Our Team
Julie Schnitzer
Founder
Julie has been a personal trainer and group fitness instructor since 2010. She loves working with people who are willing to get uncomfortable for the sake of stimulating their own growth and development. She believes that by moving our bodies, lifting somewhat heavy things, getting a bit out-of-breath occasionally, and pausing to notice our beautiful bodies… all contribute to the best life possible. She has found that the ‘glue’ which holds her systems together is the community; she thrives on connecting with people who have a shared mission.
Lorna Leedy
Studio Manager
Lorna is an artist, designer, aesthetic advisor, writer and stylist. She grew up on an Island in Washington’s Puget Sound where she became deeply committed to mushrooms, mosses and ferns of all kinds. She and her family have lived and in six National Parks and Monuments as well as several small towns and big little cities all over the US.
Lorna brings a unique blend of creativity, initiative, and attention to detail to Balance. As our Studio Manager, she oversees the day-to-day operations that keep the studio running smoothly, coordinating with staff and volunteers while ensuring our space is cared for with intention.
More than managing the space, Lorna helps cultivate the warmth and sense of belonging that define Balance. Her thoughtful presence and genuine care for our community help make the studio a place where we can connect, feel at home, and experience the magic of Balance.
Ani Ceberio
Yoga Instructor
Ani has been practicing yoga for more than 42 years. Although her professional career was as a public school educator and administrator for 27 years, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness have remained a lifelong passion and an integral part of her journey.
Ani is a Yoga Alliance–certified RYT-200 teacher with extensive training in asana, anatomy, pranayama, yoga philosophy, Yoga Wall, and Restorative Yoga. She is also completing a two-year Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher Certification through the MMTCP program (January 2027).
As an educator and lifelong student, Ani brings curiosity, compassion, and a commitment to lifelong learning to her teaching. She believes yoga is more than physical movement—it is a practice that can cultivate greater awareness, balance, and well-being.
Ani is passionate about creating a welcoming space where students can explore movement, breath, meditation, and mindfulness while developing practices that support wellness and balance throughout life.
Linda Downey, MS
Lifestyle Medicine and Restorative Yoga Teacher
Linda Downey is a dedicated yoga teacher and wellness professional based in Pacific Grove, California who has been practicing and teaching yoga for more than 30 years. Her classes blend traditional yoga wisdom with modern neuroscience, teaching mind-body connection to help improve stress resilience, function and well-being. Linda's passion for making yoga accessible shines through her gentle and compassionate teaching style. Her goal is to bring the transformative power of yoga to everyone.
Even when she is not on the mat, she works with others through coaching and a clinical bodywork practice in support of brain health and wellness.
Jody Emerson
Yoga Instructor
Jody Emerson began her journey of meditation over 35 years ago, well before she started practicing yoga per se. When she first started taking yoga classes in 2005 it was for physical rehabilitation; she has since come to understand that yoga is much more than just physical therapy (though it is also that.) Jody took classes from Gina Puccinelli for several years before being moved to teach. Her first training was in 2014 at Mount Madonna Institute in Watsonville, California, where she was introduced to Eight Limb Yoga; a second training (Karen Quinn's Feel Better Yoga™) was completed in 2018. Jody enjoys including the ethical and spiritual principles of yoga in her classes.
Kelli Nairn Gray
Yoga Instructor
Kelli Nairn Gray teaches playful, intelligently sequenced vinyasa classes with an emphasis on individual alignment, curiosity, and choice. Her early teacher trainings took place in Norwalk, Connecticut and New York, and her teaching has been shaped by post-Anusara principles, Jason Crandell’s functional approach to sequencing, tantric philosophy as taught by Douglas Brooks, and her studies with Noah Mazé, whose work emphasizes disciplined, alignment-driven vinyasa rooted in Ashtanga methodology. Kelli’s classes welcome all levels while offering a higher bar for students who want to explore strength, mobility, and challenge in ways that feel supportive and sustainable. She encourages students to listen closely to their own bodies, stay curious, and move with both effort and ease, so they leave feeling grounded, capable, and more at home in themselves.
Sarah Kaatz
Yoga Instructor
Sarah discovered yoga as a counter balance to her weight and circuit training routine. She began a home yoga practice about 15 years ago and has relied on it for offsetting muscle tightness and for stress reduction.
Sarah has practiced law for the last 25 years, and was asked by her firm to lead a fitness class at a retreat several years ago. She spent two months teaching herself how to lead a yoga class, and was energized, inspired, and passionate about the process. This led her to a 200 hour yoga teacher training course and a recommitment to the connection of mind, body and soul that drew her to yoga and helped her to find balance between a demanding career and stillness.
Sarah’s focus is on vinyasa yoga. She has integrated her love for the moon, the ocean, and music into her teaching.
