Yoga Teacher Training Graduates: 2012

Alice Parini

Alice Parini came to yoga looking for an alternative to running and working out in a gym. With five boys at home between the ages of seven and sixteen and a full time job teaching elementary school, she was looking for a way to alleviate stress, as well. After leaving her very first yoga class feeling nothing short of euphoric, she was hooked. She credits her practice with the ease of delivery of her youngest son. Another child and a change in jobs made for a sporadic yoga practice, but the seed was planted and she continued to be drawn to all aspects of yoga.

With a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education from The Ohio State University, Alice is drawn to teaching children and introducing the benefits of yoga to them.

Cathy Moore

Cathy Moore began her yoga practice in 2002, as an addition to her weight lifting and cardio practices. Her focus shifted to yoga as she began to notice many benefits, and she began studying yoga on a deeper level. Cathy has had the pleasure of receiving her 200 hour teacher training with Laurel Hodory and is dedicated to furthering her understanding and knowledge with workshops on all aspects of yoga.

She shares her love for yoga with that of playing flute, in which she has found many parallels, especially with the life-giving energy of the breath. Her passion is for restorative and healing yoga, but also enjoys teaching more physically challenging vinyasa classes.

Cathy is very excited to share the many gifts she has received from yoga with others.

Christina Madriguera

Christina Madriguera is a member of the July 2011 Yoga Teacher Training program with Laurel Hodory. She has been in love with Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga since her first exposure to the practice about 11 years ago, and is delighted about the vibrancy that teacher training has brought to her practice. Although Christina has no current plans to teach professionally, she enjoys sharing yoga with her co-workers. Christina and husband Steve Brechter live in New Albany and they share one daughter, Amelia, and one dog, Molly.

Erin Sainato

Erin Sainato began practicing yoga over ten years ago and has found herself drawn to the mat over time. She joined the 200 hour yoga teacher training with Laurel Hodory in January 2012 in search of a deeper connection with the roots of yoga. Erin enjoys the peace her yoga practice brings to life and seeks to share happiness and peace with others. Erin lives in Columbus with her husband Nick and is expecting baby Rosalie to make her appearance in March 2013.

Jenna Gantzer

Jenna Gantzer In Spring of 2007, Jenna took an elective yoga class at Indiana University. She grew up a dancer so the physical practice came easy to her. Once she moved back to Columbus after graduation she found a deeper meaning to her practice. Not only has it helped shape her be a better person but has influenced those closest to her. Spring of 2010 she joined Laurel in Costa Rica for a retreat and knew from that moment that she had to do Laurel’s teacher training.

Jenna is excited to share her passion with others on the mat as she starts teaching. It is her escape from reality and allows her to be herself. Yoga has influenced Jenna to know her true self and to continue on that journey. The asana practice is what attracted her but the svadhyaya is what keeps her on her yoga journey.

Jerri Lybarger

Jerri Lybarger will always have a natural intellectual curiosity about the practice of yoga to share with her class. She has held a life-long interest in the area of personal health and fitness leading her to earn the 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training certification through the Yoga Alliance organization. Her beliefs are that everyone can benefit from the practice of yoga by gaining physical conditioning, inner strength and peace of mind. Over the past 7 years she has been privileged to be a regular student of Sally Roberts and to complete her teacher training with Laurel Hodory. Her goal is to share the message of yoga with beginner students and she believes that the benefits of yoga are available to all of us, no matter where we are in our lives. When we begin the practice of yoga we reap the advantages of physical fitness, reduced stress and more energy. She incorporates a beginner style of yoga with simple poses lead by the breath, internal focus and continued learning. Previously Jerri was an avid runner and understands the benefits of yoga to tight muscles and the person who might be interested in trying a different form of exercise for both the mind and body.

Katie Pardi

Katie Pardi has been a yoga student for the past 10 years and has been cultivating her teaching voice for the past 5. She recently completed her 200HR Yoga Teacher Training with Laurel Hodory. She gains inspiration from many Columbus teachers including Laurel, Julie Pipes-Verhoff, Heidi Bell and Angie O’Brien. Katie loves to travel and finds a great deal of pleasure seeking out the nearest yoga studio during her travels to try something new.

Katie is a Columbus native, an Ohio State grad and now lives in Upper Arlington with her husband, Paul, and their new baby girl, Paige. When Katie is not taking or teaching a yoga class you will find her running, walking, hiking or anything else to stay active often with husband and baby in tow. Being a former college athlete she enjoys yoga with an athletic twist and brings that into the classes she teaches. She enjoys the challenge of creating classes that are physically demanding but have her students leaving their mat with new inspiration and energy to conquer their day.

Kelsey Jo Evans

Kelsey Jo Evans Bachelor of Arts: Theatre and Dance & RYT-200

As soon as Kelsey could walk she was following her Dad to acting auditions and her big sister to the dance studio. She has danced all though out her youth going on to compete on a national level through adolescence.

While attending The Ohio State University for Theatre and Dance her freshman year, Kelsey found a local Yoga studio and after her first Savasana, has never looked back! After four years of working on her own Yoga practice, her studies through the Department of Dance lead her to guest instructor, Laurel Hodory. Inspired by the lifestyle and passion for the practice, Kelsey has found her calling, certified in 2012 as a Registered Yoga Teacher at the 200 level featuring certification in Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga with Laurel Hodory.

