Team
Meet the team behind the Three Rivers Yoga Festival—creatives who bring our vision, energy, and community spirit to life.

Tanaya Larsen
Tanaya Larsen is a 500-hour registered yoga instructor with over 14 years of teaching experience and a co-founder of the festival. She is passionate about sharing her love for yoga and exploratory movement with her students. Tanaya is the owner of SpringStone Yoga in Rome. Her classes are known for their creative flow with mindful messages woven throughout. She believes that yoga is the best complement to a busy life, and its practice will help individuals find peace and balance in both mind and body.

Melissa Lerner
As a co-founder, Melissa is passionate about creating a space for true wholeness.Melissa is a dedicated Mind-Body-Spirit Coach and an experienced 550-RYT yoga teacher. Drawing on over 15 years of committed practice, she guides sessions that are moving meditations, fostering profound self-awareness and cultivating a sense of inner peace. Melissa warmly invites you to connect deeply with your whole self—mind, body, and breath—and discover the joy and equanimity that comes from a unified practice.

Kristi Wood
Kristi first came to yoga to stay flexible during CrossFit, not knowing it would later become her path to healing after back surgery and through life with fibromyalgia. Hot yoga helped her find strength, relief, and connection again—a journey she now shares with her students at Etowah Valley Yoga. She teaches Hot Vinyasa, blending breath, movement, and mindfulness to create a supportive, healing space. Kristi lives in Cartersville with her husband, Brice, and their dog Lucy.

Chris Slicker
Chris Slicker is a 200hr E-RYT and teaches at Springstone Yoga in Rome, GA. She currently teaches yin yoga, and has taught various other styles over her 12 years of teaching. She believes in the power of yoga to meet people where they are and help them find balance on and off the mat. Chris also enjoys riding horses, cooking, and making music with friends.

Kelly Sanker
Kelly started yoga just after graduating from college when a friend started teaching Kundalini. She loved the way her body felt both physically and mentally after practicing. Kelly received her RYT 200 certificate from her original Kundalini teacher in Atlanta in 2020. The training focused on Vinyasa, Ashtanga, and Kundalini. She also has a trauma yoga certificate and experience teaching teenagers and those struggling with addiction. Kelly's classes focus on alignment with emphasis on the bandhas and breath.

Lisa Lawley
Lisa Lawley is a yoga teacher and intuitive energy guide who helps women reconnect with their bodies, soften into stillness, and restore their energy through life’s transitions. A 500-RYT with over 500 hours of teaching experience, she specializes in gentle, accessible yoga grounded in the body’s innate wisdom. Lisa blends energy awareness, somatic practices, and intuitive tools to support emotional balance and nervous system regulation. She owns and teaches at Turquoise Sanctuary, as well as at Etowah Valley Yoga and Aligned Living Studios. Lisa facilitates the online Sanctuary Women’s Circle and the in-person Sanctuary in the Wild gatherings—heart-centered spaces for reflection, renewal, and authentic connection. Learn more at www.turquoisesanctuary.com.

Tina Hudson
Bio coming soon!

Malia Behr
Malia’s passion has always been to explore the innate ways in which one can self-heal while embodying optimal health and well-being. She holds a B.S. in Health and Exercise Science from Colorado State University and, in 2013, traveled to India to complete her 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification and Ayurvedic Practitioner training, one of the world’s oldest healing systems.
In 2020, she became a Women’s Health Coach, and in 2022, she became a Licensed Massage Therapist. Malia specializes in specific bodywork for women and women’s healing, which incorporates her extensive studies of yoga, Arvigo* Maya Abdominal Massage (technique specifically for women’s health, fertility, and postpartum), herbalism, and Qigong.

Candice Morgan
Candice has been practicing yoga since 2008 and recently earned her 200-hour YTT. She teaches Hot Vinyasa Flow at Etowah Valley Yoga and also leads Pilates classes in the community focused on strength and alignment. Yoga has been a transformative pathway for Candice, helping her reconnect with her body and heal from trauma. Through her teaching, she shares her deep love for movement, mindfulness, and the power of inner peace with the world.



