Toes Yoga

Across nearly fifteen years of yoga practice, education and teaching, Leah has gained experience with and appreciation for many different styles of yoga.  But she has always remained grounded in her foundational experience of classical yoga based on her certification from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta tradition (India - 2007).  These ancient teachings provide the perspective that asanas (poses), while a crucial part of yoga, are really just the beginning of developing a complete yoga practice as yoga was originally developed to prepare our bodies for meditation.

Leah has designed the 20-20-20 class in keeping with this wholistic classical view of yoga.  In the class you will be guided through 20 minutes of yoga asanas, 20 minutes of meditation, and 20 minutes of prayer through song.  We will learn a new sanskrit prayer weekly to explore and deepen our practice.

This class is open to all levels of yoga practitioners who want to explore ancient tools to dive deeper into exploration of self.   

I attended my first yoga class in 2002, as a big favor to for a stressed out co-worker.  She never went back; I fell in love.  With yoga, I had found something that I could do the rest of my life, no matter what physical challenges I was facing.  The relief from chronic pain due to fibromyalgia and arthritis was life changing, as were the spiritual and emotional benefits.

I received my 200 hour teaching certificate at Asheville Yoga Center in August of 2019 and became Registered through the Yoga Alliance in November of 2019.  A long time student at Toes Yoga, I look forward to following in the footsteps of the other amazing instructors here to share my practice with you.

For me, yoga is celebrating coming to the mat just as I am every time I practice, accepting the good days and the days that are a little more difficult to get through.  In my classes, we will explore breathing as we move, modifications to fit poses to your body, and the joy in finding just the right practice for you.

Beth found yoga over 20 years ago as a young mother looking for a way to relax and have an hour once a week to herself. Since that time yoga came and went in her life. In 2012 she once again found herself on her mat again. Beth completed 200 Hr CYT training at the Fox Valley Yoga Teacher Training in Batavia, IL in 2016 with Karen Weber. She and her husband, two dogs and two cats moved to Chattanooga in September 2016 in search of a change of scenery and more fulfilling way of life. She completed a 300 hr Shamanic Yoga teacher training with Dolly Kaup in April 2018.

Beth’s classes focus on integrating breath and motion and settling the mind. She believes that any Body can do yoga because yoga goes beyond the body into the soul and the spirit. She is also passionate about using sound and vibration in her healing and yoga practices. Many of her classes finish with a mini version of the Sound Baths she presents around the area to leave her students refreshed and rejuvenated in mind, body and spirit. 

“I came back to yoga in 2012 with a beginner’s mind and try to keep returning to that in my personal practice as well as when I am teaching. No matter how old we are or how much experience we have with something we can always find something new and continue to learn and grow.”

When not teaching or practicing yoga Beth enjoys hiking many of the beautiful trails in and around the area and dreams of hiking the Appalachian Trail. She also enjoys traveling, making things with her hands, gardening and herbalism and reading. 

Kim has been practicing yoga since 1997 and is a Registered Yoga teacher at the 500+ hour level. She began as a student with a vinyasa flow type of practice, but through training and education has evolved into a teacher and practitioner of a slow, deliberate style of practice that allows for time to expierence the poses and breath as well as to reflect on the effect after the pose or meditation.  This type of practice facilitates a confidence and trust that goes  beyond physical fitness and into a truly deeper connection with self. She opened Toes Yoga studio in 2013 in hopes of introducing this style of yoga practice to a broader audience.