Michelle McComb, LCPC, E-RYT, Co-Founder/Owner of Village Yoga, is a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor, Registered Yoga Teacher, and a Licensed Clinical Counselor.  She has been studying and practicing yoga since 1994 and became certified to teach in 2001. Inspired to share this transformative practice with others, she taught in diverse communities and in mental health settings for 8 years before opening Village Yoga in 2009. She began the practice of yoga while attending graduate school as a way of reducing stress, and maintaining focus. She was drawn to the approach of Kripalu Yoga due to it’s meditative quality, emphasis on non-striving  and on the cultivation of compassionate self-awareness as a tool for personal growth and transformation. As her yoga practice deepened, she was naturally drawn to meditation and the study of Buddhism and, after years of practice and teaching, now sees yoga and meditation as an integrated path. Michelle has been co-leading yoga and meditation retreats at Aryaloka Buddhist Center in New Market, NH, since 2001. (www.aryaloka.org) She is currently studying with Sarah Powers, Founder of the Insight Yoga Institute, a program that offers advanced studies to yoga teachers interested in the integration of yoga, Buddhism and psychology as a vehicle to deepen insight. The styles of yoga studied are Yin (receptive), and Yang (active/vinyasa), with emphasis on functional anatomy, alignment, and on the cultivation of mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion. Michelle creates a peaceful, supportive, and meditative atmosphere in her classes encouraging students to focus inward with open-hearted awareness, while maintaining mindfulness of alignment, breath and sensation.  In addition to teaching yoga and meditation, Michelle maintains a private psychotherapy practice using an integrative and mindfulness-based approach. She is dedicated to the practice and teaching of non-judgment, self-study and compassion both on and off the mat.

Elizabeth Spahr, RYT, Co-Founder/Owner of Village Yoga is a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor and a Registered Yoga Teacher. She discovered yoga  in 1994. Though originally looking to relax and become more flexible, she soon realized that yoga encompassed so much more and it became integral to her life.  Becoming a yoga teacher was a natural progression. Elizabeth has learned many lessons from yoga which she enjoys sharing with others. Foremost is attention to the breath and noticing the difference between tension and relaxation in the body. She continues to attend workshops and trainings in Kripalu Yoga, as well as different aspects of yoga to include Yoga Therapy with Gary Kraftsow, The Essential Low Back Program with Robin Rothenberg, and Thai Yoga Massage with Kam Thye Chow. Elizabeth enjoys working with a wide variety of students, both in group classes and privately on their own personal discovery of yoga. When not teaching yoga, Elizabeth works as an independent professional gardener and is a University of Maine Master Gardener.

Susan Mirisola, RYT, first came to yoga in her early 20's. A meditator since 1976, Susan long intended to return to yoga, but it was not until her move to Kennebunk in 1994 that she began taking classes in earnest at Nataraja School of Yoga in Kennebunk. In May of 2007, Susan became a certified teacher through a 200-hour training offered by June Locklin, master teacher and owner of Nataraja School of Yoga. Yoga re-surfaced at a critical time for Susan, one marked by personal transition, physical challenges and deep loss for which asana practice helped her cope and remain balanced. It is, however, the enrichment of the inner, spiritual life that yoga invites that grounds Susan and for which she is deeply grateful. Susan introduces yoga to the community with free classes offered at the library where she is employed, as well through a weekly class at Nataraja School of Yoga. Susan is registered with the Yoga Alliance and is trained in the Iyengar-style of yoga.

Manuela Lorenzi-Kayser, RYT, discovered yoga as a teenager after reading Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi.  Since then she established a daily meditation routine and a physical practice initially based on the Sivananda tradition. It wasn't until she discovered Iyengar yoga that she began a more serious study of the asanas. After finishing a 10-month yoga teacher training in 2004, Manuela began to teach Iyengar inspired All Levels and Intermediate classes, as well as Vinyasa Flow yoga, which gave her more freedom to incorporate elements of her dance background. She also teaches Yin yoga, a slow and meditative form of asana practice, which deeply stretches the connective tissue. She continues her exploration of yoga with regular workshops with advanced teachers like Patricia Walden, Doug Keller, and Paul Grilley and with the study of the spiritual literature. www.yogaMaloka.com

Claire Doheny's yoga practice and teaching is inspired by a blend of yoga traditions.  In the mid-1970's, she practiced yoga at the Meditation Center in Minneapolis, where she was inspired by the teachings of Swami Veda and the Himalayan Institute.  She studied the science of Ayurveda at the Kripalu Institute for Yoga and Health, received her 200-hour certification, in 2008, through The Yoga of Energy Flow with Daniel Orlansky, and earned the 500-hour RYT certification in 2011, through Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT) at The Prana Studio with Hannelore Moebius.  She is also a certified Lakshmi Voekler Chair Yoga Teacher.  A recent challenge with a back injury has deepened her trust in the gentle approach to yoga.  The intention of her teaching is to guide her students inward, allowing them to find "their own yoga" by experiencing the stillness, deep relaxation and awareness that connects them with their essential nature and facilitates healing and growth.