Jessica McDonald
Yoga Instructor
Jessica has been practicing yoga for over 25 years. Yoga has always provided her a place to find calm with the benefit of conditioning the mind and body to be centered in order to walk with peace and strength throughout the day. She wants her students to feel the same sense of serenity and stability by guiding them through relaxation breathing techniques and beginning yoga poses. Jessica is grateful to be a part of Balance Yoga after becoming an instructor in 2019 from the Columbia Yoga Center in Maryland along with experience teaching classes full of friends, colleagues and the local community.
Amber Pacheco
Fitness Instructor
Amber is a natural leader, teacher and coach. She lives by a set of values which align closely with our Balance culture, one of community, support, nurturing and limit-pushing! She is strongly committed to her own overall wellness and loves to actively learn, study, and further her development! Amber’s focus for the last decade + has been motherhood. It was there that she learned the importance of taking care of ourselves while we shape, teach, and nurture our littles. More recently, she has been teaching circuit training, strength training and bone builders classes in the small-group training environment. She absolutely loves teaching - and learning from - her students of all ages and ability levels!
Brianne Pedersen
Yoga Instructor
Brianne (Bree) has been practicing the Yoga Asanas since she was in High School. Along with studying health and nutrition throughout the years, her passion for the practice of Yoga grew as she continued her education and received her first 300 Hour certification in 2018.
Her formal studies continued shortly after the height of the pandemic by enrolling in another teacher training and graduating with a 200 hour certification in June of 2023. Her studies continue to grow as she recently received her certificate with Kidding Around Yoga, to teach our future generations this amazing practice of mindfulness, breathwork and movement, in May of 2024.
She accredits the practice of Yoga to being life-saving and healing for various adversities in human existence, and for all stages of life. Her love and appreciation for the Eight Limbs of Yoga has blossomed into her desire to learn and evolve as a lifelong student and teacher of Yoga.
Bree has experience with various styles of Yoga, including, Therapeutic Hatha, Restorative, Iyengar, Yin, Vinyasa, Kundalini, and now Yoga for our future generations. Her adult classes are a balance between a mellow Vinyasa flow and the concentrated-focused nature of a Therapeutic Hatha class. Her passion to share the profound healing and therapeutic practices of all forms of Yoga are weaved into her themes and sequences for EACH and every offering.
Dr. Christopher Powell
Yoga Instructor
Dr. Christopher Scott Powell, D.C. is a Board certified Doctor of Chiropractic. Post graduate certified advanced level Network Spinal Analysis, the yoga of Chiropractic- A holistic, innovative & gentle technique used & endorsed by Anthony Robbins, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Candace Pert, Ph.D, & University of Miami school of medicine as a transformational somatic healing modality. Kundalini Yoga Instructor & Meridian Yoga Therapy Certified. Sacred Body Language Translation: intuitive interpretation of your symptoms. Emotion Code Energy Healing Release. Gong Shaman.
Emily Spears
Yoga Instructor
Emily offers yoga as a space to reconnect—to yourself, your body, and the present moment. Her classes blend stillness, intuitive breathwork, somatic movement, and mindful flow to support nervous system regulation, self-exploration, and deeper connection both on and off the mat.
With an approach that is nurturing, energizing, and explorative, Emily encourages students to move in ways that feel supportive and authentic to them. Her classes invite moments of playfulness, challenge, softness, and reflection, while honoring the wisdom and individuality of each person in the room. She welcomes a community of all backgrounds and experience levels, creating space for both exploration and grounding within each individual practice.
She has been practicing yoga for over six years and completed her teacher trainings in Thailand and Indonesia. You can find her practicing and teaching throughout the Monterey area. As she continues her studies in psychosomatics and mind-body healing, Emily brings a grounded and heart-centered presence to her teaching, encouraging students to move with curiosity, compassion, and trust in themselves
Anna Stenberg
Tai Chi / Qi Gong Instructor
Anna Stenberg is a local acupuncturist and East Asian medicine practitioner. With 20 years of experience practicing, learning, and teaching medical qigong and taiji, she is excited to share her experience in these simple and powerful practices with you.
Janell Webber
Yoga Instructor
Janell, a 5th generation California native, has been practicing yoga for more than half her life. After a childhood of competitive gymnastics, finding yoga as a young adult kept her body and soul in balance. Progression in her practice led to a deeper journey into meditation and integrated healing. It wasn’t until leaving a stressful career in Southern California, that she was called to train and become a teacher of her passions. Following the ways of Iyengar yoga, her dedication deepened and soon after, was called to Big Sur to become fully immersed in nature and the healing arts. Janell enjoys travel, cooking and baking, staring into the sea, journaling, chanting and a good sewing project.
Lance Wright
Yoga Instructor
Lance began practicing yoga in his 60’s to search for the strength and flexibility that seemed to be slipping away. He studied with Karen Quinn with a focus on anatomy and gentler movement to heal, stretch, and strengthen. During his yoga journey he learned how developing a deep smooth breath, working with moderate but consistent effort, listening to your body, and modifying your practice to your particular needs and abilities can make yoga a transformative experience leading to moving with more ease and stability, and moving away from stress.