2024 Teacher Lineup

At Three Rivers Yoga Fest, we have a team of experienced and certified yoga and meditation instructors. Our instructors are passionate about spreading the benefits of yoga and mindfulness to our community. They are dedicated to providing a variety of classes for all levels of ability and experience.

Melissa Lerner, Founder

Melissa Lerner is a 330-hour/26x2 plus RYT-200 Yoga Alliance certified instructor. Her practice and her instruction are designed to be intentional moving meditations that allow mind, body, and spirit to move, rest, and breathe together as one. Her fellow students and instructors have all been an inspiration in her desire to pass on a practice that allows and encourages body awareness and self-discovery of contentment, equanimity, and love.

Tanaya Larsen, Founder

Tanaya Larsen is a 500-hour registered yoga instructor with over 14 years of teaching experience. 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 compliment to a busy life, and its practice will help individuals find peace and balance in both mind and body.

Jeff Lidke

Jeffrey Lidke is professor of Asian religions and chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Berry College. He is also a tablā player and long-time exponent of Kirtan, the Indian yogic tradition of the chanting of sacred music. He first learned Kirtan from his yoga teacher, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, in 1984.

Liz Vanderhoff

Liz Vanderhoff is a yoga instructor with extensive experience working with diverse populations. She holds a 200-hour Yoga Alliance certification from All Life is Yoga, and training in restorative yoga and yoga for addiction recovery. She currently leads Dharma Project's yoga programs at Burruss Correctional Training Facility, Carver High School, and Refugee Women's Network. Liz is dedicated to creating safe, supportive spaces where people can freely express themselves and access the transformative power of yoga, regardless of their circumstances.

John Reiners

John certified as 200-hour yoga instructor under Sue Hopkins in 2008. He has taught yoga classes at the Rome YMCA since 2011, and he introduced meditation classes at the Y in 2018. John is known for bringing yoga and meditation wisdom to all ages.

Kelly Sanker

Kelly started yoga just after graduating 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.

Chandra Sosebee

Chandra is an E-RYT 200 and RYT 500 completed her training in 2016 at Etowah Valley Yoga. She loves to incorporate many forms of yoga and movement in her classes. Though a shoulder injury brought Chandra to yoga, she kept going back because she found so much more. Chandra holds a BS in Psychology, and is a certified herbalist, level 2 Reiki practitioner, and also practices Thai yoga. Chandra loves when someone realizes that no matter what age or physical capabilities one has, they can do yoga. If you can breathe, you can do yoga.

Lynne Jacobs

Lynne is an E-RYT 500 and certified IYAT Yoga Therapist. She is the founder of SpringStone Yoga in Rome and has developed her own somatic training for yoga teachers and other disciplines. Lynne has a talent for helping students feel nourished and renewed throughout her thoughtfully guided classes.

Kam Malone

Kam is a 200 hr yoga instructor at SpringStone Yoga, and he is the current conductor of the Three Rivers Community Choir in Rome. He also teaches yoga and offers Sound Immersions at Red Top Wellness Center twice a week in Cartersville.

Sarah DeFoor

Sarah is the founder of Yovana Yoga in Calhoun & Dalton. She is an E-RYT-500 with more than 1000 training hours. She has trained with some of the best teachers in the world and her goal is to train the best teachers in NW Georgia.

Sue Hopkins

Sue has been teaching yoga and yoga teachers in the North Georgia area since 1999. She opened Etowah Valley Yoga in 2002 and Yoga Etc in 2015. Although she has passed the torch to new owners she still teaches therapy classes and continuing education for yoga teachers.

Leigh Anne Neal

Leigh Anne began learning yoga in 2004 because she was too young to feel so terrible. In fact, yoga quite literally disrupted her life plan, creating space for new choices. An RYT 500 trained teacher, she identifies as a southern, queer, radical artist that lives on purpose through her teaching. Leigh Anne's classes are well crafted sequences in the traditional style of Vinyasa Krama which means to step in a certain way that leads in a certain direction and are consistently interwoven with her worldview and activism.

Jesse Mills Organ

Jesse, an Atlanta native, began his instruction career in competitive cheerleading, winning a national title with his collegiate team. He progressed from cheer instructor to developing a love for teaching tumbling and later expanded into the acrobatic arts. In 2019, Jesse became a 200-hour yoga instructor, specializing in Inversions & Vinyasa-style sequencing. Jesse believes in the power of calisthenics and mind-body connection, and enjoys sharing it in his classes.

Sharon Endress

Sharon discovered yoga as a way to recover from extreme sports and quickly became a devoted participant. Inspired by the mind-body connection emphasized by her mentor, she developed a deep interest in yoga philosophy and practices, which led her to study Sanskrit with a renowned scholar. This knowledge enabled Sharon to incorporate Sanskrit into her teachings, presenting to teacher training classes and helping students confidently read and pronounce asana names. Passionate about teaching yoga to all body types, Sharon ensures that every student feels welcomed and supported and will meet each student as they are.

Lydia Hawkins

Lydia was introduced to Ashtanga yoga in high school, drawing on her gymnastics background to maintain flexibility and strength. She pursued meditation and Vinyasa yoga courses in college while earning her undergrad in Psychology and Sociology, and completed her RYT-200 in 2015. Now an LCSW, Lydia provides psychotherapy to clients 11 and older. Her teaching style emphasizes alignment, Baptiste Power Yoga, and Vinyasa, encouraging self-exploration, emotional release, and self-acceptance to foster personal and community healing.

Lisa Lawley

Lisa Lawley is passionate about sharing her love for both yoga and Reiki. Her yoga journey began over 40 years ago when she discovered a yoga book in high school, and although her practice has had its ups and downs, yoga has become a cornerstone of her life. Lisa is an RYT-200 Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance and is currently pursuing an additional 300 hours of advanced training. She enjoys helping her students find pain-free movement, strength, and flexibility in a supportive group setting.

Kyra Buchanan

Kyra believes yoga can help anyone learn to carve out a safe space for themselves in this often unsafe feeling world. Her purpose in teaching is to make space for each student to begin a new conversation with his or her body, to breath and move together as a community, and ultimately, to heal from injuries, both physical and emotional that our bodies are holding onto. Scientifically speaking, her purpose is to help your nervous system step out of survival mode—fight/flight/freeze response— to a state of calm.

Kalie Waits

Kalie has been practicing group sound baths, Reiki, meditation, and vibrational bowl therapy for four years. She has owned her own studio for three years, focusing on personal and one-on-one sessions rather than group yoga. Katie conducts group sound baths at Yovana Yoga in Calhoun.

Aimee Cline

Aimee is a hair stylist yoga instructor who teaches yoga all day long to her clients in addition to teaching at Etowah Valley Yoga Studio every chance gets. The best thing about yoga for Aimee is the appreciation she has learned for her body no matter what size she is.

Emily Weak

Emily teaches flow, gentle, and other classes at Etowah Valley yoga. She first encountered yoga as a college freshman, and it has bloomed as a presence in her life for the last 28ish years. She values the opportunity to practice deep attentiveness and non-judgment. Emily is a librarian by profession and currently works as a consultant, relying on lessons learned during her decade of service in public libraries in California. Prior to becoming a librarian, she was variously: a circus student, a cheesemonger, and a grocery store manager.

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