Teachers + Managers
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Alia Khan
Studio Owner + Teacher
Our Founder Alia has been practicing yoga since 2008, teaching since 2012, and opened her first studio in 2015!
From day 1, her mission as a teacher has been to make the yoga world a friendlier place while teaching her students how to use yoga to feel their best physically, mentally, AND emotionally.
Much of her journey as a yoga student involved coming up with creative ways to modify the practice and its poses to fit my body. She's always had a curvy body with tight hips and back muscles, and often felt left out in yoga classes because teachers couldn't offer her guidance on how to adjust the poses to her body, and would instead just tell her to skip it and wait til the next pose. So she started coming up with her own variations and creative ways to use props to make the poses work for her, and she loves sharing those tips and tricks with her students!
Brannin Lancaster
Studio Manager + Teacher
Brannin first started practicing yoga in 2005 as a way to deal with stressful life situations. He exclusively favored higher intensity, heated styles of yoga until introduced to both Yin and Restorative Yoga many years later, while also adding meditation into his personal practice.
Wanting to pass on what has been so beneficial to him, Brannin started teaching in 2018. He has accumulated over 1000 hours of formal teacher training, and being a life-long student, plans to continue down that path. While Brannin appreciates the physical and psychological benefits of yoga, he’s very grateful for the community and connection found among fellow yogis.
Brannin is originally from the Dallas/Fort Worth area. After spending time living in Vermont and Colorado, he has called Austin home since 2013.
Jayd Alvarez
Teacher
Jayd is Oak + Lotus' newest team member and a 200-RYT instructor. She has been practicing yoga for 12 years and recently moved to the Austin area from New York City. For Jayd, teaching feels very intuitive and her hope is to always share the light of this practice with her students.
Besides being trained in Yoga, Jayd has a Bachelors degree in Environmental Studies and a Masters degree in Sustainability Management. So it’s no wonder that she connects to many yogic philosophies, such as the Yamas & Niyamas of Ahimsa, Saucha, and Aparigraha. She is also a dog mom to a sweet girl Suki, and soon-to-be foster dog mom!
Michaela Tierney
Teacher
Michaela began practicing yoga in 2008 valuing the time connecting with her breath and body. She felt called to teach yoga when she became pregnant in 2018 and took her first prenatal yoga class, becoming fascinated with pregnancy and postpartum anatomy and wellness.
She became certified to teach prenatal/postnatal yoga in 2020, became a Pregnancy & Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist in 2022, and completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2023.
Michaela enjoys live music, the outdoors, and learning all about dinosaurs with her young kids. She is also a pediatric occupational therapist. She became a member of Oak + Lotus in 2022 and now teaches Baby + Me yoga!
Tracy Levy
Teacher
Tracy’s first yoga experience was following along with a VHS tape nearly 25 years ago. While yoga began as an antidote to years of training and competing in the sport of volleyball, it quickly grew into something deeper.
Yoga, for Tracy, is a homecoming, an essential method for tapping into awareness of the body, breath, and mind. Her practice has taken her around the world and culminated in a 200-hour teacher training rooted in the Ashtanga yoga tradition, which she completed in 2016. While her foundation is in Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga, Tracy’s classes emphasize play, accessibility, and introspection.
Tracy is a native Texas who recently returned to the state after several decades away. She is thrilled to be joining a studio that emphasizes community and fun. When not on the mat, Tracy stays busy with multiple side-hustles in media and content production and sentencing mitigation. You can usually find her with a book in hand or headphones on, listening to the latest true crime or political podcast series.
Allyson Perez
Teacher
Allyson discovered yoga through her love of meditation and mindfulness, practices she has cultivated for over eight years. Yoga became a powerful tool in supporting her mental health and easing anxiety, which inspired her to complete her 200-hour teacher training and share these practices with others.
Her teaching style is meditative and flow-based, blending vinyasa sequences with a focus on alignment and mind-body awareness. Allyson is passionate about creating inclusive, community-centered spaces where students can feel grounded, supported, and inspired to grow both on and off the mat.
Outside the studio, Allyson loves spending time outdoors hiking, camping, and gardening. She’s also an animal lover and has a deep appreciation for science and the ways it intersects with mindfulness and movement.