Classes
May 2013 – Pay What You Want
Mondays
8:30 – 9:45 am Skillful Flow Level 1&2 with Meghan
10:00 – 1130 HOT Bhakti Vinyasa 1&2 with Izzy
12:00 – 1:00 HOT Flow Level 1&2 with Lisa
4:00 – 4:45 Tween Yoga All Levels with Jane Anne
5:15 – 6:45 Slow Flow Level 1&2 with Tim
7:00 – 8:00 pm FREE Yoga for Veterans & their families All Levels with Jason or Lane
Tuesdays
8:30 – 9:45 am Restorative and Flow 1&2 with Sara
10:00 – 11:30 HOT Flow Yoga Level 1&2 with Heidi
12:00 – 1:00 Yoga for Women 1&2 w/ Saraswati M.
4:00 – 5:30pm Flow Yoga Level 1&2 w/ Maeve
5:45 – 7:15 Slow Power Flow Level 1&2 with Hilary
7:30 – 8:30 pm Beginner Yoga with Brian
Wednesdays
8:45 – 10:00am Restorative Yoga All Levels w/ Maeve
10:30 – 12:00 HOT Playful Flow 1 – 3 with Rich R.
12:30 – 1:45 Slow Flow Level 1&2 with Izzy
2:00 – 3:15 HOT Flow Level 1&2 with Lisa
5:00 – 6:15 HOT Flow Level 1&2 with Izzy
6:30 – 8:00 pm HOT Level 1&2 with Evaa
Thursdays
8:30 – 9:45 am Dynamic Flow level 1&2 with Tanya
10:00 – 11:15 Gentle Yoga with Susan R
11:30 – 1:00pm Slow Power Flow Level 1 & 2 w/ Sara
5:15 – 6:15 Slow Flow Yoga Level 1 with Brian V.
6:30 – 8:00 pm Hot Flow yoga Level 1&2 with Liz
Fridays
9:00 – 10:00 am Beginner Yoga Level 1 with Paige
12:00 – 1:00 HOT Flow Level 1 & 2 w/ Janelle
1:30 – 3:00 pm Lotus Flow Level 1 & 2 w/ Amy
Sundays
4:15 – 5:45 pm Mindful Alignment 1&2 with Kimberly
6:00 – 7:30 Hot Flow Level 1&2 with Liz
7:45 – 8:30pm Mindfulness Meditation with William
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Meet our AYC Donation Teachers
Amy Kalyn Sims, a native of Florida, is a 500 hour registered yoga instructor and professional freelance photographer living in Asheville, NC. Amy came to yoga at a time in her life when she was seeking something more. What she discovered was a true path toward health and happiness. After practicing for 3 years, Amy completed the Sankalpah Yoga 200 hour teacher training with Mary Dana Abbott & Isaac Peña and began teaching yoga in NYC. After teaching for 2 years, she decided to further deepen her practice through the Laughing Lotus Advanced Teacher Training, studying with Dana Flynn and a host of other amazing teachers.
Amy comes from an artistic background and tries to bring this innovative aspect to the mat. Her vigorous classes incorporate a creative vinyasa flow threaded with breath, meditation, mantras, and a passion for music.
After a decade of living and working in Manhattan, Amy and her husband decided to seek a quieter lifestyle back in the South. She is honored to be a part of the Asheville Yoga Center Family and looks forward to serving the Asheville Community. For more on Amy, please visit http://www.amykalynsims.com
Brian VanWyngarden first turned to yoga after an extended honeymoon bicycle tour down the Pacific Coast left his body feeling overly strained. He and his wife ended their bicycle tour in San Diego and immediately became enmeshed with the thriving yoga community of Southern California. Brian attended classes daily and went from a total beginner to a total convert in the blink of a third eye. Brian’s stay in San Diego was beautiful but fleeting and a few months later it was off to the Appalachian Mountains where he, his inspiring wife, and amazing baby daughter currently reside in Asheville.
Brian attended his yoga teacher training at AYC and is thrilled to now be a part of this amazingly rich community of teachers. Brian’s yoga classes are light-hearted in nature but are also intended to instill a heightened sense of peace in one’s own body, mind, spirit, and with the world surrounding. Brian’s classes are flowing but gentle, imbued with music, philosophy, and fun.
