About Us
Established in 2006, Blue Banyan is an independent, woman-owned yoga community nestled in Mt.Airy , Philadelphia. We are dedicated to embracing, sharing, and teaching the eight limbs of yoga in a way that honors the yoga tradition and serves Blue Banyan practitioners. At Blue Banyan, we recognize each individual’s yoga experience as well as cultivate a brilliant and beautiful community. We offer classes from the Vinyasa tradition, including all levels, from gentle to rigorous and everything in between.
Teachers
Sophie Simpson
Sophie is the Founder of Blue Banyan Yoga and co-founder and director of Blue Banyan’s Yoga School, she has been teaching yoga since 2002. In addition, Sophie is a Counselor in Vedic Spiritual Science and Ayurvedic nutrition. She uses this knowledge as the foundation for her work as a Health and Wellness Coach.
The driver of Sophie’s work, regardless of the lens, has always been a deep dedication to helping people find greater overall health and well-being. Sophie believes that Practice on the mat is the bridge to living a vibrant, healthy life off the mat. See more about Sophie’s work here:
Jake Miller
Jake Miller first encountered the practice of yoga as a student of theatre and dance in 1997. After several years of ‘dabbling’ and few of serious study, he began teaching in the Vinyasa-style in 2004. In 2007 he completed his first Teacher Certification at Wake Up Yoga in Philadelphia. Continuing studies have included Sanskrit and Sound Yoga with Manorama of Sanskrit Studies, Living Tantra with Pandit Rajmani Tigunait of the Himalayan Institute, and Thai Yoga Bodywork with Michael Buck of the Vedic Institute and Saul David Raye of Ritam Healing Arts. Jake is co-creator of Blue Banyan Yoga School and Teacher Training program. He currently teaches theatre and movement at Germantown Friends School.
Jenny Burkholder
Jenny Burkholder is one of the lead teachers at Blue Banyan, she began practicing yoga in 2004 at Wake Up Yoga. In 2013, drawn to Blue Banyan Yoga’s emphasis on proper alignment and spiritual depth, she began practicing there. In 2017, she completed her 500-hour teacher training with Sophie Simpson and Jake Miller. In addition, Jenny has completed 50 hours of yin teacher training with Corina Benner. She is the 2023-2024 Montgomery County Poet Laureate and a full-time writer. Author of a poetry chapbook Repaired (Finishing Line Press, 2016), her work has appeared in various outlets and literary journals. In her classes, Jenny combines her knowledge of yoga with her love of imagery and metaphor. She hopes her devotion to yoga will inspire others to develop physical and spiritual practices.
Jen May
Jen has been practicing yoga for 20 years, and she is sure that yoga has helped her balance her physical body, create a more resilient nervous system, and be more present for all the moments of life. With a background in biology research and teaching, Jen loves learning and teaching about bodies and movement. Jen’s first deeper dive into yoga came with immersion at Blue Banyan and was followed by a 200 hour teacher-training in Vinyasa yoga from Wake Up Yoga. More recently she completed a 300 hr. Yoga Wellness Educator Training from Yoga U. Online, which emphasized teaching beginners and older beginners how yoga can benefit body awareness, posture, and healthy aging.
Angella Irwin
Angella Irwin began practicing yoga privately in 2003 as a way to stay active while traveling in countries where public exercise wasn’t easy for women. Years later she was delighted to find the Blue Banyan community, and began to deepen her practice under the guidance of Sophie Simpson and Jake Miller. In 2017, she completed her 500-hour teacher training with Blue Banyan. Angella has continued to learn through classes and workshops in restorative yoga and sound meditation, but primarily her growth stems from being an active practitioner and teacher. She is devoted to the concept of practice, and loves the constant work of surrendering to it.
Sarah Charlesworth
Sarah Charlesworth (she/her), MPH, CYT. Sarah is a Philadelphia-based yoga teacher specializing in hatha/vinyasa, prenatal, postnatal & kids’ yoga. She has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and teaching for seven, holding certifications in several modalities. Sarah believes her yoga practice grounds yet invigorates her, and has deepened her self-knowledge. Sarah’s teaching is inspired by the natural world and its cycles.
Veronica Perez
Originally from the Bronx, NY, Veronica began her yoga journey during her undergraduate career as a way to supplement her exercise routine. She never expected it to turn into a lifelong union. After years of practice and self-study, she longed for the necessary guidance. And in 2022 she traveled to India where she completed her 300 hour teacher- training in Vinyasa and Ashtanga at the Vinyasa Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh. Having left India, full of knowledge yet yearning for more, she decided to continue her studies here in Philadelphia. Summer of 2022 she came across the Blue Banyan community. Eager to dive in, Veronica came on as an intern, and more recently this year completed her 200 hour teacher-training with Blue Banyan. Currently, our administrative support at Blue Banyan, Veronica also teaches at our partner location, Germantown Cricket Club. She enjoys the growth she experiences throughout her practice, and hopes to guide others through their own personal growth journey with the help of yoga.
