Yoga Teacher Training Graduates: 2010

Amy Marzluff

Amy was first introduced to yoga 10 years ago by a dear friend of hers. Together, they tried many styles of yoga, unsatisfied and wanting more. After attempting several styles that were too slow, too quiet, or too “out there”, she finally arrived to the one that made her heart soar. In 2000, she took a class with Laurel Hodory that gave her a great workout, made her sweat and left her calm and relaxed. Amy has been practicing yoga for the last 10 years, attending workshops, conference and retreats. She has studied with Seane Corn extensively.

Amy is currently pursuing her yoga certification and will complete her Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November of 2010. Amy is also a Certified Holistic Health Coach and will combine her love of yoga with her passion of health, wellness and spirituality to reach her clients mind, body and spirit.

Students are attracted to Amy’s style: “work me out, make me sweat, and take me spiritually deeper.” Her gentle yet encouraging style inspires her students to get on their mat, face their fears and live and love bigger.

Anne Devismes

Anne started her yoga journey in the US in 2005 with an alignment-based Anusara practice. She quickly explored and embraced the vastness of Vinyasa yoga and began practicing Ashtanga regularly as well. Anne started attending classes at Zenit (Trondheim, Norway) in 2009, and she will complete her Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November of 2010, a 200-h Yoga-Alliance program in Ashtanga and Hatha/Vinyasa yoga.

Anne’s life was transformed by yoga, and she now would like to share with others the insights, happiness, and peace that yoga has brought her. She hopes to help her students realize their true potential and see their inner goodness while having fun. She believes that playing and being challenged on the mat is a very powerful way to face challenges off the mat and live a happy, conscious, and fulfilling life.

Anne has a PhD in nuclear physics. Besides practicing and teaching yoga, meditating daily, and enjoying the outdoors, she works as a freelance science editor.

Denise Londergan

First drawn to yoga for the physical practice, Denise discovered the body wisdom that comes with aligning the breath with movement. The richness of yoga study parallels her study of nutrition, continually evolving in both. She sees parallels between yoga practice and the philosophy of mindful eating.

Denise has a B.S. in Medical Dietetics from the Ohio State University and Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her experience includes community and clinical nutrition, private practice, and research. She was the Lead nutritionist for the Columbus Women’s Health Initiative, developing skills in motivational interviewing and health coaching. She continues to work with WHI health outcomes and the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a study of knee health.

Denise will complete her Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November 2010. She has been influenced also by Donna Winters, Amy Weintraub, Shiva Rea, and Todd Norian. Denise practices and teaches Hatha Flow with attention to healthy alignment, building of strength, with end result being a sense of calm.

Kim Emmelheintz

Kim has been practicing yoga for over 5 years, her background studies include Ashtanga yoga, as well as Hatha. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the Ohio State University in Spanish and she has had the pleasure of teaching many subjects including Spanish Language, English as a Second Language, Piano, Beginning Guitar, and even a little French! She enjoys teaching both children and adults. Her variety of teaching experience brings a lot of fun and creativity to her yoga practice.

She has attended workshops with Cyndi Lee and David Nichtern of OM Yoga New York, studying vinyasa yoga and Buddhist meditation. She is will complete her Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November of 2010.

Leiyah Shan

Leiyah (Shan) started studying yoga over 12 years ago at Seattle’s Center for Iyengar yoga. She was so appealed to yoga by its physical and emotional benefits, she has been studying and practicing yoga ever since. She has practiced Hatha yoga for many years, and Bykram yoga for 3 years in Seattle. After moving back to Ohio, where her family is, she has started studying Ashtanga yoga as well as Anusara yoga in various studios. In 2010, Leiyah decided it is time for her to share her passion for yoga with others by becoming a certified yoga teacher. She has been studying with Laurel Hodory since January 2010. She will Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November of 2010 in Ashtanga / Hatha yoga.

This year Leiyah she has also studied with Rodney Yee, and will be studying with David Swenson in November. She plans to further her studies of Anusara yoga in 2011.

