We are honored to share our incredible array of teachers, from many schools of yoga. Each teacher is encouraged to bring their own unique style and personality to the studio and to teach from an authentic place.
Mandy Roberts
Owner/Creative Director/YTT Lead Teacher
Heartfelt and devotional, Mandy's sincerity and zest for life are always at the forefront of her offerings. Mandy's classes are a sweet {and often sweaty} celebration of life expressed through embodiment, music, and storytelling. She loves to invite her students to embody sacred playfulness on the mat, while weaving alignment cues that help them to feel strong and centered. Infused with inspiration from the world around her, Mandy is a natural and nurturing teacher and has been known to lovingly guide her students through major breakthroughs both on the mat and in their life. More than just another yoga class, Mandy offers her students a yoga experience.
Finding yoga, Mandy had no idea she was embarking on a life-long journey of self-reflection and personal growth. Her divorce just a few years later was the catalyst for a complete dissolution of her former life and the beginning of what is now FORM yoga. A stay-at-home mom for many years, the end of her marriage, which felt like the end of her life, was actually the threshold of a beautiful new beginning. As she leaned on her yoga practice heavily, it became very clear that she was being nudged toward teaching yoga and in just a few short months, to owning a yoga studio {yep, it really did happen that way!}. During the challenging times surrounding her divorce, Mandy found that the teachings of yoga were one of the only things that could help her keep her focus on moving forward and choosing life.
Mandy deeply trusts that life always moves through cycles of beginnings and endings. As a retreat leader, Mandy has thousands of hours of experience safely and tenderly guiding her students through processes of growth and transformation. Always the student, Mandy has studied Pranic Healing with Master Stephen Co, Enneagram with Russ Hudson and Intuitive Development with Janet Raftis and deepened her understanding of life and death transitions through Ancestral Healing with Dr. Daniel Foor. She has studied, lived, and in 2017, completed her certification with the transformational Urban Priestess movement. In addition, Mandy has studied yoga with numerous accomplished national and international teachers from various traditions. Mandy is twice a Lululemon ambassador in Atlanta and represented the Southeast at the 2015 Lululemon Ambassador Summit in Whistler. In addition, Mandy is a presenter in the 2014, 2016, 2018 and the 2023 Dirty South Yoga Fest, the 2015 and the 2016 Atlanta Women’s Foundation Yogathon, the 2015 Wigwam Health and Wellness Festival, and a co-chair of the first annual Atlanta Yoga Rave. A lover of expression through writing, she has contributed articles about the benefits of yoga and mindfulness to numerous publications over the years. However, Mandy believes her greatest accomplishment is the supportive and connected community she has created at FORM yoga.
When she is not at the front of the room teaching, you can find Mandy hanging out around Decatur with her new husband Ruan or in-studio as a student, moving and breathing with you.
Heather Freiman
Membership Coordinator
Heather was a well-loved FORM yoga teacher during the "before" times. Since those days a lot has changed! Heather became a mom and there was a worldwide pandemic. A believer in the support that Yoga offers, yet not quite ready to return in studio as a teacher, Heather is excited to step into this new role as our Membership Coordinator! She is here for all your membership related requests including questions, changes and cancellations. Heather's main gig is wrangling her energetic, sweet, vehicle-loving, very opinionated 4 year old.
So currently the hallmark of her Yoga practice is staying fully PRESENT, aided by slow intentional breathing & pausing before reacting. When she isn’t helping you out, she loves to spend time with her family. They like to spend their time together exploring outside, building rockets, and learning about how things work. Heather also loves baking, impromptu living room dance parties, and relaxing with a tasty cocktail. Reading is another favorite past time. She read A LOT of books (134 last year?!).
Reach out to Heather via email for any of your membership related requests at questions@formyoga.com while we work on getting our shiny new members page live on our website.
