EMBER TEACHERS

Meet our dedicated Trauma-Sensitive Teachers, fostering brave spaces for healing. Trained in ancient wisdom and modern evidence-based practices, they guide transformative journeys towards well-being and empowerment. Join us on the path to healing.

Marybeth Hamilton See full bio here. — **Marybeth Hamilton** See full bio here.

Liz Balderidge“I’m not going to tell you to get over it…. I’m going to offer you tools to get through it”.Liz Baldridge is a certified Hatha yoga teacher with dedicated training in trauma sensitive yoga and restorative practices.With her teaching, h… — **Liz Balderidge**
*“I’m not going to tell you to get over it…. I’m going to offer you tools to get through it”.*
Liz Baldridge is a certified Hatha yoga teacher with dedicated training in trauma sensitive yoga and restorative practices.
With her teaching, her vision is to create a healing space through meditation and gentle movement.
Liz earned her Yin certification at You Do Yoga in Cincinnati in 2015, her 200Hr RYT in Hatha Yoga at Yoga on High in 2016 and her 100hr EMBER (Mindfulness Based Resilience training) in 2017. She is also an iRest® Level 1 teacher in training.
Currently, she is pursuing her 300Hr certification with a Therapeutic/Trauma Sensitive specialization.
By creating space that is welcoming for all, Liz is able to open her teaching and guidance to populations who may suffer from anxiety, PTSD, and or health issues such as limited mobility.

Katie WhitsettKatie’s personal journey led her to the study of yoga and meditation after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Having experienced first hand the kindness and support of the yoga community as well as the healing ability of yoga… — **Katie Whitsett**
Katie’s personal journey led her to the study of yoga and meditation after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder. Having experienced first hand the kindness and support of the yoga community as well as the healing ability of yoga, Katie is inspired to share yoga and its powerful capacity to transform with others.
Katie is an artist, nature lover and joy seeker. She is a 200 RYT yoga instructor, iRest® Yoga Nidra level 1 meditation teacher, Reiki practitioner and certified Sekoia™ teacher. She is passionate about sharing yoga with youth, special populations and adults seeking to find ease and wholeness through meditation, movement and art. She completed her 100 hour EMBER™ trauma sensitive yoga program and is honored to be apart of the Karma Yoga Foundation and the profound work that they do through serving on its advisory board and teaching trauma informed yoga classes.
Katie holds a BA in Studio Art from Hanover College and has melded her art and yoga lineages, using art and meditation as mediums for exploring breath, energy, Reiki and the beauty offered by nature.
In addition to all things yoga, you can find Katie enjoying the outdoors, working on her own art projects, making and eating good food with family and friends, and dreaming of the mountains.

Lex SmithAlexa Smith is a certified yoga instructor through the International Yoga Alliance and is based in Columbus, Ohio. She believes that building a mind/body connection can lead to healing on both the physical and mental levels.In September, 20… — **Lex Smith**
Alexa Smith is a certified yoga instructor through the International Yoga Alliance and is based in Columbus, Ohio. She believes that building a mind/body connection can lead to healing on both the physical and mental levels.
In September, 2017 she received her certification for the 100-hour EMBER Trauma Sensitive Yoga Training from mentors Michele Vinbury and Marybeth Hamilton in Columbus, Ohio. The EMBER program allowed her to dive deep into the world of trauma, identifying with extensive research from world renowned Psychotherapist Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and Yoga Nidra expert Richard Miller, Ph.D.
Alexa's teaching focus is female survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, victims of human trafficking, and those suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (such as veterans) and populations dealing with grief.
Her philosophy is "you are already whole" and believes that stress, anxiety, and trauma come to us all as messengers but they do not have to define who we are.

Diana SpiessDiana has worked in the fitness and wellness industry for 26 years and began her experience with fitness as a 2-sport all-state athlete at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio. She went on to study Recreational Therapy and Kinesi… — **Diana Spiess**
Diana has worked in the fitness and wellness industry for 26 years and began her experience with fitness as a 2-sport all-state athlete at Central Catholic High School in Toledo, Ohio. She went on to study Recreational Therapy and Kinesiotherapy at the University of Toledo where she began teaching fitness classes at the age of 19 years old after completing an intensive training program at the Student Recreational Center.
Throughout the past 26 years, Diana has acquired numerous certifications and credentials (including e-RYT500, IAYT and EMBER Certification) that span the wide scope of fitness, athletic training, clinical needs, rehabilitation, nutrition, stress management, and therapies of many kinds. Her passion and desire to continue her education and to assist others in living their healthiest, most balanced life is unsurpassed. She now, through her yoga teacher training school, *Essence of Yoga*, is training others to also assist anyone wanting to make their life the healthiest possible.
For a full list of Diana's credentials, please visit her website http://dianaspiess.com/about-diana/

