Our Teachers
Cote Shaw
(Owner, Operator, Instructor)
Cote believes strongly in the idea of maintaining balance, and truly believes yoga is the most ancient and consistent practice to help us strike this balance.. With an ever evolving passion for movement of all kinds, his classes are highly physical but psychologically demanding as well, with a strong focus on mindful movement and breathwork.
A student of his mama, first and foremost, who has been a yoga teacher for over 30 years.. but learning from other greats along the way including David Swenson, Jonny Gillespie and Natasha Rizopoulos, to develop his own traditional but eclectic style, that he is humbled and honored to bring to others through the beautiful space of Mati Yoga..
Gina Mandella
Gina Mandella is a passionate yoga and meditation instructor, with over 20 years of movement and alignment experience. Gina offers an embodied yoga flow, with elements and influences from Vinyasa, Ineygar, Ashtanga, Restorative and Hatha Yoga. Each class she invites students to have an inner relationship with themselves using intention, breathwork, mantra, and sweet juicy movement. She considers every yoga class she teaches a moving meditation.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Dance/Psychology from Roger Williams University and has intently studied yoga for over 6 years. She finished her 200hr teacher training in 2016 at Metrowest Yoga and is an ERYT. Gina continues to grow as a student and expand her knowledge of yoga through workshops, classes, and a deep somatic home practice. Her deepest intention is to open hearts, evoke growth and acceptance, and to provide guidance to others as they journey into self-discovery and inner peace. Gina believes there are immense healing powers within yoga and meditation and is dedicated to sharing and inspiring others to live in their truth, and from their hearts.
Chris Peña
Chris is a dreamer, mindfulness practitioner, and a truth seeker. Who is rooted in authenticity, non-judgement, and unconditional love. Chris has been studying yoga and meditation since 2015. After an injury to the lower back, Yoga helped him to hold space for chronic pain and re-create his lifestyle. The way yoga shows up in his continued recovery keeps Chris’ practice focused on functional strength, stability, and mobility.
Chris balances being a teacher with being a student. After his injury, he began to pursue wellness-oriented programs which included a 200 hr. RYT at MetroWest Yoga (RYS affiliated), the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program taught by Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. Chris is currently studying Immortal Arts Qi Gong under the guidance of Master Jesse Lee Parker. He has also studied with the Integrative Wellness Academy, Ace Personal Training, Precision Nutrition, and an ICF Accredited coaching program at the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). Chris is currently an MBA candidate at Roger Williams University.
These programs have helped Chris transform his life after breaking two bones in his lower back. This injury catalyzed change and created the opportunity for Chris to embody the teachings and education at a cellular level. The less stress he experiences in life, the less pain he experiences. Chris weaves this wisdom throughout the class and creates the space for you to explore your practice with curiosity, love, and compassion.
Doreen DeFazio
Doreen began studying Yoga in her twenties, and is an E-RYT500 certified vinyasa, ayurveda and kundalini yoga teacher. She has led workshops, retreats and teacher trainings and studies yogic traditions such as vinyasa, kundalini, hatha, bhakti, restorative and ayurvedic principles.
She received her RYT200 certification in Worcester in 2017, and her RYT300 at The Kripalu School of Yoga in 2020. She completed an additional 300 hours from the Kripalu School of Ayurveda and is a certified Kripalu Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher. Her most influential teachers include Yoganand Michael Caroll, Kia Miller, Tommy Rosen, Kate O’Donnell and Larissa Hall Carlson, among so many other incredible teachers on her path, including all the teachers at Mati Yoga. There is always something to learn from each other in this never-ending practice and she is humbled by her teachers and students every day.
Her classes are often explorative and playful, leaving inner peace and expanded self-awareness. Her goal is to lead students through immersive and transformational experiences, that can bring a level of expansion and personal power. Her classes are a powerful mix of asana, breath and meditation. All the yogic traditions remind us that we are infused with an incredible life force. What prevents us from experiencing ourselves is conditioned behaviors. The practice of Yoga brings us back to our true brilliance and joy.
Rachel Goldberg
As a Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner (ELI-MP), Rachel integrates her devotion to energetic health with intuitive pattern recognition skills and iPEC coaching tools to facilitate attitudinal awareness for her clients. Creating a safe space for her clients to withdraw from external pressures and witness their patterns without judgment, Rachel’s coaching practice empowers her clients to radically accept what currently is, while making clear focused decisions for moving forward. Working as a team, Rachel supports her clients in designing and achieving goals born from their authentic spirits.
Rachel hired her first Energy Leadership coach in 2013, who introduced her to Emotional Intelligence as a key trait of an effective and regenerative leader. This knowledge inspired an extensive exploration into the energetics of leadership. After four years of applying her leadership studies in the workplace, Rachel decided to leave her corporate career to embark on a journey to help other sensitive and creative souls uncover the self-propelled leader from within.
Rachel’s greatest passion is cultivating intimate connection through ceremony. Connection between self and spirit, humanity and nature, and most of all, unconditionally loving and accepting connection between people. She believes the art of ceremony is one of the most potent ways to create a sacred space in which each soul feels seen, heart, and witnessed. A space in which to surrender to vulnerability and expression. After having developed a personal ceremonial practice with cacao as her guide in 2018, Rachel is honored to spread this heart-opening medicine to the western world. To foster and nurture intimacy among those called to take the journey. To hold space as we drop from the busy and guarded head space into the raw and open heart space.
Sara Basile
Sara discovered yoga in 2010 to cope with the stressors upon the completion of her undergraduate degree. Not long after her first class, she quickly fell in love with the asana practice, and the affirmative effects it had on her overall attitude. As someone who attempted many modalities of movement in adolescence, Sara knew yoga would soon become essential in life.
Sara completed the YogaWorks 200-hour RYT certification and began teaching in 2017. She then completed the 500-hour advanced training with Jason Crandell in 2021, amongst a handful of other trainings with incredible teachers who have influenced her teaching. The approach Sara take to her classes is foundational, functional, and 100 % inclusive. With these components, we can take the yoga practice off the mat and make effective into the world.
Sara believes that this practice is for all people in all communities. She welcomes everyone into a diverse space to create deeper connection with the self and to cultivate positive conviction in the world. Sara aspires that her classes will leave you feeling embodied, impowered, and invigorated.
What You Can Expect from Sara’s Classes
“My education is influenced by the Vinyasa method, with a focus on linking breath with movement in a way that allows the body to fully connect to the offered asana postures. Although, I have become inspried by a variety of contributions from multipole yoga schools, including concepts from mediation and mindfulness practices. I ask students to challenge themselves during their practice through an approach that is compassionate and embodied. Giving students full agency to mindfully choose posture variations for their experience. Expect to feel challenged in a way that is strong, balanced, and explorative. It is my deep-held belief that yoga is not only a practice on the mat, but a way to live; it is about liberation. Liberation for everyone. It is my hope that my class is a space where people can come to connect with themselves and others.”