Anna Ferguson was first introduced to yoga 10 years ago. Over the years, it has helped her overcome many obstacles in life, including chronic illness and injury. Anna is a graduate of Asheville Yoga Center's Teacher Training program. She draws from her wide range of experience of Vinyasa Flow, Yin, Forrest and Therapeutic yoga in each class. She is interested in sparking the fire in your spirit to inspire you to incorporate the benefits of yoga into your life, enabling you to walk a path of health, peace and happiness. She especially loves working with students with the challenges of illnesses or injuries, as they are some of her best teachers in life. She offers her students her sensitive and responsive nature as an instructor, and her desire to teach you how to play yoga! Anna also has a private Therapeutic yoga practice in downtown Asheville. You can find out more about her at ushasyoga.com.
Brooke Sullivan is a mother and yogini with a love for nature and rhythm. 8 years ago she began her practice of yoga with the Ashtanga Vinyasa system while pregnant. It not only opened her mind, but her body and heart to the deeper secrets of yoga. On a quest to understand these ancient teachings, and how to apply them to life today, she traveled to India to study Ashtanga from the Jois family. When she returned, at the request of her mentor, she began to teach. A couple of years later, something shifted within Brooke and her relationship to yoga. She was suffering from "burning the candle at both ends" and realized Ashtanga was no longer a perfect fit. Craving a lon-linear practice that incorporated creativity, rhythm and the deeper teachings of pranayama, mantra and meditation, she began to explore other styles of yoga. Brooke has been blessed by many teachers and has a deep respect for all yoga traditions. She has found her personal style of yoga (which weaves in teachings from Anusara, ParaYoga, Vinyasa Flow, Kundalini, Restorative, Yin and Mother Nature) to be firm yet gentle, spiritual, and with a focus on sattva or balance, of the body and mind.
Caitlin Van Hecke discovered her need for yoga while living amongst the creative chaos of NYC, where she resided for close to 3 years. She fell in love with the discipline it brought to her life, as well as the freedom that opened up within. She continued to deepen her practice after her move to Asheville, and obtained her certification at the 230 hr through Asheville Yoga Center, as well as in Kids and Pre-natal yoga. She continues to be grateful and amazed of yoga’s power to create grace and ease- the physical aspect being just the beginning. Her fascination with the connection between what happens on the mat versus off, is what propels her to share yoga with others. The biggest AHA moment in her life as a yogi was being in class one day (years after the start of her practice), and finally understanding the importance of the breath. It was as if nothing had fully existed until that moment. She takes great care to breathe deeply on a regular basis now.
Candra Tuit is a graduate from UNCW with a degree in
Exercise Science and a certified personal trainer
through NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning
Association). While living in Boone, Candra's growing
love of yoga inspired her dive deeper into her own practice and attend the 9 month teacher training
program at the Asheville Yoga Center. Upon graduating
she began teaching at Neighborhood Yoga Studio in
Boone. Candra moved to Asheville to attend the
Asheville School of Massage and Yoga and now has a
successful practice as a certified LMBT. Candra loves
ALL aspects of yoga and enjoys including several
traditions into her class. She links the asanas
through a vinyasa flow while including components of
Kundalini, Anusara and Yin Yoga. She encourages her
students to use their breath to create ease in the
body and mind while also listening to their greatest
teacher which lies within.
Chenin Duclos realized her love for yoga shortly after moving to Asheville from Washington in 2004. While out getting to know her new home, she stumbled across her neighborhood yoga studio, the Asheville Yoga Center. And so a path was discovered and a journey began. Desiring to expand her knowledge of this new love, she attended the 9 month yoga teacher training at AYC and began teaching. Chenin is also a graduate of the Asheville School of Massage and Yoga and currently practices an integrative style of massage out of The People’s Acupuncture Clinic in North Asheville. In addition to teaching and bodywork, she is a culinary enthusiast, nature lover, biker and mama to her two year old dog, Fern!
Chenin welcomes yogis of all levels to her gentle class. She helps students connect with their bodies, embrace their own vital breath and cultivate compassion and appreciation for self and others. With a soft voice, relaxing music and slow moving postures, her gentle class provides an ideal environment to slow down from the day, quiet the mind, and begin to listen to your own inner teacher. As a student of yoga (and life!), Chenin looks forward to the ongoing discovery of what’s already inside…for “The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.” -Kahlil Gibran
Jakub Holy has been studying, teaching and practicing Yoga for eight years. He is thrilled to be involved in such a great community of wonderful teachers and students. He teaches a powerful and fluid vinyasa flow creating a deep purifying heat in the body and a calm mind. In this class you will use vinyasa to link poses, pranayama to cleanse the breath, bandas to store energy, asana to align the body and meditation to calm the mind. This class often includes inversions and some challenging advanced poses along with occasional partner work. Jakub's aim is to explore Yoga as a deeply spiritual, self affirming and fun practice.
