Meet Your Yoga Teacher Trainers:
Joan Evans
Joan Murphy Evans is passionate about overall wellness and the desire to
help others of all ages and abilities increase their focus and balance. Joan
earned her Master’s Degree in Education (M.Ed.), is a Licensed
Educational Kinesiologist (L.E.K.), a Registered Yoga Instructor 200 (RYT
200) and a Certified Personal Trainer through the National Academy of
Sports Medicine (NASM-CPT). She is also a Physical Education Teacher
having previously been a Special Education Teacher and a certified Spin
Instructor. Joan is the owner of Shamrock Yoga Studio and Personal
Training where she helps to balance the central nervous system for optimal
brain integration to find your inner strength.
Joan resides in Massachusetts with her two beautiful teenage daughters,
supportive husband, and adorable dog Sophie.
Kim Ewan
Dalmiter Preet Kaur
Kim started practicing hot-set sequence yoga in 2004 and began teaching in 2006. She has loved every minute of this practice. Over the past 3-5 years, she has run into some health issues. She received a total hip replacement and later developed kidney stones. Both were no fun!
About 3 years ago, with a weak hip and inflamed kidneys, Kim walked into her first Kundalini Yoga and meditation class. Previously in her practice, she had experienced moments of bliss, but in just one Kundalini Yoga class she experienced everything she had read about yoga and meditation but had rarely experienced. She knew at that moment, she would practice Kundalini Yoga for the rest of her life.
The kriyas in Kundalini Yoga have helped strengthen her hip and soothe her kidney issues. The meditations have healed her, physically, mentally, and spiritually. She comes out of every class or sadhana feeling elevated, bright, and blissful. When Kundalini Yoga level 1 presented itself in her life, she jumped. These teachings were designed to be shared. This technology is essential to navigate The Hills and Valleys of this life.
Kim is honored to share them. She is blessed to have found this path. Sat Nam
Kelly Gaona
Kelly has been practicing yoga since 2011. With a background in social work, she was quickly drawn to the healing benefits of the practice. She completed her 200-hour training in 2014 and went on to complete her 300-hour at Dave’s Ashtanga Yoga in 2016 under the direction of her teacher, Cheryl Oliver.
Kelly enjoys teaching many different modalities of yoga across the valley, including private sessions and small groups. She is privileged and honored to contribute her time and experience to yoga teacher trainings as well.
Kelly’s love of travel led her into a partnership with a retreat business in which she helped establish, plan and host yoga retreats across the world. Kelly is most passionate about Ashtanga Yoga and has a daily practice in Ashtanga vinyasa. She is continually taking workshops and classes to improve her knowledge of yoga.
Julie Hoffman
Julie began studying yoga in 2002. Her teaching style is playful and inclusive. In addition to aerial yoga Julie has experience teaching prenatal, chair, yin, nidra, restorative and flow classes. She has completed 700-hours of yoga teacher training and will complete a yoga therapy program in 2024. Julie is passionate about making yoga accessible to persons of all ages and abilities. She believes that her purpose on this planet is to help others to heal. In her 200 hour YTT when asked where she planned on teaching Julie stated that she would be teaching yoga in prison. When asked what drove her to teach yoga in prison, she honestly answers that she has no recollection of making that conscious decision and that most likely the universe chose it for her.
In Julie’s personal life she is the matriarch of a large, blended family with three grown children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She loves cattle dogs and enjoys hiking and walking with them. She meditates daily and has been a vegetarian most of her life. Of course she practices yoga several times each week! Prior to teaching yoga Julie worked as a nurse, and a beadwork artist. When Julie isn't teaching yoga you will find her reading Tarot. She is a perpetual student and is always studying something, or several somethings. Finally, Julie loves to travel and has a goal of making it to all the continents, including Antarctica.w classes. She is currently completing her studies in a 500-hour yoga therapy program.
Noell Hyman
Noell came to yoga while recovering from a dance injury and found that the practice gave her many of the rewards that dancing gave her, but in a way that felt more healing and whole. Later, with the guidance and suggestion of a physical therapist, she used yoga to deal with some chronic breathing, nerve, and spine problems.
Now she incorporates her knowledge and experience from dance training and physical therapy, along with her specialized yoga training in how to help chronic pain and conditions, to guide students through a balanced yoga practice that feels healing, strengthening, and meditative, and where appropriate, challenging and artful.
Noell infuses her passion for harnessing the power of breath and spinal movement to soothe the central nervous system and support a stronger, healthier spine; for relieving joint tightness in order to free the joints for deeper work; and for exploring the various paths our bodies can take as we grow into strengthening postures.
Cheryl Oliver
Cheryl Oliver, E-RYT500, has been teaching Sanskrit, vedic chant and yoga philosophy since 2004, and yoga asana since 1998. Cheryl’s teaching style is warm and compassionate, enthusiastic and patient. Every class is experiential (and fun!) as Cheryl gently encourages students out of their comfort zone toward practice, understanding and transformation. Cheryl is blessed to count her late husband, Dave Oliver, Sonia Nelson, Menaka Desikachar and Nicolai Bachman among her many teachers. She is one of only 30 Certified Vedic Chant Teachers in North America, and has passed the GCSE Examination in Sanskrit offered by Cambridge University. She has completed five trips to India to study ashtanga vinyasa with Rolf & Marci Naujokat, and Sanskrit & vedic chant at Sannidhi of Krishnamacarya Yoga (SKY) and the Krishnamacarya Yoga Mandiram (KYM). Cheryl owns Authentic Yoga Teacher Training in Scottsdale, AZ, offering Yoga Alliance Registered 200, 300 & 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Training programs.
