Crofton Yoga-Instructors

Emily Gretz
Emily brings a career in education and an entrepreneurial spirit to her role as yoga teacher and co-owner of Crofton Yoga. As an instructor she is certified at the 200-hour level in both Kripalu and Pranakriya yoga and is actively working toward towards her 500-hour certification. Emily is also trained through the Pranakriya School of Healing Arts in prenatal yoga and is certified through YogaEd and Radiant Child Yoga. Equally skilled at leading adults and children in yoga practice, Emily is passionate about yoga's benefits and is anxious to share them with people of all ages and skills levels.

Shelbi Miles
Shelbi is a 200-hour RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) in the Kripalu and Pranakriya traditions and is the co-owner of Crofton Yoga with Emily Gretz. She is now studying toward her 500-hours in the Pranakriya tradition with her teacher, Yoganand Michael Carroll. Shelbi believes that her regular yoga practice has been instrumental in maintaining her health, optimism and inspiration and she strives to help others find this for themselves.

Darlene Bergener
Darlene is registered with Yoga Alliance as a 500-Hour RYT after completing her training with the Himalayan Institute in traditional Hatha Yoga. Darlene also holds a 200-Hour certification in prenatal and postnatal yoga through Colette Crawford, co-founder of the Seattle Holistic Center. Darlene began her yoga journey in 1998 during her 12 year career as a mechanical engineer, turning to yoga to maintain her own health and sanity.

Jeanine Blake
Jeanine began her journey with teaching fitness and Pilates classes after she gave birth to her second child 5 years ago. As a mental health therapist and a former athlete, Jeanine was looking for a way to utilize her counseling and support skills to help others reconnect with their health, reduce stress, and achieve their overall health/fitness goals. Jeanine believes goal-setting, expecting the best from one's self, and receiving the support and encouragement needed to meet those goals is the winning combination. "My goal is to help students get closer to their personal potential one session at a time regardless of their level of health/fitness."

Pam Blum
Pam brings a background rich in knowledge, teaching experience and a dedication to wellness. Her passion is teaching people how to listen to and align their bodies, encouraging them to explore their boundaries and potential. Beginning with modern dance and fitness in 1981, she's studied with many gifted teachers over the years and challenges herself to continue to grow and explore. In 2009 Pam completed her 200 hour Yoga training through the Pranakriya School of Healing Arts.

Eric Brown
Eric is multi-certified in the Kripalu, Pranakriya and Kundalini Yoga traditions. He began practicing yoga in college. Twenty-eight years later, he continues to grow both as a teacher and a student and curiously seeks out new knowledge and experiences through classes, independent study, and workshops. He has practiced many styles of yoga — Ashtanga, Power, Iyengar, Kundalini, Kripalu, etc. His training is ongoing and constantly evolving. Eric has received extensive training in Zen and Esoteric Buddhism, and studied Thai Yoga Therapy at the Thai Institute of Healing Arts.

Yoganand Michael Carroll
Yoganand Michael Carroll is a Master-Level teacher in the Kripalu Yoga tradition. Through many years of intensive study and practice of the Kripalu approach to yoga, Yoganand has gained a profound facility to distil and interpret esoteric yoga texts and techniques. After studying with Kripalu Yoga masters in India and America, Yoganand taught at Kripalu Center for more than 15 years before founding Radiant Well-being Yoga Center in North Augusta, South Carolina,

Janice Corrigan
Janice earned her Bachelors in Elementary Education from Elizabethtown College in 1989. Additionally, she earned her Early Childhood certificate from Millersville University in 1998. She brings with her 18 years of experience teaching Preschool and Kindergarten. Currently she is a Kindergarten teacher at the School of the Incarnation. Her journey to yoga began several years ago when she experienced some medical issues and was searching for alternative ways to heal and became convinced of the positive benefits of yoga.

Marybeth Cully
Marybeth came to yoga to learn to adjust to her changing physical abilities. Her interests include boating, reading and scrapbooking. She also loves to cook and thinks tea goes well with everything. Marybeth believes that life brings lots of changes - some easy, some more difficult, but each piece part of your own unique journey. She believes yoga practice is a process without a right or wrong way and sometimes the end result...

Danna Faulds
Danna is a long-term practitioner and teacher of Kripalu Yoga and a poet whose writing has inspired a broad audience interested in the opportunities life provides for healing, growth, and awakening. Danna is the author of five books of poetry: Go In and In, One Soul, Prayers to the Infinite, From Root to Bloom, and Limitless, as well as a memoir titled Into the Heart of Yoga. A former librarian who worked in law school, college and public libraries before turning to full-time writing,

Richard Faulds MA, JD
Richard has practiced yoga and meditation for more than 30 years in close association with Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. A former President and Board Chair of Kripalu, he is the author of Kripalu Yoga: A Guide to Practice On and Off the Mat, and three other books on the Kripalu tradition. The essence of Kripalu Yoga is not a posture, a breathing exercise, or even a meditation technique. It is learning how to be fully present in the moment-by-moment experience of being alive.

Karen Field
Karen is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) in the Pranakriya Yoga tradition and is working toward her 500-hour certification. Karen's search for a release from the stresses of work and everyday life led her to yoga. With a background in dance and training in dance therapy, yoga was a natural transition. She is continually grateful for the calmness and vitality that yoga brings to her life. Karen's goal for her students is for them to be accepting of themselves as they explore their limits,...

