Empowerment through connection isn’t just our tagline — it’s how we operate.
Our teachers are here to guide, support, and walk alongside you. Together, we create a space where healing happens in relationship.
Rachel
She/Her || Leo Sun, Capricorn Moon, Leo Rising
Rachel VerValin is a yoga teacher, energy worker, astrologer, and founder of Heart Thread Collective. Originally from the Finger Lakes region of upstate NY, she has been practicing yoga for over 20 years and teaching for 16, leading classes, workshops, teacher trainings, and retreats both nationally and internationally.
Her teaching style blends the many traditions she has studied — including Anusara, Jivamukti, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Yin, Restorative, Vinyasa, and Katonah — into classes that are thoughtful, strong, playful, and accessible. She believes yoga should meet you where you are, while gently inviting growth.
Rachel describes herself as a “recovering type A” who found softness, humor, and self-compassion through yoga. Her classes are known for great music, honest reflection, hard work, laughter, and heart. She believes connection is why we are here — and that it’s never too late to begin again.
Julie (she/her)
She/Her || Aquarius Sun, Leo Moon, Rising
Meet Julie 💖✨
500-hour trained with advanced asana mentorship, Rocket, Yin, and Nidra training — Julie brings over 20 years of practice and a love of both strength and stillness to her classes.
She blends classic yoga with modern mobility work and especially loves teaching inversions and arm balances — helping students discover their focus and power.
Mom of three, outdoor adventurer, and believer that it’s never too late to feel amazing in your body.
Come flow with her 🌿
Sav(she/her)
She/Her || Sun, Moon, Rising
Meet Savannah 💖✨
Playful, rhythmic, and rooted in connection — Savannah teaches movement as a way to awaken the inner child and appreciate your body through every season of life.
Louisville born and raised, she brings athletic energy and creative sequencing to every class.
With over a decade of personal practice and training in yoga, strength, and HIIT, her classes are rhythmic, thoughtfully sequenced, and full of playful transitions that build confidence and freedom in the body.
Let’s move 🌿
Christie(she/her)
She/Her || Aries Sun, Aries Moon, Capricorn Rising
Meet Christie 💖✨
Yoga instructor, social entrepreneur, and founder of The Black Beatnik Brand Yoga, Christie teaches from a place of compassion, resilience, and deep community care.
With a background in nonprofit leadership and youth advocacy, she creates welcoming spaces where breath, gentle strength, and mindful movement help students reconnect with their bodies and their power.
Her classes are reflective, empowering, and rooted in accessibility for all.
We’re honored to have her in this community 🌿
Natasha (she/her)
She/Her || Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Pisces Rising
Meet Natasha 💖✨
With over 20 years of personal practice and a 200-hour YTT from Akasha Yoga Academy, Natasha teaches Hatha, breath-based yoga with steadiness and heart. She also holds an 85-hour prenatal certification and offers sound baths as part of her growing practice.
When she’s not on the mat, she’s teaching chess, running her kayak rental company, making music, dancing, or spending time with her family.
Mother. Entrepreneur. Friend. Ally.
We’re so grateful she’s sharing her practice with this community.
Come take a class with her 🤍
Lanie (they/them)
She/Her || Capricorn Sun, Libra Moon, Pisces Rising
Meet Lanie 💖✨
Gentle, Chair, and accessibility-focused yoga teacher, Lanie is passionate about creating spaces where everybody feels welcome and supported.
With a background in psychotherapy and specialized training in Yoga for Older Adults, Pelvic Health, and Restorative practices, they teach with compassion, inclusivity, and deep care.
Queer, nonbinary, dog lover, ocean dreamer, and lifelong learner - we’re so grateful they’re part of this community 🌿
Taylor (she/her)
She/Her || Sun, Moon, Rising
Meet Taylor 💖✨
Thoughtful, steady, and deeply intentional, Taylor guides Hatha-based classes that both flow and refine. Her detailed cueing helps you truly understand what you’re building — strength, skill, and awareness from the inside out.
Rooted in yogic philosophy and Ayurveda, her classes invite sustainable growth, honoring your body while expanding what feels possible.
Come practice with clarity and care 🌿✨
Sarah (she/her)
She/Her || Sun, Moon, Rising
Meet Sarah 💖✨
Trauma-informed somatic and Kundalini teacher, Sarah guides classes rooted in breath, sensation, and embodied awareness.
