Meet Your Lead Teachers
We believe that authenticity and vulnerability are key to connection. This video, made by our friend and videographer David, showcases just that. It's a compilation of bloopers from our Rooted Heart Yoga video shoot.
Rooted Heart Yoga Teachers
Crystal Uyeno
Lead Teacher & Trauma Informed Teacher
Crystal began her yoga journey in April of 2014 after a long battle with anxiety and depression. It was the first time she felt true connection and contentment in her mind, body, and soul. From that moment forward, Crystal knew her life was forever changed. She wholeheartedly believes her purpose in this life is to share the practices of yoga and mindfulness with as many humans as possible. Her hope is that the tools they learn on their mats will positively impact their everyday life.
Crystal is a wife and mom to two awesome kids and four friendly dogs. She’s a certified yoga, meditation, and pilates instructor who has been teaching yoga for over 10 years. She has a Bachelors Degree in Philosophy of Religion and a minor in Peace and Conflict studies from Fresno State. She is on the board of Namaste for Compassion, teaches yoga and pilates at Fresno State, a legacy ambassador for Lululemon, a Doumanian Ethics Award recipient for a paper written on “Feminine Ethical Theories”, and an intern for the upcoming Interfaith Scholar Conference in Fresno.
Nayantara Rodrigues
Lead Teacher & Trauma Informed Teacher
Nayantara began her journey as a yoga teacher in 2017 when she completed her 200-hour YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) in Goa, India. Immersed in a 28-day training, away from her family, she found it to be one of her most challenging yet transformative experiences. She emerged with profound knowledge, strength, and wisdom, driven by a desire to share this with others. Inspired, she founded Namaste For Compassion of Central Valley (NFCCV), a nonprofit organization that merges social action with the healing power of yoga.
Beyond her work with NFC, Nayantara is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in private practice, a professor in the Department of Counselor Education and Rehabilitation at California State University, Fresno, a yoga instructor at Four Corners Yoga, a wife, and a mother of two. Her latest venture, Rooted Heart Yoga, aims to extend her passion for yoga, honoring the teachers before her and carrying their teachings forward in her own way.
Dustin Montez
Program Coordinator & Steel Mace Flow Teacher
After an incredible experience completing Rooted Heart Yoga’s 200-hour teacher training with the Journey Fourth cohort, Dustin Montez is honored to be part of the Rooted Heart team.
As the Program Coordinator for Rooted Heart Yoga, Dustin is excited to help create a grounded and welcoming experience for future students. He brings years of experience from post-production and office operations to this role.
Dustin is also a personal trainer and Steel Mace Flow coach who loves mindful, creative movement. He lives in Sierra Madre with his amazing wife, Marianne, and their cat Siri.
Amanda Stetler
Anatomy Teacher
Amanda has been practicing and sharing yoga for 20 years now. She has her undergraduate and graduate degree in Kinesiology, Exercise Science. She is a lecturer in the Kinesiology Department at Fresno State University, while also teaching yoga at Clovis Community College and at Four Corners Yoga. When teaching yoga, Amanda brings her extensive education in anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics to mat, giving students work not just in flexibility, but in mobility, range of motion, and functional strength-based movement that leaves them confident in their body's ability to adapt to new and difficult things.
In addition to yoga, Amanda is active as an avid marathon and ultra marathon runner, spending time in the outdoors as much as possible. She loves adventuring with her husband and three kids in the mountains whenever she can.
Liana Pierce
Business of Yoga Teacher
After 11 years of a career in Corporate America, Liana took a leap of faith into pursuing her dream of opening a small yoga studio, Four Corners Yoga. Yoga has enhanced Liana's life in countless ways. She bursts at the seams when talking about yoga and her goal is to share with others what it can do for the body and mind. She strongly encourages her students to focus their energy on the "Four Corners" of their mat (themselves) and to remember that what is right for one body is not always right for another. She reminds you to leave your ego at the door and remember that yoga is a process/a journey – not a destination. She believes yoga helps you to create space in places you may have felt stuck. It is about becoming aware of the body, becoming aware of the mind (and the noise it can create.) With time, allowing you to make peace with who you are. Knowing that in order to find peace, you must be at peace with yourself first.
Benny Amarlapudi
Ayurveda Teacher
Benny Amarlapudi, an Ayurvedic practitioner and founder of Amaya Wellness in San Francisco, studied at Mount Madonna College of Ayurveda. She specializes in digestive and skin conditions, utilizing Ayurvedic nutrition, herbal formulas, lifestyle plans, and mind-body practices like breathing exercises, yoga, and meditation. Benny also employs marma therapy and Ayurvedic body treatments.She believes that every positive health choice contributes to sustainable well-being. By teaching Ayurvedic principles, she emphasizes holistic health, self-care, disease prevention, and early treatment. Benny has conducted workshops on Ayurvedic Lifestyle for Kaiser Permanente physicians and the Santa Clara public library system..
Jennifer Renney
Adjustments Teacher
Jennifer Renney has been teaching yoga and fitness for over 25 years, offering a thoughtful, alignment-focused practice grounded in anatomical awareness combined with a sense of humor. She completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training through Planet Yoga, founded by Leanne Carey, whose work is deeply influenced by the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar.
Jennifer has pursued advanced studies in Restorative Yoga and Iyengar-based alignment, including studying with Kofi Busia of Santa Cruz, a senior Iyengar teacher and direct student of B.K.S. Iyengar. These influences shape Jennifer’s teaching style, which emphasizes precision, intelligent sequencing, and the therapeutic potential of yoga for bodies of all ages and abilities.
After many years teaching at Planet Yoga Studio in Hermosa Beach. Jennifer returned to California’s Central Valley to raise her family and now shares yoga through studio classes at Four Corners Yoga. A mom of three and an avid runner, she brings steadiness, warmth, and depth to her classes-inviting students to cultivate a meaningful connection to their practice on and off the mat.
Nancy Miller
Sound Practitioner
“Sound as a gateway to deep listening, inner harmony, and restoration”
Nancy Miller is a certified sound practitioner and educator specializing in intentional sound work that supports deep listening, nervous system balance, and inner awareness. Since 2019, she has guided hundreds of participants through immersive sound experiences designed to promote relaxation, restoration, clarity, and connection with the inner self.
Certified by Pure Nature (2019), Life Changing Energy – Expert Level Sound Healer
Certification (2023), and The Academy of Sound Healing (2024), Nancy integrates vibrational instruments including crystal singing bowls, Himalayan bowls, gongs, drums, practitioner’s chalice , and other resonant tools to create immersive therapeutic sound environments.
Her approach emphasizes the power of deep listening, inviting participants to move beyond surface awareness and reconnect with the subtle inner voice that supports healing and insight.
Through carefully held sound spaces, this work helps activate the body’s natural healing mechanisms while cultivating spiritual awareness and nervous system regulation.
Nancy currently offers group sound experiences and individual healing sessions as well as leads sound workshops. She has facilitated dozens of individual sessions and worked with thousands of participants in group sound experiences.