Meet Your Teachers
Michele Lawrence (ERYT 500) is a nurturer and uplifter; she believes in yoga's ability to heal and transform. As a way to balance out her active life, Michele first stepped on a yoga mat in 1999. It was not long after that she began to practice regularly; and while she could not quite put her finger on it, she was amazed at how much better she felt. She started teaching yoga in 2005 after graduating from the Devalila Yoga Teacher Training, a registered 200-hour level training with the Yoga Alliance.
Since her initial teacher training, Michele has studied various yoga styles and has completed over 800 hours of additional teacher trainings and workshops, including Ananada Seva's Yoga Therapy Program and Laura Kupperman's Yoga for Survivors Teacher Intensive. She believes that yoga is self-exploration and postures can be a metaphor for challenging life situations. By practicing and breathing, the poses can shed light and offer insight on those situations. She teaches a variety of classes at Yogadurango, including Yoga for Grief, and Living Well Yoga for Cancer. Michele also teaches private yoga sessions, and yoga classes at Pathways Bayfield and with other groups throughout La Plata County.
Originally from New Jersey, Michele moved to Durango in 2006. Along with her yoga teaching credentials, she also has an MBA, and has worked in large and small corporations for over 15 years. She uses this skillset to help run her current ventures. Michele is co-owner of Yogadurango, co-director of Yogadurango's Teacher Training program, and is also the director of Inner Peace Yoga Therapy a 300-hour yoga teacher training program.
Sheryl McGourty has been practicing yoga for over a decade. She received her Hatha yoga teaching training at Yoga Vidya Dham in Nasik, India and is additionally certified in prenatal yoga and completed the Radiant Child Yoga program. Her teaching is influenced by a willingness to learn from all teachers and all styles of yoga. Sheryl believes that when we work into the challenges and blockages presented by the body, we are allowed to reach a higher potential of self by increasing our vitality. She also believes that through yoga we begin to understand and feel a sense of genuine contentment, and consequently we can understand and live in harmony with others, naturally making an improvement on the world. Having been trained in the classic and traditional philosophy of yoga, Sheryl believes that yoga can be more than a class by transcending into a way of life.
Sheryl holds a Bachelor's Degree in Outdoor Education, a professional teaching license in the state of Colorado and has been certified as a Wilderness First Responder for over ten years. She has extensive experience facilitating and leading people of all ages in both classroom and wilderness settings.
Sheryl has a deep understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the body because of her medical training and her passion for outdoor athletics. Sheryl is an avid cyclist, having completed solo bike tours nationally and internationally. She also enjoys snowboarding, backpacking, dancing, traveling and spending time with family and friends.
Originally from Massachusetts, Sheryl has made Durango her home since 1997. Sheryl, her husband Josh and son Cedar, live in a yurt on their land outside of town and hope to begin building their home in the Spring of ’09.
Sheryl is co-owner of Yogadurango and instructs weekly Hatha classes. Sheryl is also co-owner of Yoga Evolution, a business that leads retreats and workshops incorporating yoga, adventure, and self-awareness.
Katie Walsh, RYT, Calming Kids Certified Instructor, and MA/Ed. has been practicing yoga for 17 years. A former fitness instructor, competitive runner and cyclist, Katie sought out yoga due to injuries and a quest for spiritual fitness.
Katie's primary practice is rooted in Anusara Yoga, which she is fortunate and grateful to be guided by master teachers Desiree Rumbaugh, Christy Burnett, and Christina Sell. Katie continues to develop her practice and instruction by attending workshops with Seanne Corn, Rusty Wells, Tias Little, Richard Freeman, John Friend, Noah Maze, Regina Zwilling, and Scott Blossom. In addition, she has attended Kripalu Yoga Institute with Shiva Rea and Kundalini master, Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa. A breast cancer survivor, Katie believes strongly in the gifts, lessons, motivation, and well-being that the discovery of yoga offers.
Katie is a former educator of 25 years, teaching elementary and middle school students in Arizona and Colorado. She is an ambassador for the Calming Kids program, focusing on yoga principles and anti-bullying education. Katie is recognized throughout local school communities sharing her knowledge, enthusiasm, and love for yoga and kids. Katie also teaches toddlers for Durango Pediatric Associates. The most rewarding aspects of her teaching, Katie finds, is watching her students/gurus grow in their own personal and physical transformation. Katie believes that the challenges that occur on the mat often parallel those in everyday life. Through her practice and teaching of yoga, Katie has found that transforming ourselves is a process rather than an event. Katie also believes that through the consistent practice of yoga that we begin to acknowledge our true grace and connection to self, others, and our communities.
