Meet The Teachers

JUST A FEW OF THE TEACHER OF 2019, MORE TO COME!

We are blessed once again to have assembled a wonderful collective of teachers and artists from the Unites States and Canada. They are beautiful and inspiring in their diversity, but what really matters is what they have in common, big hearts, enthusiasm, caring for others and the land, creativity and a love for teaching and learning.

Brietta Leader
Sandpoint, ID
Brietta is a teacher of dance in its many forms of healing, prayer, play and conditioning. She grew up as a dancer and discovered her path as a healing artist 16 years ago, while traveling in Asia. The combination of Brietta’s devotion to the dance, her gypsy spirit, family roots & passion to support herself and others into an embodied conscious awakening has birthed her own trademarked movement form called WildCore™. Her years of study as a conscious dance leader and mentor for Soul Motion® began to blend with 15 years as a Nia® Teacher, Massage Therapist, Shamanic student, devoted yogi, pranic healer, reiki practitioner, apprentice to mother-nature, energy enthusiast & performer. All of which contributed to WildCore’s development. Brietta loves to inspire self-healing through movement and offers classes, workshops & co-creative retreats and performances to her hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho, surrounding areas and internationally.

Rob & Melissa Lundsgaard
Seattle, WA
Rob and Melissa are kirtan singers and yoga teachers devoted to sharing their love of kirtan and Bhakti yoga wherever they go. The husband and wife duo is based in Seattle, but music and yoga keep them on the move, leading kirtans, workshops and retreats all over the world. They have shared their music at numerous yoga festivals in the US, including Bhakti Fest, Prana Fest, Samsara Fest and the Northwest Yoga Feast.

Their music has been described as “heart-opening bliss,” “joyful medicine,” and “love and devotion materialized!” Whether you’re new to kirtan or a life long devotee, Rob and Melissa create a fun, accessible and sacred space...the perfect setting for a joy-filled celebration of the divine!.

Holly Walker
Sandpoint, ID
Holly Walker is a painter and art teacher living in her hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho. Holly works within the community on collaborative art projects, bridging the gap between students, artists, organizations, and community members. She also teaches intuitive painting classes and workshops to adults, empowering them to express their unique creative visions. Holly’s personal work is currently focused on ethereal abstract painting, rooted in nature. She sells paintings, greeting cards, and prints through her backyard business, the Red Shed Studio. Holly grew up on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille and the meadows of the Selkirk Mountains where she now raises her two children.

Jody Pignolet
Standpoint, Idaho
Jody Pignolet is a "present moment" geek. Whether it's through her love of teaching yoga, her passion for singing and dancing or her joy of facilitating Authentic Relating games, she is inspired by the magic found in the present. She has been tracking that moment for decades through her spiritual path, through movement and through finding ways to expand her self expression.
She, along with Michael Welp, will be leading games and experiences in Authentic Relating throughout the weekend. Authentic Relating is the practice of being as present as one is able with others who are doing the same and then getting to experiencing the power, truth, vulnerability, and all of the other gems that arise in one's self and in others.

Cami Coté
Missoula, MO
Cami Coté is a kirtan artist, yoga teacher, reiki master and vibrational sound healer who is much appreciated for her soulful voice, radiant spirit, inspiring chants and capacity to facilitate healing. She was introduced to kirtan in 2007 and in the years that followed learned to play the harmonium and share this passion, falling invariably deeply in love with Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion. She travels regularly throughout the Pacific Northwest introducing people through concerts and courses to her specializations. Her chants interweave Sanskrit mantras with their English translations, some are unison meditations, some are call-and-response chants and all are paths to a deeper awareness of Source.

Drea Phoenix
Nelson, BC
Drea Pheonix has been practicing yoga for over 20 years. She completed her Teacher Training at the Byron Bay Yoga Center in Australia in 2006 and has been teaching ever since. Drea's classes can be described as dynamic and challenging yet joyful and nurturing. She teaches Vinyasa Flow, Prenatal and Yin Yoga. She is passionate about yoga and sharing her knowledge to empower others' mind, body and soul. Drea is a certified 500 HR Yoga Teacher and is Registered with Yoga Alliance.