As a Buckeye Nation Alum and all around health nut, Kelsey is working professionally on her two greatest loves: Entertainment and Yoga. She looks forward to continuing her training in both arenas and hopes to see you on the mat!

Kristyn Henthorn

Kristyn Henthorn BS RYT was introduced to Yoga as a means of stretching and relaxation after rigorous weight lifting workouts. The gentle stretching and place of peace kept bringing her back. Her background included gymnastics, cheerleading, and several high school sports. Yoga seemed like a natural progression.

After practicing for over 10yrs she trained under Laurel Hodory as a RYT 200HR in 2012. She is trained in the Ashtanga Vinyasa System and Hatha Yoga. Kristyn has studied and attended numerous lectures including; Anatomy and Physiology of the body, Philosophy of Yoga, and Ayurvedic Medicine. She completed her Bachelors of Science Degree in 2009. After 11yrs of Medical Sales she decided to pursue her love of Yoga and wanted to share it with others.

Her passion is to offer a nurturing practice for students to explore, heal and transform their bodies and their lives. She guides students in a rhythm that allows them to flow in harmony with their breath and stay open to the moment.
Kristyn is currently the Yoga Coordinator and teaching at Lifetime Fitness in Dublin, Ohio. kristynbreatheyoga.com

Leslie Fox

Leslie Fox discovered yoga in 2006 a year after giving birth to her sixth child. Leslie knew her core was weak and she was physically exhausted from having six children in twelve years. She was hooked from the very first day and knew instinctively that her life was about to change. Immediately she began practicing yoga every single day. After five years of attending classes and telling anyone who would listen how yoga has changed her life, she decided to become certified. This coincided with her eldest leaving the nest for college and with her youngest entering first grade. Yoga has helped her with the transitions that life brings and the stress that comes with change and with raising a household of kids, especially teenagers.

Leslie loves both Hatha and Ashtanga yoga and has a keen interest in teaching beginners. She remembers hiding in the back of the room until she emerged to the front of the room with gained confidence and wants to help others achieve the same not only on their mat but in life as well.

Leslie lives with her six children, her husband David and a menagerie of pets. It can be a chaotic existence and it is amazing how yoga helps with that.

In addition to yoga, Leslie loves to garden, read, cook, knit and take long walks early in the morning at sunrise.

Leslie is a YTT 200 hour certified yoga teacher through Laurel Hodory and hopes to someday further her training in the YTT 500 hours program.

Liz Whisler

Liz Whisler started practicing yoga at home in 2007, but it wasn’t until she stepped into the classroom that she became a dedicated student of yoga, pranayama & meditation. She continues to find her way to the classroom in addition to regular home practice.

She is committed to cultivating a place of safety, exploration and connection for her students, where she can share the many gifts of yoga that have been given to her. Additionally, her personal experience with injury gives her a unique awareness and sensitivity to the special needs of individuals in the classroom.

Liz has had the fortunate opportunity to study under Laurel Hodory and will receive her 200 hour Yoga Alliance teacher certification this December, 2012.

Lorena Ritchey

Lorena Ritchey is passionate about living a healthy, well-balanced life full of meaning, growth and love, love, love! Yoga continues to humble and encourage her to exercise patience and learn more about herself each day. Yoga reminds Lorena of the beauty and simple moments of life which ultimately helps her focus on what matters most, and to pursue what truly makes her happy. She enjoys the physical challenge and the peaceful and fulfilling energy yoga brings into her life “on and off” the mat.

As a teacher, Lorena’s focus is to share her love of yoga, and to create positive, healthy and meaningful experiences for her students. She’s had the privilege to study under the formal instruction and guidance of Laurel Hodory and continue to be blessed with the guidance from two of her mentor teachers; Chan White and Kara Lough. Lorena is a 2012 graduate of the 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training Ashtanga/Hatha- Vinyasa Program, certified under Yoga Alliance.

Michael Morgan

Michael Morgan came to the practice through Sally Roberts and her teaching at Grandview Heights area gym. He was seriously into lifting but not so much into stretching. He noticed the asanas and mistook them for stretching but was eager to try it. He fell in love with the practice and found that it was so much more than stretching.

Yoga has brought him through personal and physical struggles. Yoga helped him back to health after being hospitalized twice in a month for Crohn’s disease. It was the first thing he turned to and it didn’t let him down. Yoga has been very good to Michael. 🙂

Michael wants to bring the gift of yoga to others for all it can do both off and on the mat. Michael is very interested in the philosophical underpinnings of the asana practice and has used them in his personal and professional life. He believes that simple things can lead to great awakenings and people can be introduced to the philosophy in a non-dogmatic way.

Michael has already used yogic teachings, including parts of the Bhagavad Gita, in his work as an Attorney with the Franklin County Public Defender with great success. He has had a variety of experiences that help him relate to people from many walks of life. He has been a farm boy, Army Reservist, commission salesman, and a public defender both in urban Columbus, Ohio and Appalachian Marietta, Ohio. He enjoys his yoga practice, studying the scripture, the company of good friends and family. He is very eager to give the gifts he continues to receive back to the community.