CONTRIBUTORS

MEGAN ADAMS (SHE/HER)

Megan Adams is a certified health, life, and transformational coach trained in High Performance Habits and the founder of Ignite Joy Life-Coaching. Megan’s passion is empowering women to choose a life they love. No more “going through the motions” or being driven by “shoulds” when there is a world of possibilities waiting to be explored! With curiosity, intention, and a splash of fun, Megan helps you explore what your heart is yearning for — and then helps you get to work honoring that vision by nurturing your body, mind, and spirit.

DR. SARAH SHORE ANDERSON (SHE/HER)

Dr. Sarah Shore Anderson is the founder of ThriveRx Consulting, LLC. She designs clinical teams and strategies for novel, collaborative wellness solutions within health tech start-up companies. She utilizes her background in leadership, health coaching, managed care pharmacy, pharmaceutical outcomes, and global health and wellness engagement in the development of integrative, pharmacist-led services. Additionally, Dr. Anderson is an integrative pharmacist with the PharmToTable team where she offers functional medicine and health coaching services. With a Doctor of Pharmacy degree with an emphasis in leadership, Dr. Anderson is a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach and holistic herbalist.

INDU ARORA (SHE/HER)

Indu Arora considers herself a student for a lifetime. As a yoga and Ayurveda teacher, she shares her experiences from the last two decades across more than 50 cities worldwide. Her unique gift makes yoga and Ayurveda a practice, equally useful for a beginner as for a sincere seeker with a lifelong yoga journey. She is the author of Mudra: The Sacred Secret (2015), Yoga: Ancient Heritage, Tomorrow’s Vision (2005, 2019), and SOMA: 100 Heritage Recipes for Self-Care (e-book, 2020; updated hard copy, 2022). She lives in Minneapolis with her spouse.

LORI AUFDERHAR (SHE/HER)

Lori (Rehnelt) Aufderhar, business owner of Systems For Change, LLC, has a background in business management, accounting, and professional life success coaching. She holds Securities Series 6, 63 & 7 – MN A/L/H licenses, with a 25+ year track record of streamlining business processes, promoting healthy work environments and lifestyles. As author of Not It: An Approach to Life, Lori promotes yoga in her fitness chapter as part of a healthy lifestyle, especially as we age. She also contributed to the #1 best seller Summit To Retirement: Finding Success on your Financial Trek by Sean McDermott, with a chapter on Retirement Life Planning.

KRISTEN BROWN (SHE/HER)

Kristen Brown is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and energy hacker who charges up her clients by syncing up their body/mind/ spirit for work and life growth.

MEGHAN FOLEY (SHE/HER)

Meghan Foley is a local Minneapolisbased yoga therapist and Ayurvedic health counselor. She specializes in pelvic floor yoga therapy, leads Yin Yoga teacher training, and offers weekly group yoga classes at Up Yoga and Blooma. Her classes incorporate the ancient teachings of Ayurveda, along with a focus on precise alignment, while always leaving room for playfulness and lightheartedness. When Meghan isn’t teaching, you can find her in the kitchen, making homemade ghee and seasonal spice blends.

MEGHAN HATALLA (SHE/HER)

Meghan Hatalla is a body-positive Minnesota yoga instructor and life design writer.

MIRIAM HANSON (SHE/HER)

Raised on the saltless sea shores of vast Lake Superior, Miriam Hanson (E-RYT500, YACEP) grew up understanding how disturbances on the surface shift, coming and going, but stillness in the deep is constant. From twelve years building a bilingual K-12 school in the Caribbean to cave diving around the world, Miriam uses the tools of yoga to return her to that stillness. Back in Duluth now, Miriam is delighted to represent Svalja Yoga as director of operations, with extensive training in trauma-conscious yoga, Yin Yoga, & Adaptive Yoga (MindBody Solutions). She runs a Yin Yoga certificate training annually.

JULIE HILL (SHE/HER)

Founder, speaker, & yoga coach at Inspired Thinking, LLC, Julie Hill focuses on helping people imagine, dream, & transform their lives. She worked as a national sales trainer & recruiter in the beauty industry for over 25 years, with the majority of her career within the Aveda Network. Her passion for health and wellness led her to co-produce & co-host a radio show, Inspired Talk on Aging and Wellness.

