Joan is the Director of Studio 8.  In 2010 she enrolled in a 200 hour yoga teacher training program only as a way to learn more about the philosophy of yoga and to deepen her own practice. She began teaching yoga in her attic only as part of the requirement to obtain teaching hours for her certification.  After discovering how fun and rewarding it was to introduce others to the benefits of yoga she decided to continue teaching. Her love of yoga and her love of her community drove her to bring the two together and in January 2012 she opened Huntington's first yoga studio.  She continues to grow and learn from other teachers as well as her students.  She completed Kidding Around Yoga Teacher Training in 2012.  She's attended several Yoga Journal Conferences where she was able to study through intensives with master teachers. In November 2013 she completed a 500 hr RYT program through the Asheville Yoga Center in North Carolina. As part of this program she obtained prenatal yoga certification, studied Ayurveda, restorative and yin yoga, vinyasa, yoga therapeutics, senior yoga and yoga philosophy and much more.  With over 2000 teaching hours under her belt since completing her advanced training, Joan has earned the designation of ERYT-500.  She is also a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP).

Joan has also trained in Y12SR- Yoga for 12 step recovery; she is a certified Life Stretch instructor; she is an authorized TRX instructor. In September of 2017 she began an 800-hour Yoga Therapeutics training with an accredited program through the International Association of Yoga Therapists.  Through this program she is learning to use yoga for chronic conditions like pain, depression, addiction, grief, and cancer.