Hillsborough Yoga Company

Alexandra DeSiato (E-RYT 500) has been teaching movement classes for nearly ten years. Drawn to Pilates and yoga to heal a running injury, she quickly found that yoga changed her attitude, spirit, and heart, too. Alexandra’s movement practice focuses on several areas: yoga for healthy aging, yoga for motherhood, and yoga with clear intention.

With Sage Rountree, Alexandra has co-authored two books: Lifelong Yoga, a guide to yoga for healthy aging, and Teaching Yoga Beyond the Poses, a book for teachers and advanced practitioners who want to create yoga practices with clear themes. With Lauren Sacks, Alexandra co-created Whole Mama Yoga, which offers prenatal, postnatal, and mama-focused classes, and is a Yoga Alliance-certified Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga Teacher Training program . She teaches Pilates, prenatal and postnatal series classes, and more at Carrboro Yoga Company. Read more at alexandradesiato.com

Diana has been teaching fitness classes ever since Jane Fonda was first wearing leggings in the eighties! But when she began practicing yoga fifteen years ago she discovered that it was far more than a workout, and in fact has been a powerful transformational force in her life. Diana has explored many branches of the yoga tree with remarkable teachers and attended our own CYC 200-hour teacher training. Her class offers an eclectic mix of alignment cues, challenging flow, humor and metaphor, and invitations to deepen from within.

In the spirit of “off the mat, into the world,” Diana's passion is to create more humane workplaces through fully human leadership at all levels. She has been training and coaching leaders around the world for the past twelve years, and is now developing a program specifically for those who want to explore and integrate their business acumen, emotional intelligence, and somatic wisdom through yoga, mindfulness, dharma, and coaching.

Lena Wedeen teaches the tools of yoga and communication that are necessary to navigate life’s many twists and turns. She is a speech language pathologist, graduate of Carolina Yoga Company’s 200-Hour YTT program, and a rusty slam poet. Lena has additional certifications in teaching yoga for children who are differently abled and in harnessing the brain for healing and happiness. She has been practicing yoga since adolescence and is dedicated to creating connection through the pursuit of knowledge and practice of movement meditation. To learn more about Lena, visit BranchoutNC.com.

A lifelong athlete, Leslie finally discovered Sage Rountree’s Yoga for Athletes class a dozen years ago as a runner and tennis player in desperate need of improved flexibility. After playing a variety of sports in high school, running in college, and in constant pursuit of new athletic adventures as an adult, Leslie learned that a yoga class targeting tight, athletic bodies was the answer to her constant stiffness and increasing incidence of injury. Since completing Sage’s Yoga for Athletes Teacher Training several years back, Leslie’s goal has been to share the incredible benefits of yoga with athletes of all ages. Leslie’s classes include Yoga for Athletic Balance and Yoga for Daily Life. Leslie helps athletes and everyone learn to listen to their bodies, connect with their breath, and reap the benefits of developing appropriate flexibility and range of motion, as well as improved balance. Leslie’s classes are perfect for active folks of all ages who are interested in adding a function-focused yoga practice to their lives.

Mary began her yoga journey at the tender age of twelve, looking to gain more flexibility in ballet class. She practiced on and off from then on, but began to deeply connect to the practice during her first pregnancy. Mary received her 200-hour training in 2018 from Soul Shine Yoga in Fairhope, Alabama, and has since completed her prenatal certification with Whole Mama Yoga (2020). Whether you take prenatal, postnatal, or flow classes with Mary, you can expect to feel deeply nurtured.

Lindsey believes yoga, at its core, is a practice of self-care that prepares us for community care. Being able to get up in an arm balance or twist yourself into a pretzel is one way to mark progress in yoga, but if this practice can help us treat each other with greater dignity, compassion, and respect—well, now we're really getting somewhere. Students in Lindsey’s classes can look forward to an uplifting balance of centering meditation and invigorating asana. Her sequencing draws from Ashtanga, Jivamukti, and Power Yoga, with an emphasis on helping students feel strong and steady. She received her 200-hour certification from Carolina Yoga Company, and her 300-hour Advanced Studies certification at the Asheville Yoga Center. She is an RYT 500, registered with Yoga Alliance.

