Carl Lindberg, Tai Chi Instructor

Carl is a 20th generation disciple of Chen Style Taijiquan and 3rd generation disciple of Hunyuan Chen Shi Xinyi Hunyuan Taiji under Master Chen Zhonghua. Beginning his love affair with Chinese martial arts in 1995, Carl logged countless hours practicing Yang Style Taijiquan, Baguazhang, Xinyiquan, Shaolinquan, and Chen Style Taijiquan before beginning his apprenticeship under Master Chen Zhonghua in 2002. Lindberg became a certified instructor of Master Chen's international Hunyuantaiji Academy upon completion of his full-time instructor training intensive in Edmonton, Alberta in 2003, became an official disciple [apprentice] of Chen in 2004, and traveled to China later that year for more intensive training with Master Chen and some of his fellow Masters and their students. He has attended numerous Taiji and Qigong workshops and conferences in Alberta, Arkansas, New York, Victoria, and Georgia. Since 2000, Lindberg has taught private students and conducted group classes at the University of Georgia, the Classic Martial Arts Club, Roots Farm, Farm 255, Virgin Islands Sustainable Farm Institute and Floorspace. In addition, he has also taught Chen Style Taijiquan Broadsword at the Hunyuan Taiji Academy, Milwaukee, Wisconsin branch, at the annual international Taijiquan conference, Hunyuan World Seminars, held at Camp Cadicasu in Alberta, Canada and Unicoi State Park in Georgia, as well as at Taiji Traditions, an annual Taijiquan conferance held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Charlotte Johnston, Certified Vinyasa Flow Instructor

Charlotte began practicing yoga in the mid 90s as a complement to other sports and exercise activities. Though initially interested in the physical benefits of yoga, she soon fell in love with the spiritual and emotional benefits. Charlotte completed her yoga teacher certification in 2008 with Rolf Gates. She aims to provide a balanced physical experience and create a space for personal growth and exploration.

Dave Drohan, Certified Vinyasa Flow Instructor

Dave has been trained under Rolf Gates completing 200hr teacher training in Vinyasa Yoga.  Additionally, Dave’s background includes training in Taekwondo, Chen style Taijiquan, Qigong, and meditation.  He is striving to bring forth a rising level of awareness and fitness by delivering a safe and thorough experience to the Athens community.  In addition to Yoga, he enjoys spending time with family, cycling the local roads and trails, and sailing on Lake Lanier.

Henry Pursner, Certified Vinyasa Flow Instructor

Henry has been a physical therapist since1995 and since 2004 has been practicing at Athens Therapeutics and Wellness Center focusing on the treatment of chronic pain and other disharmonies of the body. Henry fell in love with yoga after the birth of his second daughter in 2005 and found that it awakened a vitality, strength and poise that could be then expressed to his family and community. Henry had the pleasure of completing the Rolf Gates vinyasa yoga training in 2008 and through that process is inspired to share the gift of coordinating alignment, attitude and action. He has furthered his studies in the Anusara style of hatha yoga by completing an Anusara Immersion with Kelley Gardner, Stacey Millner-Collins, and Sarah Faircloth and is walking the path to becoming a fully certified Anusara instructor. He shares a great and deep gratitude for all the teachers in his life, the students that grace his classes, and the joy and love we all cultivate through aligning with what is most important to us over and over again through a steady discipline of hatha yoga.

Jenni Derryberry Mann, Postnatal Bonding with Baby

Jenni, a freelance writer and mother of two, relies on yoga for, well, just about everything: peace of mind, core strength, spiritual connection, relaxation, rejuvenation, and rejoicing in life’s sweetness. She teaches yoga for prenatal, postnatal, and beyond, including a strength-building class grounded in the healing Forrest Yoga tradition. Jenni’s compassionate approach to intense practice will have you breaking a sweat while cracking a smile.

Jenni has been practicing yoga for more than a dozen years and teaching since 2003. She is a certified Forrest Yoga teacher and a graduate of the Advanced Forrest Yoga Teacher Training program, having trained with Ana Forrest, Jonathan Bowra, and Heather Tiddens. Other yoga inspirations include the iconic Seane Corn, the precise and grounding Tias Little, and yoga badass Duncan Wong.

A believer in natural childbirth and conscious parenting, Jenni encourages women to trust birth, to have confidence in the body’s wisdom, and to be open to the many wonders of pregnancy, birth, and early parenting. She is certified in Postnatal Yoga Bonding by founder Lisa Bergly, and she is forever grateful to the incredible community of prenatal and postnatal teachers at Sarah Longacre’s Blooma yoga studio in Minneapolis .

Off the yoga mat, Jenni is a professional writer and editor. She is a columnist for Spirituality & Health magazine and the editor of Belly Button Bliss: A Collection of Happy Birth Stories, forthcoming from Fairview Press (summer, 2010). Her writing has also appeared in FitPregnancy, Pregnancy, and Natural Solutions.

Jennifer Griffith, Certified Pilates Instructor

Jennifer received her three academic degrees from the University of Georgia:  a B.A. in radio-TV-film production, an M.A. in English, and a Ph.D. in English. 
Presently, she teaches advertising in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism & Mass
Communication. Jennifer has been teaching Pilates mat classes since the
summer of 2005.  She earned her certifications through Power Pilates at Studio Lotus in Atlanta, and she is both a fan and a devotee of classical Pilates, which honors the integrity of Joseph Pilates’ original method.

Melanie Kitchens O'Meara, Hatha Yoga Instructor

Melanie Kitchens, a recent doctoral graduate from the performance studies program at Louisiana State University, found an interest in yoga eight years ago when she began graduate school. Her training commenced at a Yoglates studio that specialized in Bikram yoga, but she soon found a hatha yoga practice that was more her speed. Her passion for yoga stems from an eagerness to re-harmonize the mind and body. She draws strength and hope from Augusto Boal who says, “in the bodies battle with the world the senses suffer. And we start to feel very little of what we touch, to listen to very little of what we hear, and to see very little of what we look at. We feel, listen, and see according to our specialty; the body adapts itself to the job it has to do. This adaptation is at once and the same time atrophy and hyperatrophy. In order for the body to be able to send out and receive all possible messages, it has to be re-harmonized.”

Steve Ball, Yang/Yin Instructor

Velisa Rios, Vinyasa Flow Instructor

Velisa Rios is a new arrival down south, moving here from NYC fresh off her 200hr Vinyasa Flow certification from Sonic Yoga Center for Yoga Studies in New York City.  She spent the last few years living in Brooklyn Heights where she worked days for a international advertising agency, with her focus being online marketing, and spent nights exploring the spiritual and physical benefits of yoga and meditation.  Her boyfriend, who moved here to farm with the folks at Athens Farm 255 restaurant, and herself, have long term plans of developing a retreat style farm that combines the healthy living lifestyle of local farm fresh food with yoga.  In her spare time she enjoys reading, cross training, eating vegetables, and adjusting to her new pace of life.  Velisa is incredibly eager new instructor who is very excited to meet each of you as soon as possible. 
Om shanti!