Teachers
Alicia Moyer
Alicia Moyer
Alicia has been practicing yoga since 2009. She has studied various movement disciplines for over 20 years and strives to bring them together in creative and intelligent flow classes. Alicia became a co-owner of Past Tense in 2022. A DC native, she lives in Mt. Pleasant with her husband and daughter.
Amy Allshouse
Amy Allshouse
Amy took her first yoga class in 2007, but didn’t realize just how important and impactful this practice was on her mental health until she was balancing the hustle culture in London/NYC. She aims to bring grounding and calming energy into her classes with a focus on community and connection to self. Amy also encourages a supportive and welcoming environment through use of props, breath, and meditation.
Amy Rizzotto
Amy Rizzotto
Amy has been a student of yoga for over 20 years and counts her lucky stars that she can make the practice a full-time career. In Amy's classes you can expect to be kept on your toes with creative sequencing, strength challenges and FUN-ctional movement. Amy will help you get out of your head, into your body, and leave feeling better than when you walked in.
Angel Gonzalez
Angel Gonzalez
Angel discovered yoga in college and was drawn to it because it provided a profound sense of clarity, guidance, and release during a difficult time. Angel teaches yoga because it can be a powerful avenue for self-exploration and discovery. He aims to bring awareness to sensations, thoughts, actions, and reactions to understand the habits and patterns we can cultivate to support clarity, compassion, friendship, inner peace, stability, and strength.
Arielle McMahan
Cole Wolf
Cole Wolf
Cole came to yoga as a recovery practice for athletic injuries and fell in love with the embodied movement of the practice along the way. They teach vinyasa flows with a focus on building the mind-body connection and the monthly yoga for the trans+ community class. Their classes involve extended meditations, quiet music, deep stretches, and community building—it's a great place to get introduced to a neighbor you haven't met yet!
Derek Cook
Derek Cook
Derek Cook is a movement and manual therapist constantly studying the physical workings and philosophical intricacies of the human body. After years spent misunderstanding and mistreating his body, Derek found yoga and movement—and credits both for saving his life. Two decades later, Derek is known for his inclusive, disarming, and motivation sessions aimed to help others grow and heal.
Ellie Clarke
Ellie Clarke
Ellie has been practicing yoga since 2001 and has trained in many styles with many teachers. She has a strong conviction that yoga is for everyone and works to create a welcoming environment for all bodies. Her classes offer lots of options, music and an opportunity for mindfulness through movement.
Ellie Conrad
Ellie Conrad
Ellie began teaching in 2015 and completed her second 200-hr teacher training with Kula Yoga Project in 2021. In her yoga classes, you can expect challenging, creative, alignment based sequencing with a focus on breath in order to harmonize body, breath and mind.
Emma Silverman
Emma Silverman
Emma took her first yoga class with her mom in 1999 and finished her teacher training in 2007. She teaches prenatal, restorative, senior, flow classes, and Pilates (a real smorgasbord). In her classes she plays music (usually), tells very bad jokes (always), and offers lots of modifications.
Ferdaouis Bagga
Ilayda Lynch
Jenna Grubman
Jenna Grubman
Jenna has played multiple sports all her life, but it wasn’t until moving to DC in 2009 that she realized yoga was the perfect balance for her active lifestyle. Beyond yoga, Jenna works at the National Geographic Society, chases her two young kids around, and loves a good dinner party. Students attending her Pilates class can expect traditional Pilates exercises mixed with body-weight and strength training that goes beyond the core.
Justin Espiritu
Justin Espiritu
A graduate of the Past Tense Teacher Training, Justin’s goal is to create an atmosphere of reflection, discovery and calmness through his unique sequences and playlists. He aims to provide an open and safe atmosphere for people of all backgrounds and experiences to challenge themselves to do more (or less!) during a fun and creative flow.
Karen Kane
Karen Kane
A few years ago, Karen tripped and took a flying fall. But instead of doing a faceplant, she landed in chaturanga and only scraped her knees. That was her yoga “ah-ha” moment—her body had learned how to protect itself. In 2017, Karen completed her 200-hour teacher training at Past Tense. Off the mat, Karen is a children’s book author and is always creating stories in her head. Which is probably why she probably tripped in the first place.
Karen Vargas
Karen Vargas
Karen's movement practice is shaped by a lifetime of yoga, sport, and dance, informed by injury, recovery, and resilience. Her strength-based vinyasa and Fit & Flow classes balance playfulness with precision, drawing from yoga, climbing, Pilates, and functional training to build strength, stability, and mobility. Expect creative sequencing, intentional challenge, and a supportive environment that empowers students to move with confidence and control.
