KATHI KIZIRNIS, E-RYT 200, co-owner/director
Kathi discovered yoga while pregnant with her first child and was quickly drawn in by the physical, mental and spiritual depth and scope of its traditions. After entering a teacher-training program to deepen her practice, she fell in love with teaching and completed Yoga Alliance certification in 2005.
Kathi’s Vinyasa classes are inspired by the principles of Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga, and is part of Live Love Teach Advanced Vinyasa Teacher Training‘s 500-Hour certification program. She also teaches traditional Ashtanga, Prenatal, Postnatal and Baby & Me yoga. She is one of very few Ohio instructors to specialize in Mamaste® Prenatal Yoga. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from Ohio University (and loves to write about yoga!).
Kathi has practiced and studied in workshops and trainings with many renowned teachers, including Rodney Yee, Maty Ezraty, David Swenson, Baron Baptiste, Tim Miller, Richard Freeman, Ray Long, Philip Urso and others. She is inspired most, though, by the Practice community, ‘everyday’ yogis and the endless potential for growth through practice.
KIM CARTER, E-RYT 200, co-owner/director
A lifelong fitness enthusiast and classically trained ballet dancer, Kim is a Certified Yoga Teacher, nationally registered with Yoga Alliance. After years training for and performing modern dance and classical ballet, Kim found yoga asana to be a way to counter physical stress and injury in the body.
Raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, Kim was perhaps first led to yoga through her innate intellectual curiosity of the mythic, the ritualistic, and the religious in all its forms. While earning her B.A. in the Humanities at Antioch University, she studied academically the Eastern wisdom traditions of Buddhism, Vedanta and Taoism as well as the Western mystical traditions of Sufism, Kabbalah, and early Christian Gnosticism.
She received her teacher training and certification through Yoga on High in Columbus, Ohio, where she studied and assisted teaching traditional Ashtanga yoga with Martha Marcom, the first person in the Midwest blessed by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (founder and director of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore India) to teach the Ashtanga Primary Series. While at “YoHi,” Kim was blessed to teach advanced Mysore practitioners alongside Martha, and through this experience, Martha transmitted traditional Mysore asana adjustment techniques to her.
Kim has studied traditional Ashtanga asana, pranayama, and philosophy with internationally recognized Ashtangis Tim Miller, Manju Jois and Rolf Naujokat – three of only a few dozen teachers worldwide who are certified by Pattabhi Jois to teach the entire Ashtanga system. She has completed teacher trainings with Tim Miller, David Swenson, and Rodney Yee, and is currently pursuing 500-level certification.
AMY FECHER [ personal trainer with soul and sparkle ]
Amy is passionate about yoga. She finds pleasure in instructing students as well as cultivating her practice both on and off the mat. Amy has been a certified fitness trainer for almost nine years. She has attended numerous yoga trainings over the past five years, and completed 200-hour RYT certification with Sianna Sherman at Shine Yoga Center, Cincinnati, in October 2010. Working one-on-one with clients and teaching group classes has given her the opportunity to help individuals of varying fitness levels manage their weight, gain strength, recover from various injuries, and reduce their stress. When she’s not on her mat, Amy enjoys spending time with her husband and two small children.
ROBYN MOORE [ wise mom and champion of women ]
Robyn has been practicing yoga for more than 10 years and earned her RYT
200 in 2009 while pregnant with her second child. She is finishing RPYT Prenatal Certification through the Shanti Mom Prenatal Yoga Program. Her passion is working with women and mothers and feels yoga was more than influential in her own experiences with pregnancy and birth. Robyn tries to incorporate gratitude into her personal practice and teaching style and believes the breath is our greatest tool in overcoming adversity.
JUSTINA CRAWFORD [ friendly, fierce defender of the force ]
Justina began her yoga journey in 2008 while working for Lululemon Athletica in Chicago. Given the gift of yoga anywhere in the city, she took advantage and dove into her multifaceted yoga journey. Practicing Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Anusara, Bikram and other styles, she found her niche with Power Yoga. In September 2010 Justina began teaching and simultaneously completing a Power Yoga training As she continued to pioneer yoga in her small corner of eastern Ohio, Justina’s passion for the practice and teaching continued to grow. In 2011, she completed Level 1 and Level 2 of Baptiste Power Yoga Vinyasa training and is now an Associate Baptiste Teacher. Yoga has transformed her life spiritually, mentally, and physically and her passion is to share that light with others.
TORI REYNOLDS [ student of life and passionate teacher ]
Tori has been on a life-long search for something to help connect the different emotional, physical, and creative aspects of life. She discovered yoga while studying psychology at Wright State University. As yoga revealed a powerful mind-body connection, she felt inspired by the way her practice enhanced and complimented her studies. In 2010 Tori began teacher training by studying with Doug Swenson at his Sadhana Yoga Chi teacher training in California. Shortly after returning home she taught yoga classes while participating in a 300-hour foundational teacher training at World Peace Yoga & Motion Studio in Cincinnati and was exposed to many styles of yoga by a multitude of teachers. In the fall of 2011 she began the Live Love Teach 500-hour teacher-training program and is overjoyed to be continuing her journey with yoga, not only deepening the relationship she has discovered and developed with her true self, but also being able to walk alongside others as a teacher, student, and friend as they travel their own unique path with yoga.