Blending therapeutic movement, subtle energy, and mindful pacing, she creates space for nervous system balance, emotional release, and reconnection to the body’s wisdom.
Warm, intuitive, and deeply compassionate — come experience her grounded magic 🌿✨
Nikki (she/her)
She/Her || Sun, Moon, Rising
Meet Nikki 💖✨
Surgical nurse, yoga teacher, and space holder — Nikki blends science and spirit in every class she leads.
Through breath, mindful movement, and subtle energy awareness, she creates intentional spaces for nervous system regulation, emotional release, and reconnection.
Grounded. Graceful. Heart-led.
Come soften and expand with her 🌿✨
Abbie (she/her)
She/Her || Sun Gemini, Moon Aries, Rising Libra
Meet Abbie 💖✨
Trained in India and rooted in breath-led flow, Abbie’s classes center on tapas — the fire that refines, strengthens, and clears the path forward.
With a deep love for the outdoors and Appalachian mountain music, she brings both grounded discipline and soulful rhythm to the mat.
Come breathe, build heat, and reconnect to your inner fire 🔥🌿✨
Maria(she/her)
She/Her ||Scorpio sun, Cancer moon, Scorpio rising
Meet Maria💖✨
Maria is a somatic educator devoted to helping people feel at home and happy in their bodies through joyful, mindful movement. For more than 25 years, she has guided students toward greater freedom, presence, and ease in the way they move and live.
Maria teaches group classes and offers one-on-one sessions designed to help you move, feel, and function better in everyday life. She is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in the Nia Technique, a Level 5 MELT Method Instructor, a Reiki Master, and an intuitive bodyworker — bringing a wide range of embodied tools to support each individual where they are.
With a playful spirit and deep belief in the power of movement and energy, Maria creates experiences that are grounding, energizing, and empowering. Her classes invite you to reconnect with your body, awaken vitality, and rediscover the joy of being fully present in yourself.
Dre (he/him)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Dre 💖✨
“I experience, I learn, I teach.”
Dre doesn’t lead with accolades — they lead with truth. Through breath and movement, their classes invite you to build resilience, hold your own weight, and find the pockets of light that still exist in the dark.
Come move. Come feel. Come remember your strength. 🌿✨
Luisa (she/her)
She/Her || Sun Libra, Moon Capricorn, Leo Rising
Meet Luisa 💖✨
Yoga teacher, Studio Manager, community-builder, and artist — Luisa brings steadiness and heart into every corner of Heart Thread Collective.
Originally from Bogotá and now rooted in Kentucky, she teaches Yoga en Español and bilingual classes with a deep commitment to belonging. She also leads Caminantes, a Latinx hiking group, and finds joy in fiber arts and creative expression.
We’re so grateful for the care and connection she weaves into this space 🌿✨
Jennifer (she/her)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
.Meet Jennifer 💖✨
With nearly two decades of personal practice, Jennifer teaches from a place of balance — strength and softness, movement and stillness, effort and ease.
Inspired by her ballet background and guided by breath, her classes are creative, responsive, and rooted in how the body feels in the moment.
Reader, soon-to-be nurse, cat mom (x3!), and mama-to-be — we’re so happy she’s part of this community.
Steven (he/him)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Steven 💖✨
Kundalini teacher, yogic technology enthusiast, and self-proclaimed “spiritual forklift.”
After 16 years of practice — from Hatha to eight years of Ashtanga — Kundalini felt like coming home. Their classes blend ancient wisdom with modern science, offering tools for nervous system regulation, expanded awareness, and deeper self-connection.
Come as you are. Leave elevated 🌿✨
Lexi (she/her)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Lexi 💖✨
Flow-based, breath-centered, and deeply supportive — Lexi’s classes blend movement and mindfulness to help you build strength while staying connected to yourself.
Grounded in positivity and care, she creates space to move, breathe, and evolve with your practice.
Yoga is for every body — come as you are 🌿✨
Megan(she/her)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Megan💖✨
Megan began her yoga journey in NYC in 2016 and has been teaching since 2019, guiding more than 4,500 students in local studios, community spaces, CorePower Yoga, and special events at Athleta’s NYC flagship. She is 200-hour certified with 150+ hours of advanced training in sequencing, Yoga Nidra, Ayurveda, restorative yoga, and anatomy.
