Teachers
At Asheville Community Yoga, we are proud to operate on the yogic principle of seva—selfless service. Our teachers are all volunteers, generously offering their time and knowledge to create a welcoming space for all. By honoring our motto, Freedom Through Service, we aim to cultivate a community where giving back is at the heart of everything we do.
We are deeply grateful for the hundreds of teachers over the years who have answered the call to serve through yoga, helping us offer classes on a donation basis. Their unwavering commitment, week after week, is a testament to their dedication and love for the practice and the community. We honor each teacher who shares their wisdom, heart, and presence, making this space a true reflection of service and connection.
Alex White
Alex White is a 200 hour RYT through Yoga Alliance; she completed her training in 2016 at Mission Yoga in Charleston, SC. For four years, Alex worked with Empowered Minds, an outreach program teaching yoga to underserved students in the low country...
Ana Fajardo
Ana is currently pursuing 500 hour yoga certification with Asheville Yoga Center after having completed her 200 hour YTT in 2021 with School Yoga Institute. In her class, she invites students to honor their bodies with intuitive movement and plenty...
Angela Gafner
In 2013, my yoga journey started when I was invited to Asheville Community Yoga by a coworker. I loved the class and went back for many more classes after the first class. My physical body always felt amazing, but I also noticed a positive shift in...
Ariel Garcia
(she/they) Before I moved to Asheville in 2020 and found Asheville Community Yoga, and before ever taking regular classes at a studio, I had been practicing asana for a few years on my own through online classes. What started as simple exercise for...
Bill Monroe
Certified Heartfulness Meditation Trainer Bill has been practicing Heartfulness meditation daily for over 25 years and was certified a Heartfulness trainer in 2015. Through the years he has completed numerous Heartfulness workshops and attended...
Chris Sessions
Chris has been a certified Heartfulness meditation trainer since 2003, dedicating over two decades to this transformative practice. Heartfulness offers a unique approach to meditation, focusing on heart-centered techniques that promote inner peace,...
Deborah Inaba
Deborah is an ACSM registered clinical exercise physiologist with an MS in Exercise Physiology and Health Promotion. She has been a certified exercise instructor in many formats for the last 20 years most of which was in a hospital based Wellness...
Diane Saccone
Diane Saccone, MS MT (ASACP) ERYT 500 spent the majority of her career in the field of Clinical Laboratory medicine changing careers after her move with her husband to Western North Carolina in 2005. Diane built a yoga company serving the community...
Haydee Morales
With over 20 years as an educator and a deep passion for working with children, Haydee brings her warmth, creativity, and a playful spirit to her yoga practice. She has been sharing her love for movement, mindfulness, and community since 2021 when...
Jennifer Yates
Jennifer Yates is a passionate yogi who has been practicing for over 20 years. With a deep love for the practice and its many benefits, Jennifer has devoted her time to studying and perfecting her skills in order to share the beauty of yoga with...
Jocilyn Baker
My practice on the mat began in 2016. In the summer of 2018 I graduated from my first 250-hour teacher training at Asheville Community Yoga. Yoga, along with other forms of healing arts, ultimately led me to a deeper understanding of my self, my...
Josie Hoban
Josie is thrilled to be offering Mindfulness and Yoga for children at ACY. She has been an educator since 2003 with a BS in Elementary Education. Combining her love of children and passion for travel, she’s taught in Spain, Taiwan and locally at...
Kathy Reardon
Yoga Nidra is a non-movement guided practice. Yoga Nidra uses the biological process of slowing the brainwave impulses much like sleep, to quiet the mind and move you deeply into relaxation. Yoga means Union and Nidra Means sleep but not the sleep...
Kelsey Gilbert
Kelsey’s yoga practice began in 2013, when she found her niche after exploring a few different styles and studios in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her practice flourished at a community focused and welcoming ashtanga-based studio. She spent years...
Kyle Espenshade
Kyle is a SOMA Breath Master Instructor, Healing Tao Qigong Instructor, Transformational Coach, Music Producer, and Ecstatic Dance Facilitator, with over 10 years of experience in Internal Alchemy Arts. He is the owner of Soma Alkhemy, a system of...
Laura Eshelman
Laura is excited to share her enthusiasm for yoga and fun with all the mini-yogis! She has maintained a practice for 15 years, and completed an RYT training in Rishikesh, India. Laura has also been part of Asheville Community Yoga for over a...
