Meet our High Yoga Team
Mona Godfrey / Lead Teacher
Mona was born in Riga, Latvia, and has been teaching yoga full-time since 2010. Over the years, her teaching has taken her to many parts of the world—she has lived and taught in Sweden, the US, Indonesia, Australia, and the UK, and has led retreats in Morocco, Italy, Greece, Qatar, and beyond.
She spent several years teaching for the online platform Yoga Today, and has served as both a lead teacher and guest facilitator for teacher trainings at a few different studios. Mona has also been involved in opening and running yoga spaces in California and Perth, and at one point helped manage a retreat centre in Indonesia.
In 2020, she co-founded High Yoga School with Christian Coelho—a London-based school created for dedicated students and teachers looking to dive deeper into practice, study, and meaningful community.
Now based in East London, Mona teaches in person exclusively at Mission E1—a beautiful space rooted in movement and connection. She continues to offer online classes and leads retreats and trainings internationally through High Yoga School.
Christian Coelho / Lead Teacher
Christian is an experienced London-based yoga teacher who offers a unique approach to vinyasa yoga combining mindful movement, intricate breathing practices, healing themes, and music medicine. Born in Rio de Janeiro, where he founded Casa 111 yoga studio, Christian initially trained in Ashtanga & Rocket Vinyasa Yoga and later specialized in the therapeutic styles of Yin and Forrest Yoga.
Inspired by his deep love of native wisdom and Eastern spirituality, he furthered his studies in ceremony with indigenous communities as well as in academic circles at SOAS University of London, graduating with a masters degree in the History & Traditions of Yoga. One of his missions is to present the philosophy of yoga in an accessible way for students to embody its principles.
Christian has been teaching full time for the past 11 years, travelling extensively, running retreats, teaching workshops, lectures, and leading teacher trainings in Europe, Indonesia, and South America.
Jay Barlow / Psychology Module
Jay is a Jungian psychoanalyst and the Director of Training at the Society of Analytical Psychology (SAP) in London. As a Training and Supervising Analyst, he teaches, supervises, and facilitates reflective practice groups across various analytic trainings in the UK, as well as within IAAP developing groups in Europe, Eastern Europe, and China.
Jay’s interests include Human Development from an analytic perspective, the role of infant observation in shaping the analytic attitude, Early States of Mind, Unconscious Fantasy, and the presence of Spirituality in the consulting room.
He originally trained as a body therapist before becoming a counsellor, psychotherapist, and then psychoanalyst. Drawing from his body–mind background, Jay leads several Jungian and transpersonally informed workshops such as The Heroic Journey, The Relationship Workshop, Exploring Personal Power, and Embodied Mindfulness Every-day.
He holds an MA in Jungian and Post-Jungian Studies and has previously worked as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in the NHS, within an acute unit focused on borderline and narcissistic personality disorders.
Jay is currently in full-time private practice in South London.
Jonelle Lewis / Yoga Humanities
Jonelle is a yoga teacher, practitioner, mentor and teacher trainer with over 1,000 hours of training under her belt.
She’s obsessed with movement and spiritual studies which makes her an eternal student. Jonelle teaches and practices yoga as part of her path to awakening and healing and invites her students to do the same.
An activist for racial equality, Jonelle’s mission is to make yoga and wellness inclusive and accessible. She will be co-teaching the Yoga Humanities modules on this training, supporting you as you explore topics such as yoga philosophy, ethics and racial equity in yoga.
Eunice Laurel / Decolonising Yoga Module
Eunice is a yoga facilitator, teacher-trainer and mentor with two decades of work experience in yoga settings. Alongside her role as a yoga educator, yoga outreach and community-based support is at the core of her work, having worked with NGOs abroad, London-based charities, and in private practice. In 2017, she founded Movement for Healing (MFH), a programme that brings trauma-informed yoga into organisations that support people impacted by domestic abuse and sexual violence.
Eunice also holds an MA in Dance Movement Psychotherapy, graduating with Distinction, and undertook her clinical training in acute and intensive psychiatric inpatient units in the NHS through the pandemic. She currently works in the charity sector supporting children’s social, emotional and mental health needs, as well as adult mental health settings.
Eunice holds workshops to support people wishing to embed trauma-aware principles into their teaching, and she provides mentorship to experienced and newly graduated yoga teachers. She is a non-executive director of CIC Mamasuze, an arts-based organisation that supports women and children refugees and asylum seekers.
Ruth Westoby / Decolonising Yoga Module
Dr Ruth Westoby is a researcher in yoga and Asian Religions and a yoga practitioner. Ruth is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Jaina Studies at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies with a focus on technologies of the body. In addition, Ruth is an Associate Researcher at Inform, based at King’s College London, researching menstruation in contemporary religions. Ruth holds a PhD from SOAS University of London on ‘The Body in Early Haṭha Yoga’ (2024), supervised by Professor James Mallinson and Dr Richard Williams, funded by CHASE-AHRC and awarded without corrections. Ruth is currently working on a book project from her doctoral thesis ‘Reversing Reproduction in Haṭha Yoga’. Her research focuses on the materiality of the body, (non-)reproduction and sexuality from critical theoretical and medical humanities perspectives.
