Our Awesome Professional Instructors

I began my yoga journey in 1975 with Richard Hittleman's  book "28 Days of Yoga". Taking the book to live in the bush with my husband, I established a daily practice of yoga and meditation  that has served me to this day. After moving to Fairbanks I became  involved in several Mind-Body disciplines. I studied the art of  Shudokan and Gosoke Ryu karate for 22 years and hold a 6th degree  blackbelt in Shudokan karate and 3rd degree blackbelt in Gosoke Ryu. I enjoyed Tai Chi for about 13 years and currently try to find time to practice the ancient art of Qigong and Tai Chi.  I returned to  pursuing yoga passionately, instructing since 2003.  I  taught yoga classes at the International Karate Association back in the day,  as a private instructor, for seniors in the OLLI  program and pre-pandemic conducted weekly classes at the Senior Center and at the Fairbanks Correctional Center. Co-founder and now owner of Heart Stream Yoga, I teach prenatal, beginner and senior/gentle classes. My teacher training has come about primarily through Sundari's Anusara  teacher trainings and Lynn Minton. I am grateful for the influence of  Susanne Lyle and Teri Vierick. My certification process was  through White Lotus Yoga with Ganga White and Tracey Rich.  I am an RYT  200, YCEP, and E-RYT 200 with Yoga Alliance. I bring to my classes a love of alignment, the beauty of a quiet center, and the joy of inner discovery.

I took my first yoga class as a Freshman at the University of Memphis, almost 20 years ago now.  I didn't even have a mat, but from the first movements, I felt a sense of "Ah!  This, this is what I've been looking for!" - and I've been practicing ever since.  As I've moved through the years, I've grown to really love and understand the reason behind calling yoga a practice.  As the stages of our lives move forward, our needs, experiences and relationships change - but a yoga practice can be the thread throughout it all.  It has been that for me, a thread binding me together, through my changes.  The physical practice of yoga gives me joy, strength, resiliency and flexibility in my body, and the spiritual practice of yoga gives me these same gifts, so that I can access them as a wife, as a mother, as a teacher, as a friend, as someone moving through the layers of themselves in order to connect with that which connects us all.  My initial introductions to yoga were through Hatha and Iyengar classes in my hometown of Memphis, TN.  In 2015, I trained under yoga teacher and OT Lindsey Lieneck of Yogapeutics, in Austin, TX, studying mindfulness techniques, therapeutic tools and methods of sensory integration for teaching children, utilizing yoga hammocks for an aerial yoga practice beneficial to both bodies and brains.  In 2016, I received my certification through the Golden Heart School of Yoga, here in Fairbanks, as a 200 hour RYT.  In 2018, I received valuable training in Trauma Informed Yoga under Jody Hassel.  That same year I also received the gift of training with renowned instructor Lynne Minton.  Today I find great joy in teaching to families and kids, at Heart Stream Yoga, and in different school settings in Fairbanks.  I teach an adult class each week in my awesome community of Two Rivers as well.  In all of my classes, my goal is to safely offer a practice that will give my students the knowledge and confidence to begin or deepen their own home practice.   

I have been in the fitness industry for over 25 years, with certifications in teaching aerobic dance, Zumba, and personal training. In 2003, I received my certification in Pilates Reformer (pilates equipments), and Mat, which enabled me to help open and run a Pilates Studio at the Jewish Community Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. I continued my work there as a Pilates Instructor until I and my beloved Jeff relocated to Fairbanks, in Dec 2015. Becoming employed at Downtown Pilates in October 2016 allowed me to continue my love for instructing Pilates. I am currently working for Alaska Brain & Spine in the Pilates department, which Downtown Pilates merged with in June 2019. My hobbies are dancing, organic cooking, second-hand shopping and gardening. 

I am in the pursuit of a natural and sustainable way of living. I provide opportunities for people to learn about and experience essential oils in my yoga classes, over tea or coffee, and through online education.

Life provides challenges to assist us in seeking new solutions, even if the lived experience of this idea seems a little different. If there is something you can do, to allow some of the weight of transition to be shifted, or some tension can be released, would you do it? Yoga can assist us as we learn to adapt to life now, in the new normal. Frequently, I find a common thread, or an intention, that lends to the use of particular essential oils that I offer in practice.I am certified through the Golden Heart School of Yoga, RYT 200 and teach Vinyasa Flow Yoga with a focus on the breath, alignment within one’s own body, and a balance between work and stretch with options for modification to advance or draw back. See you on the mat.

Bio to come soon

Gabriel "JaiRam" Witte is a practicing Yogi in the Shambhavananda Yoga Tradition. He teaches Hatha Yoga as well as Mediation and Mindfulness.

His yoga journey started fifteen years ago taking classes with Marsha at Heart Stream Yoga and his practice has been evolving ever since. From living and working at an Ashram immersed in the yogic lifestyle, to applying the principles of Vedantic philosophy to the obstacles of modern daily life, Gabe is deeply committed to the unfolding process of self realization through Yoga. 

With an emphasis on conscious movement, rooting into the present moment, and cultivating a sense of expansion and openness in the Heart, Gabe's classes meet the student where they are and aspire to convey the true essence of Yoga-that deep down we are all Satchitananda-Being, Consciousness, and Bliss. Namaste.

Bio to come soon

Bio to come soon