OUR TEACHERS
Kelly Dougherty
Kelly promotes a calm, comfortable aura through her teaching. Her class provides the space where your lists and outside responsibilities are not invited. This is your time to find relaxation and rejuvenation. She teaches alignment-based, flow, and restorative classes that strengthen and challenge both the body and mind. Her classes are appropriate from beginner students to experienced yoga practitioners. Her use of various props, assist the student in gaining the most benefit from each pose.
Kelly's classes teach you to calm the mind while bringing awareness to the body.
Along with her 200 hr RYT certification, she completed curriculum training with the Mindful Schools Program and works with both adults and children teaching mindfulness techniques and practices.
Kelly Dougherty is a vibrant young woman who is trying to help ground others in wholesome disciplines. A free yoga class at college was her first experience with yoga. After college she found herself developing a personal practice while living in Nicaragua for 2 years. During that time she continuously shared yoga with many of her friends and neighbors. Since moving to North Carolina she wanted to deepen her knowledge and experience with yoga. She found her opportunity in a 200 hr Yoga teacher training at Sunrise Yoga Studio in Clemmons, NC. Since then she has found herself ever more grounded in Yoga and its enrichment.
Kelly also runs Lavender Anne's Herb Farm (www.lavenderannes.com) and lives in a tiny home with her husband and two kids on their land in Dobson. They have a homestead where they grow their own food and herbs for their business. One day she hope to have a Yoga pavilion on their land and offer outdoor classes & farm meals! Kelly loves connecting her study of the mind and body with they study of the earth. She believes taking care of our own bodies, each other and the earth is the way to health.
Heather is a wellness enthusiast who discovered the benefits of yoga while seeking alternative methods for coping with anxiety and chronic joint pain. Inspired by her own journey and the tools she acquired through yoga, Heather completed her first teacher training at the Asheville Yoga Center simply to deepen her practice and discovered her path in sharing the practice of yoga with others— so they too could ease the body, calm the waves of the mind, and heal the heart. With a focus on the breath and the importance of the mind/body connection, Heather’s teaching incorporates elements from her studies in restorative yoga, vinyasa, yin, Kundalini, meditation, mantra, and yoga philosophy. Soulful savasana and beautifully eclectic playlists are always guaranteed! Heather is deeply committed to living her yoga practice every day, on and off the mat.
Heather Hatcher
Amanda Brewer
My fitness journey began on January 1, 2001, at Elkin Recreation Center. I had just graduated from my BS program at ASU and knew that I needed to form an exercise routine for not only my physical well-being but also for my mental/emotional wellness. I created my own routine pretty quickly and worked out 4 - 5 times a week. In June of that same year, the Yadkin Family YMCA opened. I joined and began attending the group exercise classes. After a few months, a couple of the instructors I admired began encouraging me to teach a class. I was interested but put it on the back burner for a year while I finished my master's degree.
In February 2003, I completed the AFAA group fitness certification and began immediately teaching classes at the YMCA. For the next ten years, I taught step, cycle, kickboxing, boot camp, sculpt & weight training, kettlebell, and cycle classes. In addition, I picked up a group exercise class one night a week at the Elkin Recreation Center in the fall of 2004. My husband and I relocated to Clemmons in 2006. I continued teaching classes at the Yadkin YMCA until we moved to the Charlotte area in August 2013. Given the ages of our children and the moves we’ve made for my husband’s career, I haven’t taught group exercise in 5 years. I am thrilled, however, for this opportunity. I love teaching, I love people, and I love fitness.
Becca Bonagura
Yoga is the union between our bodies, mind, and breath. Yoga is a practice that continues to give back not only physically but mentally. Yoga has been a part of my life for over 8 years. After my first yoga class, I quickly learned that yoga is much more than postures. I was inspired to live each moment more mindfully and deepen my practice. I completed my 200-hour YTT at K10 Studio in Winston-Salem. I have specialized in Yin Yoga from a trauma-informed perspective. I believe in seeing the humanity in each person and holding a space where they can feel safe and work on healing the body and mind. I want to help others feel a sense of calmness and ease in their yoga postures so that they are inspired to continue their practice and thrive in life by nurturing body, mind, and soul with yoga. When I’m not teaching yoga or group exercise classes at the Yadkin YMCA, I’m lifting weights, playing with my two kids, or slowly making my house into a home! I graduated from Elkin High School in 2008 so I’m thrilled to bring yoga to my favorite small town.
