Susan-Elena Esquivel

Susan-Elena Esquivel started dancing at age 5 beginning a lifelong fascination with form and alignment as well as the body/mind connection. She has been studying yoga for the past 25 years with a focus on the Iyengar method. She is a Certified Iyengar Teacher (CIYT) at the Intermediate Junior II Level now Level II and a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT). She is the director/owner of the Iyengar Yoga Center of Western Massachusetts. She teaches workshops and retreats across the USA and Canada.

She completed Senior Iyengar Teacher Elise Browning Miller‘s Yoga for Scoliosis Teacher Training Program and is a Certified Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer. Her classes are infused with the knowledge of spinal health gained in her 11+ year apprenticeship with Elise from whom she learns firsthand the nuances of scoliosis and other spinal disorders. Working with spinal imbalances is one of her main interests and a way she hopes to ease suffering.

Susan-Elena was a member of the Iyengar faculty at Down Under Yoga in Boston, Massachusetts from 2015 – 2020, where she studied and mentored with Senior Iyengar Teacher Peentz Dubble, whom she credits with instilling in her what it is to be a student and the love of the fine art of teaching yoga.

Currently, she continues her studies and 7+ year mentorship with Advanced Senior Teacher Patricia Walden, whose guidance has brought enormous depth to Susan-Elena’s teaching. She travels to India regularly to study with Gulnaaz Dashti and Prashant Iyengar. She is profoundly grateful to and deeply influenced by Geeta Iyengar.

“Susan-Elena is an exceptional, multi-talented Iyengar teacher that I feel we want to have to carry out the name and lineage of Iyengar Yoga…I have been extremely impressed with her teaching ability in general as well as expertise and knowledge of how to address different back issues in classes.”

— Patricia Walden, October 2018