OUR TEACHERS
Joy Of Yoga is a peaceful and welcoming space. We offer Hatha yoga classes as well as Vinyasa, Gentle, Chair, Senior, Restorative and Meditation classes. Our Teachers are passionate about yoga and continuously refining their craft. Students leave our classes feeling rejuvenated, strong, flexible and inspired!
Joy Page
Joy Page
Joy started practicing Hatha Yoga in Portland, OR in 1994 while in college. She immediately realized the significance her yoga practice brought to her mind and body, her heart and her life. It wasn't until she became a teacher that she realized THIS was her calling, her dharma, to share the profound benefits of the practice with others. Joy's classes weave intention with pranayama, precision in alignment with quiet mindfulness and subtle body awareness with refinement. Her classes invite us to attune ourselves to the needs of our bodies and adapt our postures to create more ease, and to experience the magnificence of simply being.
Glenna Bedoya
Glenna Bedoya
Practicing yoga since 1994, Glenna offers Hatha yoga, massage ball therapy, and Reiki healing. In 2003 she completed her first Teacher Training with Ana Forrest; in 2011 she completed her Anusara Yoga Teacher Training. Since then, in mentorship with Elena Brower, Glenna has assisted her advanced Teacher Training as well as her Elevate Mentorship Program. In 2014 she began her exploration into yoga massage ball therapy with Jill Miller. Glenna has also been attuned as a Reiki master. Informed by the philosophy, art, and science of yoga as well as the precision of anatomy, private work with Glenna may include Reiki, yoga, breathing, meditation, and/or massage ball therapy. All sessions may be enhanced with Essential Oils upon request. Teaching since 2011, her group classes are an empowering flow yoga that focus on alignment and breath to support a powerful, grounded practice.
Jan Herzog
Jan Herzog
Jan has been teaching yoga since 1997 when she completed her first teacher training through the White Lotus Foundation. She has since completed over 500 hours of training in Anusara Yoga and 300 hours with Noah Maze of YogaMaze. Jan’s thorough education and years of teaching experience are evident in her systematically sequenced, comprehensive classes that include pranayama (breathwork) and carefully and effectively preparing the body for classic yoga postures. She focuses on encouraging healthy alignment to build sufficient stability and enjoy more mobility and flexibility. Jan is committed to helping people feel stronger, more open, and more connected to their hearts and minds through yoga. Jan spends much of her time and energy as a mom of a busy 11 year-old and in a happy partnership with her husband, two roles that she finds value in the physical and mental benefits of her yoga practice. She also enjoys hiking, working out, cooking, traveling, staying involved in environmental and global food issues, and even studying yoga philosophy in her free time.
Kate Cash
Kate Cash
Kate is a yoga geek at heart. She trained in the foothills of the Colorado mountains, weaving storytelling, metaphor and meditation with restorative yoga, pranic breathing, vinyasa flow, and a touch of magic to create her offerings. Her passion for the nuance of a pose and stepping onto the mat with a beginner's mind allows her to adapt each sequence to the needs of the individual.
Katie Rogers
Katie Rogers
Katie first met yoga during an MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) course in 2008. In 2010, she began to practice vinyasa-style yoga in Chicago while teaching kids math. After her Teacher Training in Minneapolis, she moved to Saint Louis and started teaching vinyasa and hatha based classes. Katie focuses on yogic philosophy, breath work, physical challenge, and having fun in each and every class. Katie also teaches children across the St. Louis area and is working on completing certifications in a 90 hour children’s yoga training and a year-long adolescent mindfulness teacher training. Off the mat, she enjoys biking, cooking, and traveling!
Bryna Parker
Bryna Parker
Bryna first started practicing yoga in 2006 though prenatal yoga classes that helped her manage manic mood swings during her stressful pregnancies. After her last child in 2010, she found her self severely depressed, highly medicated, full of rage, consumed by anxiety and weighing over 300 pounds. She was completely hopeless and even suicidal at times. Bryna had given up on the idea of recovery through traditional doctors and western medicine. She began to resign herself to a prison of negative thinking, believing that life would always be miserable. In 2012 Bryna turned to her friend Joy who became her teacher and patiently guided her back to herself through yoga and meditation. It became her therapy and through the self exploration it offers, helped Bryna to reconnect to her true self. Yoga encouraged Bryna to face her deep rooted trauma and lead her back to her spiritual roots. By 2014, she was strong enough to wean herself off of all prescription drugs. "Yoga gave me my life back and created this grand gesture of gratitude for my miraculous reconditioned body and mind. Depression and anxiety are still very present in my life but I now have some tools to recognize and help manage my symptoms. I knew I had to share my experience with others and what better way than to teach?"