Teresa EigelTeresa completed her 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training at Yoga on High in 2016 and has since been a teacher at the Yoga on High studios. She enrolled in yoga teacher training with the intention of spreading the offering of a trauma sensitiv… — **Teresa Eigel**
Teresa completed her 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2016 and has since been a teacher at the Yoga on High studios. She enrolled in yoga teacher training with the intention of spreading the offering of a trauma sensitive yoga practice to her community. By day she is a Project Manager for a healthcare company. She is passionate about bringing yoga to *all* populations, and believes mental and emotional well being are vital to living a balanced lifestyle. She also teaches at the Star House, "a drop-in center for homeless youth in Central Ohio" serving ages 14-24. The Star House offers services to youth to connect with the community by providing support to find housing, counseling, and employment opportunities. Teresa has also completed her 100-hour Trauma Sensitive Teacher Training Program to refine her skills in being an even better conduit of the yoga practice for her students.

Michele Faith

Michele’s yoga journey started in 2004, when nagging running injuries forced her to find an alternate form of “exercise.” Over the years, she discovered that yoga is more than just a physical practice and realized that she wanted to share the joys of yoga through teaching. In May of 2016, Michele received her RYT 200 certification from The Yoga Training Center. Her desire to continue learning led her to the 300 hour therapeutic teacher training program, where she has received her Reiki Level II and Ember certifications.

Michele believes that yoga should be accessible to all. Yoga should empower and encourage students, no matter their age, income, or physical limitations. She strives to create an environment in her classes where everyone feels welcome.

Off the mat, Michele enjoys food (eating, cooking and watching cooking shows), reading historical fiction and playing with her two rescue dogs, Lucy and Walter.

Erin Hindel

Erin focuses on integrative practices to help those suffering from trauma, chronic pain, recovery from an injury, or general pain issues, feel better.

She advocates for the child of special needs, their mother, and their families. Erin works with the special need child to help find their voice. She work with women who cannot speak out, but are ready to find their voice, seek dynamic change, and live their life in a fierce manner. She teaches the special needs child how to find their super powers, and how to embrace them. Erin teaches women, and their family units how to stand strong, how to take back their super power, and become the warriors they were always meant to be. She celebrates freedom from shame in mind, body, and spirit by retrieving the soul through self-care practices, and do so without neglecting careers, families, and busy schedules.

Do you know a child who needs to find their voice? Do you know a child who is ready to say, "Don't 'dis' my 'abilities'"? Does your child need to find their super powers, and learn to embrace them? Let's spark your child's inner fire, and let them know that their 'disabilities' are their 'special abilities!'

Do you know any mother, any woman who is ready to take back their super strength, their super power through the art of self-care without neglecting her career, family or busy life?

Do you know any mother, any woman who is ready to seek radiant change, and to do so without fear of judgement, guilt or shame?

Let's get to work on that inner warrior already within you; connect with Erin today!

Brittny ManosBrittny is a ryt 200 yoga teacher through Yoga on High and is also a 100-hour Trauma Sensitive EMBER™ certified Instructor.. She has taught EMBER™ at Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a safe and empowering center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Tr… — **Brittny Manos**
*Brittny is a ryt 200 yoga teacher* and is also a 100-hour Trauma Sensitive EMBER™ certified Instructor.. She has taught EMBER™ at Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a safe and empowering center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning and Ally youth in Ohio. In collaboration with the Karma Yoga Foundation, Brittny developed the MATA Yoga Program with the intention to provide a unique resource for patients with opioid addiction using therapeutic elements from EMBER™’s curriculum, such as body-awareness techniques and meditative practices. Brittny hopes to offer similar structured program to additional subspecialty clinics and organizations in the community.
Brittny’s work springs from a place of empathy and introspection. Yoga has been an essential part of her life since she was sixteen; the practice and the community allowed for an acceptance that was completely foreign to her up to that point. Through the experience of laying her life on her mat over the years, a place she could break down and rebuild, she discovered part of her purpose was to share that experience with others.
Brittny earned her BA in Psychology at The Ohio State University in 2012. She began working at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio shortly after. Her dedication to health and wellness is specific to supporting adolescents and young adults, more specifically vulnerable youth. The research Brittny manages in Clinical Research Services and Nationwide Children’s Eating Disorder Clinic, General Adolescent Clinic, and *Medication Assisted Treatment for Addiction Clinic (MATA)* *has naturally aligned with this dedication.*

Heba El-Zein helzeinyoga@gmail.comHeba completed both the 200-hour teacher training and 100-hour trauma sensitive teacher training programs during the spring of 2019. Yoga has been significant in her personal journey to self-discovery and healing, a… — **Heba El-Zein**
*helzeinyoga@gmail.com*
Heba completed both the 200-hour teacher training and 100-hour trauma sensitive teacher training programs during the spring of 2019. Yoga has been significant in her personal journey to self-discovery and healing, and it's a practice she's passionate about sharing with others. She is certified in the style of Vinyasa, but also enjoys the discipline and patience that Ashtanga offers her in her personal practice. If she isn't practicing yoga she can be found in the kitchen cooking up a storm, nestled away with a good book in hand, or outside enjoying nature.

