Teachers

Mindy Tonti

Yoga has taught me how to survive and how to thrive in life. I have found asana and pranayama helpful ways to work towards being a better version of myself, to learn patience and present body awareness. The daily practice, whether 5 minutes of meditation or hours of asana, now informs the entirety of my life. 

I appreciate the vast complexity of the yoga practice. The asana keeps me in my body and helps me to feel strong and connected. Pranayama practice has taught me an avenue to navigate through life with empathy and compassion. Yoga philosophy has gifted me with an excitement to learn, read, and discuss. I appreciate community and human interactions and I love that yoga has opened my eyes and heart to such a beautiful and accepting community here in Kitsap County.

I went to study under Ganga White and Tracy Rich with the intention of deepening my own practice. Through the YTT process I discovered how much I wanted to teach, how I wanted to give the gift of yoga to everyone. In my classes you will find fluid movement including playful asana with strength and breath. I am excited about teaching a safe and sustainable yoga for a lifelong practice.

Annie HumiSton

I restarted my practice after a 10 year hiatus, in 2014 while on a vacation to Maui. I took 33 classes in 27 days. I fell in love with the practice and found at 53 that Yoga is for every body. I was 238lbs and couldn’t breath in a forward fold. I knew in Maui I wanted to teach yoga for every body. I came home from that trip and continued the daily practice. I joined workshops, I practiced yin, restorative and vinyasa flow. All the while knowing I wanted to teach.

In December of 2016 I had my left knee replaced and started back to Yoga in January 2017. I then put out to the community a question of where would you go for teacher training, Thinking I would have to travel. The answer came back that a new school on Bainbridge was just getting their program certified. We studied Ashtanga and Iyengar, I completed my 200 hour training in May 2017.

My class tends to be a level 1-2 flow. I love to chant my students back from Savasana.

Lang Charters

I view and experience yoga as a gift. A beautiful and challenging gift that brings us greater health, wholeness, and connection, which combine to open us up to give and receive greater love. Yoga helps us connect and grow stronger both internally and externally.  I say this because while I initially took to it as purely a physical practice, in the midst of a traumatic and isolating period of my life I discovered it as so much more. I've found practicing yoga (re)connects our own mind, body, and spirit, as well as with those of other people.  It brings unity and harmony within us and with others.
My heart and passion is to journey with others toward greater health, wholeness, connection, and love, and that's why I teach yoga.  I wholeheartedly agree with MC YOGI in concluding: Yoga helps us be strong in our cores and soft in our hearts. As such, I teach yoga as both a work out and a work in, focusing on breath, core, and mindfulness, while creating a positive and encouraging environment.  I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training with Meghan Currie and am STOKED to also be a Blissologist. I practice yoga as a moving meditation and love people, arm-balances, and Vinyasa.

Suzanne Hermanson

Out of a desire to share the joy I gained from yoga after 15 years of practice, I became a Certified Instructor, and then completed a 500-hour program through Yoga Alliance and Twist Yoga in Edmonds, WA. My continuing education classes over the last 25 years include training in modalities some of which include:  Feldenkrais, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Pilates and Ayengar Yoga. One of the great joys in attending trainings and retreats around the globe has been meeting and getting to know a diverse group of individuals who have transformed their life through the practice of yoga. I enjoy sharing the practice of yoga to all stages and ages of students bringing playfulness and a sense of curiosity to the practice.Currently, in addition to teaching yoga, I have Certifications as a  Health Coach, Silver Sneakers Instructor, and a High School XC coach at Kingston High School.

Jenn Miranda

Jenn Miranda, RYT 200 “Yoga has been a part of my life for over 5 years and my practice has helped me stay mindful and grateful of the body and life I have been blessed with. I first turned to yoga after an injury and it was the only thing that helped me, both mentally and physically.
I completed my 200 hour Vinyasa training with Maui Yoga Shala and continue learning through the online yoga community. I will always be a student of the practice and am grateful for the knowledge and wisdom my teachers have shared with me.
In my classes, I like to start slow with meditation and breathwork. I specialize in Vinyasa flow focusing on alignment and building strength. I strive to help others by nurturing body, mind and soul with yoga and my hope is that you leave feeling strong, peaceful and balanced.”

