INSTRUCTORS
CORTNI SAUNDERS
Cortni’s physical practice began early in life with the practice of ballet, tap, jazz and tumbling through Jody’s School of Performing Arts. She danced from the age of 4 until she was 16 giving her a solid base of body alignment and physical discipline. Her passion for using her body in movement was rekindled at the age of 27 when she attended her first Yoga class. Dance had opened her body; Yoga opened her mind and heart, uniting Mind, Body, and Spirit. Cortni’s life ambition was transformed and is the center of her focus for promoting the union of Mind, Body, and Spirit.
Cortni’s Teacher Training began through Yoga Rising studio in Hendersonville, TN,. She completed the 200hr program in December of 2006. In October of 2012 she completed a 300hr Yoga Therapy program through Yoga School of Excellence in Jackson, TN. She now holds an E-RYT 500 registration through Yoga Alliance and C-IAYT certification through International Association of Yoga Therapists. Cortni is also a 2nd degree Reiki practitioner.
Cortni began participating in teacher trainings as an instructor in 2010 at Hot Yoga Nashville with the teachings of the Yoga Sutras. In 2011 spurred on by her teacher Beatrice Raydo 500 E-RYT of Ft. Lauderdale FL; she decided to lead her own 200 hr teacher training program through Mindful Motion Yoga Center. She has since lead 200hr and 300hr trainings at Mindful Motion Yoga Center, Yoga Harmony Nashville, and at The Spot in Bowling Green, KY. Cortni is continuing her career in teacher trainings around the middle Tennessee area studios and plans to add an 800hr Yoga Therapy program to her offerings.
Current teaching emphasis is in Yoga Therapy and Vinyasa Teacher Training. She infuses the practice with music, laughter and a bit of seriousness!
"Go Beyond the Beyond"
COLLEEN DWYER
Colleen is a Certified Yoga Therapist (CYT), Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP), and an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT500). She has been practicing yoga for over 18 years, and teaching for 13 of those years. With over 1000 yoga training hours accrued, Colleen has created a style that is her own. With a focus on detail, she teaches yoga in a way that makes it practical; helping you to understand the body’s optimum alignment so that you move through your day (on and off of the yoga mat) with more body awareness and balance.
PETTI GROTH
Since 2007, Petti has been a full-time mind/body teacher, and the proprietor of Synergy Studio in Cookeville, Tennessee. Rather than following the traditional approach of identifying students’ imperfections or weaknesses, and setting goals to “fix” them, she takes a holistic approach, and encourages clients to place their emphasis on the journey, rather than the destination. “The key is starting with gratitude. All of our challenges are simply an opportunity to grow, and all of our desires for change are God-given,” she says. “They spur us onto the path to our best self.” Petti's credentials include being an MMI Certified Meditation & Mindfulness Teacher, a Yoga Alliance ERYT-500, and a designated Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP). She has had many teachers and influences: Deborah Perry & Peggy Bogard of YTSE, Cyndi Lee, Jill Miller, K. Lea Gifford, Doug Swenson, Elise Browning Miller, Baxter Bell M.D., Mary Paffard, Carrie Gaynor, Chase Bossart, Rebecca Dennis, Devarshi Steven Hartman, Siddhi Ellinghoven, Dr. David Frawley, Rhadeya Michael Plasha, and Lilias Folan. “These disciplines have given me a non-threatening and non-competitive way to maintain health and balance in my mind, body and spirit. It is a great gift to have discovered these precious ‘life tools,’ and I want to share that with other people.”