Lorie was hooked on Pilates from her first class in a sweaty gym in New Jersey. She has been passionate about sharing Pilates with others (whoever will listen, really!) ever since. Join her for a class and leave feeling longer and leaner. Pilates helps to strengthen your core (your “powerhouse”), to keep you mindful and aware of your body, to make your movements more efficient, to balance you. Come try Pilates—your yoga practice, your long Saturday morning run, your hunched shoulders will thank you for it!

Robin discovered yoga later in life after suffering years of debilitating back pain that exercise and Western medicine could not ease. Starting with 25 years of experience in human physiology, biochemistry, genetics, and neuroscience, she embarked on a two-year journey to heal herself through daily rituals of yoga, insight meditation, and mindfulness practices. Robin is now a healed, committed student of yoga and concentrates her research and teaching on the valuable intersection between Eastern and Western practices to promote inner and outer well-being. Since graduating from the Carolina Yoga Company teacher training, she relishes all opportunities to share these insights with others and inspire them to find their own unique healing power through yoga, allowing their practice to unfold without force for their own individual needs and intentions.

Robin’s classes are alignment-based, focusing on the length, strength, and integrated movement of the spine and core muscles. She grounds her classes on the theme of treating with opposites to achieve balance—easing constriction and moving the body, the breath, and mind in an opposing manner to life’s everyday habits and stresses. She welcomes all students, whether new to yoga; suffering from shoulder, back, or hip pain; experienced yogis dealing with aging or injury, or those simply wishing to feel more comfortable and balanced.

Melissa's teaching draws on her own eclectic experience of practicing a wide range of yoga styles for more than 20 years. A former collegiate soccer player, Melissa understands the mental stress of athletes and other high achievers. The path of yoga has transformed her approach to exercise, physical care, and mental wellbeing. Melissa began teaching in 2019 to share the many benefits of yoga with others. She strives to be an inclusive and trauma-informed yoga teacher, welcoming students new to yoga as well as experienced practitioners. It’s her goal to ensure yoga is a positive experience and practice for anyone who wants it.

Tom Sowders (RYT200) has been teaching yoga since 2018 but will always remain a humble student. For Tom, yoga—whether Yin, Ashtanga, Iyengar, or any of the other types—is not just about postures. Yoga is a way of being. Tom's classes create an environment in which you can tune your awareness to the joys of movement and of stillness.

Tom's Yin Yoga classes target the dense connective tissues of the body, which are difficult to open and can result in limited flexibility and stagnant energy. Tom's classes are gentle, yet intense, helping you unwind tension in your body and cultivate the ability to observe and stay with prolonged sensation. Tom encourages curiosity, exploration, and attention, as he co-creates space for students to feel whatever they are feeling and to know that they are supported and free of all expectations.

Sam started practicing yoga in 2008, exploring many different styles of yoga. In 2012, she discovered alignment-based yoga and has used this as the foundation of her practice ever since. In 2016, she completed her 200-hour teacher training through Thousand Petals Yoga with Paul and Sommer Sobin. Sam's classes emphasize physical alignment while also encouraging presence, reflection, and playfulness. Off the mat, she enjoys surfing, cooking for friends, and spending time outdoors with her two dogs and husband, Mark.

As an athlete, endurance sports coach, and continuing student of yoga, Sage Rountree understands the trickiness of balancing training (or life!) and a yoga practice. Sage's classes emphasize intention and efficiency—using the right form and the right breath for the task at hand. There's plenty of attention to core, the hips, and using the body, breath, and mind to focus. An Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance at the highest level (E-RYT 500), Sage has over sixteen years' experience teaching yoga to students of all levels and backgrounds, including several UNC teams and Coach Roy Williams. Co-owner of the studio, director of our teacher trainings, and the author of nine books including The Athlete's Guide to Yoga, Everyday Yoga, Lifelong Yoga, and The Professional Yoga Teacher's Handbook, Sage has also written for Yoga Journal, Runner's World, Lava Magazine, and USA Triathlon Magazine. Visit Sage's website.