Jen Shelton

Jen Shelton began practicing yoga 25 years ago while studying dance at Cornish College of the Arts.  She admits that it was the idea of keeping her body healthy that drew her to yoga, but she soon found out that it held so much more.  Yoga became a safe and sacred place for her to fall and rest. A place of no judgement. There she learned to find her breath and calm her mind.  All she had to do was show up and be present. She knew there and then that she wanted to become an instructor. Little did she know her dream would take 25 years to fulfill.  Jen received her 200 Hour RYT and taught in Seattle before moving to Kitsap. She’s excited to be a part of the team and to be encouraging and helping to guide the community through practice

Patty WEISS

The moving mediation I learned from martial arts transferred seamlessly to yoga. I place emphasis on the transitions between poses as much as the poses themselves. While focusing on being in the moment with meditation in motion, I incorporate core work and emphasize upper body strength. My classes are accessible to all skill levels as I give modifications to the beginner as well as the accomplished yogi. Please join me! I look forward to meeting you

Drew K.

To me, the heart of yoga is relationship; the relationship between the body and breath, between thoughts and emotion, and all the rhythms that form our lives. Yoga invites us to explore these connections. It gives us an opportunity to practice presence and celebrate life. We unfold. We dance. We inspire. We play. I took my first yoga class in the early 90s with Linda Ryan; her warehouse studio in the 3rd Ward of Milwaukee became a second home to me. Her classes, always a blend of movement and stillness, empowered me to live life with more fluidity and grace. Years later, and after a move to the Pacific Northwest, I found myself at the Samarya Center in Seattle. Again I felt at home with the community that was built around the teachers and everyone that came there to practice. It’s there that I eventually received my 200 hour certification. I’ve studied (and continue to study) different styles—Ashtanga, Iyengar, Anusara, Yin—and love to weave multiple traditions together. I invite people to come and explore, breathe and play, and to experience a connection to yoga that best serves their body and spirit.

Kat Sorensen

When I was faced with some of my life’s most difficult challenges, I discovered that practicing yoga was the best form of therapy for me...both mentally and physically. By incorporating movement, meditation and breathwork into my daily life I have learned just how much better each day can be. Bringing yoga into my life has helped me live better and I love being able to share my enthusiasm with other people!

I want my students to feel comfortable in their yoga practice. I like to mix the breath-to-movement flow of vinyasa classes with the static/longer-held shapes of yin classes into a well-balanced yin/yang practice that is suitable for yogis of all levels. These classes help create a wonderful harmony in the body, mind and spirit.

I received my 300 hour yoga teacher training certification in Costa Rica at Lakshmi Rising in March of 2021 and completed my 200 hour teacher training with Inner Yoga in Bali in January 2020. I am also a certified Yoga of 12 Step Recovery leader.

Kristy Tonti

Kristy has a generous spirit and an open heart. Having worked in service most of her life she is experienced in helping people feel easy and comfortable.

Tonti has been teaching yoga, meditation and art for more than 20 years. she is expert in not only Yin yoga, but also Vinyasa yoga, and pilates mat exercise and is able to integrate these modalities seamlessly.

Tonti draws her strength as a meditation teacher from Buddhist philosophy, world traditions and extensive time in the wilderness. An accomplished teacher and a lifelong student, her curious spirit and pursuit of knowledge has taken her from Seattle to California, and India. Tonti trekked the Buddhist Himalayas, studied yoga in southern India and sought inspiration at the source of the Ganges.

Mabel Tippits

As a nursing assistant of nearly 20 years and a mother of two, I have always had a passion to want to help others. While on a quest to improve my physical fitness and spiritual wellbeing at the beginning of 2016, it was then I discovered Yoga.

After falling in love with the practice, I ventured on to study at a 200 hour yoga teacher training in Federal Way, Washington. I found my dharma while in the program and sought to teach locally as a way to reach out to my community, and share the same gift that was shared with her when she first started practicing yoga. I went on to graduate my 500 hour yoga teacher training program and continue to seek out additional continuing education.

Originally trained in the art of Hatha Yoga, I has also spent the last 6 years immersing myself in heated and non heated Vinyasa Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, inversions, arm balancing, and Acrobatics. Mabel is a devoted practitioner who believes that Yoga is for everyone and would like to continue to reach out to others to share the benefits of the physical and spiritual practice.