Faith Macauley is the founder of the Heart Center, and can be found teaching classes, working the front desk, and mingling with her beloved 'heart-centered' community. She is a visionary, energy worker, and mother. Faith first found yoga in college, when she was suffering from severe emotional trauma, and discovered that her time on the mat empowered her to work through her grief and despair. She now designs classes to impart tools for healing based on breakthroughs and awakening experiences from her own journey to self-love. Faith enjoys DJ'ing  yoga playlists and choreographing inspiring flows for her students. She travels as often as possible, whether to lead retreats, "get woke", or adventure with her little family. :-)

Yessie Chavez discovered yoga during a transitional period in her life and since then it has been the rock that has kept her grounded through the fluctuations of life.  Her gratitude for yoga gave her a strong desire to share it with others, and that's how she got on her teaching path. In 2013 she completed 3 yoga teacher trainings in LA and later studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, India.  Her passion for living a yogic life fully has given her confidence, happiness and courage.  As a yoga teacher she has a calming demeanor while offering a balanced class that combines both power poses and relaxation.

Donte Quinine creates an engaged vinyasa experience with an urban spin on traditional flows to an eclectic blend of music. He offers yin and restorative classes that are meditative and devotional. Donte teaches in the moment, combining indigenous wisdom with inspirational insights for modern living. He invites students into the process of personal inquiry grounded in spiritual intelligence. Donte has been described by his students as “an ocean of wisdom” and a “modern urban mystic.”

Taylor Buck is a 500RYT, travel lover, and outdoors-enthusiast trained in the ancient traditions of Hatha yoga and Thai massage. With a passion for facilitating body-positive, inclusive, compassionate and down to earth classes and workshops, Taylor’s style focuses on the strengths and capacities of our bodies and minds. She’s out to make yoga accessible for everyone. 

Taylor’s training and teaching programs have brought her from her home of the PNW to India, Thailand, Guatemala and Alaska, making her a versatile and knowledgeable practitioner and teacher of a range of yoga and meditation styles.

Learning through teaching is a top priority for her, and she’s so excited to help build a yoga community here in White Center.

Owen Fitzpatrick will be holding space for meditation at the Heart Center. He is the co-owner and partner to Faith, and has been learning and growing alongside her for the past three years. It is his intention to provide a warm and grounded environment for people to feel welcome and excited about their awakening journey. 

Owen is a maker and an artist, and loves to spend time in nature. Mushroom foraging, glassblowing, and playing with his daughter are among his favorite pastimes. You can find him installing art, fixing things, and helping out around the Heart Center. He looks forward to getting to know you in drum circles, sound baths, and plant medicine ceremonies to come!

Movement. Movement. Movement. For Mill Nguyen, it is all about movements that bring us back into our bodies, our original home so that we can feel at ease wherever we are in the world.

Mill was born and raised in Hanoi and moved to Washington when she was 16 - uprooted and full of confusion. Like many, she likes to say that yoga found her. She stumbled on yoga while in search, longing for something more that she couldn't yet name at the time. All she knew was the magnetic feelings of the practice kept pulling her back. She found her first love, yoga, by chance.

She received her YTT in 2015 through Open Up YTT with Danielle Day. Since then her practice has evolved many times over. She lets the season of her life and experiences determine her practice and anticipates the fluctuation.    

In her practice and her classes, she wishes to bring all that she is, all that she has to offer into the room. Whether it is the flow from her love for music, the fire of determination from rock-climbing, the fluidity from dancing, or her own quirkiness. They all come together to create Magic.

Sharon Barto Gouran has been practicing yoga since 2003, and teaching since 2011. Having begun practicing with primarily physical motives, she soon discovered a much deeper connection between the mind, body and spirit through breath. The sense of peace beginning to carry over from the mat into daily life was impossible to ignore. Sharon encourages both creativity and mindfulness in her classes. Acknowledging that yoga is a life-long journey, she emphasizes honoring the body for where it is in this present moment. Through a mixture of both dynamic and nurturing asana, she encourages a gradual opening of the body and quieting of the mind by honoring and expanding the breath. She does this all with a gentle sense of humor.