Lindsay Murdock
My name is Lindsay and my pronouns are she/her. When I discovered Asana Yoga, I was deeply moved by the profound impact it had had on all facets of my life. Inspired by the power of the body & breath connection, I delved deeper into my...
Mary Jamieson
(she/her) Recently relocated to Asheville via Chicago, Mary started her yoga practice around age 50 and shortly thereafter became a sponge for all things and topics energy related; both physical and mental. A year later Spring Forest Qigong crossed...
Michael Stimak
I’ve been practicing yoga since 2014. The practice came to me in a time of need and have been doing it ever since. When I moved to Asheville in 2016 I was looking for something to do with my mother and she found Asheville Community Yoga. I felt a...
Nathan Carter
Nate’s path to yoga was ignited by a spontaneous kundalini awakening—a glimpse beyond the veil that forever altered his perception of reality. What followed was a great unraveling: a fall from a tree that shattered his body, yet opened the gateway...
Robin Borzotta
Robin Borzotta is a retired Registered Nurse, whose speciality was rehabilitative nursing. Robin has been a 500 hour RYT since 2015. She became a certified IAYT yoga therapist in 2017 and holds a speciality certification with y4c Yoga for...
Sarah “Ocean” Gettys
Yoga found me in 2020 during a potent healing phase of my journey, and we have been inseparable since. I completed my RYT 200 certification in 2023 at Asheville Community Yoga, and feel deeply honored to share the practice of yoga with others...
Stephen Volkman
A graduate from Asheville Community Yoga's teacher training, Stephen is drawn to yoga for the positive community, emotional regulation, low impact exercise, and spiritual depth. He comes with a background of nearly 10 years of experience in the...
Tammy Cervantes
Tammy Cervantes has been teaching yoga for over 20 years. She has lived in Cozumel, Mexico most of her life and is known as a pioneer of yoga there. She fell in love with Asheville immediately and has lived here – going back to her home in Cozumel...
Troy Marjenhoff
Troy designs her classes, courses, and retreats to facilitate transformation for her students, who often describe her teaching style as playful and nurturing, yet strong. She has practiced yoga since 2006 and taught since 2010. She specializes in...
Alexandra Culotta
Alexandra Culotta is new to the Asheville area, spending her life so far in Southern Louisiana, where her son and other family still reside. Alexandra has always loved the performing arts, particularly dance, theater, and more recently, stand-up...
Ana Lechman
Ana is an Asheville native and has been attending classes at Asheville Community Yoga since 2014. She is beyond excited to have joined the teaching team. She teaches a playful and sustainable practice that emphasizes intuitive movement and aims to...
Angela Smith
With a background in nonprofit, academia and corporate consulting, Angela has relied on meditation and yoga for many years to maintain balance in her life and mind. She is a certified meditation teacher in the Vedic lineage. Angela believes that...
Be Mayoral
Be Mayoral (they/she) joyfully offers yoga as a practice to strengthen the connection between body, mind, and soul. From a young age, Be has navigated life’s challenges by alchemizing pain into purpose—yoga being one of the most powerful tools...
Cassandra Lam
I was in a very dark place when I took my first steps onto the 8 limbed path to liberation that yoga offered. As a junior in college, I began experiencing debilitating chronic back pain that would sometimes immobilize me for hours. When doctors...
Corey Costanzo
Corey Costanzo, MA, LCAS, LMBT, SEP has a wealth of experience in helping individuals to achieve greater self-awareness and personal growth. With a Master's degree in Somatic Psychology and 20+ years of counseling experience, Corey has dedicated...
Dede Boyd
Dede Boyd, a Masters level counselor, is a certified Embodyoga®, Energy Medicine Yoga®, and RestorativeYoga® teacher, offering an innovative and exciting approach to the cutting-edge practice of yoga through the study of deep, body awareness....
Eddie LeShure
(he/him) Eddie brings to the studio decades of meditation and yoga practice, as well as a deep passion for offering evidence-based, body-centered, mindfulness and self- compassion practices to those recovering from substance misuse and eating...
Heather Irene Smith
Heather Irene Smith is a Laughing Lotus NYC and Asheville Yoga Center trained Yoga instructor with over 500 hours of training and advanced study in Bhakti Yoga, Ayurveda, and Yoga Philosophy. Heather Irene is a public school teacher, artist,...
Jenny Lusk
Jenny’s journey with yoga began in 2005 after completing an Ashtanga Yoga teacher training with David Swenson in Doylestown, PA, while also studying at the International School of Shiatsu. These experiences were the spark that ignited a passion...