Leiyah has been teaching since she moved back to Ohio. She taught for almost 2 years at Premier Fitness in Dayton. She started teaching again this year as she is going through certification. She is currently teaching a beginner’s yoga class to a group of private clients. She is also currently a sub yoga teacher for Premier on Sawmill Athletic Club and Pai Yoga.

Leiyah hopes to continue to expand her teaching experience through sharing her endless joy in studying and practicing yoga with beginners and experienced yogis alike.

Lori Conway

Lori has always been a meditation practitioner. She would find time to be alone and quiet and realized the grounding qualities that came from it at a very early age. It was an invaluable tool to have through college and now as a parent.

During pregnancy in 1999, she was looking for exercise to stay in shape and found an Iyengar studio in Boca Raton, Florida. Yes, the benefits of staying in good physical shape were realized, but what hooked her was the amazing connection she found with her baby. Through thoughtful movement, breathing, meditation and chanting, the light on the path would shine a little brighter and with every practice, gain a bit more clarity into self.

Lori has attended Yoga Journal conferences and various seminars. She will complete Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November of 2010.

Through her own experimenting with Hatha, Asthanga, Kripalu and a few fusion forms of yoga, she can see the beauty in all forms and understands that being playful and open only deepen your own personal practice and spiritual path. It is her hope to continue to learn from others on this path and draw on her own experiences and the wisdom of her teachers so that she can share this transforming and amazing practice with all seeking balance, strength and grace. Namaste!

Nicole Caldwell

Nicole has been practicing yoga for over 10 years. She was introduced to the practice while in medical school, and after the birth of her first child. Searching to find a physical activity that would help her lose the added weight after childbirth, and provide stress-reduction for her busy life, a friend recommended a weekend yoga retreat. Since then, she has explored many different styles of yoga, and entered teacher training in 2010. She will complete her Yoga Teacher Training Certification with Laurel Hodory in November of 2010. Nicole has studied extensively with local instructors including Donna Winters, Joanie Delph, and Laurel Hodory. She has also attended workshops at the Kripalu Yoga center, and with Vinyasa instructor, Seane Corn.

She completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology in 1995, and received her Medical Degree in 2003 from the Ohio State University. She has an interest and understanding of anatomy, as well as the connection between the physical body and the mind. She strives to provide an energetic yoga class that combines a physical workout with an opportunity for self-exploration, leaving the student feeling relaxed and centered.

Stephanie Linkous

Stephanie’s love affair with yoga began in 2005 in a beginner’s series at Its Yoga. The connection was immediate, though the depth of the connection was yet unknown. Without ever really giving much thought to yoga outside of the physical practice, she went on about her daily life, making time to get on her mat only during the once-a-week beginner’s class. After about a year, she would attend class only when time permitted. After several months of neglecting her practice the feelings of stress, tension, uneasiness and discontentment started to flood in and Stephanie realized the work yoga had started to do on her. By now it was 2007 and major changes had started happening in her life. She had developed deeply caring friendship, a change in careers had allowed her to climb out of debt and to live a less stressful life, relationships with family members were beginning to heal, her diet transformed as her body began to crave healthier foods allowing her to shed a few extra pounds and most of all she started to realize what it felt like to be at ease and comfortable in her own skin. The positive impact yoga was having on her life became apparent. At that point yoga became a tool for transformation, the most accessible way to grow and develop, to heal her body, to ease her mind and to achieve the great joys in life that everyone deserves: Health, Happiness, Love, and Peace…all in great Abundance! For the next 2 years, Stephanie began to embrace all aspects of yoga; pranyama, mediation, asanas. However, she was still finding it difficult to live the practice off of her mat and outside of classes.

With the goal to develop her own practice at home and to bring the benefits of yoga to her friends and family, Stephanie enrolled in the 2010 200-hour YTT program with Laurel. She believes yoga to be a powerful tool, accessible to anyone that is open to the transformation. She hopes to be seen as a resource for knowledge and guidance for others, while also continuing her journey toward health and wellness on a physical, mental and spiritual level.