Melissa (she/her) comes to us from Northern, NY where she completed a 200 hour yoga teacher training at Flying Lotus Yoga School. Melissa has practiced yoga for 20 years, always returning to the practice that to her, is a beautiful embodiment of equanimity, balance, groundedness, strength, openness, and flexibility, as well as the transitional nature of life. 

 

Melissa has a deep need to be in movement and for spending time in nature. She has spent a number of wonderful years mindfully exploring trails in the Rockies and Adirondacks before moving to Juneau, and is looking forward to learning the language of the earth, and being part of the community.

 

Melissa has a PhD in Psychology: Cognition, Brain, and Behavior and works for the University of Alaska teaching various psychology courses, as well as yoga. She has taken several meditation classes and workshops at the Tibet House in NYC. She has 45 hours of peer support training from Alaska Behavioral Health. And she is Wilderness First Aid and CPR certified through Adirondack Wilderness Medicine.

 

She believes that both hiking and yoga are spiritual practices rooted in connection and offer us a way to cultivate wellbeing. 

 

Her classes are flowing, playful, strength building experiences with the intention of practicing gratitude and acceptance for our bodies, and this earth, while moving through transitions with some grace and a grin