Ruan De Jager
Ruan grew up in Thabazimbi, South Africa, a small mining town located in the heart of the bushveld. Surrounded by endless mountain ranges, farms, and wild animals, Ruan spent much of his childhood with bare feet playing out in the bush. Upon entering adulthood Ruan worked his way through college earning an International industrial millwright certification. Using this degree, one of his first jobs was repairing earth moving equipment a couple thousand feet underground. After 6 years working in the dangerous mines, Ruan decided it was time to make a change and follow his heart. In 2004 Ruan took a bold leap and moved to the US leaving his family and
everything he ever knew behind.
Yoga was never in Ruan’s awareness until a doctor recommended yoga to help stabilize his core after suffering with some physical discomfort from years of rugby, weight lifting and running. In January of 2012 Ruan took his first yoga class at a Bikram Yoga studio, he truly had no idea what he was getting himself into. Arriving at his first class late, he walked into a fully packed class. Not seeing a spot, he set up his mat in the only space he saw, diagonally, in the far-right corner. The teacher graciously welcomed him to class (after acknowledging his creative mat setup).
After his rocky start, Ruan still returned to Bikram several times a week. After a year of practice Ruan struck up a casual conversation with another student and learned that there were other styles of yoga that offered more variety than just exploring the same 26 postures in every class. Intrigued, he started seeking out other yoga studios around Atlanta. In early 2019 Ruan began dating FORM yoga studio owner, Mandy Roberts, who has since become his wife. With a shared love of yoga, Mandy introduced Ruan to the concept of yoga as a path of transformation, not just as exercise. A whole new world was opened to explore!
Ruan opened himself to new ways of practicing and viewing yoga. Just as he was exploring this new found understanding, life threw him a curve ball. In the early morning hours of October 6, 2021 Ruan was involved in a pileup on 75 north. Though he walked away from the car accident, Ruan suffered a tremendous blow to his lumbar spine. The accident crippled his life and brought him down to his knees. Movement, and even stillness, caused significant pain and discomfort. Ruan started exploring tools and treatments to help alleviate the pain. As time passed it started to become clear that his lifestyle and career needed to change if he ever wanted to fully heal from his injury and experience life pain free again.
Ruan is curious to learn more about how to heal the body, especially through yoga. He is most excited to explore methods of creating core stability as well as functional movement along with the healing power of the breath. Ruan is a graduate of FORM yoga’s 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training under the guidance of Mandy Roberts. His classes blend balance and strength through slow movement with a focus on safety and precise cues. You can catch Ruan at the front desk, tidying the blankets, cracking silly jokes and offering big bear hugs.
Amanda Burtch
In 2012 Amanda was led to yoga out of her curiosity while in the midst of some big life changes. She was experiencing a great deal of anxiety from these changes and heard that yoga was good for reducing stress. After a year of wobbling around in her living room to beginners DVDs and VHS tapes (remember those?), she landed a job for a wellness-based company that led her down a path to learn more about yoga and to connect with teachers and practitioners...
around the globe. As a job perk, Amanda was fortunate to deepen her practice and learn more about yoga in the workplace through yoga classes and “work trips” that consisted of getting to be a participant on a few international yoga retreats. Through these healing experiences, she knew that yoga was the path for her. She began teaching yoga in the summer of 2017 and has continued to learn and grow through yoga, including her current project, becoming a certified Yoga Therapist.
Curiosity is what led Amanda to the practice of yoga and it is what keeps her invested to learn more. It is a value that is embedded in her practice and in her teachings as she encourages her students to discover the uniqueness of their bodies, breath, and spirit. Amanda is deeply passionate about the mindfulness and gratitude practices that the natural world offers. This sentiment is also woven into Amanda’s individual style of teaching. She believes that the practice of yoga on the mat blends strengthening of body, mind, and spirit that aids in standing strong in life off the mat. Amanda is lighthearted, compassionate, and is always trying to bring a smile to everyone around her, including in her classes. In her own time, she loves making playlists, reading, bike rides, neighborhood walks, and all things outdoors.
