Board
Jay Gilmer, Esq.
Erika Jefferson
Leah Kalish
Dr. Cynthia Zurchin
Dr. Amy Andrews
Garrett Cooper
Doug Spence, Esq.
Joanne Spence
Staff
Joanne Spence, Executive Director
Lauren Goldstein, Yoga Educator
Katrina Woodworth, Yoga Educator
Barbara Pane, Yoga Educator
Joanne VandenHengel, Yoga Educator
Heidi Zellie, Admin Assistant
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STAFF
Joanne Spence, Executive Director
info@yogainschools.org, www.yogaonthesquare.net
Joanne Spence is a dynamic and experienced yoga teacher and staff developer. She works primarily in schools and hospitals and is known for her ability and passion to teach, encourage and motivate beginners. Self-care and self awareness are the hallmarks of her trainings. Joanne brings 20 years of social work experience to her work.
She is the director of Yoga on the Square, a friendly, knowledgeable, all-inclusive, eco-friendly yoga studio in Pittsburgh’s East End and the founder and Executive Director of Yoga in Schools. She also works part-time at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic as a yoga therapist and staff developer.
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Lauren Goldstein, Yoga Educator
goldstein.lauren@mac.com
Lauren has been practicing Hatha Yoga since 1999, when she took her first class in South Florida with Gary (Gopal) Bello. In the years to follow, she immersed herself in study of the physical body, the mind, yoga, meditation and nutrition. Lauren’s love of Yoga led to her becoming an instructor in 2004. She completed an intense, yearlong Yoga teacher training with Gopal Bello (200 hr certification), and also became certified in Essence TherapyTM, a body-centered therapeutic system that assists individuals in creating physical and mental balance based on their unique body type. Lauren is also a K-8 Yoga Ed certified instructor.
Lauren teaches a non-strenuous style of Hatha Yoga, focusing on the needs of the individual student, while emphasizing proper breathing and safe alignment. Students are able to improve strength, flexibility and balance in a way that suits their own body and personality. Lauren’s approach to yoga is designed to develop the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the individual. You will leave her class feeling relaxed and energized!
Lauren has a Bachelors degree in Psychology from American University and is a graduate of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She has her own practice as an Holistic Health Counselor. She loves living in Squirrel Hill with her husband Drew and Golden Retriever, Beau.
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Katrina Woodworth, Yoga Educator
katrina.woodworth@verizon.net
Katrina Woodworth first found and fell in love with the practice of yoga through a course called Prayers of the Body and Heart: Yoga as a Spiritual Discipline. Yoga opened a way for Katrina to connect her mind, body and spirit, creating space in her life for physical wellness, inner peace and mental clarity. Having worked eight years in campus ministry and becoming a busy mom of four young children, Katrina created with yoga a sacred space in her life. As the benefits of a consistent practice began to take affect on Katrina’s well-being, a friend and local studio owner encouraged her to pursue teaching yoga in order to share these benefits with others.
Katrina has completed levels 1, 2 and 3 trainings through Yogafit. Longing to find a training that emphasized the spiritual as well as physical benefits of yoga, Katrina switched to a local 200-hour teacher training in hatha yoga within the broader tradition of Raja yoga. Katrina feels that it is the benefits of physical movement combined with inner awareness leading to inner stillness that both attract and attach people to yoga.
Certified through YogaEd, she currently works for Yoga in Schools to improve focus, concentration, creativity, responsible behavior and academic achievement of public school children. When Katrina is not teaching, she enjoys creating jewelry, taking long walks and spending time with her husband and four children.
Barbara Pane has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and loving it. About 5 years ago, a friend who ran a health club suggested she take a teacher training course and come teach at the club. That was the beginning of a wonderful adventure. Barbara, who is a licensed clinical social worker, is especially drawn to the mental health benefits of yoga and has incorporated yoga into psychotherapy groups that she runs. She brings this emphasis into her classes wherever she is fortunate enough to teach, be it health club, soup kitchen, mental health clinic, community college or elementary school. Barbara’s training has been through Yogafit, YogaEd, as well as other trainings emphasizing yoga and mental health such as Amy Weintraub. Barbara feels very blessed to have the opportunity to help bring yoga and it’s many gifts to the children of the Pittsburgh Public Schools through Yoga in Schools..