ALINA HORNFELDT (SHE/HER)

Alina Hornfeldt is the marketing manager at Mastel’s Health Foods in Saint Paul. Passionate about the health and wellness industry for most of her life, Alina desires to create a home base for all community members to share knowledge and experiences. Named Vitamin Retailer of the Year in 2021, Mastel’s Health Foods’ mission is to provide a safe and welcoming environment in order to assist customers in achieving their health goals through education, guaranteed high-quality supplements, and natural products.

KOURTNEY JOHNSON, RD, LD (SHE/HER)

Kourtney Johnson is a registered dietitian who is passionate about sharing information related to intuitive eating. She is the owner and founder of Intuitively Nourished, through which she offers freelance writing and speaking services on a variety of nutrition topics. Originally from Rosemount, MN, she currently lives in Spain. In her free time she enjoys reading, traveling, baking and spending time with friends and family.

PAULA KECK (SHE/HER)

Paula has been teaching yoga for over 20 years, completing her 500-hour RTY certification in October 2021, specializing in SomaYoga. She is also a certified sound bath practitioner and meditation teacher. Living in Albany, Minnesota, she enjoys sharing the challenge, peace, and acceptance a yoga practice can bring to students across Central Minnesota. Along with her sister, Lila, they created Soul Sister Sound Baths and offer specialty sound experiences at events, retreats, and studios in the area. When she’s not on her mat, Paula enjoys time spent with family, her Goldendoodle, Sully, and her Siamese cat, Minx.

REEVE KLATT (SHE/HER) :

Reeve Klatt is a creative living in North Minneapolis. When she’s not writing, you can find Reeve playing with her cats, teaching yoga, or digging in her garden.

SHANTI KRISHNA (SHE/HER)

Shanti Krishna is a mother, actor, and voice artist turned devoted Kundalini yogini. She is passionate about empowering others to master their mind, body, and soul through yogic practice, meditation, and self-reflection so they may walk through this ever-evolving world with grace and love. She aims to inspire others to embody their authentic truth and flourish within unique expression and mastery of their path of purpose and divine destiny. Inspired by youth, Shanti works with those most in need of enlightened support and love, helping bring them to their brightest self through her organization, Earth’s Root.

MARY MCCALLUM (SHE/HER)

Mary McCallum is a Curvy Yoga, Accessible Yoga, and Yoga for All certified instructor passionate about making yoga accessible to everyone. Mary loves teaching how yoga can work for you and dispelling common yoga myths. Her goal is to create a fun, inclusive, supportive, and non-intimidating environment for all ages, sizes, and abilities.

DOMINIQUE MILLER (SHE/HER)

Dominique Miller is a Minnesota based author and artist and owner of ByNikcreations, a small art business. She works in a variety of mediums and expresses her creativity onto paper both through images and words. She loves spending time outdoors and these moments in nature are what inspires her in her work. In 2022 Dominique published her first poetry book, titled My Thoughts in a Bundle.

Contributors

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MARIE NUTTER (SHE/HER)

As a pediatric operating room nurse, author, yoga instructor, and owner of MNyoga LLC, Marie Nutter offers individual or group trauma-informed yoga and meditation classes to healthcare providers, first responders, and military members. She also provides in-service sessions to professional departments looking to address accumulated secondary trauma. In addition to helping her fellow frontline workers, Marie also teaches to the general public. Her everyday intention is to support each participant’s exploration in embodied choice, movement, and breath in a safe nonjudgmental space.

ALLISSA OBLER (SHE/HER)

Allissa Obler is the owner and founder of Mudita Wellness, and River Valley Yoga Festival. With over 25 years of personal practice, Allissa is a 200-hour RYT with specialty training in restorative yoga and meditation. Allissa is also certified as an AromaTouch essential oil practitioner and is proud to serve on the board of Stillwater Area Kiwanis Club and as an ambassador for the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce.