Tom Schrand
Tom completed his initial 200-hour yoga instructor training at Blue Banyan and recently earned an additional 300-hour certification at the Kripalu Center, where he studied vinyasa, meditation, pranayama, and adaptive yoga. His classes combine this lineage with his Iyengar yoga practice, focusing on optimal alignment and the use of props to make poses accessible to all. His classes feature vinyasa sequences that cycle through targeted muscle groups and fascial chains multiple times, going progressively deeper each round to approach peak poses in a safe and empowering way. Tom also enjoys programming eclectic music for each class that matches the rising energy of the vinyasa flow and the drift into savasana (you can find his playlists on Spotify at schrandt3).
Molly Crowley
Molly is currently a dedicated Ashtanga Yoga student practicing the intermediate series and recently completing a level 1 mentorship program with Taylor Hunt of Ashtanga Yoga Savannah. Molly began practicing yoga in 2006 and completed her vinyasa teacher training 13 years ago at Blue Banyan when her son was an infant. Molly was a full time yoga teacher when her children were younger and completed continuing education in prenatal yoga, restorative yoga, a mentorship with Melissa West of Victoria, Canada. She has had the pleasure of working with many amazing yoga teachers and students and believes in the transformative power of yoga. She strives to find an entry point for all students of all abilities and backgrounds.
Anna Ziegner
Anna embarked on her journey toward understanding the mind-body connection by studying Eurythmy (an art of movement) in Great Britain and dedicated over two decades to teaching movement to children of all ages. She has always valued a balanced lifestyle that listens to the body and prioritizes its needs. Her Eurythmy training instilled the practice of inward listening, which naturally led her to approach yoga with the same intention. A Blue Banyan practitioner for many years, Anna completed her Yoga Teacher Training in 2023. Her teaching philosophy is to make yoga approachable. In her classes, Anna emphasizes the importance of remaining attuned to the body and cultivating self-awareness. She encourages her students to savor each movement, taking it slow and allowing themselves to experience fully the benefits of asana and pranayama. Anna’s teaching style is characterized by a genuine love of helping others discover the transformative power of yoga. Her ability to blend metaphor with movement serves as a catalyst for personal growth and encourages her students to find balance, joy, and deeper connections within themselves.
Mira Mcewan
Mira began her yoga practice in 2005 as a way of handling the stress of a busy nursing career. Over time she fell in love with yoga as a spiritual practice and allowed yoga to inform her work with patients. She is passionate about making yoga accessible to “every body” and enjoys working with practitioners of all levels and abilities. She believes, “if you can breathe, you can practice yoga.” Mira completed her 200-hour teacher training at Blue Banyan in 2023 and shortly thereafter traveled to India for several weeks to learn more. Her philosophy is, “we practice yoga on the mat so we can practice yoga off the mat.
Sofi Milani
Sofi came to yoga 27 years ago when a fellow Spin class member thought she might like yoga. Hooked immediately, practice brought her to recievining her 200 hour certification from Advanced Studies and Yoga Teacher Training with Anne O’Brien and Clare Venet in California in 2004. Further training with Cora Wen and Tony Briggs and a 300 hour certification. She has always found movement to be healing and has danced as a hobby since very young. Her classes stress alignment, slow flow and helping people find the amazing and wonderful partnership of breath and body. She came to Blue Banyan in 2017 after moving to Philadelphia from California. After participating in several local dance gatherings, she thought it would be fun and a great release to involve both yoga and dance, thus the workshops. Currently 85, Sofi believes it is never too late to move and receive the benefits of the breath/ body partnership and brings this to her classes. Sharing what has helped her with others brings her joy.
How We Started
In 2006, as I was teaching Yoga in various studios around the city, and caring for my nursing newborn and 3-year-old. I envisioned bringing a Yoga studio closer to home. I imagined a space that would offer a Yoga center for the wonderful residents and teachers in Mt. Airy and enable them to work and practice closer to their homes.
When a former brick foundry 2 minutes from my house was being renovated I could not ignore the nagging feeling that this could be our Yoga home.
In April of that year, I met with the landlord (who has turned out to be one of the most wonderful humans I’ve ever known!). The single finished space was on the third floor. It was simple; a long, narrow rectangular room with windows on either end and a cozy hallway outside.
The building itself was on a one-way street, under a bridge that early GPS programs did not recognize. I immediately saw that many of the conceived negatives were positives which excited me. This ‘off-the-beaten-track’ location offered plenty of parking, privacy, and a sanctuary-like environment; a room with little to no distractions.
When my husband, Chris, walked into the room and said with utter confidence and conviction ‘You can do this, and it’s going to be great.’ He believed, like me, that this space could offer a place for community, foster inclusion, and be a Spiritual refuge to all who were seeking it. A studio where practitioners could experience well-taught, safe classes, that incorporated Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga. We are still here almost two decades later…
Of course, all the confidence and conviction in the world won’t keep a business running. We are here, so many years later, because of our dedicated community of Yogis and Yoginis, who show up day after day on and off their mats to keep us going…
With love, light and gratitude Sophie
