Dina Martinez
Owner and Teacher
Dina, is a 200 hr E-YTT certified teacher through Yoga Alliance and very soon finishing up her 300 hr E-YTT Kripalu certification. Her training has equipped her with extensive knowledge of holistic approaches and preventive modalities.
Dina came to yoga to help her heal severe sciatica that caused her to put her very active life on hold. Yoga taught her compassion and kindness to herself during her physical recovery. Dina’s yoga practice is based on gratitude and exploration of what we can discover within ourselves with gentle guidance and modifications, appropriate for all levels of students. She is inspired to bring her own personal story and experiences to others with the intention to restore one's body through yoga.
To further serve her healing mission, Dina also trained at FireFly Yoga International to provide Trauma Sensitive classes. She enters this specific practice with compassion and much understanding towards communities where suffering is or has been present. Including working with people who have experienced or witnessed traumatic events such as divorce, death, domestic violence or who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Dina finds the practice of yoga to be very healing. Bringing all of her knowledge and healing practices to the methods she has developed on how to fulfill one's dreams with gratitude, trust, yoga & meditation.
Dina combines all of who she is with a wonderful group of knowledgeable, caring and loving teachers to serve as the heart of Naked Feet Yoga to the community of Melrose and beyond.
Loni Paul
Teacher
I love sharing the life-changing powers of yoga that I have experienced on many levels throughout my journey. My practice has served me to overcome chronic pain, and with creativity and compassion, to return my body to a state of health and well-being. I bring this personal experience to my teaching of yoga—a blend of energetic vinyasa, slow-flow, chakra-based practice with key elements of yin yoga—which is grounded in self-acceptance and a healthy dose of friendliness. My goal is always to make the yoga practice accessible to all, with the intention of creating a safe, respected and yet adventurous space for my students to explore and celebrate their unique abilities and potential.
I am a 200-RYT with Yoga Alliance Teacher, I am also a certified SPA Yoga® teacher, and love offering this unique whole-body sensory experience. I am pursuing a certification in Yin Yoga, meditation and Traditional Chinese Medicine, a Certified Reiki Practitioner, and am also currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Nutrition. My website: www.lonipaulyoga.com
Jill Testagrossa
Teacher
I came to yoga after a particularly challenging couple of years. I was living a sedentary life and working in a career that made me unhappy. I was stuck in a cycle of feeling mentally and physically depleted due to a combination of non-movement and stress at my desk job. With each day that passed, the idea of getting up and getting moving became even more daunting than the day before. I was stuck.
Yoga helped me to get “unstuck.” Yoga showed me ways to be comfortable in my own skin, because yoga provided options. Each pose, each movement, each breath offered variations, allowing me to truly personalize my practice. Once I realized that there were many modifications and ways to make the poses more accessible, I was hooked. I felt as though I had permission to change and make the practice work for me, and this realization was profound. It was the first time in my life that I didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable in a group exercise setting.
In 2011, I dove headfirst into my practice, and each day things got a little easier and a little better. Each breath felt deeper than the last, each movement felt stronger than the day before. Yoga gave me self-confidence and empowered me.
I spent much of my childhood and teens doing musical theater, ballet, and modern dance. It was these experiences that gave me a deep love for both performing and human anatomy. Funnily enough, these same experience also gave me the same confidence and empowerment that yoga now provides. For me, yoga is the culmination of these two things, performance and the human body.
During teacher training I really gravitated toward assisting and light massage. Both of the women I studied with are body workers and they offered lots of insight into anatomy and how massage can change the functionality of the human body. I was intrigued! A few months after completing teacher training, I enrolled in massage school at the Cortiva Institute, where I received my 750 hour massage license. Today, I am the proud owner of Testagrossa Massage in downtown Stoneham, www.testagrossamassage.com
Here are some fun facts about me. I have a B.S. in Geophysical Science and love the outdoors, especially when it's racing down a mountain on a pair of skis. I love to sing, whether on a stage with a band or around a campfire. I had the privilege of spending 5 years working for Blue Man Group as the Wardrobe and Makeup Supervisor for their Boston company. I love to travel (hence the geography degree) and my Irish-born husband and I have been fortunate enough to travel all over. Top 3 places I have ever been include: South Africa, Budapest, Hungary and Tulum, Mexico...but I would move to Paris in the morning if the opportunity came about! I love to cook and I also fancy myself a bit of an amateur mixologist, inventing funky cocktails or concocting elaborate coffee drinks for family and friends. I love to go to the beach and can spend hours swimming in the sea.
