We are blessed with an incredible array of teachers, each bringing their own unique style to the studio:
(click to jump down for bios)
Cheryl Crawford
Josiane Adler
Lisa Cohen
Melissa Katz
Hanlie Laakman
Tiffany Morgan
Mandy Roberts
Cheryl Crawford, ERYT, B.S.Ed.
Anusara-Inspired
Cheryl Crawford, mother of triplets and Certified Anusara Inspired Yoga Teacher, is the co-grounder of Grounded Yoga. She’s been teaching her whole life. First to her stuffed animals and to her younger brother (when he sat still) and then in later years to the children of Atlanta in Fulton County Public Schools where she worked as an Elementary School Teacher and Curriculum Coordinator. Cheryl began her yoga journey soon after her three daughters were born, and as her practice evolved, it became clear to her that she had to blend and balance her new dedication to yoga with her lifelong passion for teaching.
Cheryl’s classes are fun yet powerful invitations to connect to your heart, your strength, and your vision. She is committed to sharing her experience of artfully finding the balance between serious alignment and playful expansion. She has learned from many great teachers who have taught her that Grounding is the key to Elevation. She is grateful for all the teachers who have grounded her, especially her parents, her husband, Marsha Wenig, John Friend, and Gina Minyard. Cheryl has been recognized by local, national and international media for her work in yoga education for children and teens, and was chosen to be the first Lululemon Ambassador in Atlanta. Cheryl listens to the wisdom of the children and teaches from her highest self.
Josiane Adler, RN, RYT
Anusara
For Josi, practicing and teaching yoga means fostering community, nurturing bodies, encouraging souls, and laughing and learning with like-minded individuals.
She completed her 200 Hour Teacher training with Mitchell Bleier, and has also studied regularly with Anusara certified teacher Ruth Ann Martin and David Aukamp of Springs Yoga Studio. Josi is a nurturer by nature, and by profession. After completing a degree in horticulture at the University of Georgia (Go Dawgs!), she moved from caring for plants to caring for people. As a flight attendant, Josi practiced grace under pressure, looking out for passengers’ safety while pouring Diet Cokes. Seeking a career change – where she could build on her basic first aid and CPR knowledge and still wear a cute uniform – Josi decided to follow in Florence Nightingale’s footsteps. As a Registered Nurse, Josi has helped people at all stages of life and is excited to now bring that medical background to her practice and instruction of yoga.
Josi has practiced many styles of yoga over the past 16 years. She has found that her yoga practice keeps moving her to a deeper desire to grow and share her love for the practice. Josi’s classes challenge her students to take their yoga beyond the mat. She blends alignment principles and core heart qualities that inspire mind, body, and spirit – along with some groovy tunes.
Lisa Cohen
Lisa is an energetic yoga teacher who began her yoga journey by “creatively financing” daily classes. In other words, she scrubbed bathrooms and a yoga studio in a karmic energy exchange for nearly 2 1/2 years before that fateful morning when the regularly scheduled teacher overslept and she was asked to teach class. Fast forward over six years and much formal and informal training, and you’ll find Lisa teaching yoga classes to students of all ages and levels. From preteens to seniors; those with physical challenges to elite athletes; those seeking serenity to those simply seeking physical fitness…Lisa encourages anyone with the willingness to show up on their mat to cultivate awareness in their yoga practice. From newcomers to seasoned practitioners, Lisa enjoys the vastness and inclusiveness that IS yoga and draws inspiration from many yoga styles and teachers. Ashtanga/vinyasa, Iyengar, Anusara, Bikram, Kripalu, and Sivananda are all influences which led her to choose Pranakriya yoga for her 200 hour training certificate.
Be prepared to breathe, gain strength and flexibility, reduce risk of injury, improve your sports performance, and reduce stress. Yoga is a path to personal growth, transformation, and maybe even enlightenment…Lisa guides you through classes that are fun, challenging and safe, meeting you on the mat without judgment, expectation, or intimidation.
Lisa is currently pursuing her 500 hour Pranakriya course with a focus on yoga therapy and recently received her holistic nutrition consultant certification through Hawthorn University.
