WHO ARE YOUR POSER YOGA INSTRUCTORS?

Jenny Stewart Houston
(Studio Director & Instructor)
From childhood, Jenny’s training began with dance. She performed as a professional dancer for many years, in a career that was competitive and physically demanding. When she was first introduced to Yoga, it was a fun and challenging avenue for fitness and rehabilitation. As time passed, the internal awareness she was experiencing made it evident that Yoga was transforming her life. She traveled to India where she was certified as a teacher, and soon she was sharing her passion of Yoga with others. With a Sivananda background, Jenny is trained to teach Hatha, Power, Yin and Hot Yoga. But, no matter the style, or who she’s teaching, she is continuously amazed at how Yoga’s lessons are so intricately woven into everyday life. Practice with her, and you’ll be invited to let go of expectations, at a pace that’s comfortable for you. You’ll be given an opportunity to go inwards, to truly ‘be’ with yourself, and to create an experience of Yoga that’s personal — an exact reflection of who you are, and who you care to be in your life. To learn more about Jenny, follow her blog at: http://yoginineedstowrite.weebly.com/

Chad Segars (Instructor)
Chad is a former college athlete, wildland firefighter, and backcountry ranger who was initially attracted to Yoga as way to heal injuries and deal with stress. As his practice grew more consistent, he began to notice that yoga made him more patient, calmer, and self aware. After years  of working for the National Park Service throughout the west, a move to Charleston, SC allowed him to complete a 200 hour teacher training program at Holy Cow Yoga Center. After graduation, he was asked to remain at the studio as a substitute teacher and assistant to Holy Cow founder, Trace Sahaja Bonner. During this period he not only deepened his study of the physical practice, but began to focus more on the importance and role of  meditation and breath work in developing a holistic practice. Chad’s classes build strength, balance, and flexibility while also challenging you to be aware of the mind and the breath. He aims to serve others by creating a class environment in which everyone feels accepted, safe, and confident to challenge themselves. He is grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Poser YOGA community and hopes to help others to cultivate a more meaningful experience on and off the  mat.

 Chelsea Carlson (Kids’ Yoga)
Chelsea recently moved to the area from New Jersey and is eager to bring Yoga to kids in the community. She’s been loving and practicing Yoga for 3 years. As well, she enjoys hiking, playing guitar, and exercising. She’s excited to share her love of Yoga with children and empower them to find self-expression, peace, and self love!

Deirdre Frank (Instructor)
As a child, Deirdre was inspired by her grandmother to practice Yoga for its calming benefits. While attending college in Northern Arizona and the UK, Deirdre experimented with a variety of Yoga styles and instructors. Consistency and dedication to her personal practice didn’t come until much later when she became aware of the fantastic benefits of a regular Yoga practice. She noticed that her Yoga practice brought with it not only physical transformations like improved strength, balance and flexibility, but also mental transformations such as reduced stress and anxiety and increased positivity and clarity. While Deirdre may have been inconsistently practicing Yoga since she was a kid, she only started her journey toward sharing her passion of Yoga with others as teacher in 2012. Deirdre is trained in the YogaFit style of Yoga which emphasizes a safe practice that is for “every body.” Deirdre teaches Hatha Flow and Power Yoga at Poser Yoga Studio, and beginning Yoga classes at Peninsula College. Deirdre’s classes combine stillness with movement and she offers plenty of modifications so that each student can tailor each class to how they feel in each moment.

Kaila Calmell-Armantrout (Zumba Instructor)
Kaila is currently out for maternity leave.

Jonna Winger (Instructor – Pilates)
Jonna is passionate about movement – she believes you feel the best in your own body and mind when you can move and play with ease. Pilates does just that, it strengthens and stretches the body through functional exercises rooted in anatomy and physiology, intentional breathing, functional alignment, core control, and movement integration. After completing her studies at the University of Victoria, in Victoria, British Columbia, Jonna left the coast to explore inland, landing in Utah, Idaho, and Central Oregon.  She completed her Pilates training and apprenticeship in Salt Lake City at Pinnacle Performance through Polestar Pilates in 2010.  After finishing her training she continued to work and study at Pinnacle.  Thriving on variety, Jonna’s background in therapy-based Pilates has given her the training and experience to work with students ranging the gamut of physical fitness levels.  From everyday movers, to professional athletes, to those suffering from physical ailments such as Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, post stroke, to the expectant mother and post natal recovery.  Pilates is for everyone. Originally from Port Angeles, the allure of family and friends drew her back to the shadow of the Olympic mountains.  She is excited to be back exploring the gorgeous peninsula!

