2026 Instructor Lineup
At Three Rivers Yoga Fest, our instructors are the heartbeat of the day. Each one brings years of practice, deep training, and a genuine love for sharing yoga and mindfulness with our community. You’ll experience a range of classes for every body and every level—guided by teachers who are here to support your flow, your growth, and your joy.
Tanaya Larsen
Tanaya Larsen is a 500-hour registered yoga instructor with more than 14 years of teaching experience, sharing her love of yoga and exploratory movement with students of all backgrounds. As the owner of SpringStone Yoga in Rome, she offers thoughtfully crafted classes that blend creative flow with mindful, inspiring messages. Tanaya believes yoga is the perfect complement to a busy life, supporting students in finding peace, balance, and steady breath amid daily demands. Her teaching encourages practitioners to move with curiosity, presence, and a deeper awareness of their inner landscape.
Join her for Beyond the Horizon Flow, a practice created to gently push you past your familiar horizon. Students should feel confident in traditional yoga poses.
Melissa Lerner
Melissa is a co-founder, Mind-Body-Spirit Coach, and experienced 550-RYT with over 15 years of dedicated practice. She guides movement as meditation, helping students cultivate deep self-awareness and inner steadiness through intentional, embodied flow. Her teaching emphasizes wholeness and alignment, offering space for students to reconnect with their mind, body, and breath. With a warm and grounded approach, Melissa creates environments that feel supportive, expansive, and deeply nourishing.
Look for her class, Bend & Snap, a playful fusion of grounding yoga and expressive, movie-inspired movement designed for every body.
Chandra Sosebee
Chandra is an E-RYT 200, RYT 500, and YACEP instructor who completed her training at Etowah Valley Yoga in 2016. She weaves together hatha yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, primal movement, and dance to support holistic healing, balance, and self-discovery. With a background in psychology, herbalism, Reiki, and Thai bodywork, Chandra teaches through a grounded and multidimensional lens. She specializes in helping students of all ages and abilities feel empowered, capable, and confident in their bodies.
Try Tribal Yoga, a vibrant fusion of yoga, primal movement, and expressive free-flow designed to help you let go and have fun.
Tricia Wright
Tricia began teaching yoga in 2010 and has always been drawn to the community and connection that grow naturally through the practice. She teaches with passion, compassion, and a touch of humor to cultivate a welcoming, nonjudgmental environment where students feel supported and encouraged. Her classes emphasize empowerment and self-confidence, helping students feel strong on the mat and in their daily lives. With warmth and approachability, Tricia creates space for students of all levels to show up authentically and enjoy the practice.
You can join her for Happy Hippies, a playful, uplifting flow designed to spark joy and celebrate movement.
Radha Rose & Josh Klein
Radha Rose and Josh Klein are the co-founders of Chant Southeast, a growing regional collective dedicated to mantra, music, and community connection. Together, they have led hundreds of events including Kirtan, mantra sound baths, cacao ceremonies, and song circles, bringing vibrational practices to diverse communities since 2019. Their approach blends devotion, joy, and accessibility, creating an atmosphere where sound becomes a bridge to shared presence and unity. Radha and Josh believe in the power of voice and rhythm to dissolve barriers and open the heart.
Experience their offering in Ecstatic Kirtan, an energizing, music-driven ceremony that invites chanting, movement, and collective uplift.
Aimee Cline
Aimee is a hairstylist and yoga instructor at Etowah Valley Yoga who brings breath, presence, and inner awareness into everything she does. Yoga has taught her to honor and appreciate her body in every season, inspiring her to help others cultivate that same sense of acceptance. Her classes center on listening to the body’s internal signals and trusting sensation as a path toward clarity and emotional balance. Through her intuitive and encouraging style, Aimee creates space for students to reconnect with themselves from the inside out.
You don't want to miss her session, Feeling Our Way, a breath-centered exploration of sensation, emotion, and inner guidance.
Jana Rife
Jana Rife, E-RYT 500, is the founder of Hanalei SUP Yoga and Hanalei Bath, blending yoga, paddleboarding, and aromatherapy into holistic, nature-inspired experiences. With certifications in SUP Yoga, aromatherapy, and aromatic medicine, she brings expertise, creativity, and deep reverence for the natural world into every offering. Her teaching emphasizes mindful movement, breath awareness, and sensory connection, guiding students toward balance, serenity, and embodied presence. With over a decade of teaching experience, Jana’s classes invite students to soften, surrender, and reconnect with their inner landscape.
Her session, Yin & Aromatics, offers a sensory journey pairing stillness with essential oil blends for deep emotional and energetic restoration.