Jenny McGrath is an unapologetic body-mind nerd.  Movement has always been a major part of Jenny’s life- from being a dancer, to yoga, to traveling the world.  While living in Northern Uganda she witnessed the healing power of dance, movement, and community. This was the catalyst for her becoming a mental health counselor and yoga instructor.  Jenny’s classes include education on the mind-body connection in order to help students feel empowered to explore what health and wellness is like in the particularity of their own skin. Just like mental health- Jenny doesn’t believe yoga is a “one size fits all”, and she loves getting to know her students personally and journeying with them on the path of their individual healing.  She lives in White Center with her husband and boxer dog, and she is so excited to be a part of growing of the Heart Center community within her own neighborhood!

Birdie discovered yoga during a time of trauma, transition and transformation, as she made her way over to the West Coast. After reading an incredible book called “You Are Here,” she knew the universe was guiding her to be a teacher of the healing arts. 

She completed her 200 hour "Holistic Yoga Flow" training at "The Yoga Collective" in Venice, California. In addition, she completed 108 hours of "Bhakti Yoga" training, with her teacher Govind Das, in the Sacred Valley of Peru. 
Yoga changed every aspect of the way she lived, thought and breathed. This has led her to feel compelled in sharing the light of self love and acceptance for others. She believes it is essential for our overall health to create more space & time for ourselves so that we are able to live within present awareness and restore balance.

Her classes are fluid and sequenced to strengthen the body and heal from within. They carry the powerful energies of yang within pranayama and each asana, but also soft aspects of yin within slowing down and meditation. You might experience chanting or singing of mantras within her classes because of her love for Bhakti Yoga (Yoga of Love & Devotion). Her intention is to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed, loved and leaves feeling completely nourished from within. 

Nancy Perez's yoga journey began in 2008 with a book called Meditation for Beginners. While practicing Bikram yoga and self-study, she took a life-changing trip to Cambodia, where she was asked to lead a daily yoga class. She soon fell in love with teaching, and upon returning to Seattle, she completed a Power Vinyasa training.

Nancy teaches in Spanish and English, loves to teach children’s yoga, and is in the process of completing her Personal Trainer Certification. She is greatly intrigued by anatomy, biomechanics and the philosophy of the human experience.
Students can expect a challenging, fun and restorative class that is intended to create a strong foundation and a meditative flow. Her classes are aimed at practicing the art of focus, form, breath-work and heart-opening.
As a descendent of South America with a background in music, she loves to create unique playlists to transport students through different cultures and time. Her classes strengthen and revitalize both body and mind, and are based on teachings that have helped guide her through her healing process, evolve spiritually, and ride the waves of life with a peaceful heart.

For Marta Searles, yoga has been the greatest teacher, a deep passion, and a catalyst for transformation. It started with a feeling of wholeness while on her mat that soon expanded off of the mat and into all parts of her life bringing growth and healing. Marta is passionate about teaching and creating the space for others to feel into their wholeness and strengthen both body and mind. Marta believes that the more we embrace ourselves and our experience, the more we can also open to others and ultimately create more compassion for ourselves and each other in our communities, near and far.

Marta’s classes are taught with heart, detailed alignment, breath, and mindfulness to observe our own experience, body and headspace without judgement. She shares mantras, mudras, yogic philosophy and experiences from daily life as inspiration for her classes. Marta’s grounding presence helps students to feel calm and supported in their practice. She is inspired by the many lessons from our Mother Earth.

Tera Bucasas is endlessly curious and loves to constantly be learning. She fascinated and inspired by the interconnection between all things. While she grew up locally her interest in other cultures and places has taken her around the world.
Tera believes yoga allows us time to connect to ourselves and others in a sacred way. An opportunity to not only take care of our physical, mental and emotional selves, but a time to connect to our shared humanity. She hope's to help unravel the ideas of what yoga is 'supposed' to be, because yoga does not look the same for everyone or during all times of life. Tera creates classes that focuses on sustainability and substance, over flash and complexity. What she loves about teaching is the opportunity to connect to people, to create a space that is safe to show up, be real and continually grow together.