Dianna Lucas
Dianna Lucas
Dianna Lucas For more than 30 years, Dianna has been teaching movement and meditation techniques to families and spiritual seekers who believe that inner wisdom is the secret to a meaningful, beautiful life. Over her years of study, Dianna has had the privilege to gather knowledge and direction from seekers and teachers across the globe. From her self-guided research at Cambridge University, UK, where she studied Celtic-Wicca and Western European Shamanism; to her studies in the American Southwest that led her to the teachings of Neem Karoli Baba at the Hanuman Temple, as well as guidance from Lakota Tribe Elders and the teachings of her own tribe, the Cherokee Nation. She has studied Yoruba Traditional Ceremony and Medicine with Baba Kwame Ishangi in Chicago, Il, Chakra Meditation and Healing Crystals Therapy; Essential Oils, Herbal and Aromatherapy, Holistic Nutrition, Guided Meditation and Visualization, Goddess Traditions, Natural Childbirth, Reiki, and Hatha Yoga beginning with Anusara based training and shifting toward Dynamic Yoga training with her teachers Matt and Holly Krepps of Circle Yoga Shala in Jasper, AK . Dianna currently studies Tibetan Buddhism and Yantra Yoga with Lama Lobsang Palden.
Alicia Trebus
Alicia Trebus
Alicia came to yoga in 2015 as a source of reprieve from her academic and caretaking roles. Consistent practice awakened within her a hunger to invest more deeply in her physical, spiritual, and mental health. Doing so provided her with a newfound sense of resiliency, power, awareness, and freedom. Knowing that yoga can offer that type of transformation to all practitioners is what led her to pursue yoga teacher certification. Alicia’s mission is to guide students toward ease and delight in their bodies with clear, safe, and patient instruction. She desires to always stay curious, and to support others in the embodiment of yoga as a natural state of being. Her strong interest in welcoming students new to yoga, and serving those seeking rest and rejuvenation currently calls her to teach Basics and Restorative classes. When she’s not at the studio, you can find Alicia teaching English to immigrants and refugees, playing in the sunshine, or snuggling her cat.
Melinda Oliver
Melinda Oliver
Melinda is a senior at Mizzou and has found the yoga practices to completely transform her --mind, body, and soul. What she loves most about yoga is that it allows us to come as we are. We are all works-in progress and yoga help us find peace in our personal process. There is no end goal. Melinda began teaching about a year ago because she wanted to bring yoga to under served communities that might not otherwise have access to the practice. In August of 2016, she founded Young Yogi Youth Project at Vashon High School in St. Louis City. It seeks to teach teens kindness, healthy coping mechanisms, self-discipline, and respect for themselves and others. She has also taught classes on Mizzou's campus with Mizzou Black Women's Initiative and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.
Anu French
Anu French
Anu is passionate about creating and sharing resources through her website www.anufrench.com including her children’s book, ‘I Am You, You Are Me’, her music CD on meditative kirtan, ‘Wake Up My Divinity’, her healing artwork, the ‘I Am’ series and her ‘I Am Vida’ line of accessories to support Literacy for Life. She is committed to partnering with those she meets to empower them to begin their own journey of healing and wellness.
Nicole Lakebrink
Nicole Lakebrink
Nicole is an intuitive healer, Certified Advanced Theta Healing Practitioner and psychotherapist. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Professional Counseling and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology.
As a sensitive empath, Nicole's intuitive abilities were present at a young age, however growing into and developing her intuitive gifts has been a lifelong journey. In early adulthood, Nicole explored numerous schools of thought and various healing modalities, from East to West. Having a strong desire to help others, Nicole pursued a career as a psychotherapist, helping others to find their way in the world. Nicole's passion in getting to the "root" belief and doing core belief work with her clients made Theta Healing a natural next step. Nicole went on from there to become trained and certified in Theta Healing in London, England.