Georgia Lynn
Georgia Lynn's classes are a lot of both. Both playful and profound. Mystical and scientific. Ancient and modern. Part kick you in the you-know-what vinyasa flow. Part introspection and deep meditation. Her intention is to create space for you to move through the surface level to connect with something deeper going on here. Georgia Lynn started yoga over 14 years ago. She was looking for a workout. She found so much more. After a divorce flipped her world upside down, she followed a desire to guide others
like her that were searching for a more meaningful life. She became a yoga teacher and has been guiding others
on their spiritual journeys ever since.
A yoga universalist, Georgia Lynn has studied vinyasa, bhakti, yin, kundalini, children’s yoga, yoga for addiction recovery, and trauma-informed yoga. She has certifications in yoga (500hr RYT, 200hr E-RYT) and reiki energy healing, plus 2000 hours of training in other holistic healing tools. She integrates all of this to provide grounding and expansive support to those around her.
We often underestimate how much we’re doing when we simply show up to our mats. Our practice has a ripple effect. Georgia Lynn’s dream is to create changes for the people in her little corner of the world, to create seismic shifts in the spiritual and emotional tenor of the collective.
Outside of teaching yoga at Form, Georgia Lynn is a coach, healer, entrepreneur, artist, and mother. In her free time, you can find her in the woods, the bath tub, cuddling her cats, or playing board games with her family.
DeKeely Atkins
DeKeely’s yoga practice began when her sister-in-law invited her to come along to a hot yoga class to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Once she stepped foot on her mat, she was hooked! With degrees in health and exercise science and public health, she was always engaged in fitness. But DeKeely knew yoga was different. She enjoyed all the physical aspects of asana but found the true gift of yoga to be the practice’s invitation to PAUSE and tune in, not only to your body but into your breath and your heart.
Over the past decade, DeKeely’s love of yoga has taken her to studios across the country and abroad and has led her to explore various lineages including Hatha, Vinyasa, Iyengar, Bikram, and Ashtanga. Each experience building upon the other and providing another glimpse into the beauty and depth of the practice. After successfully encouraging many to give yoga a try, she knew it was time for her to share the gift of yoga from the seat of the teacher. DeKeely completed a 100-hour YTT in Costa Rica in 2019 and the Soul Nourish & FORM yoga 200-hour YTT in 2020. These trainings allowed her to deepen her practice and prepare to share the rich tradition of yoga with others.
With that spirit, DeKeely offers fun alignment-based flows that build energy and empower each student to tune in a find their own practice. She challenges her students to confidently take up space on their mats, channel their strength, play, breathe, laugh, and find the joy in their yoga. She believes these are the tenets of the yoga the world needs us to practice both on and off our mats.
Hannah Rose Broom
With over 10 years of teaching, Hannah-Rose's certifications include: 200hr E-RYT Ashtanga-Vinyasa Flow, 95hr Grounded Children’s Yoga, and 90hr Trauma-Informed Yoga Therapy. She is a seeker and enthusiastic learner and a dynamic and adaptable instructor with a diverse teaching experience. She has taught yoga in studios, Atlanta and Dekalb public schools, trained college athletes, and led therapeutic yoga & art workshops for teens. Regardless of age, ability, or familiarity with yoga, she has a class for you! Mindful movement matters. consistency.
Hannah-Rose will kindly challenge her students but will always follow their body’s lead. Her goal is to help you build a deeper relationship with your body, experience great range of motion, and consistency. In her classes you’ll will build strength for empowerment; increase mobility for flexibility of mind; take deep breaths for grounding and expansion.
Alisa Lewis
When Alisa found yoga, she discovered a spark that quickly lit her up. At the age of forty-two she was astonished that at yoga class, people her own age were busting out backbends and headstands like it was no big deal.
They were moving and flowing with the simple beauty of dancers. But they did not seem to be there just for the cool poses. They seemed to KNOW things.
There seemed to be something beyond the physical rigors of the practice which drew them there.
Alisa wanted to know things too. So, she kept going and practicing. It was a turning point when she discovered that yoga poses are merely a means of understanding yourself and your connection in the universe. Fast-forward eight years and she is still going and practicing and still discovering. In 2020 Alisa put discovery into warp speed and completed a 200-hour alignment-based yoga teacher training course with Mandy Roberts and Shari L Fox at FORM {yoga}.
