Our Instructors

Kristine Zakarison

Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT), Founder of Aloft Studios, Instructor, Yoga (E-RYT, 500 level), Nia (Black Belt, First Degree), Move I.T. Instructor

Kristine first began studying yoga in 1984 with Dr. Ravi Kapur of Punjab, India, while he was a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School. For the next 10 years, Kristine continued her training in yoga at the BKS Iyengar Center in Cambridge, MA with Senior Iyengar teachers Patricia Walden and Karin Stephan, as well as continuing her study of yogic philosophy. Kristine continues her yogic education as she completed her 945 hour certification as a yoga therapist.  The focus of her current training has been working with trama, as well as working with special populations (nervous system disorders, anxiety, chronic pain, diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, heart disease).  The study and practice of this integrated path of  the therapeutic benefits of yoga continues to be her personal passion.

When Kristine discovered Nia, it felt as if she had discovered a long lost twin to her yoga practice. She is a licensed Nia Instructor trained at the First Degree Black Belt level. She is grateful for the many Nia mentors she has had along the way, including Carlos Aya Rosas and Debbie Rosas, the founders of Nia and Kristine’s teachers.

Kristine is a 3rd generation “daughter of the Palouse.” After some years on the east coast, she moved home to Pullman in 1995. She is the owner and a teacher of Nia and yoga at Aloft Studio in Pullman, as well as offering Yoga Therapy to individuals and groups.

Sarah VanGundy

Instructor, Yoga (certified, RYT 200 level)

Sarah has practiced many different styles of yoga since she first fell in love with the practice on a trip to India in 1996. After moving to the Palouse, she found her yoga-home studying with Kristine in 2012, and in 2016 she completed yoga teacher certification at Aloft Studios. She is excited to now be “officially” qualified to explore yoga with the Aloft community as a teacher as well as a student. In her non-studio life, Sarah works as a librarian at the University of Idaho Library and she is also working toward an MFA in Creative Writing at UI. She lives in Moscow where she enjoys walking, talking, people, animals, and words of all kinds.