Welcome Our December 2015 Curvy Yoga Teachers – Part 2!

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.

Stacey Laughrey

Stacey LaughreyLocation: Chandler, AZ

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. 

I’ve been an on again off again yogi for years. Interspersed with diversions into various other physical endeavors particularly pole dance fitness. I love that yoga is so flexible, you can find and practice the type of yoga you are looking for depending on the day, your location, your mood, your energy level, whatever.

I’m a nurse and I work with many patients who struggle with mobility issues. Whether due to the general aging process or recovery from illness/injury – there is always something that a bit of yoga can contribute to their healing process physically or emotionally.
I also love working with special needs populations, they find so much joy in life. Often the simplest things, just a little bit of stretching or a fun story with some yoga mixed in can totally make their day. Those smiles are like gold 🙂

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? 

Whenever I mention that I practice yoga I often notice an immediate non-verbal reaction in people. People have an image in mind of what a yogi looks like & I’m not it 🙂

I want to introduce people to one of my fundamental beliefs about yoga – which is that the only yoga (image, definition, expectation) that matters is your own. Yoga is what you bring to it both physically and mentally. There are beautiful and complex traditions surrounding the “institution” of yoga, but if all you want to do is show up and do a little gentle stretching to take the edge off of some tightness in your neck & shoulder muscles – then that’s perfect! You found “your yoga” for the day.

Tomorrow if you want to dive into chakras and chant the yoga sutras then awesome! I can’t carry a tune to save my life but I’ll be right there with you & we can explore that together, too.

The only “rule” I believe that matters in yoga is that you show up. What happens from there is always and entirely up to you.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? 

I love to laugh and have fun. Exercise might as well be a four letter word for me. I practice yoga because it makes me feel good & I want people who practice with me to enjoy themselves as well. Why would you show up for something that is never any fun?

My primary objective is to establish a space where everyone feels welcome & safe to explore “their yoga” in a supportive environment. I can’t say everyone in my class will always feel comfortable, because it is important to challenge yourself a little bit 😉 but at the same time, no one but you can know exactly what ‘your practice’ should look like.

So I guess I’m kind of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” type of yoga teacher – I’m there to offer suggestions, to provide support, to act as a guide – while you play around with those suggestions, trying out various movements & postures until you eventually find that “Goldilocks” practice that’s just right for you 🙂

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? 

I have been an Anna fan girl for a long time. I basically decided to do my 200hr training so that I could take the curvy yoga certification.
(I live in Arizona or I would have done my 200hr training with her too 🙂

It has been a wonderful experience – I’ve had a million and one crazy life changes over the last couple of months, but through it all my CYC time was always something I could look forward to as mine. I can’t wait to pass on all of the amazing tips and tricks that Anna has shared with us over the past few months.

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

Michelle Bradley

Michelle BradleyLocation: Little Rock, AR

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I practice yoga for many years in the privacy of my own home before braving my first studio experience. After that first experience in the studio I knew I could no longer deny myself the joy of a regular yoga practice. Yoga has helped me find comfort with in my own skin. Yoga challenges me both physical, emotional and spiritual to be the best me I can be at this moment. I like my classes to feel challenging and with lots of joy and humor.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? No one should be afraid, embarrassed or uncomfortable to walk into a studio or go to a yoga class that is not what yoga is about. Yoga is finding that peace with in as well as comfort within yourself and your body. Curvy Yoga has helped me to find confidence in the differences of my body the challenges within and given me the tools to teach others.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? I teach a soft gentle style of yoga that is both strong and challenging. Though yoga and your yoga practice you can find strength, flexibility and balance with a good bit of humor and joy.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? Chatting and learning from other teachers.

Kathleen Meehan Lorenzo

Kathleen Meehan LorenzoLocation: Seattle, WA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. Yoga has provided me with the opportunity to create more balance in my life – both the challenges of raising two teenagers and being a stay-at-home mom, as well as creating harmony among the other activities in which I participate, such as running, and less-active endeavors like knitting and reading. The way I approach both practicing and teaching yoga is pretty technical, which satisfies the engineer in me. Yet I find the focus and awareness required to delve into technique also allows me to find meditative qualities within the practice of the asanas.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I feel the Curvy Community is underserved in my city. I am aware of many people who want to try yoga, but express feeling uncomfortable about attending a regular drop-in class. I want to create a place where students of all body types and abilities can feel comfortable enough to call it their own.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? My approach to teaching asana is built around technique with a little comic relief thrown in. I focus on alignment, body mechanics and functional movement. We use lots of props to meet our bodies where they are right now.. I encourage students to find the place in their asana practice where they can experience a measure of meditation within the poses.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? I greatly appreciate Anna’s knowledge and experience, as well as the fact that she’s willing to share it. Her warmth and support were obvious every time we met.

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

Birgit Hofstaetter

Birgit HofstaetterLocation: Steinbach am Attersee, Upper Austria

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. Yoga and I were love at first sight when I had my first class in 2008. Although I immediately felt its impact on my body, only after a year I realised that it had actually changed my life. Anxiety and depression had been frequent companions by then but yoga effectively helped me to calm down and lifted my spirits. I became a yoga teacher because I wanted to pass on this gift I had received. To me, yoga is ultimate self-love, being kind and gentle with oneself. Witnessing how some people get touched by yoga the way I experienced it is the best reward for being a teacher.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? Teaching multi-level yoga classes in a small village allows me to meet many different bodies. I want my teaching to respond to all of them, and I would like to introduce yoga to people who may not consider themselves fit for it. Curvy Yoga is the perfect way to refine my teaching and to better cater for the diverse needs of my heterogeneous community.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? People can expect a safe, inclusive space where everyBODY is welcome the way they are. I am teaching only multi-level classes, we love beginners to join. My teaching is very down-to-earth which seems to be much appreciated by the people coming to my classes. I am deeply thankful to experience my yoga groups as cheerful and genuinely welcoming.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? I truly enjoy Anna’s sincere personality and the way she responds to all our questions. The material she provides is very useful, clearly arranged and easy to grasp. The best part, though, are the homework assignments, every single one helping to weave Curvy Yoga into my profile and my actual teaching.

