2015 Teachers Yoga Outreach Columbus

Meet the 2015 Yoga instructor team

 

Loretta Zedella

Loretta takes a light-hearted approach to yoga and movement. Loretta has immersed herself in the study of yoga, optimal alignment, movement, and erasing tension with therapy balls. Loretta says, "You knead these balls!" With a  dash of humor we take movement seriously, and take ourselves lightly. 

She has been teaching yoga for over twelve years and practicing since 1984. Loretta founded the charitable group Yoga Outreach Columbus and has hosted Central Ohio's annual yoga celebration for the past five years. Loretta teaches her therapy ball, foam roller & alignment workshop across the city and country. She has been on staff teaching yoga at Ohio Wesleyan University in the Health and Human Kinetics Department since 2004. Loretta also teaches at Balanced Yoga, Dublin Community Rec Center, and private classes, private clubs, and corporate settings. Erich Schiffmann is her beloved teacher, and she loves helping and learning from each of her yoga student friends.

She is is also known as The Duchess when she offers healthful workshops with her plant-based chef husband, The Duke of Fork. Feel free to ask Loretta about her love of travel, long marriage, and four kids. www.LorettaYoga.com

Karine Wascher

Karine Wascher is the co-founder of Sekoia Yoga, a multi-sensory yoga experience taught at Yoga on High which combines essential oil therapy, pranayama, reiki and meditation, all richly woven into a vinyasa practice.
Currently enrolled in the 300HR yoga certification program, Karine joyfully shares her 20 year yogic journey with students of all levels, honoring the Light that resides within each. She also mentors students enrolled in the Yoga on High Teacher Training program.
In her dharma to share yoga with underserved communities, Karine has introduced specialized yoga classes under the Yoga On High Foundation, including “The Power of Transformation”, a prison yoga program currently taught at the Marion Correctional institute. Karine is passionate about introducing the healing power of yoga to inmates on their rehabilitation journey. She has also taught yoga at local rehab treatment centers.
Always the student of yoga, Karine continues to immerse herself in the many teachings and blessings of this practice and loves to share her passion with students of all ages.
Originally from Montreal, Karine grew up in a lively Haitian-Austrian family, speaking French, Creole, German and English. She credits her “joie de vivre” and openness to her multi-ethnic background.
Off the mat, Karine is a creative soul, explorer of the spirit world, music lover, devoted mother, wife and absolute free spirit with a wicked sense of humor.

Abby Dorn
Abby 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 and Holly Moretti are Bhakti Mamas a Kirtan duo who have graced Yoga Outreach Columbus and Central Ohio music lovers with song for years.

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. 

Abby owned a yoga studio in New York City where she taught for years. She currently teaches a wide range of populations at Balanced Yoga in Clintonville, Grow Yoga in Grandview, and The Cancer Support Community, Jamescare for Life. 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.


Gwen Surratt
Gwen is a yoga teacher, fiber artist, and massage therapist based in Columbus, Ohio. She currently teaches meditation, Hatha Yoga at the Yoga Factory, Westerville Parks and Recreation, McConnell Heart Health Center, corporate classes and several classes for employees of the City of Columbus.
Gwen received teacher training at the Sivananda Yoga Center in Val Morin, Quebec, Canada, as a student of Swami Vishnu-devananda. She has also studied/trained with the Light of Yoga Society, Balanced Yoga, Edie Wightwick-Heinz, Cathy Morse, and other respected teachers. She brings humor and years of experience to her classes and loves showing students how to develop a practice and how that practice can enhance your life off the mat.
When not on the mat, Gwen is stitching, spinning or quilting in her studio making fiber art. Gwen created the beautiful Om tapestry that graced our Yoga Outreach Columbus gathering.



Melissa McKay
Melissa attended teacher training with Janice George at Samyoga Institute (formerly ShivaShaktiSynthesis) at the Center for Wholeness in Columbus, Ohio in 2011.
This year, Melissa returns to Samyoga Institute on staff as a program assistant; to share her experience, lead classes, and mentor students.
Melissa's classes synthesize many approaches; rooted in traditional wisdom and philosophy, while incorporating modern application and techniques of the practice.
 
She believes that yoga's greatest gift is the opportunity to relax deeply; to manage stress, anxiety, and fear (while increasing confidence) in the mind/body through asana and meditation.

Gina Derry
Gina discovered yoga while searching for healing from severe scoliosis, depression and addiction. Yoga opened up her personal power through the perseverance of study, nutrition and mindfulness. Gina studied in India at Yoga Vidya Gurukul Ashram where she deepened her understanding of yoga therapy which allows for healing of the body and the mind. Gina is energetic and brings life and laughter to her classes. She is passionate about helping her clients experience the same transformation that she has graciously received. Gina believes that yoga can your life if you allow it!

In 2014 Gina began to teach yoga at the Marion Correctional Facility for men.

This project is close to her heart and with the support of the Yoga on High Foundation Gina is able to bring the healing of yoga to some of those who want it the most. These men are exposed to philosophy, pranayama and 2 different styles of yoga, Hatha and Vinyasa.