Erin Wert
Spokane, WA
My exploration into yoga began in 2001 at Harmony Yoga Spokane. The serenity and joy I experienced after practice instantly drew me in and the Iyengar-based focus on alignment melded with yogic philosophy set a strong foundation for my blossoming practice. In 2012, I completed my first 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training and began teaching immediately. I have since completed a Baptiste-inspired Power Yoga training and in 2016 completed Mark Stephens 300-hour Teacher Training in Santa Cruz, CA. What I most enjoy about yoga are the continued insights I receive about myself, my relationship to others and my growing connection to spirit. Before diving into yoga I had very little understanding of spiritual matters. The practice has given me faith in myself and my place in the Universe as a spiritual being. That, along with the amazing physical benefits keep me motivated on this path. Teaching is just a continuation of the practice for me. Getting outside of myself, sharing my love of the practice and seeing others become lit up by the practice are just a few of the reasons I love teaching. I have a deeper sense of purpose and self-confidence in teaching yoga than any other “job” I have held.

Ara Lyman
Spokane, WA
Ara's initial experience with yoga was very physical. In 2002 after experiencing painful tendonitis in her hamstrings, she sought yoga as relief. Within her first month of regular practice, she knew yoga would always be a part of her life. She began her practice in 2002 as a student of Alison Rubin at Harmony Yoga in Spokane. Alison’s teachings in the Iyengar style continue to influence her instruction. Adherence to precision, finding a healthy sustainable way of accessing the postures and respect for the roots and philosophy of yoga. Her yoga practice and teachings now encompass much more than just the physical body, but she understands that creating a deep connection to the physical self can be a gateway to connecting to the Sat Nam, True You.

Ara loves to practice and teach many styles of yoga and is currently combining Vinyasa Krama, Kundalini Yoga Kriya and sound healing in “Kundalini Flow” as inspired by her teacher Kia Miller. She has taught the Bikram/Ghosh, Core 26 style since 2010 and holds great respect for the grounding, healing, therapeutic nature of that series while bringing in her own knowledge of physical alignment, the energy body and breath, to allow for the greatest benefits to her students. In Ara's classes, expect intuitively themed weekly sequences, safe physical challenge, to sing mantra, to sweat, to smile, to find your natural rhythm, to connect deeply with your breath in varied pranayama exercises, and to relax into a sound bath savasana with himalayan bowls or the gong.

Ara is now the proud owner of The Spokane Yoga Shala. She is a 200E-RYT through Yoga Alliance. She has received a 200hr certification through The Yoga School of Spokane, a 300hr certification through Yarrow Hot Yoga and Wellness Studio, a private Baptiste training with Rhea Slichter and a 200hr Radiant Body Kundalini certification from Kia Miller. Ara has also completed a level 1 sound healing certification in Himalayan singing bowls with Geoffrey Torkington. She is also an accomplished artist with an AFA from Spokane Falls community College. She is a mother of three beautiful boys.

Gypsy Divas
Sandpoint, ID
Gypsy Diva's Dance Troupe offers a blend of unique styles, costumes, music and expression that touches their audience at the level of soul. Their most recent themes have been connected to inspirations from the elements, embodying water, earth, fire and ‘Air’. Gypsy Diva's is made up of local women dancers from Sandpoint and have held a core of 6 with a rotating 3-5 women, and usually includes a mother-to-be. Having been a troupe for over 9 years, the Diva's have built loving relationships and a devotion to this ancient art of dance. The Director Brietta Leader co-choreographs with Hallie Owen and Titina VanHoorn and views being a member of a dance troupe as another gateway for expansion, calling it a 'spiritual practice'. The Gypsy Diva's are delighted to be back at NW Yoga Feast sharing their most recent work.