Jan Graves
Jan has been involved in the Health Industry for 25 years and has many Certifications under her belt. Right now her specific interests and certifications are in Yoga, Tai Chi and Reiki. Jan is 500 hr. RYT with Yoga Alliance and has been studying under John Friend, Beryl Bender Birch, and a host of other Yoga Masters. She is Certified in Tai Chi Sun Style through the Arthritis Foundation under Dr. Paul Lam and has just completed her Reiki Master Training with Pat Clarke of Annapolis Reiki.

Elaine Lahn
Elaine has lived in Crofton since 1969, long before there were any yoga studios nearby.  She became a regular at Crofton yoga which appeared just in time to fill a much needed gap. “Home practice is good and adding class practice is twice as good….Local is wonderful.” The nurturing environment of Crofton yoga encouraged her to move deeper into practice by taking the Pranakriya Yoga Teacher Training. Elaine didn't intend to actually teach, but found teaching students to be rewarding, fun and a new way to practice.

Rachel Lightcap
Rachel discovered yoga at a time in her life when the stresses from work combined with an increasingly sedentary lifestyle had become overwhelming. She soon realized the benefits of practicing yoga and was eventually inspired to begin sharing her passion and love for yoga as a teacher. Today, her practice of yoga influences every aspect of her life, reaching far beyond the mat. For the first time ever, Rachel has been able to truly live in the present - to sit back, relax and enjoy... one breath at a time.

Rachel Milne
Rachel Milne has been practicing yoga for 8 years and has been a supporter of the Crofton Yoga community for 5 years. She began teaching Kids Yoga at the studio in November of 2011 and is excited to share the benefits of yoga with our youngest community members. Creating a fun, safe and playful environment where kids can learn self-respect, and begin to access their emotions is her commitment to her students. Sharing breathwork, movement and relaxation techniques with her classes...

Katie Moore
Yoga has always spoken to Katie. When she took her first class several years ago she had a feeling that this was what her body and mind were supposed to do. She holds her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Roanoke College and later went on to get her yoga certification when she was pregnant with her second child and graduated the program just two weeks before giving birth. The times in her life that she felt the strongest impact of yoga's benefits was when she was pregnant and after she gave birth which is why pre and postnatal yoga are among her favorite classes to teach.

Amy Quade
Amy began her journey with yoga after she gave birth to her third child nine years ago. She was looking for a way to relax and reduce stress. Crofton Yoga gave her that and more. She was changed physically and mentally and wanted to share this experience with others. In November 2010 Amy completed the 200 hour Pranakriya Yoga Teacher Training. She has already completed the Pranakriya Prenatal Yoga Training and is a certified Personal Trainer.

Jacci Reynolds
Yoga is a practice that affects every aspect of Jacci's life both on and off the mat. A 500-hour Kripalu instructor and 200-hour E-RYT, Jacci has been practicing yoga since 1997 and teaching since 2001. An instructor of many modalities during adulthood her yoga practice is what has brought her the greatest sense of aliveness in her body and life. Amazed and inspired by the changes yoga brings to the body, mind and spirit, Jacci traveled to the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health to complete her 200-hour training.

Aimee Seal
Aimee began practicing Vinyasa Flow yoga in 1996 as a fun way to work out. She quickly became excited by all of the benefits that yoga brought into her life and went on to become a 200-hour RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) and is about to complete her 500-hour RYT. Her most recent trainings have been in the Anusara and Para styles of yoga and she previously received training in the Swaroopa style of yoga. Beginning her group fitness career as a step aerobics and muscle conditioning instructor, she is certified with the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA).

Amanda Stabile
Amanda discovered her passion for fitness after the birth of her first child. After gaining unwanted weight during pregnancy, she turned to group fitness classes for a healthier lifestyle. Now, she loves helping others meet their personal goals and realize that exercise can be fun! She has been a group fitness instructor and more recently fell in love with Zumba. Amanda holds her group fitness certification through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) and has completed certifications in Zumba, cardio kickboxing, step, weight training, and boot camp.

Jessica Sunder
Jessica has completed 200 hours of training as a yoga teacher and has participated in both yoga and pilates classes at various studios through the years focusing on personal health and fitness goals, while nurturing her spirit. She felt it a natural progression for her to learn how to adapt such skills to helping others. As a teacher, she hopes to impart techniques for increased physical health as well as self care. Her philosophy is to be in the moment and allow stress to dissipate while rejuvenation, relaxation, and increased energy are promoted.

Marlysa Sullivan
Marlysa is a professional physical therapist and Yoga instructor. Her experience in becoming a yoga teacher and her pursuit of further knowledge in meditation has shown her how building awareness and knowledge of the body and mind can empower a person in their own healing process. This has led her to practice therapy in a way that focuses on mind and body awareness through traditional therapeutic treatment combined with Yoga, breathing and meditation.

Steve Wolf
As a teenager, Steve got his first exposure to yoga from his Brazilian aunt who had studied for many years in her home country. After experimenting with an assortment of classes over the years, his yoga practice solidified in the 1990's when he realized how much it benefited his other passion, Aikido. A devoted student of this philosophical Japanese martial art for over 30 years, Steve is now head instructor at Northern Virginia Ki Aikido. Visit Steve's yoga/aikido website: www.traditionsinmovement.com