Alisa comes from years of experience designing interiors for Fortune 500 companies, designing and rolling out retail banking establishments, and various hospitality and workplace venues. As much as art and design are a part of her life, so now is yoga. It is the creativity, personal connection, and fulfillment of offering her unique gifts in teaching that feeds her soul. As an Enneagram 9 (AKA The Peacemaker), she is constantly seeking harmony. This carries over into her teaching style just as it does in her design work. She is receptive to what her students may need and safely and gently guides them. She is known to create balanced classes that integrate heart, mind, body, and breath.
Marck Maroun
Marck has always been a yogi and a geologist at heart. He uses his connection to the Earth to ground down before every practice. Adopting yoga as a way of life, not just the physical practice, is key to his happiness.
Fifteen years ago, Marck began his yogic path. His initial gravitation towards yoga was strictly physical wellness. Shortly after, he discovered the bond between mind-body and breath.
Today, his practice consists of meditation coupled with breathing and body flow.
His dedication to the lifestyle of yoga came shortly after his wife was diagnosed with cancer. In a flash, both their lives changed. Using meditation and body flow, he stood by his wife as she recovered from the physical and mental turmoil that comes with treatments, surgery, and diagnosis. Yoga literally saved them both.
Marck’s classes are designed to allow students a sense of unity, wholeness, and a brief yet strong mind-body connection. His meditation coupled with breathing opens the mind and body for a welcoming, challenging, and well-deserved practice.
Marck has two teaching certificates, a 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training in early 2018 in the jungles and the beaches of Costa Rica. And more recently Marck traveled to Mysore, India for his 300 hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training certification.
Kate Smith
Kate’s classes are thoughtful, balanced, playful, and nurturing. She grew up in Macon, GA, home to Otis Redding, James Brown, Little Richard, and the Allman Brothers Band, and her mom (a genealogy wiz) says she’s distantly related to Johnny Cash. How cool is that? With ‘The Man In Black’ literally in her blood, music plays an important role in the tone of Kate’s classes.
Kate’s love of exercise and group fitness definitely did not start when she tried playing softball at age 10.
Kate’s classes are thoughtful, balanced, playful, and nurturing. She grew up in Macon, GA, home to Otis Redding, James Brown, Little Richard, and the Allman Brothers Band, and her mom (a genealogy wiz) says she’s distantly related to Johnny Cash. How cool is that? With ‘The Man In Black’ literally in her blood, music plays an important role in the tone of Kate’s classes.
Kate’s love of exercise and group fitness definitely did not start when she tried playing softball at age 10. She never got past 1st base. But, track and cross country really clicked in high school. Kate found yoga and pilates in college, which was somehow almost 20 years ago. Long-distance running continued to be a passion, and Kate completed the Savannah Marathon and Iron Girl Triathlon in 2012. She kept practicing yoga, and especially relied on prenatal yoga during her pregnancies. A barre3 studio opened amazingly close to her home, and in 2014 she got hooked on the high intensity/low impact workout to regain her strength after delivering her children, and never stopped. Kate became a barre3 instructor in 2018 and has since taught around 200 classes at studios in the Atlanta area.
As Kate expanded her teaching, she decided to pursue her love of Yoga as well by obtaining a 200-hour certification. During this time, she fell in love with the idea of bringing yoga to not just adults, but to kids as well, and completed additional training in Children’s Yoga. She thinks yoga gives us tools to live a calmer, more enjoyable life, and knows there are lots of us emerging from a pandemic who could benefit from the peace that yoga brings.
Kate worked in publishing, marketing, and digital communications for 11 years in New York City and Atlanta for organizations such as People Magazine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Her most challenging and rewarding role has been ‘Mom’ to Jack and Louise. She lives in Decatur, GA with her husband, kids, cats, and many unfinished knitting projects.
Desirée Nathanson
Desirée comes to the world of yoga by way of dance. She began her formal dance training at the age of four at Florida Ballet Arts in Sarasota and continued through her discovery of dance teams in high school. From there, she went on to dance for the University of Florida Gators Dazzlers dance team where she performed all over the country, including the 2000 Men's Basketball Final Four.
