Meet the Team

Instructors

**Adeline**
Instructor

Adeline (she/her) is bubbly public health practitioner who has a knack for making people feel known and cherished. The practice of yoga created the much-needed space for her to pause, to honor her feelings, and to feel safe in her body. As such, Adeline's classes are a happy mix of stillness and movement to foster connection with self. She encourages students to toss expectation aside, to acknowledge privilege and power, and to explore their needs moment-by-moment. After her Wednesday evening class, join her at a local restaurant for some meaningful conversation and yummy food/drink!

**Amanda M.**
Instructor

BIO COMING SOON.

**Andrea**
Instructor

Andrea has been practicing yoga for nearly three years and is new to teaching. She has a lifelong love of learning, enjoys being active, and is excited to share the many benefits of yoga. Yoga is equal parts strength, flexibility, balance, and endurance all integrated with the breath. Andrea addresses these components and also seeks to incorporate elements of calm to shift your focus, encouraging self-reflection and growth. Life is a journey!

**Angela**
Instructor

E-RYT 500, YACEP, Reiki Master Angela began practicing yoga just as a means to complement her skydiving career. Competing in the discipline of freestyle (which is like dancing and acrobatics in the sky), flexibility and strength helped to create interesting and dynamic movement for competition routines. However, yoga became much more than just an aid to reach her skydiving goals. In addition to the physicality of the practice – the mental and spiritual benefits quickly came to light – and became an integral part of her life. Completing her first YTT in 2011, she has since accumulated well over 6,000 hours of teaching. She is a featured yogi in the documentary Why We Breathe, a Lululemon Legacy Ambassador, and was also featured in ORIGIN Magazine as part of their “Women who eat impossible for breakfast” series. Angela is also a certified Reiki Master and sound healing practitioner. As a result, her teaching style is an alchemy of her experience, modalities, and ongoing education to create uniquely nourishing experiences for all. She offers a wide range of classes, workshops, and trainings accessible to everyone – incorporating various styles of yoga, Reiki, myofascial release, sound healing, meditation, breath work, and more. To learn more about Angela, please visit www.AngelaTaraHsu.com.

**Brisa**
Instructor / Retreat Director

Brisa is a nurturing mother to two incredible girls, a wife to her love, a world traveler and a lover of people. She channels her passion for life into her yoga and coaching workshops. As a skilled yoga teacher, a mindset coach and a wellness and adventure enthusiast, Brisa proudly serves as the founder of Empowered Yoga Retreats, where she thrives in empowering others through the transformative practices of yoga, mindfulness and coaching and through traveling and exploring in nature. Her genius unfolds in the beauty of adventure and meaningful human connections. With over 13 years of teaching experience, Brisa brings a wealth of expertise to her classes. Recognizing the uniqueness of each student, she is dedicated to fostering their individual development. In her classes, Brisa's vibrant and compassionate style creates a safe and energizing environment, allowing students to progress toward their physical, personal and emotional goals. Beyond the studio, Brisa is fueled by a passion for coaching yoga for children, driven by her wish for every child to have access to the transformative tools that yoga and mindfulness offer for well-being. She envisions a future where yoga and mindfulness seamlessly integrate into early education. Brisa will be offering a yoga and mindfulness summer program for children at Carolina Friends School in 2024 and she is also actively collaborating with Duke University Hospital, contributing to a study aimed at exploring how yoga can aid in the healing journey of cancer patients and survivors, emphasizing its potential to nurture the body, mind, and spirit.

**Brittany**
Instructor

Brittany (she/her) found her way to yoga during graduate school when it became a crucial part of her recovery from anxiety and an eating disorder. Since then, Brittany’s yoga practice has blossomed into a nourishing way to support her lifelong well-being and relationship with herself. Brittany aims to provide an energetic, challenging, and playful form of movement that meets her students where they’re at – mentally, physically, and emotionally. She enjoys leading an upbeat class where students can find a balance between ease and effort while pairing breath with intentional movement. Brittany aims to support her students in finding their own expressions of the poses by creating space to allow them to push their boundaries – or pull back – in a thoughtful, safe way. Off the mat, Brittany is an RTP scientist. She enjoys hiking, creating new recipes in the kitchen, and snuggling with her husband, two sons, and kitty. Brittany completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training and YogaHour certification at Yoga Oasis in Tucson, Arizona, in 2020.

Colleen
Instructor

Colleen moved to the Raleigh Durham area in August 2022 and has been practicing yoga for over 10 years. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, she received her 200-hour teacher training from Yoga Flow Pittsburgh Wellness Center in 2021.Colleen immediately felt at home at Yoga Off East, loving the warm and friendly community and the supportive environment. She is committed to giving newcomers to yoga the tools and confidence they need to believe that yoga is right for them. She incorporates yin postures and stretch at the end of the flow and standing sequence. When she is not on the mat, Colleen enjoys spending time with her partner, daughter and her dog, Oliver.