Brian has also attended the Asheville School of Massage and Yoga and is a practicing massage therapist in addition to yoga teacher. For more information visit his site at brianvanwyngarden.abmp.com
Elise Blanton began her practice of Yoga in 2006 and it has made all the difference. She is a 200 hour Yoga Alliance Certified Instructor and studied Vinyasa, or flow yoga. Since completing her teacher training in 2010 she has begun to incorporate different forms of Yoga into her practice, most importantly Anusara Yoga. Her classes combine flow yoga with an emphasis on alignment and breath work.
Heidi Vaught, My first experience with yoga was in 2006 after pulling an all nighter studying for final exams. I had never been to a yoga class before, but from what I’d heard it sounded like the right thing to do before taking a test. i was amazed by how light, clear, and alert I felt afterward. I was hooked. I was introduced to Anusara yoga in 2008, and started an Anusara Teacher Training program in 2009. Anusara yoga is a school of hatha yoga, which unifies a life-affirming philosophy of intrinsic goodness with Universal Principles of Alignment. The word Anusara means “flowing with Grace”. As a teacher and student of yoga I practice cultivating qualities of light-heartedness and appreciation. My classes focus on alignment of the body, mind and spirit, and are sprinkled with humor. I hope to see you in one 
. I teach all levels, restorative/gentle, prenatal, and vinyasa style classes.
Hilary Drake, RYT: True health represents a graceful choreography between the physical, emotional, and spiritual body. Yoga teaches that we can maximize our chances for health and healing when we consciously align these essential elements. Over the years, movement and the practice of yoga have guided Hilary through many of life’s challenges – rehabilitation from sports injuries, as well as recovery from disillusionment, loss, and grief – and back toward a feeling of wholeness. A practitioner for over 20 years & graduate of the Black Mountain Yoga Yoga Therapy and Teacher Training, Hilary owns and operates Thrive Yoga Therapy and Instruction, a private practice based out of Asheville offering one-on-yoga therapeutics, instruction, and small group classes. Her teaching style is a playful, light-hearted hybrid of Vinyasa Flow and Restorative, with a focus on intention, anatomy & alignment, self-inquiry, and internal listening.
Izzy Shurte: Izzy first fell in love with yoga ten years ago while at college in Burlington, VT, but it was not until 2010 when Izzy began a committed daily practice to help cope with the sudden loss of her father. Izzy has felt first hand the tremendous healing and transformative powers yoga offers and is ecstatic to be able to share with others. A graduate of Asheville Yoga Center’s 200 HR teacher training program and incoming student of AYC’s Classics of Yoga 500 HR program, Izzy is grateful to have studied with Stephanie Keach, Andrea Dyer, Michael Johnson, David Williams and Sadie Nardini.
Izzy’s Hot Flow class offers an exploration of yogic philosophy to help students locate a contemplative personal intention. As Izzy’s greatest teachers are deeply rooted in the Ashtanga tradition, ujayii breath along with the bandhas are especially emphasized. Feel certain that you will leave this class with a complete understanding of your mula bandha: where it is, what to do with it and why! Expect to work hard in Izzy’s class, with fun, inspiring music, multiple ways to press against your edges, ample humor and thought-provoking ideas to help you live your yoga on and off the mat.
JaneAnne Tager aka Pretzel Kids Mama: I always enjoy the opportunity to introduce children to Pretzel Kids yoga classes. My name is Jane Anne Tager and I have been practicing yoga for a decade and a half. It has really changed me physically and mentally. I would have to say all of the changes are positive.
I began to explore kids yoga when my daughter developed asthma. I thought learning about breathing and practicing breath control might benefit her when her asthma would flare. It definitely does help her when she remembers to use the exercises.
I have three children of my own, ages seventeen, thirteen, and ten. All three kids have at different oenjoy some yoga on their own (not cool to practice with mom), especially stretching; the boys were fond of down dog races when they were younger. I love teaching kids yoga and hope that classes are not only playful, but also improve strength, balance, flexibility and offer a heightened awareness to their young minds and bodies. Over the past years, I have noticed that most kids make significant progress in a short period of time with regards to their balance and strength, especially core strength (belly). Best of all, they seem to be very proud of what their bodies can do.
