About us

ROOTED IN ANATOMY

We firmly believe that to know anatomy is to know yourself. The practice of yoga is one of the best ways to integrate that knowledge. Be an observer of your own movements, and you can learn and grow straight from the yoga mat.

All of our movement classes are grounded in the foundation of yoga as well as recent peer-reviewed research. Our instructors are all trained in anatomy and have a passion to help improve the lives of their students. We take pride in our elevated teachers.

OUR VALUES

  • TO KNOW ANATOMY IS TO KNOW YOURSELF

  • MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

  • FOLLOW SCIENCE + EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICES

  • EMBRACE CONSTANT GROWTH + EDUCATION

  • LAUGH OFTEN

  • SERVE THE COMMUNITY

  • EDUCATION AT OUR CORE

  • DIVERSITY + INCLUSION

  • YOGA FOR ALL STAGES OF LIFE

about us

We are located on 901 1st street in historic downtown Benicia. The 1800s building that houses our completely renovated studio is beaming with sunlight and charming character.

We teach a lot of yoga classes, but we are movement enthusiasts who believe that diversity in your exercise regimen is essential to optimizing your health and wellness. You can expect to do yoga in each class, but we also utilize stall bars, weights, and props. 

We host a number of programs for further enrichment. We love the quarterly Bootcamp program to jumpstart your metabolism and exercise routine. The Goal Chasers program will help you stay on track moment to moment in life. 

A large part of who we are is an education company. Our educational programming includes a 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training, a 55-Hour Yoga Fit Flow training. We also offer Anatomy of Movement and Biomechanics of Movement Training programs which are offered in modules and can be completed in any order.

Meet Your instructors

 

Laura Mary Linsley

Laura was a two-sport NCAA athlete in college where she played soccer and lacrosse. She began searching for a way to stay active while challenging herself after the conclusion of her college athletic career. Laura found yoga and dove headfirst into her practice. Laura completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in San Diego in 2012. Next, Laura moved to Hawaii to continue her studies, earning a master of public health (MPH) degree and a PhD in biomechanics and anatomy from the University of Hawaii, at Manoa.

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Following her MPH program, Laura jumped into full-time yoga teaching. She loved the immediate impact she could have on individuals and the community. Now, with more than a decade of teaching experience Laura has built a career out of teaching yoga, health, and fitness. She has taught group classes, private instruction, health/life coaching and consulting, yoga retreats, large scale events, corporate classes, and more. She has personally instructed and mentored many students and trained them to become instructors. Her graduates have gone on to open their own yoga studios.

Laura is an expert in human movement, anatomy, psychology, and the brain. She has taught 20 undergraduate courses at the University of Hawaii in exercise science, 9 graduate-level courses as a teaching assistant, and she worked for three years at the John A. Burns School of Medicine as a teaching assistant working in the anatomy cadaver lab. The Elevate Company is the joining of her yoga career, her graduate education, and mastery of human anatomy and biomechanics. Opening The Elevate Company is the culmination of her life’s work.

Rory Church

Fitness and movement have always been a big part of Rory’s life—at an early age she became a competitive swimmer, which led to water polo at both high school and college levels. While engaged in the rigorous pursuits of earning her BA in Political Science and playing water polo for Queens College in New York City, Rory found a comforting outlet and added sense of community in a local, Brooklyn yoga studio, which began her journey in earnest.

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Now an avid yoga practitioner for over a decade, Rory completed her 200-hr YTT in 2020. While she found comfort, fitness, and healing in her practice, it became particularly crucial after she suffered a back injury during the pandemic. Rory used yoga and meditation as means to recover both physically and mentally, and in the process developed a more thoughtful and gentle practice. This included learning to move more ergonomically and incorporating practices like CFR and Yin Yoga. Rory hopes to bring more healing and joy by sharing her practice and experience with others.

Carly Waterstraut

Carly is a nurse practitioner and mother by day and a singer/songwriter and seamstress by night. She’s practiced yoga for 18 years but only recently recommitted to the practice and began teaching. Carly believes that the asanas and breath work of yoga can heal physical and emotional trauma and is dedicated to making yoga accessible to people of all bodies sizes, abilities and socioeconomic classes.

Heather Souza

Heather Souza has had an on again off again relationship with yoga that recently became a passion after completing her 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training at The Elevate Company in 2022. Being a former preschool teacher, junior high PE teacher and coach it made sense to continue her education to combine her love for teaching children and yoga and received her Children’s Yoga Certification from YogaEd. 

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Heather believes in the current state of the world children need stress management and coping skills now more than ever. By bringing yoga and centeredness to child, she knows, they will thrive not only in their day to day but as lifelong learners and empaths. When she is not teaching she is outside in her garden, walking her pups, or paddleboarding.

