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Bitsy is a certified yoga instructor from The Yoga of Energy Flow. She holds certificates in Yoga for Senior Citizens, Restorative Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Yin Yoga, Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra, and was recently trained in Aerial Yoga. She is currently working on her 300HR in Yin from Summers School of Yin.
Bitsy offers Beginner Yoga, and all levels of Hatha and Vinyasa Flow, which combines asanas (poses) and explorations of breath, to enhance your energy. Additionally, she teaches Wall and Chair Yoga for anyone who would enjoy or benefit from improved alignment and support. Uniquely, Bitsy plans on incorporating floating postures in the aerial slings from time to time within her Yin/Restorative and Yoga Nidra classes. It is these deeply rooted, restorative classes that is a specialty of hers. To learn more about the similarities and differences between these classes, visit our class description page.
If you're new or returning to yoga after a break, Bitsy will joyously provide private lessons and yoga coaching to prepare you for your first group class or support your health and wellness goals.
Bitsy is fun and passionate about learning and sharing with her students. She frequently incorporates her love of dance, rhythm, poetry and music into her yoga classes making them more of an experience than a class. You can find her online and in person at the studio!
Erin is a multi-talented instructor with a passion for bringing mindful movement to kids and families.
Erin found her way to the mat over 20 years ago, and through her practice found strength, confidence, and a new connection to self and soul. The healing she experienced in her practice led her to complete her teacher training and begin to share yoga in 2019.
Erin quickly learned that her deepest joy was bringing awareness to kids and families through yoga, essential oil education, and the divine connection of Reiki. She loves empowering families to be their own healers through mindful movement and plant medicine. A rareity, Erin’s creative and encouraging approach to yoga allows for the entire family to participate together in a safe, and fun environment. To learn more about this class description, check out our class descriptions page!
To learn more about essential oils and Erin, check out her blog posts!
Shari wandered into her first yoga class seeking to regain just a little of the flexibility she once enjoyed while dancing in college. Something about the practice crept into her heart and quickly took hold. That fateful decision would change her life’s trajectory forever.
Shari went on to complete her 500-hour yoga teacher certification as well as a variety of specialty trainings, learning from some of the best instructors in the world. Today, backed by more than two decades of experience in the fitness industry, Shari’s talent lies in crafting creative classes, suited to a variety of populations and levels.
“Intelligent sequencing, a strong connection to the breath, and a focus on alignment are all extremely important to me,” she reports. “But beyond that, I enjoy bringing students to the edge of what they previously thought possible. Right there, in the middle of that uncertain grey area, lies the potential for true growth.”
In addition to her expertise as a group instructor, Shari is sought after by private clients as well as teachers seeking mentorship along their career paths. She has developed and led a variety of workshops and retreats and is a certified Reiki Master and Seraphim Blueprint energy healer.
Lindsay discovered yoga while at university in England. She quickly realized that she was a nicer, more joyous and energetic bartender if she’d attended a yoga class between lectures and work! Yoga has helped her body through two pregnancies, births and recoveries, and it has helped her nervous system through parenting two very different boys!
After teaching early childhood music in NJ and TX preschools, followed by Kindergarten in NC public schools for many years, Lindsay decided to follow her dream of becoming a yoga teacher. She received her RYT-200 Yoga Alliance certification after undergoing teacher training at Asheville Yoga Center. Lindsay is excited to continue her studies as she works towards further certifications this year. In addition to virtual classes, she currently teaches at local area studios.
Lindsay teaches what she practices: Vinyasa flows of all intensity levels: from gentle through Power sequences. She enjoys all forms of yoga, so each class is different, and incorporates ideas from different traditions and lineages that may be helpful to the flow of life.
Tucker Shelton, M.A., E-RYT 500, YACEP, KYM 475
Tucker Shelton has studied and taught yoga for over a decade. Tucker holds 780 RYT training hours in Hatha, Ashtanga, Yin, Restorative, Bhakti Vinyasa, Vini, Senior, Therapeutic, Children's, Pre/Postnatal, Vinyasa Krama, Anusara, and Kaula Tantra Yoga forms and 475 training hours in the Kaiut Yoga Method.
Tucker has also studied 200 hours of Thai Yoga Massage in Chiang Mai, Thailand and has a Masters with Honors in Contemplative Religious Studies and Sanskrit Language from Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Tucker has taught and studied throughout the United States and around the world, from New Zealand to India to Mexico.