Pati Pellerito
Pati Pellerito
Pati is an integrative therapist using sound, body awareness, breath and meditation to help her clients restore a deeper sence of balance and peace. In 1994 she began her practice as a licensed massage therapist/bodyworker, her studies led her to Kototama Medicine, a Japanese naturopathic modality, drawing upon Eastern Philosophies of wellness. Her certification in Sound Therapy in 2008 was a turning point in her healing work, the deep effects of vibrational sound energy medicine through the use of Himalayan Singing Bowls and gongs has brought a profound shift to the effectiveness of the healing she offers. Pati offers individual sessions, group workshops, sound meditation and collaborative musical concerts, creating a supportive environment for deep listening experiences.
Mary Shackelford
Mary Shackelford, RN, BSN, HN-BC, CHHC
Mary Shackelford is a transformational coach and self-care expert. She is passionate about empowering individuals, using a whole person approach, to focus on nourishing the mindbodyspirit connection to live life more consciously and fully.
After suffering from severe panic attacks and stress, Mary discovered the magic of self-care as the key to finding health, happiness and success. She has taken her personal journey, her formal education and her determination to live life passionately and made it her life’s work.
With a career in nursing and multiple degrees and certifications in holistic wellness and coaching, Mary uses her skills and passions to create a pathway to positivity and joy. Through her coaching, workshops, writing and seminars Mary stewards busy, driven people back to their hearts showing how to put their health and well-being back on the priority list.
Colleen Caul
Colleen-Caul
Yoga has held a very special place in Colleen’s heart ever since she experienced her first sun salutation sophomore year in college. She studied ballet for eleven years and was intrigued by the mixture of flexibility, grace, strength and stillness within yoga. After graduating from Northwestern University, Colleen studied yoga sporadically while diving into the world of endurance running. She has run several marathons and in 2011, Colleen ran from St. Louis to New York City to raise funds and awareness for cystic fibrosis.
Colleen’s love for yoga blossomed in 2013 when she started taking classes more regularly. In January 2014, Colleen completed the 30-day class challenge offered by Joy of Yoga, where she noticed a significant difference in her day-to-day happiness. Suddenly, she was able to use yoga, pranayama and meditation to lower her stress, maintain perspective and instill a true sense of peace and balance in her life. This transformation was so powerful that it inspired her to become a yoga teacher. Colleen is a certified Primary Group Exercise Instructor (Athletics and Fitness Association of America), Personal Trainer (National Academy of Sports Medicine), and Zumba® Instructor. Colleen will complete her 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training with Joy of Yoga this October! Colleen is so happy to share the joy and clarity that yoga has brought to her life with others.
Sarah Buehner
Sarah Thornton
Sarah Buehner, who, in addition to being a Traditional Usui Reiki Master/Teacher is also a practicing psychotherapist and psychic/medium. Sarah pursued her career in Reiki after seeing the profound effects Reiki Healings had in her own life, as well as in the lives of her counseling clients. After learning Reiki, Sarah also experienced how receiving and learning Reiki can lead to profound spiritual growth and strengthen a person’s natural intuition and psychic abilities. Sarah believes that Reiki has a significant role in healing our society in the years to come, and that Reiki will play a significant role in empowering individuals for self-healing, healing others, and contributing to the healing of our communities and our world.
Debra Bass
Debra Bass
Debra, a reporter by trade and novelist at heart, enjoys teaching a mix of styles that focus on energetic and anatomical alignment, strength and flexibility, which ultimately leads the practitioner to a greater sense of balance. Debra's been on a meditation journey for the past three years of what will be a lifelong exploration. She guides classes gently, including warming movements to help connect body, mind and breath before offering a guided seated meditation that will include exploring the principles of silent awareness as well as a variety of techniques to sit comfortably physically and mentally with what is the self.
Brianna Owens
Brianna Owens
Brianna began her personal yoga practice in 2009 while training for her first half marathon, but it quickly became apparent to her that yoga would provide much more than mere physical cross-training. After practicing mostly Vinyasa-flow styles since then, she finally decided to take the teaching plunge in 2016 and completed her 200-hr training with Elle Potter and Yoga Buzz St. Louis. Brianna provides encouraging affirmations and assists, playful movements, high energy playlists, and an endless supply of love. She firmly believes that yoga helps us unlock and fully accept our most authentic selves, and she can’t wait to be a part of your unique yoga journey!
