Teachers

I began practicing yoga,11 yrs ago while searching for low-back pain relief. I fell in love with the stillness and peace I found within myself, which I rarely felt in my day to day life, and was inspired to learn more. I began my 200HR yoga teacher training in 2014, became certified in the Dynamic Yoga Method and registered with Yoga Alliance in 2015.

The same year, I continued my education with the Eat, Breathe, Thrive program. This is a yoga-based approached to mindful eating, emotional resilience and body confidence.

I began teaching classes in traditional yoga spaces but noticed a lack of diversity and accessibility in most yoga studios and class offerings, especially for students in marginalized communities, including my own, the LGBTQIA+ community.

I realized creating a safe space for vulnerable communities starts with teachers who have lived their same life experiences and I wanted to learn more about a trauma-informed approach to teaching. I trained with Amber Karnes of Body Positive Yoga & Accessible Yoga. I became a Certified Accessible Yoga teacher in June 2019.

I completed my 300HR yoga teacher training this year(2020)with Jules Mitchell MS, CMT,ERYT500. Jules' methods help achieve ease in movement through deliberate loading. Her teachings integrate numerous modalities, balancing the somatic aspects of yoga with the most current exercise science. I am looking forward to incorporating all that I have learned about biomechanics and pain science into my approach to teaching.   

I opened The Bee's Knees Yoga Studio because I wanted to bring more diversity to yoga spaces and create a space that was welcoming and inclusive. I wanted to make yoga more accessible to all students, regardless of ability or background. I believe every individual is unique and teaching yoga should be a collaborative, creative process between teacher and student. When I am not at the studio, I am at home with my wife, Angel, our son, Jackson, and 3 goofy rescue pups.

I spent the majority of the first yoga class I ever attended in tears. Thankfully the lighting was low.  The tears were because that mean girl in my head was berating me with one insulting thought after another. I'm still not entirely sure why I went back but I'm very glad I did. At some point I found that during my yoga practice I had the presence of mind to not only hear that internal mean girl quite clearly, but I also had the ability to speak back to her. I stopped inviting her to my yoga practice. 

My yoga practice became  a tool for acceptance in my life. I made peace with life issues, medical issues, surgeries and recoveries, weight fluctuations, etc. on the mat. I began to see myself as strong. Now the words on repeat in my head were, "I can do hard things.".

One of those hard things was to become a yoga teacher. I completed my 200 hour training with Jane's House of Well Being in 2013 and an additional 300 hours of training with Circle Yoga Shala in 2015.

Some come to yoga to find their strength and to find joy in effort. Others wish to explore mobility and balance. Some are inviting mindfulness or are opening to healing, acceptance, or peace. As a teacher, my intention is to create a space in which students might find what they need. 

I still tell myself I can do hard things. Now I've also learned to question whether the things must be hard.

-Dannielle teaches Slow Flow Yoga & Yoga For All Bodies at BKY Studio. She is also available for private/solo sessions. Please call the studio for more information. 

What's a fellow to do?  Leaving the military after twenty years in great physical shape, I found that Martial Arts tended to fill the fitness void but one day after an annual physical, my doctor called to tell me I had a heart condition and could not continue practicing at the intense levels Martial Arts demanded. Working for a global credit card company as a data center network engineer, things tend to get quite stressful on any given day. Without martial arts to "release" that tension, I was feeling the effects and becoming quite stiff in the upper body and needed some practical way to deal with it.

While driving my wife to a her yoga class one evening, I was able to chat with some of the other people attending. It sounded interesting and after about two weeks of taking classes I was noticing that I was loosening up. The more I practiced, the more I was intrigued, not only the poses and how I was calmly instructed to do them, but how it made me feel about myself. I signed up for Jane's House 200 hour teacher training program for my own yoga growth, graduated in 2017, and I began teaching later that year.  

Having attended workshops concerned with making yoga more accessible to people, it occured to me that a veteran might feel more at ease with a teacher that understood their past military culture having spent 20 years in uniform myself.  I can serve (again) as a bridge between a warrior's past experiences and rediscovering their the inner peace through Yoga.  

I am thrilled to join the wonderful teachers at The Bee's Knees Yoga studio. The many people I have had the privilege to share the gift of Yoga with have like myself, re-discovered themselves in a non-judgmental atmosphere connecting the Mind and Body with the Breath. Come to class with a beginner's mind and find yourself in movement toward stillness. 

I began my Pilates journey working as a physical therapist in Farmington, Connecticut. Our clinic equipment included Balanced Body Pilates Reformers, Cadillac, Ladder Barrel, Combo Chair, and Magic Circle. One of my co-workers was a Master Pilates Trainer who helped me introduce Pilates movements to my patients. I studied Mat Pilates through Polestar Pilates Teacher Training in 2012. The benefits of this system of exercise were profound for my rehab patients and for my body. 

I continued to use Mat Pilates in my physical therapy practice when we moved back to Missouri. In 2016, I left the healthcare industry to focus on wellness and complete my Pilates certification.

I am currently teaching group Pilates classes and training private clients. I have been a yoga enthusiast for years and I am excited to begin studying Hatha Yoga through Jane’s House of Well Being Teacher Training.