**Emily**
Instructor

I am Emily, lover of yoga, music and the power of breathing. Yoga has given me space for healing, personal growth, and a connection to body and mind through breath and movement.
My intention is to offer a complete but not overly complicated vinyasa flow class, leaving room for meditation and exploration of breathing practices. I hope to bring a bit of joy and peace to my students, providing tools to help cope with the busy world we live in.
I have lived in the Triangle area most of my adult life and enjoy my spending time with my family, taking yoga classes, cooking, listening to live music and reading.

**Hannah**

Instructor

Hannah Darcy, C-IAYT, is a Durham, N.C.-based yoga therapist by way of New York City who believes that yoga should be a practice of exploring the body, mind and spirit. Her intent is to make each class a lighthearted yet thoughtful and safe space for students to explore the practice of yoga and how it fits into their lives. Her classes are accessible to all, offering a blend of challenging vinyasa flow sequences and therapeutic modalities, while encouraging the use of props to advance the practice. Hannah is Yoga Alliance RYT-500 certified through Pure Yoga in New York City and a C-IAYT yoga therapist with Prema Yoga Institute. Mentors include Dana Slamp, Sonja Rzepski, Adam Vitolo, and Yuliana Kim-Grant.

**Jenna**
Instructor

Jenna is a recent transplant to the Durham area, having previously divided her time between Chicago and Paris. She began her yoga journey in high school, attending small classes taught by a friend’s mother out of their basement, and continued practicing through college and graduate school. As a classically trained violinist, the deep focus on minute physical sensation and focused repetition of yoga resonated deeply with her, while offering an added level of emotional grounding. She is a 200-hr Yoga Alliance-certified instructor through the inaugural Yoga Off East teacher training program in Durham, NC, specializing in vinyasa yoga instruction. Jenna is a strong believer in being a student of one’s breath, and encourages students to use poses to grow their knowledge of their bodies and themselves.

**Julianne**
Instructor

Julianne completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training through Franklin Street Yoga Center in 2022. She has trained in a variety of techniques for conflict resolution and mediation, and has an interest in studying eastern and western healing practices alike. She grew up running and spent more than eight years pole dancing. It was her experiences with dance that nurtured a love for movement and sensuality, and a passion towards supporting others in thriving in their bodies. She resonates deeply with how challenging it can be to connect with the body’s needs and wisdom when navigating day to day life and understands that it takes great courage to carry your body and mind in a new way. As an instructor, she hopes to guide fellow students in fostering authenticity in their movement and confidence taking their practice beyond the studio. Her teaching style is affirming, lighthearted and educational.

**Jessica**
Instructor

Hi there! My name is Jessica and I have been a yoga instructor for 11 years. I trained in multiple yoga traditions through Sage Rountree at Carolina Yoga Company and have been teaching at Yoga Off East for 7 years! I am also a certified sound healer and licensed mental health therapist specializing in complex trauma. My background in somatic therapy informs a lot of my teaching: I emphasize the relationship between emotions, body sensations and thoughts and how they interact with movement-- including how we can utilize the incredible and ancient science of yoga to regulate and love ourselves from the inside out. In my classes you can expect vinyasa style yoga asanas (poses), pranayama (breathwork), dharana (concentration), discussion of all of the 8 limbs of yoga (including yamas and niyamas), guided visualization, applied polyvagal nervous system techniques, eye movement work, yoga nidra and restorative yoga, use of stories and narratives to facilitate the ongoing learning of lessons off the mat, some goofy humor and music (sometimes dance music and on mellower class days you'll hear meditative sound or gentle instrumental music). Occasionally I may bring my crystal singing bowls and provide a Sound Bath or utilize music therapy practices and my piano to ground your body during Savasana. A theme I often emphasize is personal freedom through self-compassion, acceptance and radical self-love of the body. I also provide workshops and individualized yoga intensives on yoga for grief and yoga for anxiety/stress. I enjoy teaching students how to use yoga to sit with difficult emotions or process their life experiences using non-verbal information in their system. I am inclusive of all individuals from all backgrounds and am fiercely aware of the systems that impact the lived experience of safety and belonging for marginalized populations and those in the global majority. Off the mat, I live in Durham with my partner and 6 year old daughter, my 4 cats (Tiger, Althea, Zane and Zoro) and my spunky Schnorkie pup, Jerry! I own and run a private group practice in North Raleigh called Nourish Carolina Counseling and I truly adore my clinical work. In my spare time, I enjoy traveling, camping, good food with good friends, hiking/forest bathing, birding, playing and composing piano music, baking and exploring my city and all it has to offer. I am honored to have the chance to guide you in this sacred practice. I can't wait to see you in my classes and workshops!