Tucker’s teaching style is lighthearted but deeply transformative. Tucker guides students carefully and gracefully into their bodies, offering many levels of mental, physical, and spiritual practices according to the needs and openness of the individual. Tucker’s specialization is in "Longevity Yoga," or teaching sequences that are safe and powerful for all bodies to practice sustainably for the rest of their lives. Tucker is a sensitive, kind, and playful guide for those on the yoga path. A class with Tucker is imbued with love and insight and leaves practitioners feeling more and thinking less.
Tucker identifies as gender non-binary and gladly uses he, she, and they pronouns interchangeably.
Robin Greene is a newly retired Professor of English and Writing, and former Director of the Writing Center at Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, where she held the McLean Endowed Chair in English from 2013-2016. Robin has published two collections of poetry (Memories of Light and Lateral Drift), two editions of a nonfiction book (Real Birth: Women Share Their Stories), and two novels (Augustus: Narrative of a Slave Woman and The Shelf Life of Fire). Robin is a past recipient of a North Carolina-National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Writing, and has published over ninety pieces of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in literary journals. She received two prestigious teaching awards, has given over a hundred academic presentations, literary readings, and writing workshops in a variety of venues, and currently teaches an annual women's meditation, yoga, and writing retreat in Oaxaca, Mexico. Robin is a registered yoga teacher (RYT200), cofounder and board member of Longleaf Press, and cofounder of Sandhills Dharma Group, a Buddhist meditation group.
Morgan is a Registered Yoga Teacher and a voice for the wisdom of nature that exists within us. She teaches different styles of Flow Yoga that guide her students back to the innate wisdom of their bodies. She focuses on clear cueing and moments of guided introspection to allow her students to move through their practice seamlessly and really tune in to what their bodies need.
She completed her 200hr Teacher Training at Mind the Mat Yoga and Pilates in Alexandria, Virginia. Her training focused on Hatha Yoga, the merging of science and spirit, yoga philosophy, anatomy, and the importance of cueing through a trauma informed lens to always give students the choice to move in a certain way. Her training allows her to teach in a way that empowers her students to move in the best way for their bodies.
Morgan knows that one of the greatest tools we have for re-connecting to our bodies is yoga. When you can tune into what your body is telling you, it paves the way for amazing healing, deep inner knowing, and connection. Her classes allow you to become more aware of your body on a physical and energetic level. She encourages all her students to listen to their bodies and honor whatever they are feeling through out the yoga practice.
Morgan is especially passionate about teaching yoga through a feminine lens to empower women and girls. She teaches Feminine Flow Yoga that leads to women and girls feeling confident and safe in their bodies. With her one-on-one clients, she specializes in leading yoga practices that honor whichever phase of the menstrual cycle her client is in. She believes that when we connect with this beautiful cyclical nature within, it opens up our bodies and minds to great depths of healing, expansion, strength, and happiness.
She guides her students through yoga sequences designed to connect them with their wombs, inner knowing, and wildness. She has completed continuing education in these topics with Womban Wellness.
Joanna/Pavan Priya Kaur Randolph has shared her therapeutic and intuitive yoga style from the mountains of North Carolina to the beaches of Belize, Central America. Certified in 2004, Joanna’s yoga journey has taught her that there is a “yoga” for every body and every spirit. She creates accessible, dynamic, fluid practices that emphasize energy, breath, body flow & core stabilization. Bringing her own style and personality to the mat, she incorporates hatha, yoga, vinyasa, qigong & kundalini yoga techniques.
Plant and energy medicines are Joanna’s primary passions. Looking to raise the vibrational frequency of her student’s and client’s, she accesses their inner radiance, innate balance and intuitive harmony. Joanna is also a licensed esthetician, herbal medicine maker and pendulum dowser. When performing esthetic services, such as, her signature facials or scalp and sinus treatments, Joanna’s approach is holistic and healing. She returned to our mountains in 2018, with her own plant based, spa quality skincare line, Botanica Belize Wildcrafted Skincare. She is so very pleased to share her yoga and her medicinal plant magick with the LEY community.
Founder of the Nia Asheville Community in 1997. Teaching and sharing the joy of movement in university settings, dance and yoga studios, and senior retirement communities for 23 years. Black Belt Nia Teacher since 2005.
Dianne is dedicated to providing safe and effective mind-body practices that make Pilates and yoga more available to class participants. Her level of deep-seated commitment comes from having opposite experiences herself. She vividly recalls the years of trying to do yoga and Pilates and it just hurt. This was during a period when she commuted to an inner-city Chicago hospital system for work, was gone from home 12 hours a day and on call nights and weekends---with two growing sons, two dogs, a wonderful husband, and a house in the suburbs.