Jesse Mills Organ
Jesse is a certified acrobatic arts instructor and yoga teacher whose background in collegiate cheerleading sparked a lifelong passion for movement, strength, and mindful physical training. He later founded TumblingYogi.com, offering specialized instruction in tumbling, inversions, and acrobatic foundations for students around the world. Jesse’s teaching blends technical precision with body awareness, empowering students to build confidence and skill through progressive drills and functional conditioning. He believes deeply in the mind-body connection and the power of consistent, intentional practice.
You’ll see this approach in Handstands 101, a structured yet supportive introduction to inversions, alignment, and playful strength.
Allie Jaffe
Allie brings a lighthearted, exploratory, and encouraging energy to her classes, helping students make meaningful connections between their practice and their everyday lives. Her teaching integrates Katonah principles, embodied insight, and accessible alignment techniques that empower students to observe how they move, breathe, and think. She creates a playful yet grounded environment where repetition becomes ritual, self-awareness grows naturally, and each pose becomes a doorway to curiosity. Allie’s classes invite students to show up authentically and explore their own evolving relationship with practice.
This spirit comes alive in Find Your Joy, a Katonah-inspired blend of alignment, metaphor, and mindful pacing designed for all levels.
Lynn Rousseau
Lynn has been practicing yoga for over a decade and brings a deeply intuitive, heart-centered approach to embodied healing. As a Certified Thai Yoga Bodywork Practitioner and Master-Level Reiki Practitioner, she blends ancient wisdom with modern mindfulness to support nervous system regulation and holistic well-being. Lynn’s background in tai chi, meditation, and mindful movement enriches her teaching with a sense of grounded presence and compassionate awareness. Her offerings encourage participants to slow down, soften into connection, and rediscover spaciousness within themselves.
Join her for Intro to Thai Bodywork, an accessible partner experience that teaches supportive touch, assisted stretching, and compassionate connection.
Emily Weak
Emily teaches fun, accessible classes designed to help students feel more ease in both body and mind. With decades-long experience as a yoga student and training in yin, nidra, prenatal yoga, and more, she brings a thoughtful, welcoming approach to all her offerings. Emily values yoga as a practice of deep attentiveness and non-judgment, encouraging students to meet themselves with curiosity and kindness. Her classes offer space to breathe, settle, and reconnect with the quieter layers of awareness.
Her approach unfolds beautifully in The Power of Pausing, a yin-inspired practice that weaves poetry, stillness, and mindful presence.
Jessica Otieno
Jessica is the founder of Many Paths Wellness, where she integrates yoga, subtle energy work, and holistic healing to support deep transformation. With over a decade of experience and a background in Hatha, Kundalini, and Vinyasa, she weaves breath, movement, and awareness into practices that awaken inner vitality. Her teaching bridges science and spirituality, blending energy anatomy, kriya-based sequences, and mindful somatic work. Jessica guides with a trauma-informed, heart-centered approach that empowers students to reconnect with their purpose and personal expansion.
Her work comes to life in Emerge & Expand, a Kundalini-inspired flow designed to clear stagnation, heighten energy, and elevate the entire system.
Kristi Wood
Kristi teaches accessible, strength-building vinyasa designed to meet students exactly where they are, regardless of experience or mobility. Her approach blends steady, intentional flow with creative prop work that transforms challenging shapes into supportive, empowering options for every body. She is passionate about helping students build confidence through functional movement, aligned foundations, and choices that honor their individual needs. She creates a practice environment where students feel capable, seen, and encouraged to explore at their own pace.
You can experience this accessibility-centered approach in Prop-Powered Vinyasa, a dynamic flow that uses blocks and straps to support strength, stability, and spacious movement.
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Jeff Lidke
Jeff teaches through a thoughtful blend of classical yoga, philosophy, and contemplative practice, inviting students to deepen their connection to body, breath, and awareness. His approach emphasizes alignment, spacious pacing, and the quiet intelligence that emerges when movement and mindfulness meet. With decades of experience studying yoga traditions and meditation, Jeff guides students with clarity, warmth, and intellectual grounding. His classes offer a reflective, steady container where individuals can explore inner balance and embodied presence.
Join Jeff & John for Intentional Hatha Yoga, a grounded practice designed to cultivate steadiness, reflection, and mindful embodiment.
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John Reiners
John teaches with a grounded, contemplative approach that blends traditional hatha yoga with mindful breath awareness. His classes emphasize slow, intentional movement that helps students cultivate presence, steadiness, and inner clarity. Rooted in years of personal practice and meditation study, John encourages students to explore yoga as both a physical discipline and a pathway to mental spaciousness. He creates a calm, supportive environment where practitioners of all levels can settle into themselves and explore movement with purpose.