**Josh**
Instructor *(Sabbatical thru March 2024)*

Josh teaches yoga that is physically challenging while also focused on alignment and fundamentals. You can expect to move, build heat and sweat while also finding space for stillness and self-inquiry. In Josh's classes, you’re as likely to find athletes as spiritual seekers and you might hear music and teachings from anyone from Ram Dass to Taylor Swift to Jay Z. Off the mat, Josh is a husband, lawyer, runner, adventurer, lifelong learner and proud dog dad to a teacup chihuahua named Rami. Josh completed his 200-hour yoga teacher training under Kathryn Smith of Yoga Off East in Durham, NC.

**Kate**
Instructor

Kate (she/her) came to yoga through a lower back injury that limited the movement she loved—boxing, capoeira, and running around with her two little boys. As she deepened her practice, Kate discovered that yoga offered much more than relief from physical symptoms. It also brought respite from anxiety, a truer sense of connection and purpose, and a deep sense of self-love. Kate is also an award-winning writer, and she offers yoga + writing workshops as a way to deepen her own and others practices.
Through her classes and workshops, Kate aims to offer the simple but profound gift that yoga offers us: feeling good in our bodies as we clear the mind and feed the spirit.

**Kathryn**
Founder / Owner

Kathryn (she/her) E-RYT, RYT300 is the founder of Yoga Off East. She lives in Durham with her husband, their two children and 2 chocolate labs. Kathryn is a Duke alumna (T’01) where she studied Cultural Anthropology and was a 4-year starter on the varsity tennis team. As a competitive athlete, and later a Division I tennis coach, Kathryn found that her on-court results improved as she learned how to quiet her critical mind and stay grounded in her body. In addition to her role as the program director for the 200-hr Teacher Training Program at the studio, Kathryn owns a personal coaching business, Revery, which focuses on leadership at home and in the world.

**Kim**
Instructor

Kim is a former elementary school teacher who started practicing yoga in 2002 using online podcasts during naptimes after her first child was born. Yoga ebbed and flowed in her daily routine for years, but as life became exceedingly chaotic with three children, she realized the importance of making time to regulate the body, the breath, the mind and the soul. In 2020, Kim completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training at Yoga Off East. She began teaching for YOE online during the pandemic, then transitioned to teaching in-studio in 2021. Since then, she's continued to learn and evolve as a teacher and in 2024 received her 500-hour RYT certification after completing Jason Crandell's training program.
Kim teaches yoga to provide a sense of inner calm and peace; to help students discover ways to nourish, cultivate, and remember who they are, how to feel in their body, and observe the mind's fluctuations; and to offer a moment of presence in a world of chaos. Kim teaches to share this beautiful and amazing practice of yoga that has been handed down for thousands of years, through generations of teachers, offering the tools to live a more fully awake and present life. There is more to yoga then simply moving the body, though you will definitely move in class, and Kim wants to continue this journey with you...together...in community.

**Lara**
Instructor + Pre & Postnatal Yoga Lead *(on Maternity Leave thru Winter 2024)*

Lara came to yoga with a tired body and an anxious mind and – over time and with practice – found both renewed on the mat. She began and deepened her yoga practice at O2 Yoga in Massachusetts, received her 200-hour training through Carolina Yoga Company, and completed her 85-hour Prenatal Yoga certification through Blue Point Yoga. In her classes, Lara emphasizes joyful and mindful movement, centered in community and grounded in the present moment. Learn more about Lara here.

**Melissa**
Instructor

Melissa is a Long Island native, and first found a love for yoga in her high school gym class. After going to college in upstate NY, she moved to Durham, NC in 2014. Living in a new city, Melissa found solace and connection in the yoga community. She pursued a 200 hour yoga teacher training under Patty Geiger and she completed her 500 hour training with Yoga Medicine. She is a Yoga Medicine® Therapeutic Specialist and a RAD Yoga Mobility and Recovery Specialist.
Melissa’s classes feature playful flows that challenge her students to find their edge, regardless of their level. Her intention is always rooted in helping students find their strength as well as their mobility. She enjoys cultivating a sense of community among her students, encouraging them to grow and vibe off of each other's energy and breath.
Off the mat, Melissa does research in cancer immunology. When she’s not at work or in a yoga studio, you can find her with friends, likely changing her hair color or posing for her next Instagram.