I have trained with Marsha Wenig, in Time Magazine and Yoga Journal and Sonia Sumar, an amazing yogi whose gift is using yoga as physical (and emotional) therapy for special needs children. I have been teaching kids yoga in yoga centers, pre-schools and elementary schools, and dance studios for over ten years now. Every class is different, as is each student. I have enjoyed most every one of them. Teaching kids yoga has been a continuous learning experience and it is just plain fun for me too!
My educational background includes degrees in child psychology, speech pathology, and a master degree in training and facilitation. I have my both 200 and 500 level certification through the Asheville Yoga Center. I also teach pre-natal and gentle yoga.
Recently I have been concentrating my “continuing yoga education” in anatomy and therapy I have had many fine teachers here in Asheville. We are fortunate to have such a rich yoga community here. BUT, I must say my best teachers are my students.
Janelle Railey, From the time she was a young child Janelle has explored the meaning of life through embodied imagination. She began her formal yogic journey in 1995 when she traveled to India to receive teachings from H.H. Dalai Lama on the graduated path to enlightenment. It was there, as well, that she initially immersed herself in yoga, meditation and other contemplative practices. Her training includes certification in the Kripalu tradition as well as in-depth study with Richard Freeman in the Ashtanga tradition. Janelle has studied with many master teachers from several lineages over the years and finds that her role as a student continually informs her teaching, bringing her back to the beginner’s mind. She is committed to her own daily practice as her own teachers have assured her that the best teacher is the commitment to practicing.
Kimberly Drye began her yoga studies in Asheville in 2001. She considers herself lucky to have stumbled upon the rich source of the talented teachers in the Asheville yogic community. A graduate of Stephanie Keach’s 230 hour teacher training at Asheville Yoga Center in 2008, she is currently continuing her 500 hour certification training with Lillah Schwartz of Lighten Up Yoga where she is pursuing deeper knowledge of yogic alignment principles. Kimberly is energetic, personable, and enthusiastic to share with you all the benefits yoga has to offer. Her classes are focused on alignment, awareness, and the preservation of each moment. Breath control, relaxation techniques, and meditation are coupled with focused asana to bring students into a state of mindfulness in their practices that hopefully spills out into their everyday lives. Students of any and all levels and abilities arewelcome in Kim’s classes. Kim believes that yoga can help every individual lead a fuller and more satisfying life. To learn more about Kim, visit her website/blog: herenowyoga.com.
Lisa Sherman: A yoga practitioner since 2000, Lisa’s practice is rooted in the dynamic vinyasa flow styles of Ashtanga and Jivamukti. Coming from a background in Chinese medicine, she seeks to balance these yang styles with the softer, yin forms of qigong and sitting meditation. Lisa gained her Yoga Alliance 200-hour certification through the Blooming Lotus Yoga School, a well-rounded teacher training program, influenced by many great yoga traditions including hatha, vinyasa and yin.
As a long-time student of Eastern wisdom traditions, Lisa believes that yoga is a way to cultivate body, mind and spirit to enable the practitioner to be of better service to all beings. Having had first-hand experience of the transformative power of yoga, she is passionate about communicating these insights so that others can enjoy their benefits. As a yoga teacher she provides a firm foundation for students by clearly explaining the mechanics of asana, pranayama and meditation. She aspires to provide a supportive relationship that encourages students’ growth and inspires them with a passion for transformation.
Her classes build strength, stamina and flexibility using playful, energetic flow sequences, while emphasising moment-to-moment awareness through detailed alignment and attention to the breath. They generally consist of grounding and intention setting, followed by sun salutes, standing poses, balances, twists, forward and back bends and inversions, rounded off with a well-deserved relaxation.
Liz Harrison Liz’s first experience with yoga was a Level 2 Iyengar class at a studio in Northern California in 2000. Immediately humbled by the practice, she was hooked! 9 years later Liz made a New Year’s resolution to get on her yoga mat every single day with the hopes of building a strong home practice. Later that year, she completed her 230-hour teacher training and has since deepened her studies with many great teachers including Cora Wen, Kate Greer, and Stephanie Keach. And, indeed, almost 4 years later, Liz still makes it to the mat on most days.
