ABBY DORN, RYT, received her 500 hour teacher training certification from Yoga Zone/BeYoga with Alan Finger in New York City in 2002, and she has been joyfully teaching ever since. She is influenced by many teachers including Mark Whitwell, Rodney Yee, Ana Forrest, Sharon Salzberg, and Lois Nesbitt. In 2003, Abby completed a prenatal yoga training with Carrie Parker Gastelu, and in 2004 she became certified to teach Itsy Bitsy Yoga TM for babies and toddlers. Originally from Delaware, she lived and taught in Brooklyn, NY for 8 years and moved to Columbus in 2008. She currently teaches a wide range of populations at Balanced Yoga in Clintonville, Grow Yoga in Grandview, and The Wellness Community in Powell.
Abby is trained in the ISHTA style of yoga which is a blended style of hatha and vinyasa yoga that incorporates detailed alignment. Abby sees yoga as a practice of active gratitude for the life we are given, as a time to honor and nurture our bodies and to celebrate our vitality, and as a time to connect to ourselves and each other through heart opening and mindful attention to the breath. She is eternally grateful to all her teachers (including her students!) who share their yoga and help to guide her on the journey.
LAUREL HODORY, MS, E-RYT500, is one of Columbus’ senior yoga teachers and has been studying and teaching yoga for 18 years. Over the last ten years, she has trained and certified more than 135 teachers, taught international retreats, taught the OSU NCAA Women’s Rowing team, and been a selected guest speaker at the OSU Addictions Conference. Her areas of specialization include yoga therapeutics, inner energy work and empowering her students to transcend their limitations so they can experience greater fulfillment on and off the mat. Her vinyasa classes are both inspiring and challenging at once.
After years of practicing and teaching students the Ashtanga Vinyasa System, Laurel saw a pattern of repetitive use injuries emerging. Out of a desire to help her students heal, she immersed herself intensively in the study of biomechanics and yoga therapeutics. She studied closely with Paul Grilley (Meridian Theory, Fascia/Skeletal Anatomy), John Friend, Sianna Sherman (Anusara Yoga), Dr. Robin Hunter, D.C. (Chiropractor to the OSU Buckeye sports program and Balletmet), and Arnold Coleman, personal trainer specializing in sports injury rehabilitation. She has attended training at the Gestalt Institute of Cleveland, Polarity Therapy Training in Columbus, and has studied Ayurveda apprenticing with her teacher Sonam Targee over the last seven years.
Among her accomplishments, Laurel was selected as an SNP (Suburban News Publications) American Business Woman and was featured as a select business woman in Business First. Her teachings have been published in Yoga Chicago and she was a guest speaker at the 2006 OSU Addictions Conference. She has also instructional yoga CDs and videos available for purchase online. As the founder of the first dedicated yoga center in Columbus, Ohio, Laurel is both a leader in the community and an example of embodied wisdom. When she’s not on the mat, Laurel enjoys music, being outdoors, good food, and spending time family and friends. www.LaurelHodory.com
TOM GRIFFITH has many interlocking interests and accomplishments that inform his yoga teaching. He graduated from the Yoga on High basic teacher training program in 2005, the same year he received his Ohio State Medical Board license for Massage Therapy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Art History focused on Buddhist art and philosophy. And he has taken ongoing yoga teacher training with Tim Miller and Richard Freeman, both powerful mimics, storytellers and inspired teachers. His massage practice illuminates his yoga practice by increasing his ability to understand correct physical alignment and biomechanics and the anatomy underlying them. His movement experience includes years of practicing yoga and other movement arts such as Tai Chi, and he has taught Ashtanga and alignment-based classes to students of all levels.
Tom is grateful to Martha, Marcia and Linda for their insight, encouragement and support and is pleased to be part of the community of teachers and practitioners at Yoga on High. In addition to teaching public classes, Tom acted as proctor in the 2009-2010 basic teacher training program. www.essentialstmb.com
CHRIS KIRK's yoga classes are informed by over 15 years as a teacher of acting, voice and movement. She completed a 200-Hour Teacher Training at the Yoga Factory in 2004 and an additional 200-Hour Teacher Training at Balanced Yoga in 2008. She also completed eight months of private study with Dianne Kadonaga of Arjuna Movement Arts in 2008.