Holly Gilbert hgilbert@gestaltcolumbus.com www.gestaltcolumbus.comHolly is a licensed counselor who completed graduate work at Columbia University and Wheaton College. She has undergone training through the Gestalt Institute of Central Ohio and has … — **Holly Gilbert**
*hgilbert@gestaltcolumbus.com*
*www.gestaltcolumbus.com*
Holly is a licensed counselor who completed graduate work at Columbia University and Wheaton College. She has undergone training through the Gestalt Institute of Central Ohio and has received supervised training in the model of Gestalt Play Therapy. She has experience working with children and teenagers through both talk and play therapy and has seen integral change take place through a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship. Additionally, she's provided therapy to adults in all walks of life and has seen individuals leave behind patterns of isolation, co-dependency and victimization and move into lives of authenticity, connection and awareness.

Dale Ann Gray daleann@gmail.comDale Ann Gray thought EMBER would equip her to visit incarcerated people. As an ordained pastor, visiting those in prison resides dear to her heart. Far surpassing any expectations, EMBER introduced her to her own inhe… — **Dale Ann Gray**
*daleann@gmail.com*
Dale Ann Gray thought EMBER would equip her to visit incarcerated people. As an ordained pastor, visiting those in prison resides dear to her heart. Far surpassing any expectations, EMBER introduced her to her own inherent wholeness. Her relationship with Ember has evolved. She transformed not only the way Dale Ann teaches yoga, but her life – the way she sees both herself and others. Ember calls to her now in moments of self-doubt, anxiety, and anger whispering words of confidence, calm and compassion. “Feel your feet,” she says. She reminds Dale Ann of her toolkit, so full of techniques as near as her own breath and body.
A trained 200-hr RYT (soon to be 500) certified in EMBER, Meditation, Restorative Yoga, Sekoia, Pranayama, OM Vinyasa, an iRest Level 1 (soon to be 2) teacher, Aerial Yoga teacher, and a Reiki Master Teacher, Dale Ann has yet to find an aspect of yoga that does not feed her soul. A PhD in Theology and two undergrads in Math and Music attest to her pursuit of nourishment for mind and spirit. Raising five kids with her high school sweetheart husband, and more recently enjoying the gift of seven grandchildren speaks to persistence and the long-haul of life lived finding bliss in the midst of everyday, no matter what.
Trauma pervades society so thoroughly, and yet so invisibly, that there may not exist a population untouched by it. Accompanying trauma survivors into their inherent wholeness brings a deep and abiding joy. Having worked with survivors of domestic and sexual abuse, Dale Ann looks forward to bringing trauma sensitive yoga into other areas of confinement as well. Perhaps Ember wants to whisper her wisdom to you, too!

Marina Zahran marina.zahran@gmail.com dogood-bewell.com"I can promise you one thing, no one knows your body better than you do."Most commonly recognized for her turmeric stained hands, Marina radiates her whole heart into making a room feel comforta… — **Marina Zahran**
*marina.zahran@gmail.com*
*dogood-bewell.com*
"I can promise you one thing, no one knows your body better than you do."
Most commonly recognized for her turmeric stained hands, Marina radiates her whole heart into making a room feel comfortable, enriched and inspired. She is committed to all eight limbs of yoga and has been teaching for 2 years. Marina is just shy of her 500hr Yoga Certification in Columbus, Ohio. She also completed her EMBER certification in 2019, amongst other complimentary trainings.
She extends her passion for compassion, lightness, and empowerment through her work with traumatized populations - working in prisons, teen rehabilitation centers, therapy private practice, and women's addiction centers at least four times per week.
She strongly believes in the EMBER model and therefore, is incredibly passionate to extend this work to others. Marina works from the principle that building resilience is the foundation for sustainable healing and elevated wellness. In her classes, you will learn, engage, wiggle, stretch, strengthen, laugh, breathe, and maybe even dance.