Joanne VandenHengel, Yoga Educator
joannevandenhengel@gmail.com
Joanne VandenHengel has practiced yoga and meditation for over twenty years and has been teaching Yoga for ten years in and around the Pittsburgh area, receiving her training and certification from the Himalayan Institute. She has studied with many well known teachers around the country and looks forward to expanding her training as she travels to Australia this year for further study. However her best teachers are her students.
Certifications include yoga teacher certification, a certified Yoga Alliance 200 hours yoga teacher training program , pre and post natal and senior yoga training and Reiki Level 1 &2. She is pursuing advanced certification hours in yoga therapeutic techniques. She is also a High School Yoga Ed Instructor.
Bringing over thirty years of teaching in the public school systems to her craft, she offers a comprehensive Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher Training program. The program offers aspiring yoga teachers the opportunity to receive instruction and certification in the Yogic Arts. Class sizes are small to allow personal attention, hands-on experience and the opportunity for each potential teacher the experience of developing their own unique techniques, grounded in good Yogic theory, practice and philosophy. The option of student teacher interning with an accredited teacher will be recognized as additional class hours.
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Heidi Zellie, Assistant
heidizellie@gmail.com
Heidi Zellie, RYT, had her first experience with yoga during undergrad in 1999. After studying on her own for the next 4 years, she decided to deepen her knowledge and practice by completing a 250-hour RYA certification based in the Iyengar tradition from Lighten Up! yoga studio in Asheville, NC. Since then, she has taught Iyengar and Vinyasa Flow classes in Highlands, NC, Lafayette, IN, Pittsburgh, PA, and even incorporated yoga into her 9th grade anatomy/physiology classes which she taught at The Academy for Technology and the Classics in Santa Fe, NM. She is certified in Yoga Ed’s High School Teacher Training, Yoga Ed’s Tools for Teachers, Lotus Palm’s Thai Yoga Massage, and currently studies Anusara Yoga through various trained teachers.
Heidi finds absolute joy in playing yoga with kids of all ages! Yoga keeps her balanced and energized as she works to make the world more sustainable, healthier and spirited. Practicing and living this ancient art form also makes her more aware of the people and energy around her, deepens her breath and keeps her flexible in mind and body.
Breathe Deep! Feel Light! Shine On!
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BOARD
Jay Arthur Gilmer, Esq, Board Member
Jay Gilmer is an attorney-activist who uses his extensive experience in the corporate world to help faith-based groups become more efficient in delivering critical services to the urban poor. A graduate of New York University’s School of Law and Graduate School of Public Administration, he currently serves as the Project Manager for Faith Works, a non-profit funded by Allegheny County (Pennsylvania) to assist in capacity-building to insure that their investment in churches and faith-based non-profits produce the highest impact possible.
In the corporate world, Jay was a business owner and corporate attorney. He spent three years as Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of the Diet Center Inc., an international weight-loss franchiser. Upon leaving the company, he bought and operated a franchise business of his own, selling it to become more engaged in the work of faith-based groups. In addition to his work on the board of the GOAL Project, Jay serves on many other boards including Oakland Service Ministries and Love & Care Family, an African relief organization.
Erika L. Jefferson, Board Member
Erika Jefferson has returned to her native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to earn her Masters degree in Public Policy and Management and start on research toward the completion of her doctoral dissertation at Carnegie Mellon University. Erika leveraged previous consulting experience to form Rehoboth Unlimited, an independent consulting firm providing business operations, non-profit strategic planning, program development, and government relations services in small business, non-profit and corporate environments. Most recently, she worked as a Business Process Consultant of Aeon Limited in Bermuda. Erika has developed her entrepreneurial skills and business operation process development and redesign through her years of consultancy experience. Having a balanced work and family life has been very important to Erika and she has truly loved her work as result of prioritizing this personal value.
