About Be Balanced Yoga & Wellness Studio

Our mission is to connect and enrich the Angola community through yoga classes, community service, and true, authentic relationships.

At Be Balanced Yoga, we believe the key to living our most authentic life is to balance our day-to-day duties as humans with our health and wellness.  When we feel balanced, we tend to be happier and more content. 

Our vision is to make BeBalanced Yoga & Wellness a valued part of the Angola Community. 

We hire the best teachers we can find.  Our teachers are all RYT certified from a registered Yoga Alliance school.  Our STFs (Student-Teacher Friends) know that when they join a class here, they are getting the best instruction with their safety in mind. 

Our Teachers

My yoga journey began accidentally in 2007. At that time I was training to run half marathons. One day after a run I stumbled upon a fitness channel airing a yoga routine. My hamstrings were tight so I followed along. What started out as stretching, quickly became a new obsession once I realized how improved my breathing was while running.

In 2008 I got certified and taught classes for a year before straying off the yogi path. Then in 2013, I connected with Shakti Redding and completed her 200HR Teacher Training Program.

Yoga means so much more to me now than it did back in 2007. Before it was simply a means of stretching and now it’s the vehicle that calms and shows me what’s possible.
The word yoga to me means balance. I love the way I feel after I practice and it’s my wish to bring that feeling to others. I truly believe yoga has transformed my life.

My vision is to continue offering this practice to the Angola community well into the future. I grew up in this community and raised my children here. This is my life and I love it with every passing moment.
Because yoga to me means ‘balance,’ I named the studio Be Balanced Yoga & Wellness. After all, that is what we all strive for, right? To balance self care with the needs of life, work, family.

My intention as a studio owner and yoga instructor is to offer creative yoga sequences paired with mindfulness so that my students leave the studio feeling balanced. I simply want to show them it’s ok to feel, to allow feelings to come to the surface so that they can really see and love their own true nature. It’s in that space we find our balance.

I started working withwith Be Balanced June 2, 2021.  I love working at studio  and getting to know and practice with our students. 

Yoga for me is more than just a job or a class. Yoga is a lifestyle of peace and kindness to all things. Knowing how to control yourself when you cannot control the world around you, and finding peace within that.  I am a firm believer that yoga comes in all shapes and sizes, for all people. It does not look or feel just one way.

During my free time I enjoy hiking, playing with my dogs, and all things yoga!

I’m happy to be here and to help you on your yoga journey!

Yoga found me.

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When the doctor told me the news, I fell apart. I had no symptoms and no family history. During the next six months of treatment, I found out that my cancer center offered free yoga to patients battling cancer. It was in those yoga sessions, that I found peace and calmness. It was the only place that was anxiety-free. The more I practiced the better that I felt.

After my treatments, I found a great studio by my home, that I had never noticed before, and began to practice like crazy. I fell in love with the way it made me feel – strong, empowered, and free of worry.

I feel like yoga saved my life and gave me something that had been missing in my life.

As my body recovered from chemo treatments, yoga just made me stronger. That was when I decided to get certified to share my love of yoga with others. I have been teaching yoga for 2.5 years and got my teacher’s training at Toledo Yoga. I love seeing our students get stronger and fall in love with the practice of yoga as I did. I like sharing my love of yoga and inspiring others to try – even when it feels too hard or impossible. 

I’ve been practicing yoga, meditation, and pranayama (breathwork) for over 10 years and teaching for 6 years. I’ve accumulated over 1,000 teaching hours since becoming certified.

My yoga style is Hatha with lots of variety! I get bored easily with the same practice and am always looking for inspiration for new moves.

When writing classes, I am inspired by my students and my teachers. Yoga and yoga philosophy have given light to my dream of helping to guide others towards finding health and peace within their bodies. But remember, yoga is accumulative, if you don’t work it won’t work!

I first turned to yoga looking to relieve stress. My mom had just been diagnosed with cancer and I needed to find a way to release stress and gather strength to help my mom through her battle. Yoga was the answer.

I quickly discovered that my yoga mat was a place to find a sense of contentment, self-awareness, and mind-body connection.

Five years into my mom’s battle with cancer, I decided to enroll in a 200-hour yoga teacher training so that I could share the practice I love with others. I completed my training in 2020. My favorite yoga styles to teach are Vinyasa and Restorative. However, I love a good Hot Yoga or Kundalini practice!

Having taught in one capacity or another for over 20 years (ballet, Pilates, fitness ball, Piloxing), I enjoy meeting students of all ages and backgrounds. My husband Chris and I live in Angola. We have 4 children and numerous pets.

I began doing yoga in 2011. It started out as a low-impact, relaxing hour for me.
While it still is that, it is now so much more. Yoga can be anything you want it to be…a low impact workout, a cardio workout, an hour of total relaxation, meditation, a spiritual
journey…the options are endless!

I took my yoga training in Monclova, Ohio, at Still Waters Yoga. I took the training to
learn, not to teach. I actually had no intention to teach. My yoga training was definitely God-driven. I felt God’s guiding hand and protection many times throughout my training. I am grateful for my training because it helped me to deepen my faith.
Then in 2016 I started teaching and haven’t looked back!

There is a type of yoga for everyone. Yoga is for everybody and every body.