Melanie, E-RYT 500, is a Viniyoga-inspired teacher with a background in Vinyasa Yoga and yoga with therapeutic benefits.
Teaching since 2008, Melanie's classes are breath-centric and taught in a slow-flow format. The primary intention of Melanie's teaching is not the pursuit of textbook alignment, but rather to help you identify your unique structural challenges, shed dysfunctional patterns, and activate your untapped potential. This can manifest as awakening to the process of how to strengthen your low back, release tension in your neck and shoulders, or even surface and release patterns in the subtle body. Coupled with Melanie’s insightfulness and spirited lifeforce, her detailed classes embody The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali "to practice with steadiness and ease,” so that the body and mind flow like water, and meditation becomes the natural result both on and off the mat.
Melanie has studied with Gary Kraftsow at the American Viniyoga Institute (Viniyoga 500-hour program), Kristy Manuel, Shaye Molendyke and Skila Ramirez at YogaFit (YogaFit 500-hour program), and Moses Brown and Kate Miller at Willow Street Yoga (Anusara 108-hour program). Melanie is also a trauma-sensitive yoga teacher (100-hour YogaFit for Warriors), zeroing in on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Trauma Brain Injury (TBI), and the longer-term effects each one has on the mind body, and spirit, and how yoga can bring relief.
Melanie has attended in-person workshops with Jason Crandell (Move Your Practice Forward, Preventing and Managing Yoga Injuries, and Art of Yoga Sequencing), Richard Rosen and Rodney Yee (Principles of Alignment and Grow Up Baby Backbends), and online programs with Robin Rothenberg (Yoga for Back Pain - Keys for Sacroiliac Instability at Yoga U), and Dr. Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall (Yoga for Osteoporosis at Yoga U).
Off the mat, Melanie is an avid runner, cyclist, hiker, adventurist and wellness travel specialist. She owns her own travel business (Wayfinders Travel) and leads yoga retreats both domestically and internationally.