Leigh Collins, LCSW and Chair of Counseling at Metairie Park Country Day School, co-founded Artopia House Yoga Studio with her husband, Richard, in 2005. Having received teaching certification from Living Yoga Program in Austin, Texas, Leigh teaches yoga at all levels to both adults and children. She has also completed Level One training in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, a combination of classical yoga techniques and elements of contemporary mind/body psychology.  She has authored several publications, including When a Parent Is Seriously Ill: Practical Tips for Helping Parents and Children (with Courtney Nathan; G & H Soho, 2003). She was included in the annual "40 Under 40" honors for 2006, published in Gambit Weekly.

Richard Collins, RosaMary Professor of English at Xavier University, taught for several years the Introduction to Zen Practice at the New Orleans Zen Temple. Editor of American Zen Association books & Xavier Review, he has published Bodhidharma’s Eyelids: Zazen Poems (in Exquisite Corpse, available online at www.corpse.org) and articles on Zen in film & literature, including the preface to In the Belly of the Dragon: A Zen Monk’s Commentary on the “Shinjinmei” by Philippe ReiRyu Coupey (2005).

Marisa Ledet, an Anusara-inspired yoga teacher, loves the transformative effect of yoga on her body, mind and spirit. After many painful attempts at running and lifting weights, she decided to try yoga and never looked back. Marisa teaches to share alignment principles with her students so they won’t have to feel defeated or suffer frustrating injuries to the body or the heart. Marisa has been fortunate to study with Anusara Yoga founder John Friend and is currently pursuing teacher certification with Scotta Brady of Jackson, Mississippi, while working towards Anusara Yoga certification. Marisa holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Tulane University and works fulltime for Entergy in New Orleans.

Amanda Rubinstein-Stern

Amanda Rubinstein-Stern began teaching yoga at JoEllen Smith Fitness Center in 2001 and has also taught for several years at West Jefferson Fitness Center. She has taken Rodney Yee’s advanced teacher training workshop at the Karuna Center for Yoga and Healing Arts in Northampton, Massachusetts and has studied with Dean Lerner, an Iyengar teacher, at the Center for Well Being in State College, Pennsylvania. She plans to pursue her study of yoga at the Living Yoga Program in Austin, Texas. Amanda graduated from University of Texas at Austin in 1982 with a degree in secondary education and a concentration in dance.  Amanda teaches a variety of styles and enjoys seeing her students discover themselves through yoga, no matter what their level of practice.