Teachers

Laura has been studying, performing and teaching various dance forms in Lawrence for over 40 years. She is a certified teacher of 5Rhythms® Waves level since 2001 and Heartbeat level since 2010 trained by Gabrielle Roth and a member of the 5Rhythms Teacher Association (5RTA). She has taught locally as well as at classes and events such as Nebraska HIV/AIDS conference, Kansas University, Leiden, Holland and served as Core Faculty at the Omega Institute in New York for several years. She is also an ayurvedic Practitioner (A.P.) and is a Registered Ayurvedic Practitioner with AAPNA and NAMA. Laura is the founder of Be Moved Studio and Moon Jewel Ayurveda Center. She has recently received her 200 Hour Yoga and Shamanism Teacher Training after practicing Yoga for 45 years!

laura@bemovedstudio.com | moonjewelayurveda.com

Mariel (she/ella) is a queer Xicana of color who specializes in truama informed body work, practicing Curandera, TRE provider, anti-racist centered approaches, with a foundation in abolitionist theory. Mariel is a certified Trauma Informed Yoga Instructor through Sundara Yoga Academy and body worker with over 200 hours in other yoga specific trauma informed study. She is also a certified provider for Trauma and Tension Release Exercise, a practiced designed by Dr. David Berceli (https://traumaprevention.com/). Mariel is inspired by her ancestors, specifically her great grandmother who was her village healer and Black Feminist theory. She is a community organizer focused on collective liberation with specific training in facilitation and transformative justice models. Mariel is focused on honoring all aspects of yoga and the collective movement to decolonize this practice. She also integrates functional movement and mindful movement into her practices in order to be accessible to all bodies and identities. Mariel’s work is founded on the ideology and writing of Octavia Butler, Gloria Anzaldua, Toni Cade Bambara, adrienne maree brown and many others. Mariel firmly believes we can make the future, our collective liberated revolution irresistible. 

Amie first found a love for yoga as a teenager. She has practiced on and off for years and eventually ended up in a San Francisco studying for her doctorate in psychology. After working with many populations, and knowing the gifts and wisdom yoga had brought into her life, she decided to write her dissertation creating her own specific yoga therapy. After many small yoga workshops and trainings, Amie studied under Baba Hari Das, receiving her 200 hour certification in Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga in 2008. She continued working on her dissertation, education, and work as a therapist. In 2010, with a M.A. in Clinical Psychology and after exploring both the east and west coast, Amie decided to return to her roots and work with clients through her experience as a yoga teacher and therapist. Amie’s love of being a student and yoga studies has her traveling to take workshops as well as taking workshops in the area while becoming adept in Restorative, Yin, Pre/Postnatal Yoga, and Child/Family Yoga and studying Ayurveda more in depth. In 2015 Amie completed her 500 hr YTT with Gopi Sandal in Bhakti Yoga, based on Iyengar Asana. She loves working with people of all ages and abilities, but helping people feel better is where her passion for teaching yoga lies. She loves seeing how yoga changes lives. After severely breaking her arm, Amie was given the opportunity to dive even deeper into Yoga and its power to heal and balance health. Teaching private yoga has given her the opportunity to dive deeper in with her yoga teachings. Amie designs all her sessions for the people/person present and incorporate different styles of yoga, self massage, and myofascial release.

Shannon Gorres is a Spiritual Direction and nature therapy guide.  In 2009 she completed Siromani teacher certification at the Sivananda Holistic Health and Self-Realization Yoga & Vedanta Ashram.  In 2010 she completed an additional 108 hours of yoga teacher training with local teacher Gopi Sandal (Bhakti & Iyengar).  Then in 2014, she studied Anusara in Berkeley, California, while she completed a Masters of Divinity. Shannon teaches yoga as a mind-body-spirit practice to unearth deeper love, inner peace, and divine attunement. Her website is: DivineNatureTherapy.com

Sarah “Sally” Birmingham has a love for both Vinyasa and Iyengar styles of yoga, and has also been influenced by Yi,, Restorative, and gentle forms of Yoga. Other interests include art, farming , herbalism, activism, and traveling, all of which have overlapping therapeutic benefits that have informed her yogic path. 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, received in Austin, TX. 2014. 15-hour Trauma-informed Yoga Certification received in Oakland, CA. 2018. Sally habla español.

sbirmi@gmail.com