Amy Secrist

Amy Secrist is a Mindfulness and Yoga Educator at Mind Body Align where she teaches yoga and assists the Wellness Education team in bringing Mindfulness practice to students and teachers in local schools. Amy has been practicing yoga for more than twenty years and teaching for over 16 (E-RYT 300). She established The Catholic Yogi in 2013 as a way to share her love of yoga and her love of Christ, to show how the two are not mutually exclusive, but rather complementary, and to be a beacon of light to anyone in need of a safe space to search, seek, explore, and discover.

Amy earned her BA in English & Writing from The Ohio State University and her MA in English & Writing from The Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, Vermont. She makes her home in Mid-Ohio with her husband and four children ~ her household gurus, dispellers of darkness!

Jenny Neal jennnealcounseling@gmail.com jennynealcounseling.comJenny Neal is a licensed clinical counselor specializing in addiction and trauma. Jenny holds a masters degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio in counseling with special focus on pastoral counseling and addiction. Jenny has experience working in inpatient and outpatient settings with both mental health and Substance abuse. She has taught classes at Central Ohio Technical College in the human services department and has taught trauma sensitive yoga classes and mindfulness classes in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Jenny enjoys writing for Medium and Thrive Global. Jenny’s passion is for helping and empowering others through yoga and therapy. — **Jenny Neal**
*jennnealcounseling@gmail.com*
*jennynealcounseling.com*
Jenny Neal is a licensed clinical counselor specializing in addiction and trauma. Jenny holds a masters degree from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio in counseling with special focus on pastoral counseling and addiction. Jenny has experience working in inpatient and outpatient settings with both mental health and Substance abuse. She has taught classes at Central Ohio Technical College in the human services department and has taught trauma sensitive yoga classes and mindfulness classes in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Jenny enjoys writing for Medium and Thrive Global. Jenny’s passion is for helping and empowering others through yoga and therapy.

Cassandra Tapia carasa.2382@gmail.comYoga has been a part of Cassandra’s life for 7 years, where she has discovered the benefits of mindfulness on and off the mat, and that yoga is transformative. She has completed the 100 hour EMBER Yoga training w… — **Cassandra Tapia**
*carasa.2382@gmail.com*
Yoga has been a part of Cassandra’s life for 7 years, where she has discovered the benefits of mindfulness on and off the mat, and that yoga is transformative. She has completed the 100 hour EMBER Yoga training. In the world of yoga, she strives to remain a curious practicing student and she is profoundly grateful for the giving wisdom of her previous instructors. She is excited to share the benefits of yoga with others.

Kim Burke
Kim completed the EMBER 100hr training in 2016 and now teaches in the 60-hour teacher training.

**Nikki Boggs**
Nikki Boggs is a Registered Yoga Teacher, Ohio Medical Board Licensed Massage therapist, and mother to three wonderful human beings. Being incredibly passionate about healing, it shines through in every aspect of her life. Her certifications include
Reiki, EMBER(Trauma-sensitive yoga), Neuromuscular Massage Therapy, head and neck pain and dysfunction, Craniosacral therapy, Reflexology, guided meditation, and many more such natured things designed to heal and relax. With her thorough knowledge of anatomy, both physical and subtle, and her desire to cause positive change in the people around her, she is nothing short of a healer. She has the ability to really hone in on each individual and inspire the changes necessary to initiate the next cycle of each students personal evolution.Having been on a major wellness journey herself, she caters to people of all physical situations. Self love and self awareness are major themes in every class she teaches. She uses a combination of mindfulness meditation and careful movement to connect the mind body and spirit. Her intent is to create a safe, judgment-free space to learn how to move, stretch and find compassion for every single body.
Whether it's learning for the first time, or relearning post-injury, Nikki will help you find a way around the situations your life has caused you to limit yourself. In her free time, Nikki loves to spend time with her family in nature, kayaking, hiking, gardening and anything that
has the risk of getting dirty! Tarot and palmistry are hobbies she has become very well versed in, as well as music of most genres.You should expect to feel a sense
of connection to spirit after a class with Nikki. Her goal is to empower those that have lost their power, love people in new ways, inspire those that have lost their vision, and to encourage daily practices that increase each students ability to do this on their own.
She hopes to reach and learn from every person that crosses her path.

Gabrielle A. Hill

Contact: Instagram @ghillcreates

Gabrielle A. Hill is a wellness educator who is passionate about the empowerment of others. She is certified yoga guide, licensed school counselor, and founder of The AntHill Creative, LLC. She has spent the last decade working in the areas of non-profit and education. Her diverse experiences with youth, their families and various community partners, has given her a unique lens on wellness. Gabrielle uses her love of art, music, mindful movement, and writing, to create content that promotes mental health, self-expression, and social & emotional learning for all. She conducts highly requested and inspiring keynotes, workshops, and virtual webinars that focus on career readiness, trauma-informed yoga and educator wellness. Gabrielle is the author of Kaydee the Bumblebee.