body for the first time! Add to that the feelings after class of being emotionally calm yet mentally energized, and he was hooked.

Jim likes to bring this mind-body awareness to his classes through intentional breathing, encouraging students to discover their limits, and practicing at a pace that allows time to feel and explore each asana.

Jim received his RYT-200 certification in January 2019 through the Naked Feet Yoga school under Dina Martinez.

Francesca Folcarelli fell in love with yoga at a time when she was feeling disconnected. Through the practice of asana she began to feel empowered and grateful for her body and this lifetime. Her pursuit of yogic knowledge brought her to the sacred valley of Peru to study ashtanga vinyasa, a Mysore practice in Italy, a Vipassana farm in Hawaii and finally to the foot of the Himalayas. Here she took a 6 month course in India at the Arya Marga Yoga Institute. The main focus of this time was based on a balancing and cleansing Hatha practice. While at this school she began teaching community classes and found that she had a passion for holding thisspace for others. Since then, she has moved back to the Boston area to be close to family and teaches preschool at a nonprofit in Cambridge. She likes to think of herself as more of a guide than an instructor, hoping students will always stay tapped into their own truth rather than forcing themselves into hers. Her classes range from slow flow, meditation, or yin to a more fiery Hatha or Vinyasa practice. As the motto of her last school states, “experience is soul,” a bit of wisdom she hopes someday she can help lead students to discover through their practice!