Up Flying Yoga Aerial Yoga Arts
Meet Our Staff
Kimberely Simonetti
Celebrity Trainer Kimberely Simonetti, E-RYT, RPYT, Creator and Founder of Up Flying Yoga™, is Yoga Doctor™ certified, Yoga Medicine™trained and a member of the International Yoga Association of Yoga Therapy. Kimberely has spent over 10,000 hours defying gravity creating Up Flying Yoga™ and Up Fly Aerial Dance™ as she is best known for her strong belief in the therapeutic power of Aerial Yoga Arts.
Whether you are attending her classes or you are a teacher in training, Kimberely brings a playful spirit as she guides every kind of individual in exploring and developing their Aerial wings. She customizes every experience based on each practictioner's needs to ensure personal growth.
Kimberely shares her craft outside of Up Flying Yoga™ through New Beauty Magazine, US Weekly, BuzzFeed, MSN Dance Nation, Mythbusters, MTV, VH1, Forbes, Basketball Wives LA, Yoga Journal Live, Goop and Choreographer for shows Live it UP, DJ DragonFly and Los Angeles' Aerial Troupe, The Lovely Hearts.
Find Up Fly Instructors near you
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Gia McLaughlin
Gia has been training with Up Flying Yoga™ since 2014 and has joined the UP Flying Yoga™ family through our Assistant Training program in 2016. She is certified to assist Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1, Level 2 and UP Fly Dance™ Level 1 since August, 2017. Gia also aerial bartends with our Aerial Troupe, The Lovely Hearts.
Her background is in gymnastics and dance and has found Aerial Yoga to be a transformative practice to nurture her past injuries and bring a sense of playfulness and adventure into physical activity.
Los Angeles, CA
Nairi Tahmizyan
Up Fly Instructor Nairi completed
Up Fly™ Assistant training
in 2019. She has completed Up Fly™ Aerial Dance
training in January 2020
and Up Flying Yoga™ level 1 Training in June 2020.
Nairi has been dancing on the ground for over 10 years and Up in the air for over 3 years.
Since being certified at UP Fly, you can find her teaching Up Flying Yoga and Up Fly Aerial Dance 1 & 2 as well as
training often UP in the air.
Los Angeles, CA
Kaylee Sachs
Up Fly instructor Kaylee danced competitively throughout high school and college. Shortly after, she took her first aerial dance class and hasn’t stopped since then! Kaylee has been with Up Flying Yoga™ as a student for over 5 years and is now an Up Fly™ Aerial Dance™ 1.5 certified instructor since August 2018.
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You'll find Kaylee teaching Up Fly™ Aerial Dance™ Level 1.5, Up Fly™ Aerial Dance™ Level 1.1 and Up Fly Aerial Dance Level 2. You'll also see Kaylee performing in our Aerial Show Live it Up through our Aerial Troupe The Lovely Hearts.
Los Angeles, CA
Tri-Cities, MI
Liberty Solek
In Training
Up Fly Instructor Liberty
completed Up Fly™ Yoga Level 1 training in February 2018, completed Up Fly™ Yoga Level 2 training in March 2021 and Up Fly™ Dance level 1 Training in November 2021. She completed her 200RYT with Up Flying Yoga in November 2021.
Outside of Aerial Arts, she is a postpartum Doula and a children's yoga instructor.
She brings a playful, educated spirit to her sessions and ensures every client is taken care of.
Los Angeles, CA
Beckett Arnold
Beckett is certified through
Up Flying Yoga™ since 2013. 200RYT, Beckett diligently trains in aerial disciplines; Aerial Yoga, Lyra, Rope, Silks, Dance Trapeze and Hammock, as well as Contortion and Stiltwalking/dancing.
She believes yoga and movement therapy are essential for physical fitness, spiritual growth, and the sanity to overcome the difficulties of daily life.
Beckett performs stilt dancing, contortion, aerial atmosphere, and aerial bartending with our Aerial Troupe The Lovely Hearts.
Las Vegas, NV
Lena Alani
Lena has completed our extensive Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 Instructors Training Program. She is an Aerialist and dancer originally from Moscow, Russia and a highly passionate aerialist with patience and care for all her students.
You can find Lena teaching Up Flying Yoga Level 1 and Aerial Silks Level 1 & 2.
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And now performing in Cirque Du Soleil's Beatles show.
