Downtown Yoga

Our vision is to make yoga accessible to everyone regardless of age or athletic ability. By balancing a serious, rigorous regimen in a clean, safe and humor-inspired environment, we are able to offer instruction to both novice and experienced practitioners. Each pose is a challenge based on our personal, individual abilities.

Downtown Yoga's staff is comprised of a group of highly qualified instructors who have completed numerous hours of training courses across the country and abroad. They continuously update their yoga knowledge and practice by attending educational workshops, trainings and seminars, allowing them to share current trends and up-to-date information with their students.

Studio instruction includes classes in Ashtanga Yoga, Flow and Core. These classes are either 60 or 90 minutes in length and involve a set of therapeutic yoga stretching postures and breathing exercises. Practicing Ashtanga yoga will build strength and hone balance and flexibility by gently stretching and massaging the spine, muscles, tendons, joints and internal organs. Because of the intense attention placed on breath during practice, your lung capacity will be expanded.

Regular practice of Ashtanga Yoga, Gentle Flow and Flow classes may aid in the healing and repair of injuries and illnesses and may result in weight loss. The overall meditative act of practicing yoga can bring peace of mind.

Annette M. Armstrong, Director

From the fashion floors of California and the Bermuda grass soccer field at Rollins College to the wooden floors of Downtown Yoga in Melbourne, Annette has officially traded in her Manolo Blahniks and Adidas soccer cleats for a more "grounded" approach to life... in bare feet.

Annette hails from California and has been calling Melbourne home since early 2000. She was introduced to the practice of yoga by her husband Scott as a means to briefly "check-out" from the hectic world of soccer into a space that provided stillness and serenity... yoga simply began as extra-curricular therapy.

She practiced yoga for over eight years (on both coasts and across Europe) and during that time gradually felt the inevitable draw towards a more spiritual path. She participated in her first teacher training with Bobbi Goldin, Certified by BKS Iyengar, in Miami. Six months later, she headed to Seattle to participate in Collette Crawford’s Pre and Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training Program at Seattle Holistic Center. Upon her return to Melbourne, she was introduced to David Swenson and participated in several of David’s Ashtanga Teacher Trainings. After completing her yoga training, she began teaching yoga in Melbourne, Cocoa and Orlando.

After teaching yoga for a few years, she returned to Los Angeles for the Bikram Yoga Certification. After completing her certification, she traveled to Europe. While living in Paris, France, she traveled to Rome, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Madrid and London, gaining knowledge and experience that would guide her in the development of a successful yoga studio.

Annette’s teaching style is joyful and sweet. She believes wholeheartedly in each student’s potential and she challenges students of all levels: physically, mentally and spiritually. During her detailed-oriented classes, she encourages students to continually reflect on why we practice yoga; her flow class always has a unique musical soundtrack to keep students moving. Filling her classes with warmth and humor, Annette draws on her broad yoga experience to teach the benefits of yoga.

Shanna Greenlee

By day she teaches reading and by night she teaches yoga. Three years ago, a friend introduced Shanna to Power Yoga and Bikram. Her yoga practice intensified when she injured her hip training for her third marathon. Yoga practice became her rehabilitation and taught her to listen to her body. During her year of recovery Shanna began to have a desire to take her practice further; she wanted to start teaching others the wonderful benefits that yoga has on body and mind. She began her training with YogaFit Training Systems and via David Williams.

Lilly

Lilly has been practicing yoga since 2001. She is new to teaching and recently attended a 40-hour workshop with David Swenson.

Lilly plans to attend the Jimmy Barkan Teacher Training in June and become a certified teacher through the Yoga Alliance 200-hour Jimmy Barkan Hot Yoga program