Our teachers bring a high degree of training and a wide variety of backgrounds and teaching styles to the Pierce Yoga Program. They have all received instruction from T.K.V. Desikachar and continually study with Margaret Pierce.

Margaret Pierce, Director and co-founder of the Pierce Yoga Program, started practicing yoga in college. In 1974-75, she spent nine months in India; the first of many journeys to study with T.K.V. Desikachar. She began to teach yoga in Atlanta in 1975 and founded the Pierce Pregnancy Program. She became a mother herself in 1983 and again in 1988. Margaret also developed a popular strength training program incorporating both yoga and free weights. Margaret continues to study in the tradition of T.K.V. Desikachar and his father, T. Krishnamacharya, still travels to India,and was a founding member of Viniyoga America in 1986. Margaret teaches all levels of Yoga, Yoga with Free Weights, Pregnancy Yoga, and Pregnancy Yoga with Free Weights.

Laura Alexander has practiced yoga with the Pierce Yoga Program since 1994, including pregnancy classes before her daughter's birth in 1996. Laura has been teaching here since 1997. Today, she teaches Pregnancy, Post Partum, Labor Delivery, Yoga I and Yoga II classes. She has traveled to India with the Pierce Yoga Program to study with T.K.V. Desikachar. Laura has taught Childbirth Education classes since 1997 and is a Doula.

Ayla Harrison has practiced yoga since 1986 and has taught at the Pierce Yoga Program since 1992. In 1998 she traveled to India to study with T.K.V. Desikachar. Ayla teaches Yoga I, Yoga II, Pregnancy Yoga, Post Partum Yoga, and Chanting Workshops here. She also teaches yoga in our Apprenticeship Program and for Emory University's Health and Physical Education Department. Ayla is a trained clinical nutritionist as well as a DONA International Certified Doula.

Pat Madden-Hudson has studied and taught a variety of yoga styles for the past 20 years in both Mississippi and Tennessee. Since 1999, she has focused her attention on study exclusively with the Pierce Yoga Program. Pat teaches Yoga I, Yoga II, Yoga with Meditation, Yoga for Musicians, and Yoga with Free Weights, and Pregnancy Yoga with Free Weights.

Barbara Nardi has practiced yoga since 1969 and has taught for the Pierce Yoga Program since 1983.Barbara teachesboth Yoga I and Yoga II here;she also teaches yoga for Emory University's Health and Physical Education Program. Barbara has traveled to India several times to study with T.V.K. Desikachar.