Ruth has published early research findings in the peer-reviewed Religions of South Asia (2021) and numerous public articles. She teaches MA ‘Theory and Method in the Study of Religion’ alongside undergraduate courses as Visiting Lecturer at Roehampton University (2023-2026). As a practitioner Ruth collaborated with the SOAS Haṭha Yoga Project (2015-2020) interpreting postures from an 18th-century text teaching a precursor of modern yoga, the Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati. See www.enigmatic.yoga for publications, lectures and workshops.
Zeena Mohedeen / Ashtanga Vinyasa Module
Born in London and raised by parents of Indian Mauritian heritage, Zeena’s interest in the spiritual teachings from India were sparked at a very young age. Witnessing her mother practice yoga asana, and being gifted a book on Krsna consciousness at the age of five, studying Vedic and Tamil texts and their concepts, have formed part of Zeena’s life experiences for over forty years and heavily inform her teaching as a Mysore Ashtanga teacher and Intuitive life coach.
As a young school girl, this interest in the esoteric was also shared with a fascination for learning how the human body functions and the means by which healing in the human body occurs. A focused and ever inquisitive mind led to Zeena completing degrees in both Toxicological biochemistry and Dentistry whilst in her mid twenties. During this stage of her learning, Zeena gained skills in research whilst working as a scientist for a global pharmaceutical and then went on to work as a dental surgeon in busy London practices for eight years. It was during her time as a dental surgeon that Zeena realised that the healing modalities that modern medicine offer were not where her energetic skill set were going to be of best use. So after two years of intense yoga teacher training, fortified by the insights gained from her daily Ashtanga practice, Zeena left dentistry to become devoted to the path of sharing Ashtanga yoga.
Combing the knowledge and skill sets gained both in science and surgery, with more than 25 years of daily practice and ten years of teaching Ashtanga yoga, Zeena’s approach to sharing yoga is firmly rooted in the nature of scientific enquiry as well as the Vedic and Tantric philosophical approaches to exploring Self awareness. Zeena teaches a self-guided, Ashtanga Mysore programme in west London, where she guides students to learn how to embody a set sequence of asanas which, over time becomes committed to memory. By memorising a sequence of asanas, and learning to move through them daily, guided by the flow and nature of the breath, the practising of asana becomes a tool for enhancing focus and concentration, ultimately inviting the student into a state of meditation through movement, bringing the practitioner into the state of inner union - a practice Patanjali refers to as Samyama.
As a tool for navigating the rhythms of modern life, Zeena has understood through her own daily practice, that by bringing awareness to our physical body, our breath and our internal energetic locks (bandhas) there is a possibility that we can start to become aware of neurological pathways that lay hidden in our subconscious mind. Some of these may be beneficial, while some, we come to learn through daily practice, may be holding us in certain patterns of thinking or being that we may wish to spend more time becoming familiar with. In learning to become aware of these, we start the process of yoga. And this, Zeena believes, is where the impact of a daily yoga practice begins to have far-reaching effects on our lives beyond the mat.
Mouse Barnes / Anatomy Module
Mouse is a yoga teacher and doctor. She discovered yoga whilst studying at medical school in Nottingham and has remained dedicated to her practice throughout the seasons of her life that followed. She discovered a love of Vinyasa and Ashtanga in Nottingham and then of rocket style practices and handstands after moving to London.
Mouse became a yoga teacher in 2021 after training with High Yoga School and has subsequently trained in Yin, Rocket and handstands and has recently returned from her 300 hour intensive with HYS. Her classes are educational and playful and she strives to help her students understand their own bodies and practice.
Alongside her yoga practice, Mouse is doctor working in the NHS. She also has a committed voluntary focus and has an interest in supporting vulnerable and disabled children and refugee health. She has taught yoga in all of these settings as well as studio classes. Her medical practice and yoga teaching have remained intertwined and inform her anatomical approach to asana teaching.
You can find Mouse in studios here:
Monday
4:15pm Assisting Sammy Dinneen’s Handstands For Beginners at Mission E1
8pm Yang To Yin at TripSpace
Wednesday
6:15pm Power Yoga at Sāmya Studios
Thursday
7:40am Power Yoga at Blok Clapton
6:15pm Assisting Emily Mergaert’s Live DJ 4 Beat at Mission E1
Sunday
11am Infrared Flow (Vinyasa) at Psycle Victoria
12:15pm Infrared Release (Yin) at Psycle Victoria
4:30pm Handstands at Sāmya Studios
6pm Yin at Sāmya Studios
Lucia Zanone / Co-Teacher
Lucia turned to yoga in her early twenties as a way to find quiet during a chaotic time in her life. On the mat, she discovered a sense of safety and belonging that, without her realising it at the time, marked the beginning of a profound journey of healing and reconnection. What started as a physical practice gradually deepened into an inward exploration.