Jane
Anne Tager, mother of three, has been practicing yoga at AYC since 1995. Now she not only rewards herself through her own practice, but also by teaching Pretzel Kids yoga classes (for over a decade). Jane Anne says teaching yoga to kids offers them strength, balance, flexibility, and heightened awareness that benefits them far beyond their mats. It also offers them some much needed down time, and time to just sit with themselves. Better yet, it is just plain fun.
Jane Anne also teaches pre-natal yoga. These classes turn the attention to the breath while stretching deeply, incorporating poses that nurture the low back, open the hips, and work out other kinks that may occur during pregnancy. It offers moms-to-be an opportunity to nurture themselves and connect with other pregnant mamas, encouraging them to take time out to care for themselves and their changing bodies.
Joe
Taft is a certified Anusara Yoga instructor who has dedicated himself to the practice of yoga since 1997. His teaching style is approachable, lighthearted, uplifting and transformational. Joe interweaves Anusara’s life-affirming and heartfelt approach into his classes through myth, storytelling, Tantric philosophy and the wisdom gathered through his own life’s journey. He has completed hundreds of training hours with John Friend, Sianna Sherman and other senior Anusara instructors.
Anusara Yoga’s principles of alignment and therapeutic components match Joe’s keen awareness of body biomechanics and his long history as a devoted athlete. After years of avid whitewater kayaking, Joe’s quest to relieve his chronic back pain led him to his life’s passion, the study and teaching of yoga.
Joe teaches weekly yoga classes for all levels, teacher trainings, Anusara immersions, workshops and retreats. He also offers one-on-one instruction. Joe lives in Asheville with his wife Susanne and their loving daughter, Taytum.
Kelly Gilmore has had a deep love for yoga for the last 9 years. She weaves from her background of Anusara yoga, Flow yoga, Chakra studies and many hours of therapeutics to create a fun, dynamic class that is available to all levels. Kelly is an RYT, Anusara inspired, certified in flow and a nationally certified massage therapist and bodyworker.
Lia Pardy has been practicing yoga since 1990. Her teaching reflects many years of study in the Ashtanga Vinyasa tradition as well as softer Yin styles of Yoga. She believes awareness, breath, and intention are the foundation for a deep practice. In her class you will be encouraged to challenge yourself while listening deeply for what the body needs on any given day.
Lia is a nationally licensed massage therapist, bringing a wide knowledge of the human body to her work as a certified Yoga Teacher, Thai Massage/Partner Yoga Teacher, and Massage Therapist. She has a successful private practice in downtown Asheville as an LMBT. Visit Lia's personal website at LiaPardy.com.
Mado
Hesselink first began practicing yoga in college as a way to balance her body from intense martial arts training. She immediately fell in love with yoga and soon found herself doing more yoga than martial arts. She has been teaching since 2005 when she completed her teacher training at the Asheville Yoga Center. Recently, she completed a 108 hour Anusara immersion and 30 hour Anusara teacher training. Mado's classes connect the practice of yoga with the rest of life while honoring the principles of alignment that help you go into your poses safely and deeply.
Matt Portwood Matthew is an artist and musician. He has been practicing since 1995. His classes emphasize meditation and awareness of foundation and breath while engaging the practitioner in challenging asana. Classes are challenging to advanced students, but always include modifications, and so that students of all levels feel welcome. A guided practice might include spoken word, chanting, music, or meditation woven through skillfully crafted vinyasas. Matthew has been teaching since 2001, and stresses mind body discipline as a way to access awareness of the expansiveness of who we really are.
Matthew Enjoys working with a wide diversity of body types and ability levels. His students range from kids, and seniors, to the Minnesota Gophers Football team.
The Practice is Intention. The Asana connects us to our foundation. The earth, our physical attributes. As we connect to the physical body, though this has the effect of opening all aspects of our “beingness”, body, mind, emotions, spirit, energy and beyond.
Matthew has been living on prana and live plants since 2002. He is a practitioner of herbalism and Capoeira. In his free time Matthew enjoys foraging wild edibles from gardens and parks worldwide.
Michael Johnson ERYT-500 is a certified Jivamukti instructor who has studied directly with Sharon and David in New York as well as with their Teacher Sri K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India. He has been a full-time yoga teacher in the Detroit area since 2001. He continues to study Yoga and Buddhism with Geshe Michael Roach, Lama Christie McNally, Lama Sumati Marut, Kimberley Theresa and his Angelic wife, Stephanie Johnson.
Neely Neu is a 200 level certified yoga teacher. She has been practicing yoga regularly since 1985 and has been teaching since 2002. She received her training through Union Yoga and the wonderful tutelage of Sandra Carden. She is also, currently, working on her 500 level teaching certificate, also through Union Yoga. Neely teaches an eclectic style of Hatha yoga, inspired by many teachers and many faiths. She likes to blend Yoga and Pilates, in which she has a pre-certification from The Center for Body Awareness. Neely has taught extensively in the areas of Prenatal Yoga and Kids Yoga. "It is an honor to bring awareness of breath and body to the whole family through the practice of yoga." She likes to remind people to practice consistent, non-reactive breathing and to KEEP SMILING!