(She may or may not still be bitter about losing to Michigan State.) Following her four years at UF, Desirée broke into the professional world of dance as an ‘A-Town’ dancer for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. Desirée currently serves as an official trainer for the ATL Hawks Dancers.
Desirée earned her Masters of Science (M.S.) in Health Sciences with a specialization in Nutrition from Georgia State University and has since earned the title dietetic technician, registered (DTR). She is a certified personal trainer, group exercise instructor, and registered yoga teacher having completed her yoga teacher training at Yoga Collective in Atlanta, GA. Desiree is also a certified prenatal and postpartum fitness coach and became her own client in 2020, giving birth to her first child at the age of 40 and then here second child at the age of 41.
Desirée calls herself the compassionate personal trainer and hopes to show people that fitness and movement should not be used as a punishment, rather something that is enjoyable!
In Desiree’s classes you can expect a light-hearted approach to practice, offered at a mindfully slower pace. Her attention to alignment, as well as her passion for maintaining a body positive space will keep you encouraged and engaged. Oh, and her students should always be prepared for a nerdy joke or two.
Amy Anderson
Amy first discovered the physical benefits of yoga in 2004. But it was in 2010, when she found herself closing a difficult chapter of her life, that she discovered yoga for emotional healing. That was when she knew yoga would be a part of her life forever.
Amy dedicated herself to take a year to go inward, dig deep, and find restoration. She was determined to attract the love and life she knew existed for her. Step one was learning to love herself. She committed to take herself on a weekly date night every Friday. It always started with a Hatha yoga class at a local yoga studio in Carrboro NC, led by instructor/owner Ti Harmony.
He had a warm style that both soothed and strengthened her. Next came sushi and a movie at home with her beloved orange tabby cat, Jimmy (a tuna sashimi guy).
In Aug 2011, Amy took a three month sabbatical from her job with a Fortune 500 healthcare company. She fulfilled a long time dream come true, and went to Spain, where she blogged about her travels. She hiked 100 miles of the Camino de Santiago, attended language school, and made new friends from all over the world.
The freedom she enjoyed in Spain inspired her to pursue her passions. In 2012, Amy left her nearly 10 year corporate career and completed a 200 hour yoga teacher training immersion at Asheville Yoga Center. After obtaining her 200 hour YTT, Amy taught Vinyasa, all levels, and restorative yoga.
In 2015, Amy returned to the healthcare industry in marketing. Due to long days in the office, Amy’s yoga practice sometimes took place between meetings, in an empty cubicle across the aisle. When COVID led to an overwhelming workload, she turned to mindfulness and yoga to reduce stress. When there was no time to step on the mat, yoga had a way of meeting Amy right where she was.
By 2021, Amy left her position in healthcare marketing to reconnect with her family and pursue freelance writing. But the years of long hours and job stress left Amy with persistent TMJ, neck, and shoulder issues. Amy worked with a Physical Therapist for exercises to relieve her pain. At home, Amy adapted these exercises for her yoga practice. The notable improvements in her neck and shoulder pain inspired Amy to return to teaching yoga.
Amy weaves into her unassuming teaching style, the essence of her life experiences:
If you fall or mess up – get up and start again
Show up – even if that means doing what you can, when you can
Listen to your body – Make your practice your own
Now a wife and late-in-life mom of two young children, Amy relies on her yoga practice for strength, energy, and centeredness. She can be found most days vacuuming crumbs out of her backseat and dwelling in gratitude for the family and love she believed in all those years ago.
BECKY SHANKS
Becky Shanks is a super-sensitive human who is passionate about sharing her gifts with the world for the purposes of empowerment, embodiment, and healing. Becky lives in Atlanta with one senior kitty, two growing kittens, and a 30-year old African grey parrot named George. She is a healing artist, student of the stars, and explorer of cosmic consciousness; heavily focused on balancing light and dark, conscious and unconscious, masculine and feminine -- the magical state of mind known as THETA. Becky makes a living facilitating quantum healing sessions, singing crystal alchemy bowls, creating sacred space.