Josh Rothman
Josh Rothman is a master-level (500-hour) certified yoga instructor. Sports-related injuries from playing many years of competitive soccer led him to the physical practice of yoga. He has been teaching professionally since 2005 in yoga studios, gyms, universities, community centers, and corporate settings. His love of asana is the experience of how balancing and restorative it is for mind and body.
Josh gears his classes to a holistic approach in exploring and coping with past injuries (and, as best as possible, the prevention of future ones), along with an exploration of the connections between the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual.
Josh has participated in various teacher training programs (Inner Vision Yoga, SWIHA) and hosts workshops on yoga for athletes, arm-balances, and inversions, as well as all-levels yoga flow classes set to popular music themes, and has hosted yoga retreats. He has studied with Paulie Zink, Paul Grilley, Tias Little, Makunda Stiles, among others.
Having a diverse background in the liberal arts, Josh has completed post-graduate work in justice studies, political philosophy, and religious studies. As a jnana yogi, he is drawn to any intellectual pursuit that sheds light upon the true self. In January 2022, he earned his certification as a mind/body health nutrition coach. It is his passion and pleasure to share holistic modalities for peace, health, and happiness with you.
Larissa Rzemienski
Larissa Rzemienski began her yoga journey to heal following the loss of her spouse at a young age. As she dove deeper into her yoga practice, she decided to embark on the journey to become a certified yoga teacher. In 2015 she completed her 200-hour teacher training through LifePower in Tempe, Arizona. In 2019, she completed her 300-hour teacher training through Urban Yoga in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition, Larissa has certifications in Yoga Nidra, Yin Yoga, and as a Sound Practitioner. Larissa has also led several yoga teacher training programs.
Larissa creates yoga offerings, yoga sequences, and classes that are unique and specialized for all her clients. She weaves in creativity through all her classes and loves learning more about yoga philosophy and yoga sutras. Larissa has also served as the local lululemon store ambassador for the past several years and has offered large community events for the lululemon community.
Outside of teaching yoga, Larissa is also a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified School Guidance Counselor. She is a telehealth counselor and teaches college courses in counseling and mental health.
Kary Sinkule
Kary has dedicated the last 30 years of her life to health, wellness, and education, and has been teaching and practicing yoga for over 25 years. Kary spent 20 years in Public Education, which she has since retired from to follow her passion for sharing yoga through her Yoga Delivery Company, Yoga’s Arc, LLC. As Founder and CEO, she loves to share the vision of Yoga’s Arc by "Providing Yoga for Everyone, Anywhere, Anytime”.
Kary's new passion is to mentor new Yoga Teachers while they begin their journey in their yoga teaching careers. Stay tuned as she is working on starting her own Yoga's Arc Teacher Training School, hoping to start in the Fall.
Kary will always have the passion to teach yoga even though she has taken a back seat, giving all of our Yoga's Arc Instructors a chance to shine. She will always encourage her students and has the ability to work with a variety of levels in a variety of classes. She truly cares and it shows in her ability to help her students and teachers feel comfortable in their yoga journeys while being challenged at the same time.
Maggie Steill
Maggie discovered yoga while living and working as a hairstylist in San Diego. She felt yoga was a great way to destress after a long day on her feet. After a few months of practicing at home, she picked up a part-time job at a local gym and was asked to go through a Body Flow training consisting of yoga, Pilates, and tai chi and still teaches this style of movement 16 years later.
After moving back home to Indiana she realized that the yoga aspect of this class was calling her. Maggie enrolled in a Yoga Teacher Training at Cityoga, in Indianapolis, IN, with the intention to deepen her practice and become a more knowledgeable teacher. After graduating with 200 hrs, Maggie began teaching yoga immediately She started working at Community Yoga, in West Lafayette, Indiana. She was able to learn from her experiences and her fellow teachers while continuing to grow. Since then, Maggie has been working in studios, teaching a variety of styles; Yin, Vinyasa, Vin/Yin, Hatha, Slow Flow, etc. Maggie is now currently in her 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training Program. She is so excited to keep learning and growing while teaching to a variety of students at different levels
Maggie gave birth to her first son, in 2011. Her family of three moved to Phoenix in 2012. She began teaching classes such as; prenatal and yin, beginning to slow down her practice and learn new styles of teaching. Maggie had her second son in 2013 and felt that yoga really helped her as a mother. She developed patience and found herself able to be more present with her children. Maggie is truly passionate about yoga. She loves helping people reach their goals, whatever they may be.
Lori Yearwood
Lori has landed in Phoenix through the route of Canadian origins and a lengthy Los Angeles base. She has flowed her way through an eclectic teacher life of dance instruction/choreography, academic teaching (including working with several school-age actors on film productions), Lagree Fitness coaching, and yoga. Lori completed her 200-hour RYT through LifePower and is registered with Yoga Alliance.
Lori believes your yoga practice should be an experience and that it is so much bigger than the poses. Having moved several times, raising her own children, teaching babies through seniors, and riding through her own storms in life.
Lori is ready to meet you where you are at. You will feel all of her passions come through in her Yoga’s Arc classes.