Meet Our Teachers
Elizabeth Chamberlain
E-RYT 500
Liz has been teaching yoga since 2008. She completed a 200-hour teacher training with Michelle Stobart of Inhale Yoga Studio (Athens, Ohio) in 2007, a 300-hour teacher training program at Yoga on High (Columbus, Ohio) in 2018 and an Ashtanga Yoga Teacher Training with staff teachers at Yoga on High in 2019. With over 4000 hours of teaching experience, Liz specializes in flow (vinyasa) and Ashtanga yoga, but also enjoys teaching restorative and pre-natal yoga. Liz aims to help practitioners of all levels find their own way to practice and integrate yoga into their life.
The Ashtanga yoga method has captivated & inspired Liz since 2016. The daily ritual of connecting, opening and listening has become part of a life-long spiritual journey for her.
In 2014, Liz became a Thai massage practitioner, ultimately earning 200-hours of training from The Thai Institute of Healing Arts, including a month-long immersion in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 2016 with Sararut Pilakun.
Dakota Mays
RYT 200
Dakota’s personal yoga practice started at the end of 2016. Although he started with a purely physical practice, he was quickly captivated by the mental stillness and overwhelming will-power that came from his practice. By 2018, he realized that he wanted to share this healing practice with others. Dakota booked a flight to Bali and received his vinyasa yoga teacher training in Canggu. As his practice deepened during teacher training, he noticed a subtle shift in his self-confidence and will-power. He has turned these characteristics into his main teachings during classes.
With the goal of instilling strength and mental stillness in his students, he primarily teaches vinyasa power flow with a focus on embodiment and confidence.
Instructor: Power Flow, Inversion Clinic
Bill Fanning
RYT 500
Bill’s association with the Himalayan Institute and his studies of yoga science began in the 1990’s and have sustained and guided his life for almost three decades. His classes combine slower breath centered movements and poses along with space to allow students to tap into and feel the subtle energetics of the mind/body connection in their yoga practice.
Bill loves to welcome those new to yoga into his classes, currently brings yoga to those who are incarcerated, and also aspires to have more men include yoga into their lives.
Instructor: Evening Hatha Yoga
Erin Christine Pfahler
RYT 200
Hi! I’m Erin. In the midst of this balancing act of life, lies my yoga practice. What started as simple stretching on a mat gifted to me by my brother when I was in high school, has gradually moved into a daily practice that has brought stability and a genuine curiosity to my day to day life. Almost thirteen years later, I get to share this abundance that yoga has helped cultivate in me by teaching weekly yoga classes in Athens, Ohio.
Alongside my yoga practice I have found a similar refuge in writing and other forms of creative expression; music, dance, and other mediums of art. My passion for writing started young with daily journals and grew while teaching Middle School Language Arts in Charlotte, North Carolina and working with the National Writing Project. Using writing as a means of creative nourishment has been an essential part of my life.
Inner awareness and the idea of merging of worlds are two concepts that guide my work as of late as I explore ways to spark connection and make yoga accessible for all.
I believe in keeping a spontaneous spirit and a curious outlook; in staying open to opportunities for change and in the hope that change is possible.
Registered Yoga Teacher 200hr (Bella Vita Yoga, Charlotte NC 2014-2015)
Mind Body Solutions Opening Yoga Certification (April 2019)
TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga) 20 hr Training (Nov. 2019)
Instructor: Slow Flow
Erin Finck
RYT 200
Erin has been practicing yoga for over 15 years. She was drawn to it ever since she was a young child and has practiced a variety of styles from various teachers and studios all over the country. It has now become a way of life.
She graduated from her 200 hour training program with Michelle Stobart in Athens, OH in 2018, and completed the 300 hour certification program with Trauma Center – Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TCTSY), with the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at the Justice Resource Institute in 2021. Her classes are designed for beginners to more experienced practitioners who prefer a more gentle practice. She aspires to guide participants in a way that they can become more present in their practice, and to feel completely integrated with body, mind, and spirit.
She engages in regular study and practice to continue to grow her knowledge and skill as a yoga instructor. She has had specialized training in Service-Based Yoga (teaching in specific settings, such as addiction and recovery, mental health, criminal justice, etc. ). She has completed the Yoga of 12 Steps Recovery Program, and has had an additional 40 + hours of prenatal yoga teacher training. She also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Ohio University.
