STUDIO OWNER

Alyssa Sullivan

Raised in Lincoln, Rhode Island, Alyssa trained with the Marsdons at Brae Crest School of Ballet and Jazz with Jeremy Anderson in Providence. After many years of teaching group and private fitness classes, traveling around the world, enjoying a career as an event planner, and living in Northern California, she returned to the East Coast.

She was fortunate to reside in Cambridge, MA when Baron Baptiste opened his studio. As a dancer and fitness enthusiast, this style of yoga was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. Immediately she found this yoga to be the most complete and best use of her time. The combined endorphin release of a great workout, the ease of a deep massage and the calm of a meditative experience gave her the certainty that offering this to as many people as possible would be her dharma.

Having trained with and taught for Baron Baptiste for 3 years, Alyssa had the privilege of growing and working with an incredible group of teachers. Founded in 2004, Synergy Yoga was first opened in Wayland Square in Providence, and eventually moved to Barrington in June 2005.

As a teacher committed to evolving, her practice involves regular workshops, master classes, and retreats. She had the privilege of training with Amy Battersby, one of the founders of Trauma Processing Yoga Group Therapy, and has been working with Amy for several years. Alyssa has also expanded her work into the general public, speaking on the subject of “Transcending the Story”, a talk on elevating and evolving the quality of our communication and relationships.

“I teach from my own practice, from my truth, and most importantly from my heart. I invite you to come and experience the sacred space of Synergy Yoga & Wellness.”

- Alyssa xoxo

Pamela Maldonado

STUDIO INSTRUCTOR

Alyssa’s sister Pamela has been teaching yoga for over 21years. She and her late husband owned and operated Renew Yoga in Petaluma CA for 20 years, which was a wellness studio with yoga, Pilates, massage, reiki, yoga teacher training, personal training, and post-rehabilitation.

After the passing of her beloved husband, Pamela decided to return to R.I. to be surrounded by family and connect with her roots.

Excited to be joining the community of Synergy, Pamela brings heart-centered, spirit-driven practices and insights, grounded in mindful breath which she believes is a powerful element to the transformative energy of this ancient wisdom practice.

Pamela is an experienced registered yoga teacher and a continuing education provider for yoga alliance. She is also a reiki master.

Teacher, Visionary, Lover of Truth

Claudia Lyons

Claudia, Alyssa’s eldest sister, regularly hosts sacred conversations at Synergy on how to soften and open, and transform our stories on how to live with with more ease, meaning and joy. ⁠

As a result of her own life experience and deeper awakening, Claudia has been supporting others in opening to the deep within themselves. It began many years ago training to be a Reiki Master Teacher. She offered Reiki sessions and taught many how to open up to the “universal life force” energy.

As she grew, she invited folks into an even deeper experience using one on one sessions, group meetings and retreats. Claudia’s invitation is to open to the idea that you are a unique expression of creator, to know yourself as that and live life from there. As a result, the old beliefs that no longer serve you are transformed allowing you to live with less struggle and suffering, and more ease and joy.

Families That Flow Together, Grow Together...

Our studio was built as a labor of love. Having both of my sisters now involved and my daughter Tessa practicing with us warms my heart. My dear brother Michael is responsible for our new magnificent Buddha and statue of Ganesh.

We have always been a family of seekers.

Through inquiry, yoga, meditation, reiki, and many other modalities of practice, our commitment is to raise the consciousness within ourselves and on the planet, inviting the light and love within all of us to shine.

MEET OUR TEACHERS

INSTRUCTOR

Anna Lisa Nasstrom Meyer

  • Anna-Lisa began teaching in 2005, completing Level I & II Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training and becoming certified in 2008 by Tom Gillette of Eyes of the World. Having a consistent practice and a never-ending curiosity to learn more, she aspires to blend the richness of yogic philosophy with the accessibility of the Baptiste style as a means to offer space for an experiential practice that draws students closer to their innate light.

    Spending over a decade teaching at Synergy Power Yoga, Anna-Lisa has a nurturing style with a quiet intensity offering a flow that embodies the breath, releases the mind, detoxifies and tones the body, leaving students with a sense of peacefulness and renewed energy.

Megan Turillo

INSTRUCTOR

  • Megan began her yoga journey in 2001 in a bid to lose the weight after having her first child and to retain her sanity as a young mom. It was then that she fell in love and realized that her dislike of camel pose and struggles with remaining present in Savasana don’t define her as a yogi or a human being.