Sarah Jane Delcambre, a graduate of Asheville Yoga Center’s teacher training program in 2006, has been enjoying the benefits of yoga since her teens. She began her Yoga journey in California with Bikram Yoga and later spent several months in India. It was in India, practicing in an ashram, where she acknowledged a calling to deepen her practice and share its many benefits with others. After discovering the eastern reverence for Yoga, Sarah Jane traveled extensively experiencing the many western styles of Hatha Yoga.
As a competitive athlete since childhood, she has used Yoga for both strength and restoration of her mind and body. Vinyasa flow and Yin Yoga have become her primary focus in recent years and she is enthusiastic about sharing her journey and findings with beginners as well as able-bodied athletes. Animated and informative, Sarah Jane brings groovy tunes and an adventurous attitude to every class.
Shala
Worsley E-RYT 500, BA, Honors Anthropology Wesleyan University. Shala has been teaching yoga for over 10 years and instructs with a style which embodies a balance of grace, delicate flow, and attention to detail. Her students enjoy a delicious blend of the diverse traditions that make up her yogic background: Kripalu, Iyengar, Vinyasa Flow, Yin Yoga, and bodywork. Her intention for every class is to create a space for people to release stress and tension, tap into deep inner knowing, and bring that into the rest of their lives. A passionate explorer of the personality, archetypes, and individuation, Shala finds it natural to weave these themes into her classes and workshops, inspiring her students in their own process of self-discovery. She incorporates pranayama, meditation, therapeutic and yin yoga, as well as, yoga philosophy into each class.
In addition to her weekly classes, Shala finds a creative outlet as one of the core teachers of Asheville Yoga Center’s 9-month and 23-day Intensive programs in Asheville, Charlotte, Chatanooga, and Tampa. She teaches Yin Yoga and Mindfulness Practices for AYC’s Advanced Teacher Training (500-hr YA Approved), and has a fabulous time traveling to teach these and other workshops, covering topics like: Experiential Yoga Sutras, Yoga Detox, Pranayama, and Chakras.
Shala’s home base is Asheville, NC where she owns and directs the Asheville School of Massage & Yoga and never grows tired of sitting outside in the mountain breeze.
Sierra
Hollister (Ong Kar Kaur) lives with her husband and their 3 children on a beautiful farm in the mountains outside of Asheville. There are kids, chickens, goats, bunnies and veggies to occupy non-yoga time. Sierra also cofounded Sundance Power Systems with her husband, Dave Hollister. She is a devoted student of Yogi
Bhajan and gladly answered his request for her to teach in Asheville. She
has been teaching in Asheville since 1995. Sierra is certified in both
Kundalini and Ashtanga. She has studied with many wonderful teachers over the years, including Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Shakta
Kaur Khalsa, Sarah Powers, David Swenson and Rajashri Choudhury over the
years. True to the philosophy of Kundalini, Sierra believes that it is what
you experience within during your practice that is of primary importance. It is her deepest hope to uplift others and restore them to the vitality,
health and happiness that is their birthright.
Sparkle Thornton: My yoga journey started in 2001 at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Little did I know from the first class my life would change forever. I immediately was attracted to the observations of emotion, awareness, and the facing of fear. After that class I viewed yoga as the way to achieve ones' full potential. I practiced whenever I could, (mostly by myself for a few years) looking inward and searching for an increased sensitivity and understanding of myself.
In 2007, after years of being a yogi, musician and guitar teacher, I decided to branch out and focus on my passion for yoga. I viewed my involvement with yoga to be the best thing I could do for myself and those around me. I just wanted to surround myself energetically and whole-heartedly with my practice, my most sacred tool for transformation. After my decision to pursue teaching I began practicing at Triangle Yoga in Chapel Hill, NC. During this time my practice really blossomed affirming my life with the powers of truth, beauty, freedom, and above all things love.
In 2008 I graduated from the AYC intensive teachers training program. This experience proved to be a cathartic and indescribable journey because of which I will never be the same :) Today I live in Asheville, NC, I teach, learn, love and hope to explore it all. My love for opposing powers within myself and others have given me a greater appreciation of the delicate and relentless world we live in. Among the many opposites I hope to explore and share are..... Laughter/ Seriousness. Catharsis/ Restraint. Feminine/ Masculine. Inspiration/Boredom. Love/Loss. Everything/Nothing, Life, Art, Destruction, Music, Beauty, Sacrifice, Divinity, Death and Moderation. (Moderation in everything, especially moderation!) I can thank yoga for helping me find this purpose. As well as my teachers for being so open, inspiring, candid, and above all encouraging.
Stephanie
Keach, Director of AYC, has been teaching Flow yoga
since 1988. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, she has studied
with the finest yogis out West. Her Zen background brings a
meditative style to her class. Creator of Gentle Flow Yoga video,
Intermediate Flow Yoga Video, and The Yoga Handbook. Stephanie is the mama bear of the studio and the teacher training programs.
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