Over 10 years ago, Becky used clinical hypnotherapy to quit smoking cigarettes. Upon returning to full, waking consciousness, she thought to herself, “Hmmm… I could do that!,” and never smoked again. In June 2013, Becky used hypnosis to release binge drinking, recognized she wanted to help people, and decided train in hypnotherapy. Six months later, she began studying hypnosis and regression therapy, then opened her hypnotic healing practice, Presents of Mind. Becky started studying Reiki later that year, and quickly realized the Japanese energy healing practice is completely hypnotic.
In early 2016, Becky began practicing Delores Cannon’s Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique, past life regression, theta healing. At the same time, crystal singing alchemy bowls literally started coming to her. Becky could sense the bowls had everything to do with her evolving practice, and also had no clue what that was…. She instantly fell in love with a Celestite singing bowl and began exploring how tone, frequency, sound, vibration, metaphysical properties and intention of crystals; how singing alchemy bowls could effortlessly relax people into deepened, hypnotic states of mind (theta), activate emotion, and liberate stuck energy. Becky has been hosting alchemical sound meditations in, and around Atlanta, ever since.
Becky is a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Reiki Master, and Sound Alchemist currently studying Bioacoustics and Sound Alchemy with pioneering Ani Williams; Embodied Astrology with Galactic Priestess, Emily Trinkaus; Archetypal and Holotropic Astrology with astrologer Renn Butler; Energy Astrology with Dr. Lea Imsiragic. Becky facilitates a process whereby, in applying inherent, creative potential of mind and energy, humans are empowered to heal themselves; it is her purpose and joy to liberate stinky energy, love shadows into the light, guide humans into the here and now. When Becky isn’t practicing hypnosis, playing crystal bowls, studying starstuff, she is likely singing mantra and contemplating the birth of the Universe. Becky loves animals, travel, trees, all things crystalline, as well as reading 12ish books at one time. She also enjoys live music, singing, dancing, one-on-one time with close friends and beloveds.
Jenn Cook
Jenn started teaching yoga in 2012 after taking her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training under Neda Draupadi Honarvar at Tough Love Yoga. She soon added a certification in Thai Yoga Bodywork & Stretching, a 300 hour YTT with Gina Minyard, Reiki, and prenatal yoga training with Amani Murray & Oh Baby! Fitness. A perpetual student, Jenn is also a certified Breath Coach. Her numerous trainings in the Tarot, the chakra system, as well as exposure to
Ayurveda and Craniosacral Therapy gives dynamic inspiration for her offerings and classes. Jenn has a zest for life that drives her to keep learning and growing.
Jenn also owns Drea James Jewelry featuring one of a kind and limited edition designs, you’ll often see her rocking some of her stunning pieces in class (and if you love those pieces just offer to buy them off of her, she’s cool like that). With a interest in jewelry and yoga it’s no surprise that Jenn loves creating mala necklaces and leading mala making classes too!
From Jenn you can expect smiles and sweat – or at least that is what her husband Michael says. Jenn loves to help her students build strength so he got the sweat part right! With a focus on alignment and playfulness, Jenn will offer ample space to explore and reflect. . . while she has you doing core work.
Jenn is obsessed with her dogs, loves to travel, and to spend time with family and friends.
Katie May
Although she had taken yoga classes in the past, Katie did not truly discover her passion for yoga until 2014 when her husband suffered a spinal cord injury and they started taking classes together as a part of his recovery. She quickly fell in love with the physical benefits of strength and flexibility that came with the practice.
But she soon began to understand and appreciate the deeper mental and emotional benefits yoga offered and this is when her yoga journey truly started.
Eager to learn more and deepen her practice, Katie completed her 200 hour Yoga Teaching Training with Mandy Roberts and Shari Fox at FORM Yoga.
Katie’s approach to teaching is alignment based and precise, with a healthy dose of play and fun. In addition to playing with inversions and arm balances, she loves the moving meditation aspect of vinyasa flow classes and will offer plenty of opportunity to move, breathe and challenge yourself on the mat.