Sara Shearer (Instructor)
Yoga saved her life… after a series of devastating personal losses, she stumbled upon a regular Yoga practice. She was emotionally and physically not well. She was adrift in a sea of loss and despair, trying to find light on the horizon. She had practiced Yoga many times from childhood to adulthood, but had not develop a personal practice until her sanity depended on it. Sara’s regular practice began as a college course, and from there it became a love. She knew that physically Yoga could do wonderful things for her and only after developing her practice did she realize what it had done for her mentally. Her love of Yoga helped ignite a passion inside her, for all its healing benefits both physically and mentally. Yoga helped her find and embrace herself, the awkward, the fun, even the serious. It always left her feeling empowered, beautiful and Ninja like. Sara decided that she would enjoy above all other things, the chance to share this with people. Soon after this realization, she became YogFit certified and began her journey as a teacher.

Sher Cappa (Instructor)
Sher came to yoga in her early 40’s after several years of suffering from chronic fatigue, in the hope of reacquiring her health.  After a year of attending Asthanga classes and experiencing a significant improvement in her health, she decided to become a teacher.  She attended Pacific Yoga School in California where she obtained her first certification. Later, she moved to Port Angeles, where for the next year, she taught yoga at the YMCA while attending the Boditree Pilates School in Vancouver, BC; there she received her  Pilates Mat 1 certification.  Shortly thereafter, she opened her own studio where she conducted 14 classes a week teaching both yoga and pilates for approximately 5 years.  During this period, she attended Yoga for Life Teacher Training in Seattle, which consisted of a 10 month course concluding in her second yoga certification.  She furthered her exposure to the discipline  of yoga through seminars in Seattle, with Paul Grilley and Sarah Powers in the study of Yin Yoga.  Sher took a hiatus from teaching as she graduated from motherhood to grand-motherhood and has been thoroughly enjoying her grandchildren in this new phase of her life.  Recently, her desire to teach again has been reawakened.   Her strong interest in Yin, which developed while attending the seminars with Grilley and Powers, is now the focus of her classes.

Wendy Greer (Instructor)
Wendy received her 200 hour yoga teacher training through Exhale Yoga Teacher  Training with Meghan Currie, Dr. Madan Bali, and Dr. Genieve Burley in January of 2015. Since then she has been teaching at Poser Yoga Studios and helped to create The Outdoor Yoga Project. She also completed a SUP Yoga teacher training and hopes to bring SUP Yoga classes to the Olympic Peninsula. Wendy has been on the Olympic Peninsula off and on since 2011. She has a passion for yoga and the great outdoors and wants to combine the two because she believes they truly go hand-in-hand. She feels communing with your body in nature is an amazing experience she wants everyone to have.

 Jenn Noble (Instructor)
Jenn is on a mission to show that Yoga is accessible to all who seek it.  No matter your physical ability, age, background, gender or perceived limitation, there is a space for you to explore and grow.  Her goal is to help create and hold that space.  In 2009 Jenn sought Yoga to help rehabilitate a spinal injury.  Her life has never been the same since.  Through the practices of asana, pranayama, mantra, kriya and meditation she was able to not only manage physical pain and regain mobility, but also change the trajectory of her life.  In 2013, she traveled to Rishikesh, India where she received her 200 hour Yoga Alliance Teacher Certification in Sattva Yoga under her guru, Anand Mehrotra.  Sattva Yoga was, and is to this day, instrumental in her growth and expansion.  It is Jenn’s joy to share this practice and is at the heart of all that she teaches. You can expect to be challenged in Jenn’s classes, but also encouraged to support yourself with lots of modifications.  She’s a fan of strengthening the body while supporting the integrity of the spine.  She loves to go deep, whether it’s into the hips or into the heart.  She is also prone to silliness and fits of giggles from time to time. To learn more about  Jenn, check out her website: jennnobleyoga.com.

