Meet Our Instructors!
Click on a photo to read more about their approach to teaching.
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Angie Shoemaker
The versatility of yoga is what inspires me most about my practice. Yoga can be meditative, centering and calming, strengthening, energizing, therapeutic, and more. I enjoy molding my yoga practice to my changing life circumstances, and by extension I endeavor to provide my students what they need from yoga to support their changing lives. Whether it is "Yoga for Pregnancy" or a strong, athletic-style practice, yoga is not only for everyone, but also for every phase of your life. return to topConnie Dyer
In my own practice I use improvisational dance and the principles of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (Body–Mind Centering®) and other movement educators. They have inspired me to listen to my body, release habitual patterns, and integrate my movement. Each day I want to experience poses in new ways and forms that express how my body wants and needs to move. And I want to experience ALL my body in movement, not just mind, muscle, and bone. My goal in yoga is to help you find the same freedom in your own practice. In class you’ll explore creative ways to initiate and support movement effortlessly. By making friends with gravity, you’ll make full use of your body’s response to meeting resistance, experiencing it as a support for movement rather than an obstacle or burden. I might invite you to "wiggle" in a pose to experience its shifting bases, to move playfully within the range of motion in your arms and legs, or to move a line of stretch across your body. "Take root to fly!" return to topGretchen Kreiger
The style of yoga I teach—The Thinking Body–The Feeling Mind—shares many postures and philosophies with classic hatha yoga. The conscious expression of movement, inner awareness, and purposeful use of breath are key elements of both traditions. I believe the riches that come from a mindful movement practice have great potential to sustain our physical lives and support our spirit. My classes have less intense, repetitive movement than a vinyasa flow class and more choreographed moments than a classic hatha yoga class. Everyone is encouraged to practice with respect for their own body and needs at each session. return to topJim Brissette
In my Continuing Practice class, we attune to the internal OM sound. It takes a certain degree of relaxation to hear it in the first place, and once you do, staying attuned is a powerful tool for staying released and flowing in your asanas. The beauty of using the sound current is that if you grip your muscles or lock your joints, you lose the current. So, the discipline of staying attuned to the sound current gives you immediate feedback about whether you need to release tension from your effort. To help you, I’ll cue you to soften and connect various points within your body—the center of your head, root of the tongue, pelvic floor, and center of the spine. The continual focus on the sound current combined with feeling those points in your body makes you aware of deep gripping and holding in your core, so that you can release there. Naturally, the more your body releases, the more deeply your mind attunes to the OM sound and the experience of your energy rising. return to topKelly Ponzi, RYT
My teaching reflects the breadth and depth of my own practice and studies, which includes the precision and alignment of B.K.S. Iyengar, the therapeutic benefits and flow of Viniyoga and Vinyasa, and the inner focus and awareness of the spiritual traditions of Kashmir Shaivism and Tibetan Buddhism. I honor the uniqueness of all people, believing that at our core we are each perfect and one with the divine. In my view yoga is the practice of realizing this divine union, and I am committed to expanding my awareness of that and sharing it with my students. If you are a new mom, I hope to see you soon in my "Yoga for Moms, Babies, and Toddlers" class, where we strengthen, revitalize, and face the challenges of motherhood with other dynamic and thoughtful women. return to topLaura Washington, ND
In my hatha yoga classes I endeavor to create an environment where participants will experience themselves deeply. Time is spent at the beginning of class quietly connecting to breath and body. We then begin moving slowly and simply, taking that conscious focus into our practice of postures. Each of my classes has a slightly different focus. My Tuesday morning class emphasizes accessible yoga for those who feel limited by excess body weight, knee or back pain. The focus is on providing a gentle and nurturing way of moving towards greater health. Tuesday evenings my class moves in a meditative tone, often incorporating sound, ratio breathing, or use of mantra. On Saturday mornings we have a longer class, the last half hour of which is dedicated to advanced practice. Students have the option to stay and participate in this last segment or not, as they wish. Saturday’s class may include stronger physical work that helps to prepare us for the more advanced postures. return to topLaurie Saunders
"Healing Yoga Practice" works to support the innate capacity of the body-mind mechanism to move toward health. This practice grows out of my own experience with MS and from working with students with short-term and long-term health situations. It can serve the needs of a student who has been feeling a little "under the weather" and wants a quieter, gentler practice this week – or a student who integrates it in a healing program with other classes – or a student who is dealing with a chronic condition and wants a yoga practice that can work deeply over time. It is also a great beginning point for students who don’t feel "fit" enough to start with a regular yoga class. There’s no sequence, so you are welcome to try the class once or attend on an occasional or long-term basis. I’m happy to have e-mail correspondence or a phone chat with you before you attend – just let The Movement Center office know. return to topLeslie Goldstein, PT
Join us in this class to learn the basics of care for your back. Learn simple, safe, and effective yoga poses to help ease your back pains and strategies to prevent further or future damage to your back. Safe body mechanics and joint-protecting techniques will also be discussed. I bring 25 years of experience as a yoga instructor and extensive experience as a professional therapist. I specialize in low back and sacroiliac dysfunction, and currently practice physical therapy in Portland, Oregon. return to topLindsey George, LMT
