Meet the P+P Mentors

  • Emily Vartanian-Tuttle

    Emily Vartanian-Tuttle, the founder and director of programming at Pause + Purpose, is a powerful advocate for intentional living.

  • Nina Antolino

    Nina’s is a Certified Yoga Instructor and Mindfulness Practitioner, a Certified Level III Usui Reiki Master, a Certified Life Coach through the Empowerment Institute, and a Certified Stretch*d therapist. 

  • Pause + Purpose Alex Blank

    Alex Blank

    Alex Blank, a physical therapist, helps individuals restore body harmony by addressing stress’s impact on musculoskeletal health. Using posture education, QiGong, and mindfulness, he guides clients toward resilience and balanced wellness.

  • Pause + Purpose Dr. Nancy Byrne

    Dr. Nancy Byrne

    Dr. Nancy Byrne is an Acupuncturist and a Certified Yamuna practitioner with over 21 years of experience in the health and wellness industry. She can’t wait to share her knowledge with you, so you are empowered to play a role in your own healing.

  • Pause + Purpose Dr. Tanvi Gandhi

    Dr. Tanvi Gandhi, ND, L.Ac

    Dr. Tanvi Gandhi is a Naturopathic Physician, and Licensed Acupuncturist in CT and NY. She is the founder of Shiva-Shakti Acupuncture and Ayurveda LLC. Her powerful techniques combine the best of holistic medicine practices and assist clients on their path to self-healing.

  • Daniella Janis

    Daniella empowers individuals to reconnect with their unique essence through art, embodiment, yoga, and psycho-spiritual practices. Blending ancient wisdom with modern somatic healing, her work inspires transformation rooted in Tantra, Buddhism, and feminine mysteries.

  • Jim LoPresti

    Jim LoPresti is a multi-instrumentalist and sound bath practitioner specializing in handpans, gongs, and chimes to create immersive, meditative experiences. Drawing on his studies in Tibetan Buddhism, he integrates mindfulness and soothing tones to promote deep relaxation and stress relief.

  • Pause + Purpose Franciska Marczy Farkas

    Franciska Marczy Farkas

    Franciska is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, herbalist, yoga teacher, and sound healing facilitator with over 20 years of experience. She specializes in pelvic floor health, yoga, meditation, and breathwork. Her Ayurvedic practice focuses on personalized digestive health, herbal remedies, lifestyle education, and spiritual support.

  • Pause + Purpose Lydia Picoli

    Lydia Picoli

    Lydia Picoli is a priestess, spiritual coach, international speaker, Master's candidate, yogic/breathwork/reiki and tantric practitioner, retreat host, academic researcher, and Spotify Top 10 podcast host of As It Goes. Lydia specializes in transforming leaders into spiritual visionaries through their soul-purpose, next-level embodiment, and spiritual and personal mastery.

  • Shirley Chock

    Shirley Chock, known as "The Stressbender," is a Tai Chi expert and owner of Aiping Tai Chi. With a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, she combines her financial acumen with her mastery of Tai Chi.

  • Nadine Soars

    Nadine Soars MAR BSc is a highly experienced licensed reflexologist, Reiki facilitator, sound healer, and embodied meditation teacher with over 20 years of practice in the field of holistic healing. With a deep passion for supporting others on their journey to balance and well-being, Nadine integrates multiple modalities to create deeply transformative healing experiences.

  • Leah Pucciarelli

    Leah is a compassionate Yoga, Meditation and Mindfulness Teacher. Leah holds a 200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Certification from Bend Yoga.

Our Community Partners and Collaborators

  • Maria Allen

    Maria is licensed in CT and NY as a massage therapist. She has completed and incorporates Level 1 and 2 of Upledger Craniosacral Therapy into her practice, and also holds a 200-hour yoga teacher training certification from Kripalu.

  • Catherine Barrett, from Grounded Meditation, began her meditation journey seven years ago and has been committed to it ever since.

    Catherine Barrett

    Catherine began her meditation journey seven years ago. She completed her teacher training in the Shamatha style of meditation, holds a Reiki Master certification, and is trained in Pranayama Teachings.

  • Suzy Bessett

    Suzy has a proven track record of helping her clients shift from chronic dieting to sustained changes. She developed a proprietary, 12-week program that helps clients unwind generational, disordered eating and get on with living.

  • Jacqui Bongiovani

    Jacqui Bongiovani is a coach, yoga instructor, and meditation teacher who is dedicated to helping others tune into the frequency of abundance and consciously create their reality.