Kelly DiNardo
Kelly DiNardo
Kelly discovered yoga when she was procrastinating on a writing assignment. Parked on a yoga mat, she not only cleared her writer’s block but developed a new passion. She has been teaching yoga for over twenty years and is the author of Living the Sutras: A Guide to Yoga Wisdom Beyond the Mat, the Live Your Yoga card deck, and others. She is the founder and co-owner of Past Tense, which she opened with the hope of giving others the same strength, balance, and flexibility she finds on the mat in a place that is open and welcoming.
Kris King
Kris King
Kris began her movement practice at age four, when her mom signed her up for ballet so she could learn how to skip. Since then, Kris has danced, skipped, and flowed through life, completing her Yoga Teacher Training in 2022, alongside Pilates and Zumba certification in 2024. Off the mat, Kris is a writer and teaching artist and you can find her facilitating playful and energetic creative and movement based programming in and around the DMV.
Leah Getsinger
Leah Getsinger
Leah discovered yoga in the early 2000s and quickly connected with its ability to ground, strengthen, and restore—both mentally and physically. Leah is certified in Vinyasa, Sculpt, Yin, and Prenatal Yoga. As a proud mom, she brings empathy, warmth, and real-life perspective to her teaching, creating an inclusive space for students to explore and reconnect—on and off the mat.
Leslie Lipton
Leslie Lipton
When not in workout attire sharing her love of movement at Past Tense, you'll find Leslie in scrubs, caring for her pediatric patients as their Nurse Practitioner. On and off the mat, she is passionate about building health through connections with one another, mindful movement, and strength building—both physically and emotionally. In her free time, Leslie enjoys running and biking in Rock Creek Park and spending time with her two wonderfully silly boys.
Lorraine Hinds
Lorraine Hinds
Lorraine started practicing yoga at a very early age as part of her training in dance and rediscovered the practice as an adult. In 2013, Lorraine completed the 500 hour YogaWorks teacher training and Restorative yoga certificates. Her teaching is a combination of the many forms of yoga that she’s practiced and her focus is on the breath, alignment, gentle awareness, and conscious relaxation.
Natalie Petrulla
Nate Byer
Nate Byer
While he didn't know it at the time, Nate first found yoga in middle school when his basketball coach led the team through pre-game breathing exercises. After decades of competitive sports, Nate began practicing yoga in earnest at Past Tense, falling for the powerful combination of physical effort, mental balance, and patience. He creates classes with a focus on breath and rigorous flows that help focus the mind.
Nichole Ferrigno
Nichole Ferrigno
Since discovering yoga in college, Nichole has found an anchor and sanctuary in the practice. She completed her teacher training at Past Tense in 2017 and she hopes you find your own sanctuary in her grounding classes that emphasize tuning in. When she's not in the studio Nichole works as a private chef and yoga teacher and full-time mom.
Sasa Tang
Sasa Tang
Sasa took her first yoga class in Morocco during her Peace Corps service and was drawn to its qualities of playfulness and self exploration. Since completing her 200-hour teacher training in 2020, Sasa teaches with curiosity and care, hoping to help students feel a sense of home in their own bodies.
Selena Figgins
Selena Figgins
Shauna Mahajan
Shauna Mahajan
Shauna grew up practicing yoga and began teaching in 2012. With roots in Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga, Shauna’s classes focus on alignment, mindful movement, and breath awareness. Off the mat, Shauna works in ocean conservation and is particularly interested in how yoga and mindfulness can help us connect to and support the people and places around us.
Sonja Johansson
Steve Krzyzanowski
Steve Krzyzanowski
Steve grew up as a gymnast and found his way to yoga as a sustainable, mindful way to honor the body. His classes blend steady movement that get you fully on your feet before cooling down and stretching out. Some days the focus is a pose or body part, other days it’s a full-body flow, but there’s always a good groove.
Tori Leder
Trisha Tucholski
Trisha Tucholski
Trisha discovered yoga in grad school while seeking balance in different aspects of her life. Today, she strives to find harmony between ease and effort both on and off the mat. She completed her 200-hour teacher training at Past Tense in 2024 and as a Teacher-in-Training leads upbeat, energetic classes that incorporate fun moves set to fun music.
Vilmaris Gonzalez
Vilmaris Gonzalez
Care team
Abbie Gipson
Alexis Rodriguez
Audrey Barnett
Barbara DeSilva
Chiara Albanese
Clara Kinken
Idris Agüero
Kimberly Reese
Maya Patel
Pat Dzierzanowska
Sara Sanders
Sarah Aldridge
Sheila Timmons
Management team
Alicia Moyer
Owner, Teacher
Kelly DiNardo
Owner, Teacher
Omana Douce McDermott
Studio Manager
Kris King
Assistant Studio Manager, Teacher
Want to join our team?
Past Tense is a welcoming, accessible, community space where people come together and find joy in, support for and growth in their practice. If you're excited by this idea and the broader Past Tense mission and what to be part of building it, you can learn more about joining the team here.