Diane Urbani de la Paz (Instructor)
Diane moved to Port Angeles 10 years ago to work as a reporter and photographer at the Peninsula Daily News. She covered arts, entertainment and community events there until January of this year, when she moved on to pursue freelance writing, teaching yoga and travel.  She is a native of San Francisco, an alumna of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley and a lifelong student of yoga and dance. She earned her 200-hour certification with the Lighting the Path school at the Yoga Tree in San Francisco’s Mission District.  Diane’s passions include Latin dance, Latino/a cultures, fitness and yoga — especially sharing it with people who might not have had access to the practice.

Ashley Zawrotny (Instructor)
Ashley began her teaching path as co-founder, performer and instructor with Phoenix’s Modern Hoop Dance troupe, Heady Hoop Tribe. Ashley became certified in teaching both movement arts in 2013. Ashley’s unique style focuses on building strength, flexibility and most importantly embracing some fun on the mat. Ashley is trained to teach Vinyasa Yoga, Hoop Yoga Fusion, beginner hoop and fitness hoop classes.

Midge James (Instructor)
Midge has been studying, practicing and teaching yoga for over 35 years.She was certified as a yoga instructor by the Center for Yoga and White Lotus Foundation in 1980 and taught in California before relocating to Port Angeles in2014. Her style of yoga is eclectic, but focuses on balance, alignment, attention to detail, softness and fun! In her 60s, she has studied the issues of aging extensively. She has a deep commitment to maintaining vibrant health, vitality and well being for the remainder of her life and inspiring others to do the same.

Andy Brastad (Qigong)
Andy is a long time resident of Port Angeles. He has been involved in martial arts since the mid 1970’s. In 2008 he was introduced to Qi Gong, and embraced it as a natural extension of martial arts training. The Qi Gong he has been studying is based in promoting individual and spiritual health. Andy is certified in teaching Awakening Light Gong and Essence Qi Gong the only formally recognized Qi Gong by the Chinese government. Andy spends free time, with his dogs, working out, hiking, and working on his beloved 47-year-old Harley Davidson.

Karlyn Langjahr (Instructor)
Our beloved Karlyn has recently moved Africa, and we wish her all the love and luck in the world!!
Karlyn began practicing Tibetan Buddhism during college, which led her to the study of Yoga several years later. Her physical pose (asanas) practice was experimental and inconsistent for many years at first, which complimented her discipline of meditation and prostrations. After sustaining a major knee injury and undergoing surgery during graduate school, Karlyn was prescribed Yoga for rehabilitation and stabilization. Yoga aligned well with her main pursuit of marine conservation, though it could be difficult to find Yoga communities in her job locations, often remote, across the world. In 2011, on naturally- and culturally-rich Pemba Island off East Africa, she finally committed to a regular practice and started teaching to international travelers and friends. She continued leading Yoga classes while working in Costa Rica for university students on an environmental field-based program before moving to Port Angeles in 2013. She was thrilled to join the budding Yoga community here where she works for Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and combines her exposure of Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Anusara and Kundalini disciplines. She received her Yoga Alliance 200-YT certification from Meghan Currie and has mentored under Clara Roberts-Oss. Karlyn is also passionate about incorporating kriyas from Kundalini Yoga into her flow practices, and found that Kundalini brought the closest feeling to a “runner’s high” that she misses from long-distance running. You can expect creative, core-centric classes with the use of powerful pranayama, and she encourages inversions to help give us new perspectives of our perceived environment. Karlyn believes that Yoga allows us to experience our interconnectedness to all life, and makes us more loving, fearless and joyful!

Travis Riemer (Instructor)
Travis has been studying Yoga for over 11 years and completed his 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2008 with Laurel Hodory at Grow Yoga in Columbus, Ohio. He has been a licensed Massage Therapist since 2002 and is certified in traditional Thai massage from the Thai Institute of Healing Arts in Arlington, VA. In 2012 he completed a course in Ayurveda and Integrated Yoga Therapy at Anjali School of Ayurveda and Panchakarma in Kerala, India. Travis uses his understanding of physical anatomy and body mechanics that he gained from his Massage Therapy training and applies them to his Yoga classes. In addition to studying Yoga and Massage he has traveled to different parts of Asia while studied Qi Gong, and Martial Arts. He pulls from all of these sources to create a dynamic, fun and therapeutic Yoga class.