Emily Delaplain
Emily Delaplain
Emily is a compassionate teacher devoted to full mind-body wellness. She studied the Ashtanga and Vinyasa methods and received her 200 hr training at The Miami Life Center with Kino McGregor. She is a firm believer in practicing what she preaches and using the techniques learned on the mat to guide her everyday life. She hopes to share the life changing benefits of yoga with others.
Rachel Roberts
Lindsay Roth
Ben Burke
Katie Burke
Rachel Roberts
Rachel began her yoga practice in 2010 in an effort to focus on her health. She fell in love straight away and slowly built up her practice exploring different types of yoga. Rachel is a glamorous nomad that has spent the past few years, traveling, learning and having adventures. Traveling through Asia and the pacific yoga was always a constant. She received her yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, India from the Vinyasa Yoga School in 2015. She spent time at yoga retreats in Thailand and Nepal, took many styles of classes in South Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand. After spending so much time exploring Rachel is thrilled to be given the opportunity to share all of the benefits yoga has brought to her life with others.
Andrea Vince
Andrea Vince
Andrea first discovered yoga in Boulder, Colorado in 2011 and was drawn to the spiritual nourishment and awakening it offered her during a year full of personal transitions. She continued to develop her practice in both Saint Louis and New York City over the next several years and is now eager to share the many benefits of yoga with her students. Her particular interest lies in the mental, physical, and spiritual awareness that a personal yoga practice can help individuals to develop, and she will continually be working to help others find new levels of awareness in her classes. Off the mat, Andrea is an interior designer and can be found cooking, gardening, and spending time with her three cats, dog, and husband.
Laura Grady
Laura Grady
Laura has been practicing yoga off and on for over 20 years, and has recently discovered a passion to share yoga with others through yoga teacher training. She found that yoga benefited her both physically and emotionally in a multitude of ways including increasing energy and flexibility, cultivating empowerment, strengthening the body, and quieting the mind. Laura is excited to share these experiences with her students!
Lindsay Roth
Lindsay first stepped onto a mat almost four years ago, and she immediately discovered the power of the physical yoga practice. She has been lucky enough to have teachers along the path who have introduced her to and helped deepen her interest in other aspects of yoga, including the importance of the breath and meditation. In January 2017, Lindsay began a 10-month journey with Joy of Yoga to become a yoga teacher so she could give back to others what her teachers have given to her: the knowledge that everything we need and everything that we could ever dream to be is already in us; yoga simply provides the path to our selves.
Becca Kunce
Becca Kunce
Becca facilitates guided mindfulness classes and workshops so you can experience more relaxation, self-compassion, clarity, peace, love, ease, and joy in your life. Stemming from her personal experiences utilizing strategies and tools to help shift negative beliefs and self-talk, her classes, workshops, and sessions are specifically designed to support you in showing yourself more holistic love, care, and compassion. In one of Becca’s offerings, expect to experience a deeper and more meaningful relationship with yourself, others, and the Universe. She has been practicing meditation and yoga since childhood and mindfulness techniques have become embedded in her programming. With a Masters Degree in Teaching and years of classroom teaching experience in NYC public schools, Becca is an expert at creating and facilitating safe spaces for individuals and groups to grow and is able to make material accessible to all experience levels. A Reiki II practitioner, she also offers private healing sessions and incorporates energetic healing into her classes and workshops. Becca provides you with the strategies, meditations, tools, and facilitation to support you in owning your truth and loving yourself more completely. Join her in class or find out more about Becca at www.beccakunce.com
Stefani Weeden-Smith
Stefani Weeden-Smith
Stefani started practicing Insight Meditation (Vipassana) in graduate school in Brooklyn, NY in 1999 while she explored her deep rooted patterns of perfectionism and procrastination. As she explored the practice with several teachers at New York Insight, she found a pathway to liberation from some of those well grooved patterns by sitting on a regular basis. In 2007, she was accepted to a year-long Dedicated Practice with Gina Sharpe where she was able to take her practice deeper and allow the dharma to provide the support she needed to get other insights on how she wanted to be in the world. She also taught young offenders at a Brooklyn Detention Center She’s also practiced yoga for nearly two decades, which will culminate this year with her getting her 200 Hour RYT at Joy of Yoga in late fall 2017. She’s so grateful to share her practice with others when both meditation and yoga have given her the most treasured gifts of living life with more peace, ease, and happiness.