Dana Barton

Dana’s 20+ year yoga journey began with a noon-time Iyengar Yoga practice at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco, where she continues to work. Growing up in the mountains, Dana was inspired to make her life work the cleanup and conservation of California rivers and groundwater. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Throughout her life, Dana has also had a great love of dance and music, she took dance lessons throughout her younger life and in college was a member of a collegiate-level dance team. She is married to a musician and the mother of two young men.

She was delighted when The Elevate Company opened within walking distance of her house in Benicia. She received her 200-Hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Laura Mary Linsley at The Elevate Company in August 2023 and is delighted to share her joy of yoga with others.

 

Derek Linsley

Derek has a civil engineering degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a masters degree from the University of Hawaii, at Manoa in Ocean Engineering. He is a practicing and licensed Civil Engineer in the State of California and the State of Hawaii. He came to yoga in search of a balance to the stress of his engineering career. He completed his 200-hour yoga teacher training program in Honolulu, HI in 2014. Derek has eight years of yoga teaching experience at multiple studios and resorts on Oahu and at yoga retreats held throughout the State of Hawaii. 

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Derek is a lifelong waterperson and environmentalist. As a passionate foodie, Derek is dedicated and fascinated by human nutrition. Derek loves learning about the holistic relationship between our food and human performance, and the environmental impact of the food we eat.

Kay Andrade

Kay began her yoga journey in 1998 while pregnant with her second child. She continued to sneak a practice in here and there, while raising two kids and moving coast to coast for her husbands career. After an accident in 2014 left her with a broken back, she decided to go deeper into her practice to help with her recovery. She completed her 200 hour teacher certification in 2015 and extension program in 2016. She has been actively teaching since March of 2015.

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"Yoga has been such a healthy and positive experience for me. I want to share it with others, of any age!"
Besides yoga, Kay also enjoys The Beatles, paddle boarding, hiking, walking and painting. She volunteered as Chairperson for the John Muir Medical Center Auxiliary, from 2010 to 2017, working with local Art Associations to display their artwork at the the Aspen Surgery Center in Walnut Creek.

Audrey Matthews

For the majority of her life, Audrey has always been in love with creative movement and how music enhances her intuitive expression. From the age of three, she began taking dance classes and continued to explore a variety of styles up until graduating high school.

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Within her first year of college, Audrey deeply missed having an outlet within the artistic space. Fortunately, just when she needed it the most, a new local yoga studio opened up!

After taking her first class at The Elevate Company, she immediately fell in love with the practice and became inspired by all the wonderful instructors. Within her first year of starting her yoga journey, Audrey decided to deepen her knowledge and completed her 200-hour teacher training in 2023 with Laura Mary Linsley at The Elevate Company. Now that she’s a teacher, she hopes to spread her love for yoga as well as help students form a stronger mind-body connection.

Carrie Tides

In 1997 Carrie took her first yoga class and immediately fell in love. After college, she spent the next decade traveling the world, working and getting deeper into her personal yoga practice. Outside of her full time job she enjoys doing all things yoga, cooking, gardening, exploring and traveling with her two young boys and dogs.

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Although she thoroughly enjoys the movements of classes, she genuinely believes that yoga is so much more than a physical practice. Yoga allows us to be present for ourselves during that time spent on the mat and to hopefully continue being present well after. It allows us to heal ourselves from within, truly love ourselves, to find and honor our authentic selves.

Carrie aims to provide a safe space for challenging oneself, spiritual growth, playfulness, and non-judgement while simultaneously emphasizing foundation principles and alignment. Connection among breath, body, mind and spirit will be encouraged during class.

Ally Romero

Ally Romero is a doctor of physical therapy, specializing in pelvic health, mom of 2, devoted yogi, and recent 200 hour RYT graduate. She has found deep physical and mental connectedness. peace, and stability within her own yoga practice and is so honored to have the opportunity to humbly impart some learned yogic wisdom as a teacher.

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Her approach combines a special interest in women’s health/rehabilitation, breath work, and yogic philosophy with a deep knowledge of the physical anatomy and biomechanics of the asana practice. Her classes will apply a tailored and thoughtful focus to foundational core and pelvic floor muscle function and strength combined with safe/inclusive and challenging sequences to cultivate a practice that students can continue life long!

Kathrina Roldan

Kathrina began practicing yoga in 2009. As a dental hygienist and mother of two, maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle has always been a priority. Yoga has provided a sanctuary where she can relieve stress, strengthen the body, and cultivate a balanced mindset.

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In the Fall of 2023, she decided to deepen her practice and become a yoga instructor so that she can share both the physical and mental benefits of yoga with others. Kathrina completed her Yoga Fit Flow Training at The Elevate Company.

When she’s not on the mat, she enjoys spending time with her family, enjoying music or audiobooks, and exploring the outdoors. She loves to go snowboarding in the winter, while camping or paddle boarding during the summer.