Originally a Durango native, Katie takes advantage of every outdoor activity that the San Juan Mountains offers. She instructs weekly hot vinyasa classes and kids yoga classes.
Sandy Bielenberg, Anusara-Inspired™ yoga instructor, began practicing yoga to find relief from a painful, chronic neck injury caused by a car accident as a teenager. She is a long-time student of local Iyengar instructor, Kathy Curran. Anusara Yoga became her path after taking a workshop in 2004 with Christy Burnette. Upon retiring from teaching elementary art at Needham and Animas Valley Elementary Schools, Sandy immersed herself in Anusara, studying with Amy Ippoliti, completing teacher trainings with Desiree Rumbaugh, John Friend, and Jamie Allison, and attending numerous weekend workshops with other senior Anusara teachers. She honors and delights in Anusara’s five precise and elegant Universal Principles of Alignment, its heart-based philosophy, and playful style. The alignment principles offer a way to therapeutic healing, safety on the mat, ever-deepening poses, and translate to mindful, heart-full living off the mat.
Sandy is originally from Minnesota but moved to Colorado in the mid-70’s working as a river guide and bookseller, then as an elementary teacher. She has lived in SW Colorado since 1984, playing in the mountains, rivers and canyons of our big backyard.
Deb Buck, as a dancer and gymnast for most of her younger life, Deb has always had an appreciation for movement. After her first yoga class in 2000, she was immediately attracted to the open possibilities asana has to offer. In finding full enjoyment through which yoga combines strength, flexibility, breath and mindfulness, Deb began to embrace asana practice as something that could nourish her spiritual way of life as well. As her practice of yoga deepened, she completed her 200 hr yoga teacher training at Yoga Durango in the fall of 2010 and felt drawn to share the gift of yoga with the Durango community. Having worked in the field of holistic plant medicine for more than a decade, Deb notices the benefits yoga can offer to facilitate a healthier lifestyle and deepening our connection to our wholeness. She is always eager to deepen her practice and explore the infinite possibilities of integrating the principles of Yoga into her daily life. Through teaching yoga, Deb enjoys fusing devotion, strength, integrity, and grace in order to inspire contagious enthusiasm in service to our wholeness.
Deb is a Clinical Herbalist, practicing from her home and teaching classes about the local medicinal plants. She is also co-creator of Chanchka Remedios. She spends as much time as possible with her wonderful son, Cedar, hiking, backpacking, and observing the wild places on the Earth.
Bill Carver actually started the practice of yoga right here at Yogadurango in 2004. After discovering Anusara Yoga in 2007, Bill dove in head first and has completed over 500 hours of workshops, immersions, and teacher trainings with certified Anusara teachers, with a total of over 900 Anusara credit hours. Bill comes from a background of martial arts, with black belts in both Judo and Tang Soo Do . Bill has taught both of these arts for more than 10 years, up until he switched to yoga. Bill finds his extensive background of teaching a physical practice has been very helpful in teaching yoga.
Anusara, founded by John Friend, uses a life affirming philosophy, heart opening language, and the universal principles of alignment to help you discover what is already within you. Because the alignment principles truly are universal, the patterning of the optimal human form becomes evident, even as the outer expression of each particular pose changes. Within this invitation of engagement with yoga lies the promise of evolution, of both yourself and our Community.
Bill has been a Durango resident since 1986, and is a co-founder of Carver Brewing Co. in Durango, along with several other brewery-restaurants. His education includes a BBA in Accounting and Finance, and he passed the CPA exam way back when. Bill is also a long time volunteer and Capital Campaign Chair for the Durango Discovery Museum, an interactive Science Museum in the old Durango powerhouse. He has 1 daughter and 2 sons, all in college now, and loves the outdoor activities that the Four Corners area has to offer.
Amber DeHerrera, born and raised in Colorado, Amber was introduced to the mountains as a young girl and naturally finds her heart and soul anchored here in Durango. She finds her connection with nature, the earth, body, mind and spirit by taking long hikes, running, and mountain biking with her little dog Frankie. The beginning of her journey began right here at Yoga Durango almost three years ago and then this summer she completed their 200 hour Yoga teacher training program. Drawn to all types of Yoga, Amber embraces the transformations that can occur when intertwining Yoga and life. Inspired by many local and visiting teachers, Amber has found the weaving of spiritual teachings and the expression of the heart to have a strong presence in her Yoga practice and teaching style. Her practice reflects a love for music,Vinyasa Yoga, and the power of intention and devotion. Her hope is that each time we come “home” to our Yoga mats we will have an opportunity for healing, learning, forgiveness, gratitude, and grace.