She has been an active community volunteer for many years, which earned her the American Institute for Public Service Jefferson Award in 1997. Currently, she is a board member of Pittsburgh-based Yoga in Schools. In her leisure time, Erika enjoys traveling internationally, baking, and fostering relationships with her family, friends, and colleagues.
Leah Kalish, Board Member
An educator, yoga teacher, and national speaker / trainer for health and empowerment through yoga and creative play, Leah Kalish, MA, is the former Program Director of Yoga Ed. She co-created all Yoga Ed. curriculum, trainings and products. She is currently the director of Yoga Playgrounds.
She co-authored the Yoga Pretzel and Planet Decks for Barefoot Books and the Yoga Kit for Kids for Imaginazium, and is the featured instructor in Gaiam’s Yoga Fitness for Kids videos.
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Dr. Cynthia Zurchin, Board Member
Cynthia received her Doctorate degree in Education from Duquesne University and is celebrating her 29th year of teaching dance. She expands and hones her skills by attending workshops taught by experts from New York City and California. Cynthia is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced teachers in the Pittsburgh area specializing in teaching dance technique. She continues to train new dance teachers, instructing them to help all students reach their fullest potential. She is very proud that several of her dancers have gone on to perform professionally all over the world with Disney, Cruise Ships, Sesame Street, Busch Gardens and more. Cynthia is also an elementary principal for the Pittsburgh Public Schools where she helps students develop academically. Her sons John and Nick also love to dance.
Dr. Amy received her Doctor of Chiropractic degree in Los Angeles, California after completing her undergraduate degree at Pennsylvania State University. She uses her knowledge of the musculoskeletal system everyday in her chiropractic practice in Pittsburgh. Her goal with her patients is to help them find balance in their life, their bodies and their minds. Often she suggests yoga to help in that quest.
Dr. Amy found yoga as a student at PSU. She fell in love with the practice and the effects on the body in just 15 weeks! Amazing what a 2 credit course can do. She was in better shape after 15 weeks of yoga, than she was after 12 years of gymnastics!
Amy is married to Michael, an IT guy and musical genius. She has a fantastic son, Alexei. She is also an avid Penguins hockey fan, as well as a hockey mom and wife!
Garrett holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree in finance, both awarded from the University of Maryland, College Park, and has spent 5 years as a risk manager, investment banker, hedge fund analyst, and adjunct accounting instructor. Garrett is proficient in strategic management, research, corporate finance, and accounting concepts, and currently employs these skills as a member of the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management’s consulting team.
More recently, Garrett fulfilled a one year commitment with the Pittsburgh Literacy AmeriCorps chapter (2007-08) while working part-time as an accounting adjunct faculty member at the Community College of Allegheny County. At present, he is a “big” of two teenagers through the Big Brothers & Big Sisters organization; a member of the Board of Directors of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater; and is working towards his Masters in Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University. He is also an active runner and triathlete, and coaches a local running group.
Doug Spence, Esquire, Board Member
In his younger days, Doug Spence traveled extensively in Europe and through parts of Asia and the South Pacific. In Australia, he met Joanne, to whom he has been married happily for twenty-one years. Doug and Joanne have three wonderful children ages 13, 11, and 7.
Doug’s wife and children inspired him to take more of an interest in yoga after yoga played such an important part in healing Joanne’s injuries resulting from a traumatic car accident. Subsequently, Doug trained to become a YogaFit instructor and has taught yoga classes at FitnessYoga’s studio in Regent Square and at Alexander’s Fitness Center in Monroeville. Doug has seen and experienced many positive benefits of yoga as they affect adults and is even more excited about the benefits that school children will experience through the Yoga In Schools program.
Doug has practiced law for over twenty years, and is currently focusing his efforts on a residential and commercial property management business. He has served on several boards including those of the Garfield Jubilee Association and Perspective Theatre, as well as the Advisory Board of Hosanna House, Inc. Doug has provided pro bono services to help incorporate many local non-profit organizations. His hobbies include chess, hunting, cooking and swing dancing.
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.1112 S. Braddock Ave. Suite 201. Pittsburgh, PA 15218. 412-287-4591.