Melissa Katz
Ashtanga-Inspired Vinyasa
Melissa has embraced the fire of transformation through her personal yoga practice. She teaches an ashtanga-based vinyasa yoga practice that includes many arm balances, inversions, and backbends. Her challenging yoga classes are designed to break down energy blocks that limit the body’s range of motion and may also limit the ways we think and feel. As we open and strengthen the body, we have the opportunity to open and strengthen all the layers of our being and move closer to who we are in each moment. Melissa’s yoga classes offer a sense of freedom, joy, and connection to the Divine that students can carry with them off the mat.
Melissa completed her 200-hour basic teacher training with Graham Fowler and Ursula Nix at Peachtree Yoga and her 500-hour advanced teacher training with Yoganand Michael Carroll and Jim O’Leary at Jai Shanti Yoga. She also recently completed a 300-hour yoga therapy certification with Marlysa Sullivan, MPT at Decatur Yoga and Pilates. She continues to learn and grow her personal and teaching practice by studying with many master teachers, including Kathryn Budig, Natasha Rizopoulos, and Kino MacGregor.
Melissa is the co-director of the annual Atlanta Yoga Conference. She was recently interviewed on WABE 90.1 about the conference, yoga in Atlanta, and yoga’s proliferation in the West. The interview can be heard here.
Hanlie Laakman
I came to yoga several years ago looking to fill a spiritual void and heal physical aches. After about four years of practice, I completed my 200-hour Yoga Teacher certification in the Pranakriya tradition with Yoganand Michael Carroll <http://www.jaishanti.com/yoganand.html> . Yoga is the path, the spiritual discipline I have chosen to soothe, strengthen and embolden my soul. To establish greater awareness. To create understanding and acceptance. To live from a place of choice as opposed to be trapped in perpetual conditioned reaction. At times there is still a void to fill, a posture to accomplish, an ache to heal, but there is no hurry. As life shapes and softens our edge, yoga creates space where all seeming contradictions can breathe together without conflict or strain. I teach because I believe in the transformative energy of this practice, to become conscious of being, and to revel in the wonder of it all.
Tiffany Morgan, RYT
Anusara-Inspired
Part of the experience of being Grounded – at any age, is to know yourself and to speak your truth. Through years studying and working as both an actress and a yoga teacher Tiffany has cultivated a unique style of teaching to help each student know their absolute uniqueness, while helping the individual to voice their truth confidently and with grace. Her classes are known for being uplifting, challenging and full of joy.
Her first 200 Hour Teacher Training was with Ganga White & Tracy Rich of The White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, CA. She went on to obtain her certification in Hot Core Power and now is in the final stages of becoming an Anusara Inspired Teacher. In addition to those trainings, she brings over 20 years of experience as an actress. Including The National Shakespeare Conservatory, The Groundlings Improv (LA), The New York School for Film & Television and a resume with over 100 commercials, various television and film appearances and voice-over work throughout the U.S. & Canada.
Helping others to understand the joy of what it is to bring their own life experience to their yoga mat, along with nurturing a sense of discipline and gratitude, all while keeping in sight the wonder of the mind, body and spirit connection. This is what Grounded is for Tiffany.
Mandy Roberts
Mandy brings an expression of liveliness to the classes she teaches through laughter, beat driven music, and personal life experiences. She loves to play with poses such as inversions and arm balances to challenge and empower her students. Finding yoga in 2004, Mandy embarked on a life long journey for personal growth through determination, humility, acceptance, patience, and softness. During challenging times, Mandy learned by taking her practice off the yoga mat and into the world, that these lessons are crucial in everyday life. “To me, yoga is a conversation of life, it is the way you hold yourself both on and off the mat, the way you treat yourself and each other, and the way you move through and place yourself in this world. Yoga is life. Yoga is about laughing when you fall, or when you are not ‘perfect’ at an asana someone else can do so easily, it’s about letting go, getting up and trying again”. Mandy is dedicated to continuing her knowledge of yoga and theraputics by attending workshops to deepen her knowledge of asana, pranayama, and yoga philosophy. Mandy lives in Decatur and is the mother of two children from whom she draws a lot of her life lessons from. She has studied Pranic Healing with Master Stephen Co and has studied yoga and attended workshops with many accomplished yoga teachers and is dedicated to continue learning and expanding as yoga evolves. Mandy holds a 200hr level Yoga Alliance Certification through Springs Yoga and Mitchel Bleier Yoga.
. . . . .