CARLY JEAN PUCH (SHE/HER)

Both student and teacher, Carly Jean Puch host’s the podcast Consciously Clueless, works as a conscious living coach, and guides folks through yoga - all in the hope to change the world together. She helps folks wanting to learn to be imperfectly sustainable and sustainably vegan. People are complicated, messy, and layered with identities and Carly loves embracing that. A meditation enthusiast, Carly sits in quietness every morning. She’s a gym rat, a yoga instructor, and a lover of blasting 90’s hip-hop at full volume.

TED ROSEEN (HE/HIM)

Ted (YogaTed) Roseen has been teaching yoga around the Twin Cities for over 20 years. He loves to teach. He also loves to travel. Roseen and his partner and crime, Sharon Picasso, have led retreats all over the world for the last 15 years (before it was cool). The retreats, just like his yoga, invite people to take their own journey, and to give in to “play.” If Roseen was a vegetable, he would be snap pea.

MICHELE RUSINKO (SHE/HER)

Michele Rusinko is a research professor at Gustavus Adolphus College, a certified Yoga for Cancer teacher, and Positive Psychology Coach. Building upon four decades of teaching dance and somatic sciences in higher education, her current research and writing explores the intersections of embodiment and researchbased evidence in Positive Psychology. Her specific focus is on resilience.

BALA SARDA (HE/HIM)

Bala Sarda is the founder and CEO of VAHDAM India, a digitally native, global wellness brand taking India’s finest teas, spices, herbs and superfoods to consumers across the world under a homegrown, ethical and sustainable brand, devoid of any middlemen. Bala started VAHDAM in 2015 at the age of 23 years. He comes with a lineage of over 85 years in tea and is the fourth-generation tea entrepreneur in his family to run a tea business. Bala decided to disrupt the 200 yearold-global-conventional supply chain of tea, and create a scalable global business and trusted brand with a vision to take the ‘Best of India’ to the world. VAHDAM is now India’s largest home-grown, premium teas and superfoods brand by revenue. It has been shipped to over 4 million consumers across 130 countries.

REBECCA SEBASTIAN (SHE/HER)

A long-time yoga teacher and 11-year yoga therapist, Rebecca Sebastian co-founded a yoga non-profit called The Quad Cities Yoga Foundation. She owns an accessible and inclusivity-focused yoga studio and apothecary in Davenport, Iowa, called Sunlight Yoga + Apothecary, and hosts the podcast Working In Yoga. A passionate writer on yoga, Rebecca participates and loves all things related to yoga and the yoga industry. She believes through writing and communication we can all lift each other up and share what lights us up with the world. If you want to get nerdy about the yoga and wellness industry, chat about the best tea blends, and deconstruct everything we thought we knew, she is your human.

KAMIE SLEGERS (SHE/HER)

Kamie Slegers is recognized throughout Minnesota as an accomplished advanced practitioner and wellness educator. She started teaching yoga in 1996 and began practicing Ayurvedic medicine in 2010, continuing her education as an Ayurvedic practitioner, yoga therapist, Maram therapist, craniosacral therapist, and lifestyle coach. Currently studying for her master’s of herbalism, Kamie manages the clinic at NE Wellness in Minneapolis. She is developing programs and workshops for hormonal balance, fertility, menopause, lifestyle changes and habits, sleep, nutrition, energy management, and others.

KELLY SMITH (SHE/HER)

Kelly Smith is a globally celebrated yoga and meditation teacher based in the Twin Cities. An E-RYT 500 and founder of Yoga For You, Kelly hosts the iTunes chart topping podcast Mindful in Minutes. Beside her podcast, Kelly is best known for her master trainings in meditation, restorative yoga, yoga nidra, and her yoga retreats as well as popup sound baths and meditation events in the Twin Cities.

ROISIN THOMPSON, L.AC. (SHE/HER)

Roisin Thompson is a licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist with a strong interest in both sports medicine and the body-spirit connection. Her decade spent as a competitive swimmer and her strong science background keep her fascinated with the workings of the human body while her personal health journey solidified her conviction that when the body is in its best balance, so are the heart and mind. You can find her at JADA Studios in Minneapolis for all your active (or not-so active) body’s needs!