Ben Burke
Ben is an entrepreneur, business-accelerator, conscious co-creator, speaker, and accountability coach.
Ben has worked with hundreds of individuals: entrepreneurs, business professionals, students, as well as teams: startups, nonprofits, community organizations - in helping them with strategy, manifesting, achievement, and personal development.
As a former client said, "Ben’s mentorship is a seamless blend of spiritual mastery, business savviness, and law of attraction." He is formally trained in venture creation and business, armed with an MBA and with extensive experience as a director at a game-changing, business accelerator. Ben has access to advanced knowledge of spiritual mechanics through his Source SELF connection and through communication with various beings of light. He is an Initiate in the Order of Melchizedek, and thus has made his formal commitment to passionately play his role in the planetary ascension process.
As a recipient of Ben's accountability coaching, strategy sessions, or mentorship, you will, irrespective of your goals, have the opportunity to gain clarity on your path. In addition, regardless of where you are in your own SELF-development / realization, alternative perspectives that are likely useful for your consideration will be provided. Most tactically, you will also receive tools and resources to better achieve your desired outcomes.
Sarah Beernsten
Sarah Beernsten
Sarah’s philosophy is ‘Strong body, flexible mind.’ Yoga became an integral part of Sarah’s life as it provided the strength, confidence, and determination to overcome injury and maintain an active lifestyle as a multi-sport athlete. Sarah utilizes her passion of health and wellness with her extensive knowledge of physical therapy to challenge her students physically and mentally to safely reach their full potential. After completing her 200 hour teacher training in Milwaukee, she began teaching vinyasa flow at her physical therapy clinic. She is excited to become part of the Joy of Yoga family and looks forward to aiding students in their journey to achieve strength and serenity.
Katie Burk
Ben is an entrepreneur, business-accelerator, conscious co-creator, speaker, and accountability coach.
Ben has worked with hundreds of individuals: entrepreneurs, business professionals, students, as well as teams: startups, nonprofits, community organizations - in helping them with strategy, manifesting, achievement, and personal development.
As a former client said, "Ben’s mentorship is a seamless blend of spiritual mastery, business savviness, and law of attraction." He is formally trained in venture creation and business, armed with an MBA and with extensive experience as a director at a game-changing, business accelerator. Ben has access to advanced knowledge of spiritual mechanics through his Source SELF connection and through communication with various beings of light. He is an Initiate in the Order of Melchizedek, and thus has made his formal commitment to passionately play his role in the planetary ascension process.
As a recipient of Ben's accountability coaching, strategy sessions, or mentorship, you will, irrespective of your goals, have the opportunity to gain clarity on your path. In addition, regardless of where you are in your own SELF-development / realization, alternative perspectives that are likely useful for your consideration will be provided. Most tactically, you will also receive tools and resources to better achieve your desired outcomes.
Sarah Thornton
Sarah Thornton
Sarah started practicing yoga over 19 years ago as a way to release stress and reconnect with herself. Yoga and meditation have become a daily part of her life. Sarah received her 200 hour teacher training from Urban Breath in May of 2014. She also completed the Relax and Renew training, with Judith Hanson Lasater, in October of 2015. She specializes in teaching restorative, yin and gentle yoga.
The basis of her teaching philosophy is that “anyone can benefit from and practice yoga, in fact I think everyone should practice yoga!” Her goal is to have students leave a class feeling calm, energized and more connected to themselves. Her favorite type of classes to teach are gentle, calming and restorative classes. She also wants to help her students slow down and work on "being" instead of "doing."
Sarah likes to help her students reconnect to their bodies, gain more self-awareness and self-acceptance which they take off the mat into their daily lives.
She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Missouri and currently teaches yoga, mediation and group support to heart patients at a local cardiology practice. When she is not practicing or teaching yoga, Sarah likes to spend time with her husband and her two daughters. She also likes to spend time outdoors and travel.