When she is not practicing Yoga, Amber works as a Registered Nurse at Mercy Regional Medical Center. She has also studied Nutrition and Exercise Science prior to nursing which has given her a good foundation and understanding of health, the body, and movement.
Scott Fallows began studying yoga in 1991. He studied Ashtanga directly with Sri K. Pattabi Jois in Mysore, South India on two separate occasions, and has studied with many great teachers in a variety of other yoga and meditation traditions over the years. Ashtanga yoga remains the spine of his personal practice. His regular classes draw cues from both the Ashtanga and Iyengar Systems, and are informed as well by study of anatomy, Advaita Vedanta, and Ayurveda. Scott's classes build health and vitality of the physical body and emphasize awareness of the underlying stillness from which all action and matter appear. Scott also works with individuals and groups using yoga therapy to cultivate and maintain an optimum state of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. He has taught at Yoga Works in Santa Monica, CA and at Yoga Source in Santa Fe, NM.
Heather Hooten's yogic journey began here in Durango in 2000. At that time, she was primarily interested in asana as a way to connect and center herself...never suspecting that path would eventually lead to teaching others.
Practicing more on than off, Heather became most dedicated when pregnant with her son, Grady. Committing to a regular practice changed her perspective of yoga, learning what the asanas have to offer both physically and emotionally. A Winter Retreat (2008) was a first for Heather in many ways, her first time away from her baby, and her first intensive practice...she never looked back. She began taking advantage of every opportunity to continue her education, including workshops with Christy Burnette, Darren Rhodes, Peter Sterios and Alanna Kaivalya. When her local studio offered a Yoga Teacher Training, Heather was the first person to turn in her application. She completed her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training through YogaDurango in fall of 2010. Heather teaches a variety of Vinyasa style asana, and infuses her classes with the other seven limbs of yoga as well. She recently attended a 20 hour PreNatal Yoga Teacher Training, and is excited to add yet another path on her yogic journey.
With a blind leap of faith, Heather moved to Durango in 1992 with the support and encouragement of her Aunt and Uncle. She is a graduate of Fort Lewis College and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology. In 2002, Heather went back to school and received an Associate's Degree in Nursing, and has a background in Labor and Delivery. Shortly after her son was born in 2007, she created and now teaches a Childbirth Education class, Go with The Flow.
Heather considers herself lucky to live in an area like Durango that nourishes her both emotionally and physically...none of which would be possible without the unyielding love and support from her husband since 2003, Jason.
Joy Kilpatrick is a certified, registered (RYT 200+) Yoga Teacher and Thai Yoga Therapist as well as a Wholistic LifeStyle Coach and Fitness Professional. Joy has over 20 years experience guiding students safely and sacredly on the Path of Transformation. Joy has also been featured in InStyle Magazine and has written and instructed a "Quick Fix" Power Yoga DVD for Current Wellness which aired on Fit TV. Joy and her daughter, Dewachen, have been teaching 'Lil Yogi' classes since 2008. Joy works privately with individuals as well as in group practices.
Joy relocated to Durango's natural, wild beauty in 2010 from the glossy, frantic pace of LA. Playing and communing in the SouthWest outdoors with her husband, Coach Steve ilg and Dewachen; along with gardening next to the Animas River and teaching the path of Yoga is Joy's Svadharma.
To learn more about Joy, visit: HighPerformanceYoga.com
Julie Mackiewicz began studying yoga in 2001 in New York and has practiced ever since within the Northeast and Southwest. She became a 200 hour Yoga Alliance certified instructor in 2007 through Yoga Now in Albuquerque, NM. Since then, she has completed and Anusara immersion and is presently working toward Anusara inspired status. Having studied various forms dance as well, she views each pose and all the spaces in between as artistic expressions and celebrations. Julie fully believes in the transformative nature and power of yoga, along with its ability as a tool to allow each of us to move closer and closer into alignment with our true selves and cultivate greater expansion of our hearts. She is continually grateful to all of her teachers.