BEA RAYDO (TEJAS): E-RYT 500
I started taking Bikram Yoga classes from Jimmy Barkan back in 1985. At first Yoga was simply a way of exercise. After a few years, I started exploring other styles of Yoga and studied Ashtanga Yoga. In 1997, I took my yoga practice into another level and it became a way of life. This journey has taken me to India many times, where under the guidance of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh I have followed deeper studies about Yoga Philosophy and Sanskrit. Having discovered the deeper meaning of this philosophy, I acquired a commitment to spread the message of Yoga wherever I am. I have explored many styles of Yoga, only to find the unity in their diversity. I have been trained and/or certified in Bikram, Barkan Method, Ashtanga, Jivamukti, Sivananda, Iyengar, Anusara and Universal Yoga (Andrei Lappa). Studies with Mano Ardissone and Andrei Lappa opened me to new possibilities and have expanded my understanding of the practice.
The system of Yoga has been so fragmented that it is my goal to make us see that all Yoga is ONE. I call myself a Teacher of Yoga, not making any differentiation or identifying with a particular style. To me, Yoga is an ongoing process through which we can transform our consciousness into an awareness of our true purpose of life here on Earth. And how we teach it reflects that transformation.
We went from the One to the many, and it is now time to find our way back from the many to the unity of ONE. I am also known as Tejas.
AMY GREEN: LMSW, RYT
Amy is a school based counselor and team leader, as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Ready Nest Foundation where she provides support to couples and individuals during pregnancy thru postpartum, or where there has been loss. Ready Nest Foundation is in the processing of establishing the first Intensive Outpatient Programs for mothers in the Southeast to provide greater care for women in the postpartum season. She specializes in trauma informed care and maternal mental health, focusing on perinatal mood disorders and trauma/grief from loss or experienced during birth.
Amy is trained and specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Intrapersonal Therapy, and Somatic Experiencing. Amy is also trained as a breath coach, postpartum doula, and 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher. Amy has been a guest instructor at the University of Tennessee Masters in Social Work program teaching on Trauma-Informed Social Work with Children and Adolescents, Belmont University speaking on School Based Counseling, and has given multiple presentations on Maternal Mental Healthcare. She received her Bachelor’s in Sociology and Spanish from Tennessee Technological University. Amy is one of the regional leads for Postpartum Support International, National Association of Social Workers, and the Youth Violence Workgroup dedicated to reducing youth violence and deaths in Nashville, TN.
TONI MCKENZIE: LMT, RYT-200
Toni has been a licensed massage therapist since 2004, a yoga teacher since 2013 and a certified nutritional therapist since 2015. She taught massage therapy at various higher education institutions from 2006 to 2014 and has taught yoga anatomy for teacher training since 2014. Currently, she runs her own business providing massage and private yoga sessions.
In addition to practicing yoga Toni is a (fairly) dedicated runner, participating in a couple ½ marathons and several 5k’s each year. Other interests include kayaking, gardening and upcycling junk into something useful and/or pretty.
TINSEL FECTEAU
Tinsel’s yoga journey did not start on the Mat, but with a curiosity in her heart. It was not the physical practice that drew her into the wonderful world of Yoga, it was the need to find inner peace, the deep call from within all of us that knew that there was something “more”. This search led her to receive her 200hr Yoga certification through Mindful Motion Yoga School. Allowing her to have an in depth foundation of the eight-fold path of yoga. Tinsel has found tremendous comfort in the ancient wisdom of yoga and incorporates it into her daily life.
That part of her journey gave her the determination to follow her passion and start her own private chef business focusing on Ayurvedic cooking (NourishedByTinsel.com). Growing up in the kitchen learning Ayurveda from her grandmother and her mother, while absorbing the verbally passed down Ayurvedic recipes of generations before her, inspired a deep love and respect for the POWER OF FOOD. Traditionally, in the Burmese culture, cooking is a way of showing LOVE and good intentions. It is a way of welcoming guests, showing GRATITUDE, celebrating life and what Mother Nature has ABUNDANTLY provided us. These basic AYURVEDIC principles, which were instilled in her at a young age, are what FUELS her in creating and preparing “Nourished By Tinsel” and in teaching others the powerful techniques of Ayurveda. In addition to embracing her heritage of growing up in the Ayurvedic culture, Tinsel also has studied at the Ayurvedic Institute under Dr. Vasant Lad.