Santa Monica, CA
Lauren Brown
Lauren completed her teacher training in Up Fly Aerial Dance Level 1 in August, 2018.
Trained in gymnastics at an early age, Lauren has fallen in love with all forms of dance and movement over the past 15 years. She hopes to spread her passion for dance to her students in a nurturing and fun-loving environment.
Altedena, CA
Lisa-Marie Burnside
Lisa-Marie Completed our extensive mentorship
training in Up Fly Assisting and Up Fly™ Aerial Dance in 2016. And our Lovely Hearts Aerial Bartending training in 2015. When she is not in the air, she enjoys hiking and running. You can find Lisa-Marie teaching and performing in and around Altedena and Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, CA
Chelsea Carroll
Chelsea is certified through Up Flying Yoga's™ teacher training in both Up Flying Yoga™and Up Fly Aerial Dance™ in 2016. She also performs and Aerial Bartends for our performance Troupe The Lovely Hearts.
Chelsea holds BFA in Dance with an emphasis in Ballet and has earned her doctorate in Physical Therapy from CalState University. ​
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Seattle, WA
Ruth Choudhury
Hailing from Ireland, Ruth found a love of yoga very early in life thanks to her Indian Father and his yoga teachings from birth. Ruth graduated Up Flying Yoga through our extensive Mentorship Training in 2015, and completed continual education certification in 2016. Ruth calls Up Flying Yoga "the greatest medicine" to those looking for a new way to feel fantastic. Her classes focus on re-connecting to oneself and one's body through mindful breathing as you stretch and strengthen.
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You can find Ruth teaching Up Flying Yoga Level 1, Up Flying Yoga Level 2 and Up Fly Aerial Dance. As well as performing and Aerial Bartending for our Aerial Troupe The Lovely Hearts.
AUSTIN, TX
Jen Von Essen
Jen joined the Up Fly staff in 2018 through Up Flying Yoga scholarship and has been certified in Up Flying Yoga since February 2018, Up Fly Aerial Dance since August 2018 and Up Fly Silks in 2019.
Jen has always felt most comfortable when not connected to solid ground which shows in her childhood of gymnastics and swimming. Finding Aerial Arts through her first class at Up Flying Yoga was a life changing journey, offering peace to both a body full of old injuries, and a soul aching to fly. She trains consistently on silks and hammock but has been branching out to other styles of aerial and circus as well.
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You can also find Jen performing with our Aerial Troupe, The Lovely Hearts.
Mammoth, CA
Ashley Froschauer
Ashley joined the UP Flying Yoga™ team through our extensive mentorship training program in 2014. After many years of high-impact sports and having a hectic career in veterinary cardiology, she has experienced first-hand the physical and mental healing benefits of Aerial Yoga.
Los Angeles, CA
Lidia Giron
Lidia has joined Up Flying Yoga through our Mentorship Training Program. Certified to teach and assist Up Flying Yoga Level 1™.
Los Angeles, CA
Carli Jo
Carli Jo finished
our Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 Teacher and Assistant Training program and was
certified in 2017.
You can see all Carli has been up to through her instagram handle linked below.
Los Angeles, CA
Cindy Lee
Cindy is certified in Up Fly Intermediate Yoga since May 2021 and has been training in Aerial Arts since 2016. She teaches with a playful spirit and focuses on proper form to keep her clients safe while in the air. With a background in pediatrics nursing, she uses that experience when leading her sessions. When she’s not Up in the air, she’s snow boarding, skydiving or traveling.
El Monte, CA
Michelle Li
Michelle is certified through our Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 intensive since August 2018. You can find her teaching the Up Flying Yoga™ method at Fine Yoga in El Monte, Californa.
New Zealand
Danielle Lowy
Danielle is certified through our Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 intensive since August 2017. You can find her teaching Up Flying Yoga™ in New Zealand.
BURBANK, CA
Pamela Kay MacDonald
Pamela is a certified Up Fly Aerial Dance Instructor since June 2019. She is a wife, mother, aerialist, and youth girls/women's speaker.
Behind her aerial work, she has a Bachelors in the Science of Nursing and worked as a Labor & Delivery/Postpartum nurse. She is also a certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise.
Pam strives to help students with energy, encouragement, and her belief in their infinite potential.