Her teaching style is deeply introspective and seeks to wed mindfulness practices, dis-identification, breathwork, and the sweet flow of vinyasa yoga. Her hearts desire is to create space for her students to dive inside on the mat so they are able to discover more love, more peace, and more compassion off the mat.
Maeve Hendrix has been practicing yoga and meditation for the last eight years and teaching for two years after graduating from an incredible teacher training program in San Francisco. Maeve’s appreciation for yoga’s healing gifts stem from a near fatal car accident that left her with a fractured C2 vertebrae and a load of anxiety. Her first yoga class after the accident revealed her deepest essence, which is whole, vibrant and healthy, as she was guided to watch her breath and practice moving with conscious awareness. It’s been an empowering journey for her and one that she is passionate to share as she leads fluid and vibrant Vinyasa flow classes as well as deeply therapeutic restorative classes, accessible to all levels.
Meghan Ganser has been studying and practicing yoga since 2000, with Dhyana D’Amato (Dhyana Yoga) and Kundalini yoga in Philadelphia. She completed her first teacher training under Dhyana and Marni Sclaroff (Jivamukti, Anusara) in 2005, and has been teaching ever since. Meghan studied primarily with Joan White and Kofi Busia (Iyengar) until she moved to Asheville in 2007, when she found the Anusara teachings and community to be a wild inspiration. She has studied with Tibetan Heart Yoga teachers, and considers the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism to be a great influence on her worldview, as well as Srividyalaya. Currently, she studies Anusara regularly, as well as Bharatanatyam (Classical Indian Dance). Meghan earned her black belt in Aikido Kokikai in 2005, and has studied Tai Chi and Chi Gong as well.
Rich Risbridger began practicing yoga 1999 starting with gym power yoga classes and moving to a traditional Ashtanga practice. Inspired by some soul searching in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, he decided to leave New Orleans and move to Oakland, CA, to become a circus performer and yoga teacher. Rich completed his teacher training with Clayton Horton and David Lurey at Greenpath Yoga in 2006 and has since pursued additional Ashtanga training with David Swenson and Richard Freeman. Though devoted to his roots in Ashtanga, Rich believes that exploring and practicing a variety of yoga styles provides valuable perspective and has diversified his training with teachers including Shiva Rea, Rod Stryker, Ana Forrest, Dharma Mittra, and Les Leventhal. He also has a special love for AcroYoga and has participated in numerous AcroYoga trainings and classes.
Rich imbues his practice and his classes with a mix of challenge and surrender, outright silliness and deep tranquility. His Playful Flow classes blend elements of Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga with his experience as an acrobat, dancer, storyteller, and circus ringmaster. Providing variations for students of all levels, Rich challenges one to mindfulness of the body and focus on the breath while striving to further one’s personal practice in a spirit of humility, compassion, and of course–fun.
Dr. Robin Saraswati Markus is a holistic Chinese medicine gynecologist whose yoga practice began in 1998 in Southern California studying primarily within the Ashtanga yoga system with Tim Miller. She fell in love with yoga at first sun salutation when the poses started speaking to her through the energetic language of acupuncture. She completed her first teacher training with him in 2003, and soon after began integrating yoga with Chinese medicine in her medical practice.
She has been spreading her love of Yoga for women ever since. Following the path of her main teachers, Ram Dass and Krishna Das, along with annual pilgrimage to India gives spiritual root to Saraswati’s life and teaching style. Saraswati teaches from the heart, her classes invite the participant to use the body as a vehicle to go beyond the body. Students will experience both yin and yang elements, dynamic posture sequences with times for still presence– just like life. Believing the most potent healing power actually lies within the human being, classes focus on the neurohormonal centers of the chakra system, pelvic floor awareness, and pelvic blood flow- so vital to restoring function and balance. The yoga poses and breath-work act like a mini acupuncture treatment by activating energetic points and meridian lines. The introspective practice of yoga leads one to become deeply relaxed, to sink more deeply into themselves and adopt a natural flow and an openness to life, then one’s body shifts into its innate healing.