Sheila Lehman
Sheila is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT200) through SmartFlow Yoga under Annie Carpenter and RYT500 through Shanti Yoga. She is also a Reiki Master, Certified Aromatherapist, Folk Herbalist, as well as being certified in Yoga for All, Trauma-Informed Yoga, WildCore movement, and Expressive Yoga Dance. Besides training with Annie Carpenter, she has taken workshops with master teachers, such as Shiva Rea, Rodney Yee, Seane Corn, Aadil Palkhivala, and Dharma Mittra. Sheila has been practicing yoga for over 25 years. She came to yoga in an attempt to find relief from herniated and prolapsed discs in her lower spine. The slow mindful movements provided by yoga resulted in her finding connection, space, relief, and eventually healing.
For Sheila yoga is a way of life, not just on the mat but also off of it. She believes there is no proverbial “yoga body” but rather that yoga is for “every body” regardless of age, size, gender, or physical ability. It is a dance between breath and movement that allows the individual to bring these two things together in harmony. With proper alignment, modifications, and props every body and everybody can move into that “perfect” pose.
Erin is a native Texan, mother of two, Navy Veteran, and prior physician practice manager in Virginia.
After many years of running, spinning, aerobics and other exercise endeavors, she was inspired to create her own long-term, heart/mind wellness lifestyle and sought the philosophical and physical practice of yoga. In 2022, Erin embarked on the intensive 200 hr Iyengar Yoga program with Valerie Kiser in Clemmons, NC and is enjoying the mental and physical challenge of learning to be mindful and healthful for life. Her next goal is to complete the full 500 hour certified yoga instructor program and share the yoga journey with others seeking the same balance.
Erin is an avid hiker, biker, gardener, yogi, newly discovered equine lover and small farm owner in State Road, NC.
Erin Shiner
Melissa Ameika
Hua! My name is Melissa Ameika and my calling is to be the light and to be of service in our community. I have been practicing Reiki since 2005 and was certified as a Reiki Master/Teacher in 2009. As a life long lover of music and its healing power, I was trained in Sound Healing in 2019. I have had the pleasure of studying indigenous healing techniques and ceremony with various medicine men/women since 2009 and my desire is to share that knowledge and healing.
Some of my greatest joy is giving Reiki to animals such as dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, birds, etc.
I have spent many years volunteering at cancer centers and had the pleasure of participating in Reiki research. I also volunteered with the Trauma Intervention Program (TIP) in Las Vegas, NV, where I responded to scenes of tragedy with First Responders to provide practical and emotional support to survivors, witnesses and first responders.
Website: www.healingfrommedicaltrauma.weebly.com
Email: melissa.ameika@gmail.com
Natalie Lopez Williams
Natalie ( Nat), was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She is the daughter of a musician and teacher and was raised with music. Her passion for the arts continued when she discovered her talent for dancing, acting and singing during her high school years.
She played viola for 10 years. Went to InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico were she obtain her BSN (Bachelor in Science of Nursing), Participated on Army ROTC for 2 years and become an MVP cadet. Also, participated all thru her college journey as a Symphony Orchestra and choir member.
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She has danced Salsa for 5 years under the coaching of Tito Ortos, Michelle Rodriguez and Norma Rivera. As well as participated in Puerto Rico Salsa Congress two years in a row (2015,2016) for exhibition and teaching purposes only. Now she’s a mother of a 8 year old boy and a one year old girl. Pursuing her Nursing career in North Carolina, she still wanted to stay connected to dancing and music so she got her certification as a Zumba Instructor and AFFA-GFI (Group Fitness Instructor) and teaches hip hop and salsa in Rhythm Dance Studio at Sparta, NC and Zumba and salsa at Yoga On Main Elkin, NC since 2018.
Larry Pardun
Larry has studied Tai Chi for many years while living on the west coast. He is excited to bring Tai Chi to the YOM community. He prefers to offer this class based on donations, so it is always pay what you can, if you can!
Tai Chi is low impact and available to anyone!
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Wrenn Kilmartin and her husband live in Sparta where they are new empty nesters after raising three children together. They moved to the mountains from Raleigh in 2004 to give their family an opportunity to be part of a small, close knit community.
She became interested in Reiki over two years ago and is now a Reiki Master/Teacher, a Wellness Coach and is currently working her way (very slowly) through an online yoga teacher training course. Wrenn also works full time for the Alleghany County schools.
Wrenn is especially passionate about helping women find healthy ways to lower their stress and find more freedom, delight and peace. She adores nature, reading and hanging out on the porch.
Her favorite quote is “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Mary Oliver