Our Instructors

Medvis’ background in athletics goes back to the age of five, when he started playing basketball competitively for various youth leagues. 15 years later he fell in love with parkour for its mental challenges and the freedom it allowed him to have with his training. When he got into climbing a few years later, he was happy to realize that the skills he learned while training parkour helped tremendously. His fitness class is ultimately inspired by the movements he learned practicing parkour, along with a desire to expose people to the sport in a friendlier, risk-free environment. Medvis studied kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton with an emphasis in strength and conditioning, which gave him the biomechanical knowledge necessary to be able to safely guide people of all ability levels through these movements.

Amanda is a Southern California native and grew up playing in the sunshine. Movement, exploration, and connection have been at the heart of her life. Whether spending time in nature and with animals, or expressing herself and enjoying movement through dance and sports, these guiding principles have shaped Amanda’s life and in turn she has created a life around them.

After years of dancing professionally, Amanda took her first yoga class at the local YMCA in 2005. She was instantly hooked. Intrigued by the practice, she dove in because it asked her to become more aware of herself, and more importantly, more conscious of how she reacted to and viewed the world. Amanda found her teacher, Tony G, in 2008 and completed her first teacher training with him in 2011. In 2012, she was initiated into a meditation practice with Paul Muller Ortega.

Amanda sees yoga as an invitation for us to become more mindful and connected to our bodies, to others, and to the world. Expect well-sequenced classes that weave awareness of breath, exploration of alignment and movement, threads of philosophy, and space to be. Amanda is a Yoga Alliance E-RYT 200 and RYT 500 registered yoga teacher and lululemon athletica ambassador.

Joanna was first introduced to yoga in 2011 in LA and practiced the styles of Hatha and Iyengar. While living in Davis she was exposed to the more playful and acrobatic style of acroyoga and the more disciplined sequence of Bikram. After graduating from UC Davis, she lived in Beijing, China for three years where she practiced the more challenging styles of Ashtanga and Baptiste yoga. After returning to LA, she fell in love with climbing and experienced the benefits that yoga has for climbing. She believes that yoga is the perfect complement to climbing, helping balance out the muscles and promoting recovery so that we can climb harder and move more efficiently.

Amanda has a diverse movement background that started with gymnastics at the age of 4. She trained competitively until 13 years old and then started studying ballet. From there she continued studying more dance styles and eventually graduated from Chapman University with a BFA in dance performance with a minor in kinesiology. While in college she also found yoga and became a certified instructor. After college, she fell in love with climbing and also began lifting and doing HIIT as cross-training. Currently, she works as a professional stunt performer, dancer, and certified fitness instructor. In Amanda’s classes, you can expect a lot of focus on technique and alignment but also a lot of focus on having fun!

Nico’s yoga practice began in his teens when he joined his mom in her first yoga class designed for patients with chronic health conditions. He learned that human wellness is greatly dependent on how well we nurture the relationship between our body and our mind. To no surprise, Nico went on to become a mental health clinician after graduate school at UC Berkeley as well as a certified yoga teacher. He currently practices as an integrative, trauma-informed yogi that pulls from vinyasa, yin, and restorative yoga practices. Nico teaches from the perspective that each student is the expert on their own body. His classes offer guidance through sequences that connect breath to movement and promote the balance of mobility and strength.

Salem is a lifelong athlete. They started playing soccer at the age of 4, embarking on a 22-year-long career that included playing for some of the top youth clubs in Southern California, a Division 1 soccer career at the University of California, Riverside (UCR), as well as a short semi-professional soccer career. After hanging up their boots, Salem fell in love with Olympic Weightlifting. During the year they spent in between undergraduate and graduate school, Salem interned at UCR for the Strength and Conditioning department and began competing with United States Weightlifting (USAW). They have competed at both the local and National levels, collecting various medals along the way. Understanding the empowerment that can be achieved through active participation in sports, Salem’s class focuses on teaching the foundational building blocks of weightlifting. In doing so, they believe everyone can gain the confidence needed to combat the sometimes intimidating environment of the weight room. Salem sees building and maintaining a strong body as well as learning to move well as crucial aspects of becoming the best (and healthiest) climbers we possibly can be.