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

Kym Goins

Kim GoinsLocation: Mount Airy, NC

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. Yoga has allowed me to realize how my body is an equal partner in all parts of my life. I’ve always felt strong minded and sometimes a bit separated from my physical self. I attempt to bring this learned partnership to my classes because living whole has been a game changer for me. Yoga has given me the gift I’ve needed all of my life – the fragile knowledge that all the parts of me that I never thought fit are actually the parts that make me strong.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? It gave me a comfortable, safe place to begin my yoga journey. I felt this community of acceptance and more than that, grace about bodies like mine. I knew immediately that I would have to share it. I would have to make this wonderful opportunity available where I live to the people I know and neighbor, to anyone like me who thought yoga couldn’t be for them.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? Lots of slow, gentle movement in my classes. One of the biggest feedback comments I get is about pace and how much folks feel successful in the pace of my classes. I offer some of the same routines and poses to build confidence in new students, but also try to bring in new poses every time to keep a variety for returning students.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? Learning more ways to modify poses and make them more accessible. Working with Anna, who I just think is this wonderful beautiful human who created this magnificent gift for the curvy world. Hearing what other folks are doing with their classes/students to help them feel and be more successful at their yoga journey. And finally, having a community that supports one another in using yoga as a tool to learn to love ourselves and help others do the same.

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

Jennifer McAdams

Jennifer McAdamsLocation: Upland, CA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. Yoga brought me a lifestyle change, where I’ve become more mindful about life,, my relationship with myself as well as others. My teaching reflects my mantra, that Yoga Is For Every Body. I work diligently to express a positive body experience to each student that comes to my classes.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? A sense of self-esteem, that yoga is a journey into places of self growth and physical awareness. That each new day brings a new yoga, a self paced journey capable of opening one’s heart and learning the beauty of one’s soul.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? A journey taken at their own pace, leading to a place of their own choosing. It begins with cultivating a body positive image and ends with enhanced self esteem. What happens in class is about cuing students to respect the wonderful body they live in.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? I enjoyed learning about body positivity and working with individuals to bring about a sense of health and well-being in the body they live in today. The collaboration with like minded yoginis helped inspire me to bring forth a yoga practice I am proud to share with others.

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

Colleen Ruane

colleen ruaneLocation: Philadelphia, PA

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. My practice started in the mid 90’s after I quit drinking and joined a 12 Step group (AA), I wanted to meditate but could never get that quiet head. Someone said try yoga! My Rodney Ye AM Yoga tape was the answer to my prayers. I practiced yoga off and on with tapes in my home for many years as a means of getting me to a nice meditative state. As the years passed I always knew I wanted to up my yoga game and finally time presented itself in 2014. I signed up for a 200 hour Vinyasa class at Dana Hot Yoga- 90 minute HOT yoga classes. “What was I thinking?”…..LOL I survived hot yoga boot camp. I received my 200 certification in February 2015.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? When I was in my 200 training I was the oldest, the curviest and had the least formal training. I attract people in my age group, those in recovery wanting a little quiet time in their head, people with bad knee’s that think they can’t do yoga, etc. Curvy yoga gave me the tools to teach a gentle practice and a challenging practice at the same time. I believe there is a yoga practice for everyone!

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? My classes are open to all with modification choices and advancement of a pose given in every class. The classes in my home studio are small and I will teach for one or ten. I like to offer inspirational readings and mini meditation opportunities in the practice.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? Not only did I get a book full of modifications, I learned a new way of offering options in a way to make everyone feel they have the option to listen to their body.
I love the term “your fullest expression of the pose”

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

Laura Burns

Laura BurnsLocation: Houston, TX

Tell us a little about your relationship with yoga — both your practice and your teaching. I came to yoga after a lifetime of struggling with depression, anxiety, and body-image issues. After trying classes and feeling like I wasn’t welcome, I finally found my community of size-positive yogis and experienced yoga as the transformational tool that it can be. It is amazing how healing a yoga practice can be, and I want everyone to be able to experience the love and acceptance that’s possible. My teaching style is gentle and supportive instruction with every class steeped in body-positive reflection and centering. I try to infuse all my classes with tools for self-love and personal growth.

Why do you want to bring Curvy Yoga to your community? I’ve had so many people tell me that they’re interested in yoga, but they feel like it’s not for them or that they wouldn’t be welcome in classes. Creating space for people of all body types to feel safe and supported will allow everyBODY to explore yoga and see that yoga truly is for all people. Practicing yoga has been a transformative and healing process for me, and I am SO happy to share that with my community in Houston.

What can folks expect when they take a class from you? Students can expect a safe and welcoming environment, gentle yoga poses, and lots of options to make yoga asana work for their bodies. I try to create a casual and fun atmosphere where people feel relaxed and comfortable. I encourage everyone to try new things, but also to be kind to themselves and not push too hard or compare themselves to other people.

What has been your favorite part of the certification process? Learning new things from my fellow yogis! I’m so grateful to all of them for always giving such great insight and perspective about teaching and practicing yoga.

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


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