Chris's classes tend to focus on body alignment and the integration of the body, mind and spirit. She likes to bring awareness, equanimity and a bit of playfulness into the class environment. "Yoga, for me, provides a safe space where I can have permission to be where I am, without judgment or comparison. I focus on creating that safe space for my students as well. At the same time, I enjoy exposing students to a variety of challenges, to keep the sequences interesting and engaging."
"Teaching at yoga has been a lovely extension of my work as a professor at Otterbein University. My yoga practice has enhanced every aspect of my life, helping me to appreciate and relish time with my kids and my husband. Perhaps what I love most about yoga is how much freedom it affords. Each of us can come to the mat for different reasons and, yet, we all get to share our individual experience together."
JULIA McSHEFFERY
Combining a strong understanding of the body’s structure and systems as well as offering extensive experience and skill in yoga and its therapeutic potential, Julia provides her students the opportunity to easily understand and incorporate yoga practices into their lives in a meaningful way.
Originally interested in yoga as a means of recouping some of the flexibility she lost because of sport rock climbing, Julia quickly realized the benefits of yoga and its healing of injury and illness in her own life. Besides earning a degree in exercise science, Julia is also a certified yoga teacher and is registered with the Yoga Alliance as a yoga therapy teacher (500-hour level, Shiva Shakti Synthesis) and as a teacher of vinyasa flow (200-hour level, White Lotus Foundation.) Julia has also completed a 108-hour Anusara Yoga immersion. In addition to these certifications, Julia is thankful for her opportunity to train with Janice George, Ganga White, Todd Norian, Ann Greene, David Swenson, Shiva Rea, Donna Farhi, Amy Weintraub, Elise Browning Miller, Judith Lasater, Richard Miller and Dr. Ray Long. Her experience includes teaching various levels of yoga in a variety of settings including McConnell Heart Health Center, the OSU Center for Integrative Medicine, Columbus State Community College and other Columbus studio, fitness, and community education locations. Julia is a member of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, www.iayt.org and is the Education Coordinator and an anatomy instructor for the ShivaShakti Synthesis 200-hr and 500-hr level yoga teacher training programs lead by Janice George. www.shivashaktisynthesis.com
LORETTA ZEDELLA has been on staff teaching yoga at Ohio Wesleyan University since 2004. Yoga's life transforming abilities inspire Loretta daily. She loves seeing and feeling the effects of a mindful breath and movement practice that is reinforced with each vinyasa and savasana she experiences. Loretta loves to share basic yoga techniques with beginners, youth, and pregnant women. She also enjoys sharing complex asanas with more experienced students. In addition to OWU, she teaches at Village Yoga, Dublin Rec. Center, Kinsale Golf, as well as an employee site and home settings. Loretta was first introduced to hatha yoga in the mid 1980s and she studied faithfully with her Cleveland area instructor, Maria Sarrossey. (Maria trained with Indra Devi.) A few years later when her family relocated to Columbus, Loretta continued her practice and participated in Kripalu yoga retreats. In 2000, when Loretta was introduced to a flowing yoga style of vinyasa yoga, she adopted yoga as a daily practice. Shortly thereafter she became an instructor.
Loretta has deepened her own practice and informed her teaching with workshops taught by Lino Miele, Paul Grilley, Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Ana Forrest, Bryan Kest, and Laurel Hodory. She has completed two different weeks of intensive teacher training with Rodney Yee, in 2003 and 2004. Loretta continued to deepen her understanding of yoga and how to teach these skills in the Balanced Yoga 200 hour teacher training. More recently she completed several workshops with yoga master Erich Schiffmann, two different Anusara Yoga immersions with Todd Norian, and is ever inspired by fellow teacher Kit Spahr and each of her student friends. Feel free to ask Loretta about her love of travel, passion for music, her long marriage, and four awesome kids. www.LorettaYoga.com
We celebrate yoga in Central Ohio. Thank you for your support of our six annual charitable yoga gatherings. SAVE THE DATE for #7 April 23, 2017. We thank all of our sponsors and host, Ohio Wesleyan University. Thank you for reaching up and reaching out. Namasté