**Penelope**
Instructor

Hi! I'm Penelope (She/Her); I'm a 200 hr Vinyasa Flow instructor with a background in Visual Arts and Modern Dance. As a Dance Teacher and Performer, I first began utilizing yoga as a restorative way to condition the body but later found it as a tool to calm the nervous system and metabolize stress. In my 15 years of teaching movement arts, I've taught in many environments, including public elementary schools, on zoom for older adults and for college dance students. I found that stress was the number one inhibitor for most to feel whole and balanced in their body. In my Yoga classes, my goal is to find ways to release tension while cultivating an inclusive space that feels soothing, freeing, and supportive. The practice will focus on breath, length, and ease in a gentle, playful flow.

**Olivia**
Instructor

Olivia (she/her) is a recent college graduate who has been practicing yoga for ten years. She fell in love with yoga because of the way it strengthened and softened her mind and body and connected her to the people in the yoga community. She is a student first and is energized whenever she learns a creative new transition or a variation of a pose she has never tried.
Olivia aims for her classes to be energetic and challenging, while also allowing students the space to prioritize their needs and choose their own adventure. While she enjoys sharing many styles of yoga, from gentle restorative to fast-paced vinyasa, she strives to give modifications whenever she can so that everyone can find a variation that meets them where they are. Because her background is in alignment-based yoga, Olivia enjoys utilizing skillful sequencing and clear and direct instruction to workshop poses when appropriate so that students can feel safe, strong, and successful during their practice.
She completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2016 and her 300-hour yoga teacher training in 2018 at Tough Love Yoga in Atlanta, Georgia.

**Rachel**
Instructor

Meet Rachel (she/her), a curious yogi whose journey began in 2016, when she tried yoga every day for 6 weeks to decide if she really liked it. It stuck! She was smitten with a form of exercise that was not only for her physical body, but had a hunch it could be just as good for her soul (and nervous system). In 2018, she decided to complete her RYT 200 in Rishikesh, India, and started teaching at her home studio in Washington DC. Throughout the challenges of the pandemic, she found solace and strength through yoga, cultivating a self practice on the roof of her DC apartment. In 2020, she relocated to Durham and discovered a nurturing environment at YOE, where she continues in her practice. With a commitment to being trauma-informed and size-inclusive in her teaching, she persistently strives to teach and practice yoga both on and off the mat. In her classes, she aspires for her students to leave feeling strong, empowered, and filled with love and care for themselves and others.

**Shauna**
Instructor

Yoga came into my life in 2010 at a local studio in Wilmington, NC. As the years went on my interest in yoga and meditation blossomed into a garden full of wonder and dedication. I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training through Kali Yuga Yoga in an attempt to further my understanding of the human body and mind. I feel committed to living a life of service and hope to serve my community to
the best of my ability -- with intention, compassion, and non-judgmental care. As a birth doula, I encourage others to listen to their body and find a flow that feels good for them.

**Tammy**
Instructor

A former gymnast and powerlifter, Tammy came to yoga as a means of stepping away from over-exercising and pushing her body past its healthy limit. She became certified and began teaching the Yoga/Pilates/Tai Chai-based fitness program Body Flow in 2010, but found a large piece missing. Life was busy and stressful in the DC area, she had a child with significant special needs, her body still ached from overuse injuries. She wanted and needed more than the physical limb (asana) of yoga. She began to explore studios and practices, and completed her Hatha yoga teacher training in 2014, the same year she and her family moved to Chapel Hill.
Tammy came to Yoga Off East in 2016, as she felt the studio was a safe and inclusive space. Tammy’s teaching style is challenging, but kind-hearted and compassionate. She offers hands-on assists to compassionately support students in postures. She’ll help you to deepen your practice in a way that is safe and supportive.

Vanessa

Instructor

Fifteen years ago Vanessa found HOME in the practice of yoga. She likes to move in a way that allows to honor her body today, in a way that challenges her, takes her out of the comfort zone but that is also nourishing. Exploring new possibilities, different rhythms and intensities. Most of what she knows about movement she learned in her living room and backyard with her sisters and friends: dancing or wrestling contests, roller skating, skateboarding, climbing trees, swimming, dancing ballet and rock and roll. She began to formally study and teach Yoga and Meditation in 2004, and continues to be a curious student willing and excited to share what she is learning on the path. Vanessa is a loyal student of Shiva Rea and Michael Stone. Certified Vinyasa Flow ERYT, Budokon ® Yoga, Mamaste ™ Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga, Doula and Childbirth Educator, Teaching since 2004, she joyfully guides students in a journey, and the effects are sure to extend far beyond the mat and regular asana practice.

Meet the Team

Instructors

Community Team & Staff

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