Keneen Hope McNiven D.C . is not only a licensed Anusara-Inspired™ yoga teacher and a 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher but also a specialized Chiropractor and Nutritionist as well. She has recently relocated to Durango from the Telluride area and before that lived and practiced in Boulder as well. Her love of the holistic healing arts and rehabilitation weaves beautifully into her additional career teaching Anusara-Inspired™ yoga classes, work-shops and offering therapy/rehab privates as well. With almost 1000 hours of yoga and therapy/rehab studies with John Friend, founder of Anusara® yoga, and/or his top teachers, Keneen has personally and professionally seen the powerful benefits of yoga. After a debilitating car accident in 2009 Keneen was told that she needed hip surgery but with a regular yoga practice applying the Universal Principles of Alignment™ for which Anusara yoga is famous, her hip is better than ever and she has successfully avoided surgery. Even more personally, the heart-opening and life-affirming approach of Anusara yoga has helped Keneen not only overcome, but also thrive, after the sudden loss of her husband several years ago. “ Yoga is a centuries old healing modality that can change and deeply enhance your life physically, emotionally and spiritually” and it is from this place of graceful transformation that Keneen aspires to teach from.
Heather Menzie has been teaching at Yoga Durango since 2007. She completed her initial 200 hour teacher training through Core Power Yoga in Boulder, CO in 2006. Heather recently completed her 300 hour Yoga Therapy training through Inner Peace Yoga Therapy in Asheville, NC.
As a body-centered psychotherapist, Heather sees the benefit of integrating yoga into her therapeutic practice. She has a passion for supporting individuals in their healing process. In addition to teaching Vinyasa Flow and Yoga for Grief and Loss classes, Heather offers 1:1 Yoga Therapy sessions, which is an individualized practice that emphasizes breath work, asana, and intention. She believes that by offering time to connect with one’s inner wisdom, an individual can build awareness and identify as well as work towards removing obstacles. Yoga Therapy addresses and offers relief for mood imbalances, anxiety, depression, trauma, grief/loss, chronic pain, addiction, OCD, and body image challenges and can bring healing to one’s body, heart, mind, and spirit.
In 2008, Heather completed her graduate degree from Naropa University in Transpersonal Psychology, emphasizing in Wilderness Therapy. She has been working as a therapist, family quest guide, and yoga instructor at Open Sky Wilderness since 2007.
Heather grew up in Westford, Massachusetts. In 2000, she graduated with a BA in English from the College of William and Mary and ventured out West. Before making her way down to Durango in 2007, Heather spent several seasons leading river trips for Arkansas River Tours and wilderness trips for the Women’s Wilderness Institute, a non-profit company focused on strengthening the courage, leadership, and confidence qualities of girls and women through individual and community-based challenges. She loves combining river time, mountain time, yoga, and laughter into the trips that she leads.
Her heart is open to holding sacred and safe space for students to practice and experience the union of yoga.
Daniel Pelletier First learning about yoga in 1998, Daniel began practicing regularly in 2002 when he took his first Bikram Yoga class. Reading his first yoga book, Religiousness in Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar, he learned early on that yoga is much more than a physical practice. With an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, the philosophy of Yoga resonated with Daniel. Pranayama and meditation quickly accompanied his asana practice at home. Daniel has a deep appreciation for all forms of yoga and also for the martial arts. In 2006, Daniel went to massage school in Crestone, Colorado where he learned Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan. Kundalini Yoga combines several schools of yoga including Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Raj Yoga, and Laya Yoga. Kundalini Yoga blends asana, pranayama, mantra, music and last but not least, meditation; it is an energetic practice affecting the student on many levels beyond though still including the physical. Daniel quickly fell in love with the discipline of KY and started his first 40 day meditation less than a week into massage school with several more to follow. The main 'goal' of KY is to raise the Kundalini energy (referred to as prana, chi, or life force in other disciplines) so that the practitioner may activate her fullest potential, physical and beyond. Yogi Bhajan brought this technology to the West in the late 60's in order to create teachers, not disciples; he wanted to prepare mankind for the coming changes of the Aquarian Age. Daniel has had profound life changes and realizations with this practice and hopes to share it with you soon. Daniel also practices massage and continues to study various forms of health and healing including diet/nutrition, Astrology, ecstatic dance, music, the power of intention, communication, breakthroughs in science and technology, social/political theory and more. He enjoys spending time with his dog, hiking (barefoot), cold plunges in the river, traveling, learning and teaching what excites him, and more. He believes that all things are possible and that each person is capable of anything. Daniel is excited to be alive in this day and age.