Yoga has given Erin an immeasurable sense of peace and she is excited to share the gift of yoga for anyone who may benefit from that sense of peace as well.
Instructor: Gentle Flow, Pre-Natal
Michelle Greenfield
RYT 500
Michelle is a Kripalu yoga instructor and has been guiding classes for 10 years, in Athens, Ohio and Carbondale, Colorado. She has been practicing various forms of yoga since she was in graduate school in 1993, starting with her Iyengar teachers and adding Integral, Vinyasa, Kripalu and most recently Kundalini. She received her 200 hour training with Michelle Stobart at Inhale Yoga in Athens, and her 300 hours at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Massachusetts. Among the many teachers that Michelle has studied with are Sage Rountree (yoga for athletes) and Sean Corn and Hala Kouri of Off the Mat, Into the World (yoga and social justice). Her classes integrate alignment oriented flowing or held poses, pranayama breath practices and meditations in movement and stillness.
Instructor: Chandra Namaskar —moon salutations for the full moon, Balance & Restore.
Abby Miller
RYT 200
Abby has been teaching yoga since 2015. She completed her 200-hour training at Yoga on High in Columbus, Ohio. For Abby, Yoga began as a coping mechanism for stress. In 2008 Abby was diagnosed with a rare ocular disease that almost left her blind – stress was the culprit. Battling vision loss and severe pain, Abby rolled out a yoga mat which quickly turned into a healing and heartfelt practice. Currently Abby has found contentment teaching a stress-relieving and restorative yoga of style. Her classes provide a safe and comfortable space to release stress and heal within.
In addition to teaching yoga, Abby has a master’s degree in social work and provides mental health services in her community. Yoga has been a life-saver for Abby. She aspires to share yoga with others so they too can benefits from its practice. Abby continually focuses on the mantra, “To Teach, Learn. To Learn, Teach.” She is forever expanding and deepening her personal practice and finds meditation to be an integral part of her now, more peaceful life experience.
Instructor: Power Flow
Brandon Jaeger
Brandon Jaeger lives, farms, and operates a local food business in Athens County, and has been a practitioner in the Japanese Soto Zen tradition since 2007. Most of his training and practice have been conducted at Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center, part of the San Francisco Zen Center, and he has also done some training at the Zen Mountain Monastery, of the Mountains and Rivers Order in Upstate New York. He recently received Lay Ordination and the 16 Bodhisattva Precepts from his teacher, Tenshin Reb Anderson Roshi, Senior Dharma Teacher at Green Gulch.
Brandon is pleased at the opportunity provided by Bodhi Tree, to offer the Southeast Ohio community a weekly experience in some of the basics of formal Zen meditation practice, and is happy to answer questions and share about his experience of the teachings, practice, and training
Instructor: Zazen
C. David Russell
C. David Russell received his certification to teach Qi Gong from Holden Qi Gong. He is delighted to bring the powerful yet subtle practice of Qi Gong to the Athens, Ohio community.
David is Associate Professor of Scenic Design at Ohio University School of Theater. He is a scenic and costume designer and multimedia puppet artist. He received a BFA from Ohio University School of Theater and an MFA from New York University Tisch School for the Arts.
Instructor: Qi Gong
Erin Shipley
RYT 200
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Instructor: Power Flow
Kathryn Cooper
Kathryn’s introduction to the Ashtanga Primary Series during a weekend workshop in January 2017 transformed her personal yoga journey. In the 6 years prior, she practiced at home with videos and occasionally attended a class. The workshop at Bodhi Tree began a daily practice of the standard set of poses that make up the Primary Series. For Kathryn, the clarity of purpose and consistency of the routine allowed her to progress more deeply and thereby develop physical strength and a sense of confidence in her practice.
Regular self- practice with Liz Chamberlain as teacher and a group of dedicated Ashtanga practitioners has provided community and a sense of dedication and motivation. Along the way she has attended workshops with Robbie Norris from Richmond City Yoga and David Swenson. In the summer of 2019 Kathryn had the opportunity to participate in the first Ashtanga Teacher Training offered by Yoga On High in Columbus, Ohio, receiving a certificate of successful completion in the Winter of 2019. Kathryn is first and foremost a practitioner who loves to share her passion for Ashtanga with anyone who is interested, both newcomers and old timers alike!
Russell Chamberlain
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Path
Best Friend & Bodhi Tree Resident
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