When she is not at the studio, Katie loves to read, visit new breweries with her husband and snuggle with her 2 dogs.
Kat Jones
Kat is a yoga teacher, a small business owner, animal lover, and new grandma! Family and community are most important to her and she loves building connection through her work, both on and off the mat. After taking a class at her local YMCA in 2008, she was immediately hooked and quickly found a studio to cultivate her practice. Kat started to spend more and more time in the studio, working at the check in desk, volunteering for events, getting involved in any way she could. About a year in, the owner of the studio asked if she had ever considered YTT, and suggested she sign up the the upcoming training. The thought of being in front of a class leading a practice terrified her, so it was an easy “no thanks’. After a few conversations she decided to give it a go, knowing there was no pressure to teach.
Fun fact, she was offered a spot on the schedule and started teaching before she even graduated, and hasn’t looked back. She has since assisted with YTT’s, and has been a mentor for students going through the process. Beyond her initial training, Kat has experience and training across a wide range of populations, ages, abilities and settings. Kat has taught Baby and me, Toddler and me classes, she has worked with neurodivergent children, older folks and chair yoga, and just before the world shut down, she was teaching people suffering from Traumatic Brain Injuries and Spinal Cord Injuries at the Shepherd Center.
Through the years Kat has continued to learn and grow through yoga. What she loves most is the flow of the practice and the way way it connects her to herself, something she didn’t realize was missing. Kat’s favorite class to teach is a strong, but accessible for all, vinyasa flow, with plenty of time to wind down and settle in for a deep Savasana. Kat is also a Level 2 Reiki practitioner, and loves to work with sound so you may experience some singing bowls, bells and chimes at the end of practice.
Through teaching Kat hopes to build a deeper connection to Self, and community. All in all, Kat always invites you to show up as you are, and enjoy your practice.
Kate Wright
Kate has been a yoga practitioner on and off since high school, but became more committed in college as she began to connect spiritually with the process and experienced more profound personal growth through consistency. She began her teaching journey in 2018 at REI in Atlanta for the outdoor schools program and completed her RYT-200 training at Asheville Yoga Center in January of 2020. Kate sees yoga as a practice of eternal discovery of self. It's the perfect compliment to every other physical activity or sport, honing sensitivity and proprioception, exercising both discipline and release. But more meaningfully, it's a way of living. The philosophy of yoga guides one to their
truest form—uncovering one’s intrinsic nature, becoming one’s own healer, which is both empowering and humbling.
Off the mat, Kate is an avid outdoors enthusiast, roller skater, and musical performer. She can’t wait to help you nourish and grow your practice.
Rebecca Moulton
Rebecca wandered into her first yoga class in Midtown. What she didn’t know, the studio was just downwind from Krispy Kreme. Coincidentally, the red light came on every morning during savasana, and the room filled with the warm aroma of freshly glazed donuts. She knew it was meant to be.
Fast forward, and her practice led her to the FORM family. Since then, it has changed, ebbed and flowed, on and off the mat, many times over through all her seasons of life. It was her own experience of receiving an Autoimmune diagnosis while going through a divorce, that profoundly changed things.
Channing Hixon
Meet Channing, or Cookie, to those who get to really vibe with her. With over 9 years of experience teaching Yoga nationally in studios, with corporations, events, and brands, Channing is a wealth of knowledge across many styles of Yoga and populations of people. She was certified by the Yoga Alliance Tough Love Yoga School in Atlanta, Georgia in the style of Alignment-based Hatha Yoga in 2014; then went on to educate in the styles of Pranakriya Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Y12SR (Yoga for The 12 Steps of Recovery), Mindfulness Meditation, and Yoga,
Social Justice & Community Building.
She creates well-organized, intentional, and playful sequencing that caters to the wonderful diversity of individuals who seek her guidance.
She’s currently based out of Atlanta, GA, but is available for travel nationally and internationally, and offers a variety of online and in-person group and/or private coaching.