In my class, we hold simple poses and stretches with concentrated focus, paying attention to the truth the asana reveals rather than approaching practice as a series of physical difficulties that need to be resolved, overcome, or mastered. Expect to feel the unexpected within yourself, and experience the profound and transformative sensation of relaxation. return to topMira Ames
I teach a class that uses simple, gentle poses to help students explore what it means to be truly at rest. Throughout our waking and even sleeping hours, we often carry a baseline level of effort, or striving, in either our body, breath, emotions, or thoughts. The work and challenge in this class is to become aware of this purposeful state of being and let it go. When we do so, not only is it a great relief, but we gradually realize that all our actions can be initiated and experienced from this place of stillness, support, and ease. return to topMolly Merideth
My love of hatha yoga practice centers around its ability, through the simple use of breath and awareness, to allow subtle releases in a person’s system that promote a greater flow of energy. Through simple breathing, visualizations, and a variety of flowing movements, I invite students to explore their own potential to change their state and experience a different level of well-being. In my classes, yoga poses are approached incrementally so that everyone can experience the essence of the poses safely within the boundaries of their own flexibility and strength, while allowing those boundaries to expand naturally through practice.return to topPat Tarzian, RYT
My classes feature the practice of meditating challenging poses. Both the deep energetic benefit of asana through holding and the dynamic health benefits of continuous movement are emphasized. The practice centers around relying on core and breath to move into an asana, and not on volition and muscle. This technique means that we move only from the energetic center and not from the physical. It's fun, difficult, expansive, profound, hard work, and freeing, all at the same time. Because there is a method to the movement, and the movements are ones requiring stamina and aerobic ability, students should be fit. return to topPatty Slote
As both a physical and energetic practice, yoga provides endless possibility for refinement through conscious attunement to one’s own body, breath, and mind. My approach in teaching is to use a simple repertoire of asanas and pranayama techniques, selected to meet the needs of the students in the class, and play with them to explore what is possible in the moment to open more deeply and experience more flow. This allows a person’s practice to evolve naturally and unfold over time. I especially enjoy teaching new students, pregnant women, and those who prefer one-on-one instruction. return to topPatty Sweeney
My interest is to help you gain confidence in the early to middle stages of your continuing yoga practice. To this end, I focus on 10 to 12 essential poses to demonstrate principles of an accessible, safe, and personal practice that will provide a foundation and understanding for more difficult variations and poses. We will take time to learn these poses thoroughly, examine their component parts and qualities, and find ways to make them easier or more difficult to suit your needs. As you become increasingly aware of what you are doing and why, you’ll learn to trust your body’s intelligence and gain a greater sensitivity to what is appropriate at each moment. My hope is that your capacity for self-exploration and self-trust grows to the point where you can make your practice truly your own. return to topRachel Dyer
If you want to do rigorous yoga and not hurt yourself, if you want to accomplish some mastery of your breath, if you want to bolster your psychological strength, I think core work is critical. I use Pilates work and bandhas in my own practice to those ends, and teach from that basis. This requires both refinement (constant reminding and tweaking) and strength training. The end goal of course, is to leverage those tools for centering in day-to-day life, but the great side benefit is the increased tone, body awareness, and ability to prevent injury that results from practicing this way. And while none of it is hard to learn, it takes play and experimentation and patience to get comfortable with these tools. That is what my classes are tailored for, and I welcome anyone interested to come and share their experience. return to topRuth Knight, RYT
What I appreciate the most about teaching yoga is experiencing how the shared connection of our hearts and minds carries over from the classroom into my whole life. It’s my wish that everyone’s yoga practice supports their life as well. My classes begin with breathing warm-ups to point the mind inward and mobilize the body’s energy for asana (yoga poses) practice. Asanas are chosen to build flexibility and strength along the spine, in the core, and in major muscle groups. My method is to first work with poses dynamically, and then hold them. Ujjaye (throat) breathing, and/or ratio breathing are typically integrated into some part of the practice. Classes tend to be on the gentle to moderate side and each person is free to practice as simply or deeply as they wish. Wednesday and Thursday afternoon classes end with a 15-minute meditation. New students are always welcome.Restorative Yoga:
In a beautiful and serene setting, you'll be guided into postures using outer supports such as bolsters, blankets, and chairs. With the body so supported it's possible to focus your breath awareness deeply and powerfully to release tension from your body, mind, and heart. The result? You'll feel unburdened and at peace. Restorative yoga is a beneficial practice on it's own, and the discoveries you make through holding, opening, and releasing will bring new insights to your regular yoga asana practice. No prior yoga experience is necessary. Please speak with the instructor if your range of motion is significantly restricted, or you have breathing difficulties.