Joan Pope moved to Durango in 2006 from Boone, North Carolina where she taught Iyengar influenced since 1996. Joan received her teacher training from Lillah Schwartz, a certified Iyengar Yoga instructor in Asheville, NC. Since then she has continued her studies with teachers in the Iyengar tradition including: Patricia Walden, Elise Miller, John Shumaker, and Manouso Manos. Locally Joan studies with Kathy Curran, certified Iyengar instructor. She also enjoys exploring other alignment based practices with such teachers as Rodney Yee, Doug Keller, Eric Schiffman, Aadil Palkhivala, and Desiree Rumbaugh. Joan also works as an Occupational Therapist at 4 Corners Health Care Center here in Durango where she incorporates Yoga into her treatments to assist the aging population with postural alignment and more effective breathing. Joan feels that one of her missions is to teach people ways to use yoga throughout the lifespan to enhance quality of life. Her classes are infused with practical ways to weave yoga into everyday life. Nonviolence is a key focus in Joan’s classes as she encourages each individual to meet themselves where they are and to allow yoga to help free them both physically and mentally.
Casey Valentinelli first began practicing Vinyasa in college as a way to bring some peace and calmness to an overworked mind and body. Now, more than 7 years later she is still committed to the practice and believes it can transform your life. As a teacher she is passionate about helping students embody a unique blend of alignment, movement, and breathing principles as a way to improve their lives. Casey believes that listening to the body’s own wisdom is an integral part of yoga and healthy living.
Erika Wilson Golightly taught classical dance forms for 10 years and was working toward a professional dance career when she was stolen to yoga. Since her first class in 1994, Erika has enjoyed practicing various styles of yoga that add new dimensions to a deep understanding of the body as a means to increase awareness for meditation. When the spiritual experience of the body equates to a religion, yoga is a natural conduit toward unity with our inner luminosity.
It was in attempt to escape the chaos of Manhattan when Erika discovered Jivamukti Yoga and immersed in intense practice and teachers encouraged her to teach. Erika endeavors to inspire and nourish her students through passionate playful practice.
A Colorado native, Erika enjoys everything the southwest offers, especially the community. She has worked in hospice care relief and has experience with death and dying. Erika earned degrees in communications and psychology from Fort Lewis College and is working on obtaining a MS in Transpersonal Psychology. She is a student of the buddhadharma and a practitioner of vipassana meditation. Erika is currently obtaining a certification with Prajna Yoga facilitated by Tias Little.
Lynn Wickersham (RYT 200) has been practicing yoga and meditation since 2001 and has studied a variety of yoga styles including Iyengar, Hatha, Ashtanga, Kundalini, and Yin Yoga. A former fitness instructor, Lynn initially turned to yoga to increase her flexibility and reduce stress; but, through regular practice, she experienced not only yoga's physical benefits but also deepened her connection between mind, body, and spirit. Lynn received her formal yoga training in 2009 at the Yandara Yoga Institute, Baja California Sur, where her practice blossomed as both a teacher and a student. She believes that the practice of yoga is a journey into the self, which leads to compassion for others, attunement with the environment, and personal contentment. It is her intention to guide students along their own journey to realize the physical, mental, and emotional benefits that yoga has to offer.
Outside of her yoga practice, Lynn is a professional wildlife biologist, primarily conducting avian research and monitoring in the Four Corners region. She lives and plays in Durango with her husband John, and together they enjoy backpacking, skiing, hiking, and other outdoor activities.
Brady Wilson, born and raised in Colorado, has lived happily in Durango for the past thirteen years. A childhood student of aikido, Brady’s spiritual development began at a very early age and was nurtured throughout his life through exposure to chi gung, Dzogchen, Tibetan Buddhism, and various Native American traditions. His father first taught him Trikonasana when he was twelve years old, and his curiosity for yoga was spawned! A natural born athlete, Brady balanced his spiritual life in modern culture with a career in professional snowboarding for the majority of his adolescence.
Having practiced at the Yogadurango studio since its beginnings under the careful guidance of Michele Lawrence, Sheryl McGourty, and Kim Self (among many other wonderful instructors), Brady completed Yogadurango’s 2010 Teacher Training Program and gained tremendous insight into the ancient and honorable tradition that is Yoga. Taking every possible opportunity to deepen his own practice and understanding, he is eager to share what he is learning with the greater community.
A Dancer, Poet, and all-around outdoor enthusiast, Brady is very aware of the importance of maintaining the body and mind for optimal performance in this long and often challenging life. He believes with yoga we learn to care more deeply for ourselves, and become better equipped to care for those around us, enriching our families and communities, and eventually effecting positive change in greater world in which we live!