Meet our amazing team, each and every one of whom is committed to making our students feel welcome, safe, and seen.
Meet Our Team
When Trish first began practicing yoga a decade ago, she considered yoga as an ‘add-on’ to other workouts and exercise routines. But the practice worked its magic on her over time, and eventually she stopped viewing yoga as solely exercise. Only then did yoga become a major source of joy and peace in her life. The focus a yoga practice demands became one of her essential tools for stress-relief and grounding, and the way yoga transformed her relationship with her body and mind eventually led to her becoming a registered yoga teacher (RYT 200).
For much of her life, Trish felt that she was in opposition to her body, working against it or trying to force it to be one thing or another. Through her yoga practice, she has learned how to recognize that her mind and body are one. Her goal as a teacher is to support her students through their own revelations and transformations, help them feel empowered and at one with their bodies by using engagement and alignment cues that will encourage self-correction and self-study, and create a safe space for them to heal and grow.
She is so happy to be working and teaching at a studio like Oak + Lotus, where the focus is always on how a pose feels rather than how it looks, and the teachers and students have created an inclusive community and practice for all bodies so that more people feel welcome in the yoga world. The more yogis on this planet, the better!
In her non-yoga life she enjoys seeing live music, vegan baking, volunteering, and watching movies while cuddling with her cats.
Christina is a native Texan that loves spending time with others - especially outside. Growing up as a soccer player and relatively energetic person, she always found it difficult to sit still in yoga classes. But eventually, she leaned heavily on practicing yoga when she started living on her own and working full time in the Midwest. After moving back to Austin in 2021, she started practicing regularly at Oak + Lotus.
This eventually sparked an interest in learning more about yoga, which led her to participate in the Oak + Lotus 200hr YTT and become a certified yoga instructor at the end of 2023.
Outside of the studio, you can find Christina visiting new food trucks, trying new arts + crafts, or hanging out with her pet rabbit, Halloumi!
Laura, a new member of the Austin yoga community, began her yoga journey while studying music in college. Initially drawn to yoga for its physical challenges, she quickly discovered it was the perfect antidote to the demands of playing the violin and the pressures of competition.
In 2018, Laura took a deep dive into her yoga practice with a 200-hour teacher training program. This experience propelled her into teaching at various studios across Houston, where she has since accumulated over 1,000 teaching hours and completed an additional 300-hour advanced course, further sharing her passion and expertise.
Laura's practice has evolved over the years from a focus on physical postures to a more integrated approach that includes meditation, pranayama (breathing techniques), and sound meditation. Her teaching style emphasizes body awareness, consciousness, and personal choice, helping students connect more deeply with their practice.
Brannin first started practicing yoga in 2005 as a way to deal with stressful life situations. He exclusively favored higher intensity, heated styles of yoga until introduced to both Yin and Restorative Yoga many years later, while also adding meditation into his personal practice.
Wanting to pass on what has been so beneficial to him, Brannin started teaching in 2018. He has accumulated over 1000 hours of formal teacher training, and being a life-long student, plans to continue down that path. While Brannin appreciates the physical and psychological benefits of yoga, he’s very grateful for the community and connection found among fellow yogis.
Brannin is originally from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. After spending time living in Vermont and Colorado, he has called Austin home since 2013.
Mindi fell in love with yoga after moving to Austin 6 years ago, but she truly developed her practice during the 2020 lockdown after a running injury. In addition to fully appreciating the mental and emotional lift yoga gave her during this tough time, she immersed herself in learning how different poses can heal and strengthen the body after trauma.
She carried that interest in yoga as therapy into her teacher training with Practice Yoga Alliance in 2022, and then into her prenatal training upon becoming pregnant with her daughter Lucy in early 2023. Teaching prenatal yoga while also being pregnant was invaluable in knowing what aches and pains to target and what modifications to offer through all stages of pregnancy, as well as what emotions to stay attuned to on the journey.
Along with yoga, Mindi owns her business, Time and Place Photography, and enjoys singing with her 90s / 2000s cover band, Konami Code, around Austin. She's a sucker for kombucha, black coffee, and martinis, and can often be found binge-watching the Great British Bake-Off with her husband Tom.
Jen started going to yoga while in college to find relief from her body tension and anxiety. At the time, she wasn’t sure just what it was about yoga but she knew she felt amazing after class. Over time the consistent yoga practice connected her more to her body, improved her life outlook and overall well being. Just a few years after practicing Jen received her first ever yoga teacher certification in 2015. She has been studying yoga and the mind-body relationship ever since. As a curious yoga nerd, she has taken various yoga related trainings and has even completed her 500-hour yoga certification through Yoga Medicine with Tiffany Cruikshank. Jen is drawn to anatomy, functional movement, myofascial release and supporting the nervous system to lead healthy fulfilled lives. In Jen’s classes she cultivates a safe environment for students to become more curious and explore their bodies through mindful breath and movement to find a sense of clarity and ease throughout their day and life.
Jen is originally from Chicago as she moved to Austin in 2019 to pursue her master’s in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. She started her own acupuncture practice in Austin, Radiant Acupuncture, and enjoys treating women’s health concerns, anxiety, depression, and pain. When she’s not treating patients or practicing yoga, Jen loves getting out into nature by walking the trails in Austin and taking a dip in Barton Springs. She also can be found bonding with her cat Baloo and savoring a good latte!
Brannin Lancaster
Brannin first started practicing yoga in 2005 as a way to deal with stressful life situations. He exclusively favored higher intensity, heated styles of yoga until introduced to both Yin and Restorative Yoga many years later, while also adding meditation into his personal practice.
Shay Grabowski is a visual artist, brand creative leader working in tech, and a South Austinite who happened to fall in love with yoga along the way. She's a graduation of the Oak + Lotus 200hr YTT program, and has a particular passion for practicing and teaching restorative yin yoga. She loves modern art, plants, adventures, and her pets (Felix, Fern, Max, and Millie!)
Michaela began practicing yoga in 2008 and really values this time connecting with her breath and body, working out tightness and stress. She never felt called to teach yoga until she became pregnant in 2018 and took her first prenatal yoga class, becoming fascinated with all things pregnancy and postpartum anatomy and wellness.
She became certified to teach prenatal/postnatal yoga in 2020, became a Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist in 2022, and completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2023.
When not teaching yoga, Michaela enjoys live music, spending time outdoors, and learning all about dinosaurs with her young kids. She is also a pediatric occupational therapist. She became a member of Oak + Lotus in 2022 and is excited to join the team, teaching Baby + Me yoga!
A transplant from California (most recently), Jamie has been an active yogi for more than a decade–which she credits with helping her get through years of graduate schooling across the U.S. After moving to Austin at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, she’s now had the opportunity to really enjoy settling into and getting to know an amazing community of fellow Austinites. In addition to helping manage Oak + Lotus, Jamie is a certified Yoga Nidra instructor, and is excited and grateful to offer this unique, transformative practice to others, as it has been central to her own yoga journey for years.
Outside of yoga, she is an avid reader, hiker, and spin and yoga enthusiast. She enjoys spending time with her partner, their two cats, and any friends and family she can find. She’s a coffee and queso addict, an animal lover, and a huge fan of big belly laughs. You can catch her around the studio for lunch classes on weekdays, Nidra on Wednesday evenings, and book club every last Sunday . . . but other sightings in the Oak + Lotus wild are also common. Come say hi when you have a minute! :)
Teacher Team