Joe Early
(he/they) I’m Joe and I’m so excited to be teaching yoga as a way to further both your journey and my own. I’ve been practicing various forms of yoga since 2003. All of this practice brought me to a 250 hour teacher training through Asheville...
Jot Anant
Jot Anant’s teachings are rooted in the ancient wisdom of yoga, with a deep belief that healing ourselves is the first step toward healing the world. She holds that by nurturing our own well-being, we can more fully contribute to the collective...
Katie Clear
Katie is delighted to be volunteering at ACY. Hailing from Ireland, she received her Bachelor of Education in 2009. She is a passionate and dedicated teacher of little ones. She started teaching youth yoga in 2017 at Riverfarm, a nature based...
Ken “Katbird” Dunn
Katbird came to meditation as a way to ease intrusive thoughts. The practice lead him to the path of recovery from addiction. It was through Buddhist recovery groups, focused on mindfulness and meditation where he became willing to move in a new...
Kyra Cavanaugh
Kyra Cavanaugh is a certified Associate Instructor of Qigong Flow and trained as a Tao Healing and Meditation Guide. She studied with the Taoists at Sedona Mago Retreat Center in Arizona and completed her Qigong training in Thailand with Marisa...
Leaflin Winecoff
Leaflin is a native of western North Carolina, and has been teaching yoga since the turn of the century. Over the years she has had the privilege of completing several teacher trainings and studying with numerous masterful teachers. Her primary...
Lisa Kirk
I have done yoga off and on for 20 years. But in 2016, while in the midst of caring for my mom, I found Asheville Community Yoga and truly connected with yoga and realized the depth of what yoga can bring to your life - that yoga is so much more...
Meagan Olgin
I fell in love with yoga as a high school senior growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I found myself entranced by the way that breath control, rhythmic movement, and soulful stillness assisted in calming my mind, and helping me discover the...
Mila Holy
(she/her) I have been teaching yoga for over 20 years. I trained to teach different styles of yoga and now focus on helping my students to find their optimal yoga practice whether they want to improve their physical, mental, emotional or spiritual...
Nicole Barschaw
I moved to Asheville after living in Charleston for 10 years, and I knew my first few moments here that this was my heart’s home. I’ve been practicing yoga since I was a teen and always knew I wanted to teach. Yoga has been the foundation of...
Robyn Tiger MD, C-IAYT, RYT-500
Robyn is a physician, certified yoga therapist, researcher and founder of Yoga Heals 4 Life, a private yoga therapy practice, integrating western and eastern philosophies for complete physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Her stress...
Sevn McAuley
Sevn is deeply immersed in the study and practice of yoga as a vehicle to experience life fully. His yoga asana practice began in 2001 and has matured into an appreciation for breath-centered alignment based postures and movement that honor both...
Sylvia Kark
"Yoga found me." Sylvia took the 250 hour yoga teacher training at Asheville Community Yoga after practicing yoga for four years. The motive was to learn more and understand more about yoga. What she did not expect was to be gently challenged and...
Timothy Burgin
Timothy Burgin is a Kripalu & Pranakriya trained yoga instructor living and teaching in Asheville, NC. Timothy has completed his 500-hour Advanced Pranakriya Yoga training and currently serves as the Executive Director of YogaBasics.com. With...
Amber Acheson
(she/her) In 2007 I was given the opportunity to move to Asia to teach English as a second language. Without a doubt I knew I had to go. I knew there was a bigger purpose to this opportunity. I had been in search of something vital I felt was...
Andrew Greene
Andrew found yoga at the tail end of a long battle with drug addiction. Practicing daily has helped him to cultivate energy and vitality like he had never imagined without the use of substances. He hopes to inspire others to explore yogic practices...
Ann Marie Satterfield
My interest in yoga began on a trip to Nepal in 2014. I have been practicing yoga since then and when I moved to Asheville in 2015 I felt grateful to find Asheville Community Yoga. I completed my 250 hour Yoga Teacher Training with Asheville...
Becca Sacora
Becca Sacora is a dedicated yoga enthusiast and facilitator with a 200-hour certification from Yoga Alliance. She specializes in synchronizing breath with movement to enhance mental clarity and body awareness. In her classes, Becca uses...
Chelsea Trinka
You will recognize Chelsea (she/her) around the studio by the purple streak in her hair and the sparkle in her eye. She has an infectious optimism and loves collaborating and bringing out the best in others. She is also a mermaid at heart as well...
