Welcome Our February 2018 Curvy Yoga Teachers!

We have a wonderful new Curvy Yoga teacher this month! I am excited to share them with you! To see a full list of our Curvy Yoga Certified teachers, please click here.

Elizabeth Stuewe

Location: Lawrence, Kansas

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I found yoga as a teenager after being diagnosed with Type I Diabetes, I was desperate to build any positive connection with my body after it dramatically failed me at a young age. Practicing yoga, and especially learning to teach yoga, has taught me how to approach my body with curiosity and care instead of fear and anger.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? Yoga has greatly improved my quality of life and I love sharing that possibility with others, especially people living with chronic illness.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? Folks can expect a customized, relaxing experience- all bodies are good bodies and that means practice will look different for each person, which is a beautiful thing.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? My favorite part has been building a community of like minded yogis. I continue to learn so much from them.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on my website!

Christine Ryan

Location: Chevy Chase, MD

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I fell in love with yoga unexpectedly (and at just the right time!). Once I made the connection between my practice and my sense of well being and overall health, I was hooked. I love sharing the knowledge I’ve acquired from teachers across the US and Canada with friends and students closer to home.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I believe people of all ages, shapes and sizes can explore the advantages of a dedicated yoga practice and am happy to work with anyone who has an interest in learning more about yoga and how it can create a greater state of well-being. I believe yoga is for everyone!

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? I’m a registered yoga teacher (RYT 200) with the Yoga Alliance and completed a Seniors Yoga Teacher Training at the Asheville Yoga Center in 2016. I teach private yoga lessons with a focus on alignment. My Iyengar influenced teaching style values slow movement and the use of props to ensure a healthy and safe asana practice. I’m dedicated to creating a non-competitive and comfortable environment which encourages students to listen to their bodies to achieve the many physical, emotional and mental benefits that practicing yoga can provide.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? I have loved expanding how I think about teaching and learning about how teachers can set their students up for success in their practice. It is amazing how a supportive and informative environment can ensure that a shared yoga practice is beneficial for both teacher and student!

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me via email christine.s.ryan@gmail.com

Crystal Holt

Location: San Luis Obispo, CA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. Before I got up the guts to try yoga I was so intimidated by it. I create a welcome space for students of all shapes and sizes.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I want to bring a practice to my local are that helps with modifications for all bodies.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? A warm, friendly, welcome class with lots of modifications to suit your needs. Calm and relaxing themes that help after a stressful day.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? My favorite part of certification has been learning how to use props to assist students into a pose that would otherwise not be accessible.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on my website and Facebook !

NeSonya Parker

Location: Raleigh, NC

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. My yoga practice has led me to acceptance of my curvy body, self-compassion with what is in the present moment, more love and care of myself. As a yoga teacher, I share my passion of self-compassion, love, and care through yoga classes that offer every body with curves the space to transform their own body, mind, and spirit. By holding the space for myself and others to practice yoga in a compassionate manner regardless of body image; there is a creative process of “un-limiting” beliefs that float on by… with every practice.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I want to bring Curvy Yoga to my community to make yoga accessible to every body; regardless of size, shape, or curve. It is important for others to see a body that looks like mine practicing and teaching yoga in the community. My hope is that it will spark such desire in others to cultivate self-compassion, self-love, and more self-care through yoga practice and principles.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? When you experience my yoga class, you will learn how to become compassionate with yourself and your own body. Through development of a compassionate yoga practice, you will become more loving and caring with yourself; which opens up a whole new world filled with amazing opportunities.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? My favorite part of the certification process was learning how yoga asana can become a synthesis of compassionate movement within the body, mind, and spirit; if only I opened and listened to my body just a little more with each practice. Simply being present with what was in every moment was transformative for me as a yoga student and will be as a yoga teacher as well. Namaste!

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on my website!

Shani Allen

Location: Madison, GA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I came to yoga looking for a healthy way to deal with stress and anxiety and that is what keeps me on my mat five years later. I love that it is My Practice, not a competition, not what anyone else thinks it should be.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? Most of the people I see in yoga classes are thin. I want people to be able to come as they are, feel like they belong, and measure success for themselves, not making it just about weight and body measurements.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? Humour-I just can’t help it! Also empathy and motivation. I want to understand where you are now and help you to see that you are awesome-so awesome that you can do just about anything you want to do, but also so awesome that you can be happy now, just the way you are.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? I loved how organized it was and how rich in content. But the best part for me was validation that I am enough as I am now. I don’t need to be thinner, more toned, more flexible, more anything than I am right now to be an effective yoga teacher.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on Facebook!

Emily Berroa

Location: Taunton, MA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I was led to my yoga practice after experiencing spinal injuries to regain strength, balance, and flexibility. Through my experience I gained so much more! As a teacher, I am mindful and compassionate of physical limitations and understand how our abilities may fluctuate day to day.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? Simply put, I wish to share Curvy Yoga with my community because yoga IS for every body!

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? My classes are calm and welcoming, as if you are meeting up with an old friend! I design my sequences to be gentle, yet also challenging. I feel it is important for participantsto experience each pose in a way that works best for their body!

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? My favorite part of my certification process was feeling like we are all an integral piece of the Curvy Yoga movement. I have learned so many great tools to share with my students and also to use in my personal practice! This has been an amazing experience that has deepened my practice and changed the way I view my own body.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on my website and on Facebook!