Originally from Italy, Lucia moved to London in 2021 to begin a new chapter of her life. The relocation brought its share of disorientation and fear, but also sparked excitement and curiosity. Through yoga, she found not just a sense of home in a new country, but also a deeper understanding of what it means to come home to herself. Along the way, she realised that life is too short not to follow one’s true path, that we each have the power to realign our lives with our present desires and aspirations, beyond the limitations of past choices. This realisation inspired her to leave her corporate career and fully embrace teaching yoga.
Lucia teaches intelligently sequenced classes designed to create an inclusive space where students can experiment, have fun, feel grounded, and find moments of quiet introspection. Above all, her classes invite students to show up for themselves, physically, mentally, and emotionally, welcoming all bodies and abilities.
You can find Lucia in studios here:
Monday
7am Hot Vinyasa at Third Space Battersea
8am Hot Vinyasa at Third Space Battersea
1pm Warm Yin at Third Space Battersea
6pm Assisting Mona’s Vinyasa at Mission E1 Spitalfields
Wednesday
12pm Vinyasa at 50HillRise Richmond
Thursday
11am Hatha at Third Space Battersea
6:30pm Vinyasa at Casita Yoga Battersea
Saturday
8:30am Hot Vinyasa at Third Space Richmond
9:30am Hot Hatha at Third Space Richmond
10:30am Hot Yin at Third Space Richmond
Friday
6:15pm Assisting Helen Russell-Clark’s Rocket at Mission E1
Sunday
9:30am Slow Flow at Frame Hammersmith
11am Dynamic Vinyasa at Frame Hammersmith
Mags Karenova / Operations Manager & Co-Teacher
Originally from the Czech Republic, Mags discovered yoga in 2015. After moving to London, her engagement with the practice became more focused and consistent, with its philosophical foundations playing a central role in how she approaches both yoga and everyday life, supporting clarity, awareness, and presence.
She chose to deepen her understanding by completing her initial teacher training with High Yoga School. During this process, she developed a strong commitment to teaching and to sharing yoga in a way that is practical, supportive, and accessible.
Trained in Vinyasa, Rocket, and Yin, Mags offers classes that balance strength and movement with stillness and rest. Beyond asana, her approach focuses on meeting students where they are, encouraging them to work with their own physical, emotional, and energetic needs to create a sustainable and meaningful practice.
Her journey from a student to a teacher and now our Operations Manager is an inspiring testament to her passion for yoga and her commitment to our community.
You can find Mags in studios here:
Monday
10am Vinyasa online on her Zoom
6pm Assisting Mona’s Vinyasa at Mission E1 Spitalfields
8:10pm Yin at ThirdSpace Islington
Tuesday
7am Vinyasa at YogaHome Stoke Newington
8:50am Dynamic Vinyasa at Blok Clapton
6:30pm Flow at Mudra Stoke Newington
Wednesday
3pm Yin Yang Flow at Blok Clapton
7.45pm Yin at Wild Roots Hackney
Thursday
7:30am Morning Flow at MoreYoga Haggerston
9.30am Vinyasa Flow at Tripspace Haggerston
6pm Power at Flo West Hampstead
Friday
12:30pm Hot Vinyasa at ThirdSpace City
6:15pm Assisting Helen Russell-Clark’s Rocket at Mission E1
Saturday
10am Vinyasa at Fold Leyton
12:30pm Dynamic at Mudra Stoke Newington
We are a school of yoga, meditation, and spirituality based in London.
High Yoga School emerged from our desire to offer teacher training programs, advanced courses, mentorship opportunities, and open workshops of the highest standard, all grounded in a strong sense of community.
We chose the word "High" because we believe that yoga has the capacity to lift us above the cycles of fear, greed, and desire. As we tap into the power of our breath, examine our patterns, and bring heat into the physical body, we can reconnect to our divine essence and remember who we are. Underneath all the trials and tribulations of life, there is something magnificent… You.
Now is the time to quest for deeper truths.
Now is the time to have heart-felt conversations that really matter.
Now is the time to embody our highest principles and align with our true nature.
Our lives have changed so much over the past years, and current events continue to reveal deeply ingrained fragilities that need to be faced. Only when we embrace, study, and transcend these difficulties will we be able to move forwards, and create a more sustainable world for those to come.
Most of all, we recognise that deep within, at the core of our being, we are not so different. We all sense a possibility to love more, to be more present, more courageous, more compassionate and kind.
We believe that it is this shared humanity that can help us rise above our limitations and move towards heights never imagined.
With love,
Mona & Christian
Our Mission is to:
Educate as many people as possible in the healing & transformative power of yoga, ceremony, and meditation.
Be an active voice for spirituality, social justice, and equality in the wellness industry.
Provide the highest standards of teacher training & continuing education programs, bringing in specialists from a number of different fields.
Foster a loving community that is devoted to spiritual growth and authentic living.