MATTHEW TIFT (HE/HIM)

Matthew Tift is a yoga teacher and musician. He serves on the board of directors at onelove. yoga. He leads yoga and meditation classes at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, Williston Fitness Center, Minnetonka Community Education, Spirit of the Lake, corporate settings, prisons, and elsewhere. Matthew is an RYT-200 with a Ph.D. in musicology.

TRACY VACURA (SHE/HER)

Tracy Vacura spent decades teaching dance, which means she loves fully-embodied movement and also feels passionate about understanding anatomy and alignment. She enjoys working with people to center, find their true importance, and then magnify their own unique gifts in the world. You can find her teaching at Yoga Sanctuary, holding energy therapy sessions as a certified Healing Touch practitioner, or co-leading the Holistic Yoga Teacher Training & Personal Transformation program. Tracy’s teachers include Ben Vincent, Judith Lasater, and Tanya Boigenzahn at Devanadi. Tracy seeks healing and welcoming for all bodies.

DANIELLE VENTICINQUE (SHE/HER)

Danielle Venticinque is a health and wellness guru, an author and momprenuer|CEO. Amid the 2020 pandemic she founded Thrive Betterments personal growth jewelry and products. Her jewelry line was designed to empower women to establish 6 daily habits of prosperity and wellness focusing on positive mindset and goal attainment. The betterment bracelets are a stylish, wearable progress report that cultivates accountability and selfmanagement. Danielle thrives in Saint Paul, MN.

BETSY WEINER (SHE/HER)

A dedicated teacher, guide, and humble student for over 20 years, Betsy Weiner works and learns in the spaces of yoga, meditation, yoga nidra and spiritual life coaching. She believes we already have everything we need within, and each one of us is whole and complete exactly as we are. Betsy moonlights as a back-up singer in a cover band and thinks laughing might truly be the best medicine.

LAURA WILLENBRING (SHE/HER)

Laura Willenbring lives a life of curious fascination with the natural world, never without a book on hand or a question on her heart. A 500hr RYT and RPYT with thousands of hours of study and practice, she’s currently completing her Ayurvedic health counselor requirements. Along with yoga, Laura is a licensed and practicing integrated veterinarian focusing on traditional Chinese veterinary medicine, acupuncture, food therapy, herbal medicine, public health, and food safety. She recognizes the intersectionality of the human-animal bond, and the value of integrated practices for people as well as pets.

SARAH JANE WROBLEWSKI (SHE/HER)

Sarah Jane Wroblewski is the director of Panchamaya Yoga Therapy Clinic, a virtual and in-person clinic practicing yoga therapy as it evolved from the Viniyoga lineage. Panchamaya partnered with Nell Ruekl and Watershed Spa in 2022. Their missions particularly align to empower individuals to improve their health and live a life of wellness and connection. Watershed is a full-service spa and communal bath and offers a host of alternative modalities, including yoga therapy, in their modern, inclusive interpretation of a communal bathing and healing space.

LILLY ZABOROWSKI (SHE/HER)

Lilly Zaborowski owns and operates Hillman Retreat House along with her husband and two kids. They all live in south Minneapolis but have enjoyed spending many weekends at Hillman Retreat House working on various renovation projects. A lifelong learner, she’s completed yoga teacher training, reiki I and II training, and is currently learning more about plant medicine and herbalism. She’s actively decolonizing her worldview through both learning and practice, and is happy to connect with others who are doing the same.

AMY ZELLMER (SHE/HER)

Amy Zellmer is Editor-in chief of MN YOGA + LIfe Magazine and The Brain Health Magazine. Amy has a passion to spread the message that yoga is for every BODY, regardless of size or ability, and a mission to raise awareness about the devastating consequences of TBI. She has her 200RYT, and is certified in trauma-informed yoga, LoveYourBrain yoga, and Yoga For All. She is also a Reiki Master. In her free time, Amy enjoys road-tripping across the country visiting National Parks. +