Amber Green

Location: Spokane, WA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. Yoga is my way to share love with the people around me. Yoga changed my life by teaching me to take care of myself.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I bring a knowledge of living in a larger body and practicing yoga. While my community has many excellent yoga teachers, there is not a place for people in larger bodies to have a safe yoga practice. I want to provide a place we all shapes and sizes can participation in the benefits of yoga.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? Students can expect a class that is about learning to enhance your natural strengths. You can expect lots of variations of poses and the ability to change poses to fit your needs. My classes are full of humor and relaxation.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? I loved hearing new ideas about poses. I love being part of a community of like minded people.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on Facebook!

Cindy Geray

Location: Gainesville, TX

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I am a recent graduate of the Inspire Yoga 200-hr yoga teacher training program. One of my goals is to make everyone feel comfortable coming to class and in the practice of yoga. I began practicing yoga as a means of stress relief and low-impact fitness. My love of yoga grew so much that I wanted to share it with others in her community. I realized that most of the students were young, fit, females and didn’t experience yoga the same way I do because of different body shapes. I was so excited to learn about Curvy Yoga and felt that teaching it would be beneficial to many people in my community. Many people think they “can’t do yoga” because of their size, and I wanted to offer something of value to those people.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I am interested in helping others experience the benefits of increased body awareness and acceptance as well as practicing mindfulness. My passion is to encourage students to seek more peace and balance in their yoga practice and to extend these qualities into their lives.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? I welcome all levels of students but particularly love teaching beginners. I welcome them warmly and friendly so they are less nervous, and I assure them that I will watch out for their safety while helping them to enjoy learning. My style is casual and down-to-earth encouraging non-judgment and some laughter along the way. I take time to explain poses while people practicing how they feel on their own body.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? Learning how to modify yoga poses so that a person with any size or shape of body can participate and experience the benefits that practicing yoga has to offer.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me via email – geray.cindy@yahoo.com

Kelly Vettor

Location: Tillsonburg, ON, Canada

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. My yoga is about fun and laughter. Meeting our bodies wherever we are today and loving our self as we are.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I hear all the time from people when I say I love and teach yoga that they can’t do yoga as they don’t have a “yoga body”. My answer is you have a body so you in fact do have a yoga body.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? A fun judgement free hour of listening and honouring our own journey. Gentle flows to help move within our own range of motion.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? The positive reinforcements that all bodies are different and that everyone has limits and these will surprise you.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on Facebook!

Amy Jo Howe

Location: Lansing, MI

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. My relationship with yoga has not been the best. I hurt my shoulder many, many years ago in yoga. No ones fault it just happened so I had been nervous to try it again. I already had a certification in Yoga but was only using it with my one on one clients. I am and own a personal training studio & one of my clients kept telling me about Curvy Yoga & how a lady named Anna is just amazing. So I checked it out and thought about it. Signed up for email notifications and left it at that. Long story short I ruptured my Achilles tendon & while recovering I received an email about an upcoming Curvy Yoga certification. So what do you do when recovering from surgery and feeling bad about yourself? You sign up for a Curvy Yoga certification of course! This was the best decision I have ever made! Now I am totally in love with Curvy Yoga and love yoga again. Thank you Anna for being you!

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I think it is important to bring Curvy Yoga to the community because it helps everyone. There is no “exclusiveness” to the program it is created and excepting (for lack of a better word) of all humans.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? When someone takes the class from me they will know it is okay to be who ever they need to be. I will teach the skills to make your yoga practice just for you even in a group setting. You will not be singled out or made to feel you can’t do a certain pose.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? My favorite part of this is process is learning that is it okay to be me no matter the moment.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on my website, Facebook, Instagram and on Twitter!

Danielle Schwartz

Location: Las Vegas, NV

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I began dabbling in yoga in 2009, around the same time I got sober. I developed my regular practice in 2015 and had the opportunity to practice in many different kinds of classes and yoga styles. I was drawn to the inclusiveness of Anna’s Curvy Yoga and began to seek plus-size classes for an ongoing practice. When I decided that I wanted to become a yoga teacher in 2016, it seemed a no-brainer to apply to the Curvy Yoga Teacher Training program. For several months, while completing my YTT, I had the pleasure of teaching a local group of women and develop my teaching skills. It’s been a wonderful experience to learn what feels good and create an authentically “me” practice, while incorporating the modifications Curvy Yoga is known for. As I continue to teach, I continue to grow with my students. Together we’ve developed a sacred practice that is safe and empowering.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? In 2015 I set off on a goal of traveling to all 50 states and taking a yoga class in each one. My TN class was at Curvy Yoga with Anna. Being plus-size myself and experiencing a wide variety of classes that year, I felt like home in Anna’s class. I didn’t have any of the shame I had felt in some other classes. It didn’t matter that my belly was round or that I couldn’t bend all the way over in forward fold. It was such a powerful experience for me that I decided we needed more of this in the world – that I needed to be part of bringing this to my own home. And so when I learned that Anna trained teachers, I had to learn from her. I had to learn the tools I needed to bring a yoga class to other women that felt the way I felt in other classes. I wanted them to feel comfortable, and welcomed, and safe – like I did at Curvy Yoga in Nashville.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? When yogis join me for a class then can expect a relaxed, but fun experience. I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned in my own journey, be it a guided meditation, aromatherapy, or a recent travel experience. My classes are casual, warm, and – most importantly – open and accessible to everyone.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? It is a challenge to narrow down to just one part of my Curvy Yoga certification process as my favorite, but if I had to, it would be community. I have had no other experience quite like my Curvy Yoga Teacher Training. The women I studied with shared their lives, their vulnerabilities, and their successes with me, and I’m grateful to have been able to share my own with them during our journey.

How can people get in touch with you? People can find me on my website, Facebook and on Twitter!

 

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