Alright, you’ve made it this far. Therefore you’ve earned the right to call Channing, “Cookie” now! Congrats!
Cookie believes we hold the power to our own healing and happiness, to our own learning and progress. All the tools we need are already within us; it’s just a matter of understanding and accessing each tool and diligently practicing how to use it so it works proficiently on an individual level. So, no one-size-fits-all approach here! You’ll discover what works best for YOU. Also, expect her corny jokes to lighten any strenuous work you might be doing. That’s called finding ease in the effort.
Alexandra Carvalho
Alexandra has been a dedicated yoga practitioner since she stepped into her first hatha class back in 2012. She quickly observed the deep soul awareness and love that would come from her practice. She fell immediately in love with embodiment and the transformative benefits it inspired. Alexandra went on to study alignment-based Hatha yoga and over the years, explored various forms of embodiment such as vinyasa, tantra, pilates, and physical therapy. Her journey has landed her passionately in the sweet and gentle practice of restorative yoga. Her favorite part of her personal practice these days is the opportunity to land in a space of gentleness and comfort of her own creation.
She hopes to support her Form students in carving out their own safe space, inspiring surrender, rejuvenation, and deep listening. She believes it is from this necessary place of rest and calibration that we can approach our inner and outer world with renewed clarity, in alignment with our souls’ deepest truths, and in pursuit of deeply meaningful and satisfying lives.
Alexandra is currently a Women Gender & Sexuality Studies student at GSU and aims to pursue a masters degree in social work in the coming year.
Madison Best
Madison Best is an E-RYT 500 who first started yoga after graduating college when she was feeling a bit lost. After that first class, she knew she would continue with it for the rest of her life. For Madison, yoga was more than just physical exercise. It was a means of empowerment through outward expression and inner awareness. It helped her reconnect to herself through honesty, self-reflection, sometimes struggle, but above all, love.
She dedicated herself to her practice and received her 200 Hour Certification in 2014 with Gina Minyard.
Madison shares her passion for alignment and anatomy in her classes, creating a safe space for connecting with your mind/body/spirit, moving from a place of strength, and pushing past boundaries with a bit of playfulness. She will always be a student first and foremost. She continued her studies with Noah Mazé and Rocky Heron, completing her 500 Hour Certification in 2017. She hopes to help her students find the empowerment within themselves that yoga has provided for her.
Leyla Christopher
Leyla’s classes are intention-focused and inspirational. While her voice will soothe you, she will challenge you to explore on your mat, and she will certainly empower you. Inspired by her own yogic journey, Leyla’s flows and playlists vary, as do the illuminating intentions she offers. You can expect the option for hands on adjustments, easy to understand cuing, and encouraging words in every class. In addition to teaching and practicing yoga, Leyla is an intuitive energetic healer and a spiritual advisor. She is a Reiki Master as well as certified in other energetic healing modalities as well as inner child
practices.
She’s been fortunate enough to study for months at a time with Shamans and Sages around the world. Being massively curious about the brain, body, and soul connection, Leyla dedicated the last 3 years to deepening her understanding of trauma, the brain, and energetic body. Helping others to connect and heal their wounded aspects and live more embodied and joyful lives is one of her greatest loves.
Leyla has thousands of hours dedicated to yoga, advanced training, and subtle energy studies. She has advanced training in Vinyasa, Restorative, Yin and Facia Release, Dynamic and Energetic Yin, Yoga Nidra, Sequencing, Alignment & Adjustments, and Trauma. She began studying with shamans in 1997 and started teaching Yoga in 2016.
Misty McClain
Misty found yoga shortly after recovering from an Anterior Cervical Spinal Fusion. After suffering from chronic pain for more than 3 years that left her feeling weak both mentally and physically, she came to yoga for the physical benefits hoping to relieve pain and gain back strength. As her body became healthier and stronger, she soon discovered that her yoga mat was where she found a mind body connection and self-awareness. Inspired to take her practice further and share this experience with people of every age, she enrolled in a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training and additionally a 95-hour Kids Yoga Teacher Training as well.