By the time she could resume her passion for exercise instruction (Dianne now holds a 500-hour certification in Pilates, 200 in yoga plus yoga for both osteoporosis and arthritis certifications), she was clearly in the category of osteoporosis and on the way to fracture. Recovery is an ongoing journey for her, but she has experienced the difference quality communication in mind body instruction has made. Therefore, she focuses on making a difference in her own class participants’ experiences of the joy and empowerment of deep muscular engagement, quality posture and easy breath.
Kelsey began practicing yoga 15 years ago, when her friend dragged her from all the cardio she had been doing at the time, to the mat at their local YMCA. Ignited with the inspiration of a new challenge, Kelsey continued to hone her skills at home and local studios, but only became more devoted in recent years, as she found her way down a spiritual path.
Once she realized yoga was more than just a physical practice and could be therapeutic in so many ways, Kelsey decided to get her 200 Hour certification in Peru with School Yoga Institute, with the hopes of studying trauma-informed and therapeutic yoga in the future. She is passionate about somatic therapy and healing, and believes each person can find their way to their healing journey, benefiting both themselves and the people around them, as well as generations before and after them. She hopes to utilize her skills as a yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner not only to bring people joy, but to introduce them to a world and parts of themselves they may not have known existed.
Kelsey teaches a blend of Hatha and Vinyasa, focused on building strength and intuitive movement. She aims to ground, empower and build confidence in her students through playfulness, challenge and extending support. Kelsey holds personal boundaries sacred and knows that every body is different, and therefore offers options and modifications throughout the entirety of her classes.
Sandi Hartz completed her 230-hr Yoga Teacher Training at Asheville Yoga Center and a 100-hr Iyengar Yoga training with Cindy Dollar in 2002. Sandi also holds certificates in Advanced Yoga, Nurturing The Teacher Within, Restorative Yoga and Yoga for MS.
Sandi combines a good sense of humor and encouragement, with her love of being active and the belief that, everyone can do yoga…all you need is to be able to breathe. She enjoys mountain bike rides, walks in the forest, and weekend travels to see what’s in our backyard.
T’ai Chi Chih® is a new form of ‘Chi Kung’ discipline; that is, one that is concerned with the development, circulation and balance of the Vital Force that is the body’s intrinsic energy (Chi).
It is called “Joy Through Movement,” and this moving meditation is a means of spiritual cultivation, and an aid to greater health and longevity. T’ai Chi Chih® is literally ‘Knowledge of Reality’ or ‘Knowing the Supreme Ultimate.’ T’ai Chi is a synonym for ‘Tao,” which is usually translated as ‘Supreme Ultimate’ or ‘The Way’— and the Chinese word ‘Chih’ means ‘Knowledge’ or ‘Knowing.’
T’ai Chi Chih® is a spiritual discipline. It is not an exercise, although the internal organs are massaged. Of course, physical, mental and psychic benefits can be great, but essentially there is a spiritual power behind T’ai Chi Chih. Noticeable benefits were reported: reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, increasing energy, reducing weight, improving immune system etc. Those who do other forms of meditation, or even Hatha yoga, will find the practice may improve their performance in those other disciplines. There is a definite energy build-up that increases with regular practice.
I live, play, work and dance in Asheville, NC and I come from a family of teachers. My favorite hobbies are doing art, listening to music, making musical Waves, walking in the forest and enjoying small gatherings with friends. I have struggled with my career choices in finding my path. I am grateful to Gabriel Roth, founder of the 5Rhythms, for I have found my path in teaching movement.
Dancing, Sweating, crying, and breathing has been the most transformative experience for me. I have been a committed teacher for over 5 years and I am excited to be a part of a Global Community. I am excited about my growth and expansion of being a teacher of the 5Rhythms Movement Meditation Practice.
Ashley Michelle is a 500-hour Certified Yoga Teacher, and while she holds her certifications in deep gratitude, she knows that a yogi’s wisdom comes from embracing their practice as a way of life.
She loves the Appalachian Mountains and feels called to know them as well as one would know family. Ashley is a beginning herbalism student at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine, and she integrates what she’s learned from being out in wild landscapes into her classes.
She’s honored to be part of the Laughing Elephant Yoga family. And she promises to empower each student to be the leader of their own practice.