    Megan has a Level 1 Certification with the Baptiste Institute under Baron Baptiste and is a 200 hour certified teacher with the Believe You Can Yoga Teacher Training School with Jane Viscolosi. Through her classes she hopes to share her passion for the practice. It is her greatest hope that every student who enters her class is inspired to bring their full, true, authentic self and that they just might leave bringing that spirit out into the world.

INSTRUCTOR

Maryelllen Fowler

  • Maryellen has a lighthearted no-nonsense approach to yoga. She understands how intimidating yoga could be to a new yogi. So she encorages all to take the first step! Maryellen believes true yoga transforms the soul, using the real human imperfect body, as the vehicle.

    She completed her first 200 hour YTT with Tom Gillette, in 2004. She added a 300 hour training with Coral Brown, Shiva Rea’s L.T., and a 200 hour YTT with Valerie Knopik, at Raffa Yoga, in 2016. Maryellen added 100 hour training with Jaya Buckland, Yogi Desai’s L.T., in I AM YOGA NIDRA. She has completed the full 80 hours of Experiential Anatomy and Spinal Intensive, with Judith Hanson Lasater, Mary Richards and Lizzie Lasater. Maryellen is also a certified Usui Reiki Master/Teacher.

Kerry Puniello

INSTRUCTOR

  • Kerry began practicing yoga in 2001 and was awed by the profound impact of breath practices and body postures on her well-being. The Vinyasa style, especially, left her feeling clear, open, and integrated with a deep sense of connection. Kerry expanded her studies by completing Baptiste Power Yoga Art of Assisting Training in 2009, Baptiste Power Yoga Level One Training in 2011, and becoming a 200hr Registered Yoga Teacher with Cathy Cesario & Spirit Tree Yoga in 2013.

    Kerry’s teaching style is warm and welcoming. She enjoys teaching a strong, steady, rhythmic moving meditation that draws you into the present moment. Kerry loves supporting others in sensing and living from their inner light of awareness and believes that yoga is a powerful tool that can help us sustain that connection. As her learning continues, she is grateful to all the teachers who have supported her along the way, the students who keep teaching her and the opportunity to be teaching at the studio she first called her yoga home.

    Kerry is also a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach, Certified Core Energetics Practitioner, holds a Master’s in Holistic Counseling, and has completed Continuing Advanced Graduate Studies in Holistic Counseling. She blends all of her trainings into Holistic Therapeutic Coaching, supporting individuals’ wholeness by unmasking core beliefs, reclaiming personal power, and solidifying spiritual connection. To find out more about this transformative heart-aligned service, visit corevitality.life

Ann Malik

MEDITATION FACILITATOR

Ann started attending yoga at Synergy shortly after Alyssa opened in Barrington in 2005.  Alyssa planted the first seeds of breathe, awareness, and spirituality.  So it is fitting that Ann share her meditation teaching with the Synergy community.  

Ann’s meditation practice began when she was fighting cancer.  It began with a desperation to survive but now continues with an awareness of endless possibilities, gratitude, and love.  She set out to learn as much as she could to save herself… and now that she is thriving, it’s time to give back and share her deep knowledge and inspiration with others.  

Ann’s meditation experience includes numerous workshops, retreats, books, classes, and lots of self-exploration. 

Highlights include studying Mindfulness and Meditation at Brown University,  attending meditation retreats  (including that time she and her husband did a 5 hour meditation with Dr. Joe Dispenza), Coherence Healings, the Silva Method, HeartMath, and Reiki teacher training at Thrive Tribe Collaborative.   Most impactful in her meditation teaching is her life experience of resilience, overcoming, accepting, thriving, and inspiring

Carlin Danner

Growing up in Tiverton, RI, Carlin has always been very involved in music throughout his education.  He played oboe in the Rhode Island Youth Philharmonic and at Providence College. He also played tenor and baritone saxophone.  Carlin decided to leave the woodwinds behind due to restrictive breathing methods, however many years later he experienced his first sound bath in Joshua Tree at the Integratron.  The therapeutic nature of the sound bath gave him colorful visuals and felt like a massage, reigniting his love for music and all of its healing properties.

SOUND BATH SPECIALIST

In 2022, he began his work in learning sound therapy under Sara Auster based in Brooklyn, New York.  Her work is focused on experimentation of sound and its healing qualities while bringing these experiences to the general public.  Here he learned about a wide variety of healing sound instruments and their uses.  Since then, he has been holding space for sound healing at Synergy Yoga.  During the day, he works as a special education administrator for a charter school, and now hosts sound baths at Synergy on Sundays from 7-8pm.