Her teaching style blends fluid, thoughtfully crafted sequences with mobility work, creating a practice that builds strength, opens the body, and connects breath with movement. Now based in Louisville, Megan is passionate about creating welcoming classes that help students feel more connected to themselves and leave feeling a little better than when they arrived.
Courtney(she/her)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Courtney💖✨
Courtney is an all-Pisces baby, an intuitive old soul, and a lifelong student of the body (has loved anatomy since HS!). She fell in love with yoga from her very first class in 2011, completed her 200-hour teacher training in 2017, and began teaching in 2018. Her curiosity about movement and anatomy runs deep: she has been a Licensed Massage Therapist since 2009 and is also trained in craniosacral therapy, visceral massage, aerial yoga, AromaTouch Therapy, and essential oil use.
Courtney loves helping students become more aware of their bodies—how they move, how they feel, and what might be possible with a little curiosity and support. With a strong attention to detail, she adapts her teaching to the people in the room and finds it especially rewarding to help students discover shapes and movements they may have once thought were inaccessible.
In her classes, Courtney looks for the balance between strength and ease. You’ll often hear her say “easy breezy,” a gentle invitation to cultivate a little more ease in the mind, the breath, and the body. A self-described daydreamer whose head might float into the clouds if it weren’t attached, Courtney sees asana and breath work as tools that bring her back into the here and now. For her, practicing the eight limbs of yoga is part of becoming the best version of herself, and teaching is an opportunity to help others find their own sense of connection, awareness, and possibility.
“Practice love until you remember, you are love.” — Swami Sai Premananda
Damen(he/him)
He/Him || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Damen💖✨
Damen is a Capoeira monitor under the direction of Mestre Caroço, and is excited to share the movement and culture of Capoeira with the Heart Thread Collective community.
A piano teacher for more than a decade, Damen began teaching movement in 2022 at a gymnastics gym, where he guided students in tumbling and parkour. That experience deepened his passion for movement and sparked an ongoing curiosity about the many ways we can learn through our bodies. He continues to explore different movement disciplines as both a student and teacher.
As a skateboarder, musician, and aspiring dancer, Damen draws connections between his interests to offer fresh perspectives on movement and acrobatic skills. His approach invites students to explore, experiment, and discover new possibilities in the way they move.
Becca (she/her)
She/Her || Leo Sun, Aquarius Moon, Gemini Rising
Meet Becca💖✨
For over ten years, Becca Smith has woven together myth, breath, strength, and grace into her yoga offerings. Although yoga first was simply another movement practice to complement dance and martial arts, she eventually found the mental and spiritual practices of yoga even more engaging than the physical practice. Her ideal yoga practice embodies the intangible, moves with the immaterial, and connects arm balances to ahimsa.
Originally trained in Bikram Yoga with additional training in Prenatal and Kids yoga, her unique style blends her love of dance, narrative, ritual, and curiosity. Her storytelling approach to movement encourages students to feel strong in body and mind.
Outside of yoga, Becca is an avid reader, a sometimes-aerialist, a wanna-be poet, somewhat of a kitchen witch, a mother to two daughters, and a partner.
McCaren (she/her)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet McCaren💖✨
McCaren “Sol” Avalon, founder of Sol Sonic, is an Embodied Transformational Leader, breathwork facilitator, sound ceremonialist, and coach helping people build nervous system resilience, deepen self-awareness, and translate insight into lasting change.
A Reiki Master and Mesa Carrier in the Qanchis Ylla 7 Rays of the Sun lineage from Chinchero, Peru, she studies Andean cosmology and ceremonial healing practices.
Originally from Queens, New York, Sol brings her love of art, music, storytelling, and science into experiences that invite people to slow down, feel, and rediscover their capacity for healing and growth. She offers private coaching, group breathwork, sound meditations, and workplace resiliency programs.
Kelly(she/her)
She/Her || Sun Moon Rising
Meet Kelly💖✨
Kelly is a facilitator and an instructor from Louisville who is passionate about sharing knowledge and encouraging others to practice a balanced mindset in the face of challenges. She leads grief sharing circles, shadow workshops, yoga classes, sound baths, and is currently launching her tarot and hellenistic astrology practice.