  • Cheryl Bundy, MAR, MPA

    Cheryl is the Director of Spiritual Care at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan. She runs psychoeducation groups and counsels individual patients on spirituality, spiritual practices, grief and loss, and finding meaning.

  • Kurtis Brand

    Kurt is a multi-disciplinary contemplative artist who incorporates themes of emptiness, meditation and Buddhism into his work. He started on the path of the Dharma almost 20 years ago.

  • Abbey Chase

    Abbey is a professional yoga instructor who understands how to work with individuals of varying fitness levels, ages, injuries and limitations. She encourages her students to realize that consistent practice leads to real, measurable results.

  • Jennifer Close

    Jennifer is a life coach certified through the Integrated Wellness Academy with a background in cheer coaching and counseling.

  • Shirley Chock

    Shirley Chock, known as "The Stressbender," is a Tai Chi expert and owner of Aiping Tai Chi. With a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Chicago, she combines her financial acumen with her mastery of Tai Chi.

  • Mary Dobson

    Mary is among the first nationally awarded with post-graduate education certification in the provision of family-focused school-based mental health intervention services.

  • Bianca Dusic

    Bianca is a Mindset & Transformation Coach. With certifications in Hypnotherapy, Emotional Freedom Technique, Holotropic Breathwork, and Health Coaching, she uses different tools and techniques to reprogram the subconscious mind to create long lasting changes.

  • Pause + Purpose Leah Kragh

    Leah Kragh

    Leah is a holistic pediatric occupational therapist living and working in Connecticut. Movement is a key ingredient for her mental health and she loves to incorporate it in all of her work with children and families.

  • Pause + Purpose Alexis Lawton

    Alexis Lawton

    Alexis is a scholar of philosophy, a mother, and an artist, and she’s been hosting goddess circles since 2016. She’s skilled in a variety of modalities to heal the whole person.

  • Lisa Miller, Ph.D.

    Dr. Lisa Miller

    Lisa Miller, Ph.D., is the New York Times bestselling author of The Spiritual Child and her new book is The Awakened Brain.

  • Diane is the founder of Grounded Meditation and has been teaching for about ten years and has been fortunate to be able to share her knowledge with students in both the private and corporate world.

    Diane Nickelberg

    Diane is the founder of Grounded Meditation and has been teaching for about ten years and has been fortunate to be able to share her knowledge with students in both the private and corporate world.

  • Caitlin Oliveros

    Caitlin Oliveros is a licensed physical therapist in NY and CT. After working in traditional outpatient clinics, Caitlin found that conventional models of care in PT were overall standardized, limited, and impersonal. Caitlin is currently specialized in functional movement, chronic pain, pelvic floor, scoliosis, and hypermobility. Outside of physical therapy, she is also a pilates instructor, health coach, and reiki practitioner.

  • Lisa Pak

    Lisa discovered yoga, meditation and chanting as a way to unplug from the daily demands of working in Manhattan as graphic designer for major advertising firms. Today, she is the “guardian” of Connecticut’s very first and ONLY Harmonic Egg®.

  • Rocky Progano

    Rocky Progano is a Certified Guide with the Flow Genome Project (FGP), who specializes in harnessing peak performance and transformational leadership principles. Beyond his professional pursuits, Rocky is the founder of RIPROUR, a local outdoor adventure community dedicated to fostering connections with nature while giving back through various fundraising events.

  • Marisa Raguso

    Dr. Marisa Raguso, PT, DPT is a pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist and the owner/founder of Reform Physical Therapy. She is an expert in female pelvic health conditions, including but not limited to incontinence, pelvic pain, and postpartum rehabilitation.

  • Aimee Raupp, MS, LAc

    Aimee Raupp is a renowned women’s health & fertility expert, celebrity acupuncturist & coach, and best-selling author of many empowering books.

  • Pause + Purpose Ginger Richardson

    Ginger Richardson

    Ginger is a Certified Integrative Health Coach, Facial Gua Sha Practitioner and a Sauna and Cold Plunge facilitator. She utilizes many holistic modalities to attain a balance in life and enjoys sharing what she has learned about their benefits.

  • Christian Rosstad

    Christian Rosstad is an artist and mindfulness expert who combines his passion for mindfulness with his art. He received his Level One Teaching certification in MBSR from Brown University and has been studying mindfulness for over a decade.

  • Morgan Shear

    Morgan Shear is a certified holistic health coach with a mission to help women live their healthiest and most authentic lives.

  • Yael Shy

    For the past fifteen years, Yael has been using the transformative power of mindfulness, rooted in her 20+ years of study in Judaism and Zen Buddhism, to support herself and others through the pressures of life.