Dana Maria
Dana Maria is a dedicated and experienced RYT 500 Yoga Alliance certified teacher whose practice is deeply rooted around service to others. She specializes in inclusive yoga that is accessible to everyone by empowering students to decide for...
Devon Edwards
Devon began his yoga journey in 2017 in Southern California. Sitting at a desk job all day was causing far too many aches and pains for an active person in his 20s. When he started doing yoga, he was wondering where it had been all his life! Not...
Haley Rae Smith
Haley Rae is a passionate yoga instructor with a lot of energy and enthusiasm for both yoga and children’s education. With 15 years of experience teaching kids’ art classes in Massachusetts, Haley brings a creative, playful approach to everything...
Irmi Presutto
Originally from Germany, lived in Florida for 23 years, 1 year in New Mexico and made beautiful Asheville her home in 2022. She is a certified Hatha Yoga teacher since 2008 and has been teaching weekly yoga classes in her community back in FL since...
Jim Castle
Jim’s purpose in teaching yoga is to help make yoga accessible and enjoyable for all. Honoring the uniqueness of each person, he invites students to explore each pose in order to discover the form that they find most useful. Jim guides students...
Joshua Canter
Joshua Canter has been a Mindfulness practitioner and teacher the past 10 years. He has an MA in Contemplative Psychology with an Emphasis on Mindfulness. Joshua is the Co-Founder of True Nature Education, a holistic travel education company which...
Kasia Kane
Being introduced to yoga during a time of major transition, I was able to find calm, a zero-point, "reset" in myself through consistent practice. Yoga, to me, is a practice to reconnect to life (nature), our purpose and ourselves through a fully...
Kelly Gilmore
Kelly Gilmore is a dedicated, seasoned, down-to-earth yoga teacher and body worker with a background in holistic, mindful living. Her classes are inspired from her various trainings through out the last 17 years of being on the amazing path of yoga...
Kim Tierney
Kim first tried a deep stretch yoga class while she was a freshman at UNCA. Her curiosity in yoga led her to Michael’s hot vinyasa class at Asheville Community Yoga. She remembers lying in savasana, covered in sweat thinking, “what just happened?...
Laura Coleman
Movement practices have always been a passion and a pathway to spirt for me. I grew up cultivating both a love of dance and walking in the woods; this was my way of finding inner peace and connecting to the great mystery. When I was introduced to...
Linda Rettig
Linda is thrilled to be in Asheville surrounded by natural beauty and a truly holistic community. She has been practicing yoga for more than 20 years and teaching fitness, health longer than that. Her classes are a meditation in motion: a vinyasa...
Margaret Kirschner
Margaret's love for yoga began in 2000 when she became a certified Kripalu yoga teacher. Since then, she has completed certifications in prenatal yoga and a 500-hour teacher training with Subtle Yoga (Kaoverii Weber) in 2013. She delights in...
Michael Greenfield
Michael has been in the practicing school of yoga for more than 23 years. He began teaching yoga in 2003 and has been dedicated to serving others in the path of yoga and relationship work. Igniting passion and demonstrating love are Michael’s two...
Natasha Bolé
I began practicing yoga in my early 20's as a means for stress-relief as a student in University. Towards the end of my 20's, I became inspired to share the medicine that is yoga with my community as an instructor. I received my 200-hour RYT in...
Nora Kennedy
Nora’s journey with yoga began in childhood and blossomed into a passion she shares with students for the past three transformative years. She was drawn to Asheville for studies in Health and Wellness at UNCA, fueled by a desire to deepen her...
Ryan Smith
Ryan first discovered yoga in 2016. As an avid runner and distance athlete, he was immediately drawn to its physical and mental health benefits. Working in a high stress job for many years, yoga had become a sanctuary for him. It began to transform...
Sonya Costello
Sonya's yoga journey began in 2001 when a friend handed her a video as a means to heal from the wounds of a tumultuous relationship. Little did she realize that a profound seed had been planted. Yoga wasn't something she actively sought out, but in...
Tammy Boomer
My name is Tammy Boomer. I retired in June 2023 from teaching elementary school in Michigan and moved to Asheville. I have been practicing yoga myself since 2008. In 2019, I decided to go for my yoga teacher certification. Never did I imagine...
Tony Wolff
Tony Wolff has been practicing Hatha Yoga for forty years and teaching for twenty-five. He did advanced studies with Sarah Powers, and teacher trainings in Thai Yoga with Saul David Raye; and with Kathleen Miller in the spirit of TKV Desikachar. He...