I am so honored to be a part of the Naked Feet family and I look forward to seeing you on the mat!
Kitia Gonzaga
Teacher
I’m Brazilian by birth Bostonian by heart. Being a good spouse, daughter, friend and cat mom takes priority in my life. Yoga has helped me find balance in all aspects of my life. The possibilities are endless and that is what’s most intriguing. It provides me with tools that work everywhere. A daily yoga practice reminds me that often all you really need is a deep breath.
Sylvia Alakusheva
Teacher
As a former gymnast Sylvia learned all there is to know about tenacity and discipline, but not a whole lot about self-awareness. After putting her body through years of strenuous physical activity, injuries and endless diets, being on the mat provided the healing she so desperately needed. In 2011, Sylvia completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training under Rebecca Pacheco and Marc McDonald, two of Boston’s most beloved teachers. Sylvia’s teaching style reflects the Vinyasa, Hatha and Ashtanga methods and draws on over ten years of practice and experience in the fields of anatomy, yoga philosophy and human health.
Sylvia offers her students a well-balanced blend of physical rigor, breathing exercises and mediation to help them discover a deeper sense of self-awareness. Her goal as a teacher is to open your heart to all that yoga has to offer and take your practice to a place of learning to honor your body, free your spirit and live a healthier, more inspired life.
Kenzie Radigan
Teacher
Play, laughter, love and joy: four core values close to Kenzie’s heart that she brings onto her mat and into her yoga classes. A born educator, Kenzie extended her love of teaching in the classroom to teaching yoga in 2013 through her 200 Fluid Yoga Training with Stil Studio.
While traveling, moving, and transitioning jobs over the course of three years, Kenzie has remained close to herself through the practice of yoga. Kenzie delights in the aspect of community that comes along with the practice of yoga; recognizing that no matter where she goes in the world, she can find a safe space and connection with yoga. Kenzie offers yoga and meditation as a way to fluidly and graciously move through life’s many transitions. Her classes are a mindful blend of power and presence, with a mix of balance and bravery in each of the poses.
Anne Shippee
Teacher
Annie has been a practicing Physical Therapist for 38 years, having worked in various settings including hospital, home, out patient and rehab and has had training in Myofascial and Craniosacral Release and Reiki. Annie has been a student of yoga for 28 years – primarily Iyengar- and has taught yoga for ten years, teaching Gentle, Restorative, Prenatal, Mommy and Me, and Ashtanga classes. She honors her teachers past and present, most notably Monica Veneziano, MS. Annie has received her 200 YA YTT certification. She lives in Melrose with her husband and two children. Yoga has enriched Annie’s life and she takes great joy in sharing her love for yoga.
Jim Mello
Teacher
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.
Lily DiMichele
Teacher
There have been many things in my life over the past few years that have led me to yoga. I have moved three times in four years from the West coast, to the South, then up to New England. And it has had its challenges. The sense of community I found at Naked Feet Yoga felt like the perfect place to explore the new direction in my life and my new home here in Melrose. Yoga has helped me find my inner voice, something I had loss over the past few years. Practicing yoga has brought back a sense of my true self.
I am a 200-RYT with Yoga Alliance, having graduated from the Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) program at Naked Feet Yoga with Dina as instructor.
Having been an elementary school teacher for over 18 years, it feels natural to me to share my knowledge with others. Being here at Naked Feet Yoga inspires me in many ways…
The modern definition of Inspire means to fill someone with confidence and desire or ability to do something.
In Latin, Inspire means to breathe in.
Angela Lozada
Teacher
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.
Tara Synnott
Teacher
In 2018 Tara took a leap of faith and trained as a Yoga Teacher with Dina Martinez and faculty at Naked Feet yoga.
Feeling lost and unsure of herself Yoga became a warm embrace, a sacred space to self nurture, reflect, connect with heart, stretch, breathe and simply be.
Tara is a qualified Reflexologist for Maternity as well as for the general care of the body, IET (integrated energy therapy) also a Reiki Practitioner and a Certified Meditation Instructor. In 2016 she went on to become a Certified Connected Kids Tutor, keen to share the wonderful benefits of meditation with her children.
Tara holds a peaceful space and guidance for self-compassionate movement that will open the body releasing the noise of life. With the knowledge of all of her services and practices, Tara has collect them all has a whole and created a more meaningful offering.
Her practice brings her incredible joy and she looks forward to seeing you on the mat.
