Richard Villella is an E-RYT 500 hour yoga teacher based in New York City. He currently has a thriving yoga practice helping people with pain due to sports injuries and aging related issues that could not be helped through traditional western medicine and therapies. Richard’s system for curing pain is a culmination of study and personal experience. Years of training to become, and playing as, a professional athlete left Richard at age 23, with a lifetime of injuries and pain. A need to repair and heal his body drew him to yoga. Out of his personal experience with pain, his knowledge and lifelong study of anatomy, and his strategic use of yoga postures, came his formula for eliminating debilitating and chronic pain. Richard has been teaching and studying yoga since 1984. He has built an exclusive clientele comprised of the business and media elite of New York City. Some of his more well known clients include: former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, ex-New York Knick and ex-senator Bill Bradley, ex-CIA Director George Tenet, Sesame Street founder Joan Ganz-Cooney, Herbert Allen, Michael Bloomberg and Garry Trudeau. Some celebrity clients include the late Sydney Pollack, Gloria Steinem and Professional Golfer Raymond Floyd. He also teaches yoga and the science of yoga breathing techniques to an elite group of West Point cadets. From 2012-2017 Richard was a co-owner of Living Yoga, which was awarded “The Best Yoga Studio” in the Hudson Valley for 5 consecutive years. In 2003, Richard was a consultant to the New York Mets during spring training. He was brought in to specifically help their new star shortstop Jose Reyes with recurring hamstring ailments. From 1994-1998 Richard co-founded and operated Yoga Zone yoga studios. While operating five yoga studios, Richard also created and directed the teacher training program. As the head teacher at Yoga Zone, Richard was voted the best yoga teacher in the United States two years in a row by Allure magazine. In 1981 Richard signed with the New England Patriots football team. Later that year he injured his knee and had to have reconstructive knee surgery. After two years with the Patriots, Richard moved to New York City and spent nine years modeling with Ford Models and acting after graduating from The Neighborhood Playhouse Acting Program. Richard Villella graduated from Brown University with a degree in economics. He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Courtney Tarpley and their three children.
Courtney Tarpley took her first yoga class in 1989 with Richard Villella and was instantly hooked. While juggling college and playing D1 tennis, Courtney consistently studied and practiced yoga. In 1993 Courtney graduated from Columbia College and immediately began teaching at Alan Finger’s Yoga studio. From 1994-1998 Courtney managed Yoga Zone studios and helped expand the business to five studios. Over the years she has deepened her knowledge of the many branches of yoga and yoga philosophy by studying with Yogiraj Mani Finger, Yogiraj Alan Finger, Yogiraj Rod Stryker and Richard Villella. Courtney taught yoga classes, workshops and privates in Manhattan steadily from 1993-2008. In 2008 Courtney decided to take a short break from teaching to devote her attention to her three children. As a busy mom, Courtney has learned to teach yoga from a practical point of view. Her Vinyasa flow classes draw from several styles of yoga and concentrate equally on the body, the breath and the mind. Her teaching philosophy is to build strength and flexibility in the body and to calm and focus the mind. Courtney made a yoga video with MTV in 1997 and has posed for many fitness and yoga magazines. Courtney was also on the cover of Fit Yoga. In 2012 Courtney and Richard Villella partnered with another local teacher and opened a successful studio in their hometown in the Hudson Valley. For 5 years they poured their hearts and souls into their studio and shared their love of yoga through classes, workshops and training programs. She continues to teach private clients in New York City.
