Elise Caldarola - E-RYT 500, YACEP, Classical Pilates Mat 100 hour (600 hour comprehensive classical pilates in progress!)

Elise is a yoga & pilates teacher, herbalist, and New York State certified teacher with over 10 years of teaching experience. She lives in Westchester County, NY and teaches yoga and pilates at several local studios along with leading international retreats, teacher trainings and continuing education for teachers.

Trained classically as a dancer for the first 20 years of her life, she has been practicing yoga since 2007 and first came to the practice because it felt good physically. Over time, however, she became more dedicated to the practice for its emotional, mental and spiritual benefits. Working as a teacher in a crowded, high pressure New York City school, she experienced the negative effects of stress on a daily basis. As a typical Type-A overachiever, yoga became a place for her to quiet the mind and step out of the stress of work and daily life. Although she initially looked to yoga as a physical workout, what’s kept her on the path has been the inner work.

Yoga has also helped her immensely through personal health challenges and chronic illness. She has suffered from autoimmune disease since she was a teenager and credits yoga with keeping her joints mobile and healthy, and her stress levels manageable. She has seen firsthand the effect that yoga can have on the body, mind and spirit through dedication to the practice. As a result, she firmly believes that yoga is for everybody and every body and can be adapted and modified to suit all needs.

She completed her 200 hour training in 2018 at Yoga Haven in Scarsdale, New York with owner Betsy Kase. Through her 200 hr training, she gained enough perspective and courage to leave her decade-long career as school teacher in order to prioritize her wellbeing. She then completed her 300 hour training, specializing in yin yoga and yoga nidra, with Jacqueline Chiodo of Joyful Yoga, at Anamaya Resort in Costa Rica, where she committed fully to pursuing yoga professionally.

In addition to yoga, Elise completed a 200 hour Ayurvedic Wellness Practitioner certification program with Shakti School in 2020. She has also completed Level 1 and Level 2 trainings in herbalism with Twin Star and a training in clinical herbalism with Wintergreen Botanicals under Maria Noel Groves.

Elise’s most recent training is the completion of a 100 hour classical pilates mat training with Pilates Glow in 2026. She is now continuing on to complete her 600 hour comprehensive classical pilates certification.

When she’s not on the mat or in the pilates studio, Elise loves traveling, being in her garden, spending time with animals and fostering rescue dogs and is at her best and happiest soaking in the tub or the sea.