You can experience his teaching in Intentional Hatha Yoga, a steady, meditative practice centered on breath, alignment, and mindful attention.
Gayle Monk
Gayle teaches a slow-paced, alignment-focused Hatha practice designed to help students move with intention and breath. Her approach emphasizes mindful transitions, steady pacing, and accessible sequencing that supports a wide range of practitioners. She creates a warm, grounded environment where students can explore movement safely and comfortably at their own pace. With a focus on presence and simplicity, Gayle’s classes invite students to settle into their bodies and deepen awareness.
Experience her approach in Slow Flow, a gentle full-body practice rooted in breath and alignment.
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Lynne Jacobs
Lynne offers a warm, non-competitive space for somatic exploration, mindful movement, and embodied self-inquiry. Drawing on over two decades of experience in yoga, anatomy, bodywork, Vipassana meditation, and somatic awareness, she teaches through an integrative and deeply attuned lens. Her approach emphasizes sustainable practice, nervous system support, and cultivating inner wisdom through sensory and subtle-body awareness. As a certified Yoga Therapist and founder of Integrative Somatic Yoga, Lynne guides students toward clarity, compassion, and whole-person wellness.
You can experience Lynne's teaching in The Senses as a Gateway to Self-Inquiry, a gentle practice using sensation and awareness as pathways inward.
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Shannon Kennedy-Newby
Shannon brings years of Ashtanga and Hatha study to her teaching, offering clear, accessible instruction rooted in foundational principles. She is skilled at helping students adapt poses to their own bodies and circumstances, emphasizing sustainability, intention, and the “aim of the asana.” Shannon’s classes blend technical precision with ease, creating a supportive environment where students can build confidence and deepen understanding. Her teaching helps practitioners develop a practice that meets them exactly where they are.
Join her for The Yoga Toolbox, a functional exploration of essential yoga tools designed to strengthen and support your practice.
Leigh Anne Neal
Leigh Anne began practicing yoga in 2004 because she was too young to feel so terrible, and the practice completely disrupted her life plan by creating space for new choices and possibilities. An RYT 500-trained teacher, she identifies as a Southern, queer, radical artist who lives on purpose through her teaching and creative work. Her classes draw from the traditional style of Vinyasa Krama—thoughtfully crafted sequences that step in a particular way toward a particular direction—woven seamlessly with her worldview, storytelling, and activism.
Join Storytelling Yoga, a dynamic Hatha practice exploring creation myths through yoga philosophy, ancient texts, and embodied narrative.
Malia Behr
Malia’s lifelong passion is exploring the innate ways the body can heal itself and sustain optimal well-being. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Health and Exercise Science, she traveled to India in 2013 to complete her 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification and train as an Ayurvedic Practitioner. She continued her studies by becoming a Women’s Health Coach and Licensed Massage Therapist, specializing in women’s bodywork informed by Ayurveda, yoga, herbalism, and Arvigo® Maya Abdominal Massage. Malia’s teaching and therapeutic work empower students and clients to understand their unique constitution and cultivate practices that support vitality.
She brings this wisdom forward in Intro to Ayurveda, a lecture-style class that explores self-healing, doshas, and ancient principles for radiant health.
Rachel Friedman
Rachel Friedman is a transformative guide who empowers individuals to share their soul’s work through yoga, somatics, and the dismantling of outdated personal narratives. With over 25 years in the wellness world, she facilitates deep, authentic experiences that support healing, unshaming, and personal evolution. Rachel holds a Master’s in Social Work along with certifications in yoga and personal training, helping teachers, coaches, and practitioners elevate their craft. Her work emphasizes nervous system awareness, embodied empowerment, and the courage to step into one’s authentic leadership.
Her method comes alive in SomaPWR, a hands-on workshop blending breathwork, somatic movement, and nervous system-informed fitness training.
Rita Lusk
Rita began her yoga journey at the recommendation of her healthcare provider to relieve back pain, and she quickly discovered the therapeutic benefits of the mind-body connection, where her yoga journey began at the recommendation of her healthcare provider to relieve back pain, where she quickly discovered the therapeutic benefits of the mind-body connection and became a devoted student. Although she initially pursued teacher training to deepen her personal practice, Rita soon realized how much she loved sharing yoga with others and now offers private sessions, studio classes, workshops, and retreats. She completed her 500-hour training at Etowah Valley Yoga under the guidance of Sue Hopkins, E-RYT and C-IAYT, and continues to study and refine her skills through ongoing education.
Her approach is beautifully expressed in Yoga Nidra, a restorative blend of guided rest, vibrational cleansing, and gentle movement.