She is the founder of Nourishing Life (nourishinglife.com) Center for Integrative Medicine for Women, that weaves together Traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine and Yoga into one healing cord. Her medical practice is in Asheville, she consults with patients over Skype and offers her teachings of Chinese medicine and yoga for women in weekly classes at Asheville Yoga Center’s Donation studio, through articles, DVD’s and workshops in the US and Abroad.
Sara Levine came to the mat by accident, but once she found it, she never left. She began teaching yoga in 2008 after completing two 200-hour Teacher Trainings in San Francisco. Her inspiration to teach came in the realization that moving on the mat was for her an expression of dance, a place where she felt free, strong, balanced and graceful. To this day, seeing others have this realization is what brings her the greatest joy. Sara also trained in pre & post-natal yoga with Jane Austin and credits her teachers Lauren Slater, Elise Lorimer, Seane Corn, & Janet Stone for her practice.
Sara’s classes combine a love of Restorative Yoga, deep, alignment focused Vinyasa, and therapeutic movement. She has found that a practice rooted in alignment but sparked by passion always proves the most fruitful. In her classes, expect to play with unique poses and sequences. Come to her class to release congestion in the joints, to breath more deeply, to become playful again and to sweat yourself clean. Life is not perfect, and enlightenment is not knocking on our front door, but through yoga we can perhaps find a little bit of what we’ve lost and begin to find peace. www.saralevineyoga.com
Susan Rothlein first encountered yoga at an adult ed class in a high school gymnasium in the 1970′s and knew immediately that she wanted to learn more. Through the years she has studied with numerous teachers from many traditions and styles of yoga on her journey to becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance. She taught for more than ten years in Florida before moving to Asheville in 2010 and her teaching style has evolved into an eclectic blend woven from the wisdom of these many traditions and inspiring teachers. She continues to love being a yoga student taking frequent classes from a variety of the many talented teachers here in Asheville, learning new teaching skills in training workshops, and gaining new insights in her home asana and meditation practice. Susan has extensive experience in teaching prenatal and postnatal yoga, having completed an in-depth certification training with Colette Crawford of the Seattle Holistic Center.
Susan believes that yoga can be safe, accessible, and enjoyable for everyone, and in her classes she offers adaptations and alternatives to help each student explore, stretch and open in a way that’s right for their body on that day, along with an emphasis on breath awareness and learning to relax. Her hope is that each student leaves class feeling energized, inspired, and nurtured.
Stephanie Johnson teaches classes that dance the edge between challenging and inspiring, transformative and empowering – moving meditations perfect for tapping into the roots of the practice: kindness, compassion and deep wisdom. To her continued delight, she offers classes and workshops, both locally and internationally, in Jivamukti Yoga, Bhakti Vinyasa, Yin & Restorative Yoga, Meditation and Yoga Philosophy. Stephanie’s studies in Tibetan Buddhism, Psychology, Thai Yoga Massage, Creative Design, Dance and Music all continue to illuminate both her practice and her teaching. She has been joyfully teaching yoga and meditation since 2005.
Tanya Neplioueva RYT-200, Tanya is passionate about sharing yoga as a deeply expansive and therapeutic way of life. Her vibrant classes offer an eclectic blend of her background in Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, Anusara, Yin Yoga, and bodywork, allowing each student a tailored practice with extensive hands-on assists. Her teaching style seamlessly weaves pranayama, meditation, and intention practices with asana for a refreshingly dynamic and integrative experience. Tanya is a graduate of Asheville Yoga Center’s 230-hour Teacher Training, Samadhi Shala’s 200-hour Ashtanga Vinyasa Teacher Training, and of the 675-hour program at the Asheville School of Massage and Yoga.
Timothy Burgin Timothy’s greatest love is sharing the teachings and practices of yoga to others. Trained and certified in the Kripalu and Prankriya
William Hamilton, As a practitioner of yogic and meditative arts for over 12 years, Will Hamilton has studied with Theravada, Zen, Tibetan, Integral and Western Enlightenment teachings, as well as yoga asanas, qi gong, and martial arts. Will is also a clinical psychologist that has a specialty teaching stress management practices for adjustment to chronic illness. His mindfulness meditation class focuses on one meditative technique each month with an emphasis on maintaining a home practice. Each class will have a guided sitting practice, brief stretching, and discussion afterwards.