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San Diego, CA
Mary Manzella
Mary completed Up Flying Yoga and Up Fly Assist training in November 2019. Up Fly Dance in January 2019 and Up Fly Level 2 in March 2021. She is lifelong dancer classically trained in ballet. Mary discovered her love of flying delivering champagne from the sky as a professional dancer in Hollywood. The San Diego native shares over 20 years of experience in movement theory through her newly found passion for teaching.
Burbank, CA
Kerri Minitti
Kerri completed Up Fly Aerial Dance Level 1 certification in 2019 through our program in Studio City, CA.
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Kerri comes with an extensive background in fitness and a passion for working out.
Glendale, CA
Katie Munroe
Katie completed Up Fly Yoga Level 1 certification in 2018 through 2019.
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With a background as a Board Certified Physical Therapist, Katie takes delicate care in her clients.
Munich, Germany
Birgit Morper
Birgit is currently completing dual certification in Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 and Up Flying Yoga Level 2. You can find her teaching Up Flying Yoga™ in Munich, Germany.
Palestine
Ameera Nijim
Ameera is certified through our Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 intensive since August 2016. You can find Ameera teaching Up Flying Yoga™ in Palestine.
Los Angeles, CA
Melissa Prather
Melissa is Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 certified through our extensive Mentorship training program in 2015 and continual education recertification in 2016. She is 200RYT certified through Trimurti Yoga in Dharamsla, India. Her background in gymnastics has given her the natural passion for teaching her students the confidence to reach high and obtain their goals. She began performing in live action shows at a young age that involved acrobatics, aerial, trampoline and stunts. Melissa has experienced the benefits that a yoga practice can bring and wants to encourage others to find acceptance, empowerment and balance within their practice and in life.
Martha Parshall Richards
SALEM, VA
Christine Price
Christine is an Up Flying Yoga Certified instructor since June 2019, Up Fly Dance since August 2019 and currently teaches in our Studio City location.
Christine having personally long benefited from the healing modalities of mindful movement, meditation and music, she finds joy is in sharing such with others. She is a senior yoga instructor, registered with yoga alliance as ERY-200, RYT500 and has taught a variety of different genres of yoga for over 12 years. It is her joy to welcome each student into the ever more expansive, healthful, expressive and authentic versions of themselves.
You'll also find her teaching modules within Up Flying Yoga's Teacher Training program as well as Up Fly Soundbaths.
Fort Worth, Texas
Martha Parshall Richards
Martha has joined the Up Flying Yoga family and is currently studying towards her 200RYT certification with Up Flying Yoga. She holds a background in formal danc training and pilates.
Los Angeles, CA
Ace Richards
Ace completed Up Flying Yoga Level 1 teacher training and assistant training in 2016. Ace has a vast background in ballet, tap, jazz, modern, and hip hop as he has been dancing for 15 years. Ace enjoys finding peace of mind that can be passed onto others through instruction. He comes to each class open minded and patience to every student.
London, UK
Rana Rains
In Training
Rana is certified in Up Flying Yoga Level 1 and Up Fly Level 2. Rana has background is in Musica and meditation.
Las Vegas, NV
Renee Ransom
Renee completed training through the Up Flying Yoga's teacher training program in Up Flying Yoga level 1 in 2018. And Up Fly Silks Level 1 in 2019. Renee has been an avid runner and enthusiast of high-impact forms of fitness most of her life. Recognizing something was missing, she's added mind-body connectedness, flexibility and balance since her first inversion at Up Flying Yoga.
Austin, TX
Colleen Sands
Colleen has joined Up Flying Yoga™ under our Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 Teacher Training and assistant program. in 2017.
Woodland Hills, CA
Katie Sole
Katie is certified Up Flying Yoga™ as an Aerial Movement Therapist since we first opened our clouds to the public in 2011. Originally from the UK, Katie has a Bachelors degree in Media Arts and Performance from the University of London where she studied movement expression through ballet and contemporary dance.
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You can find Katie on the silks and Aerial Bartending with our performance troupe The Lovely Hearts.
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San Diego, CA
Larisa Stavis
Larisa has joined Up Flying Yoga™ in August 2018 under our Up Flying Yoga™ Level 1 Teacher Training program. Certified to teach and assist our Level 1 Aerial Yoga.
Monrovia, CA
Stephanie Wong
Stephanie completed our Up Fly Aerial Dance Level 1 training in 2019. She is also a hypnotherapist and musically talented in piano.
Santa Monica, CA
Chelsea Wingo
Chelsea has joined Up Fly through our assistant training in 2019.