Meet Our Teachers

Sara’s discovery of yoga began when she received a yoga mat and DVD for Christmas in 2003. She committed to making it a daily practice 5 years ago to keep herself mentally and physically strong throughout adulthood. Sara completed her 200 hour teacher training under Debbie Valois and Lori Mancini at Laughing Elephant Yoga, and is honored to share the gift of yoga with others.

Yoga is a powerful tool to help us prevent injuries, mitigate stress, and return to ourselves and our inner wisdom. Since moving to Rhode Island from Pennsylvania a few years ago, it has also been a key source of community for Sara. She invites yogis of all levels to join her for a fun, invigorating practice that will uplift your spirit and energize both body and mind.

Chantel has been working with children her entire life, she’s been an auntie since she was born which paved the way to an extensive career creating and teaching a variety of kid focused classes and workshops. To say she’s a natural in creativity and programming for kids is an understatement. She has found a passion for coaching children of all ages in gymnastics & tumbling and spent a majority of her growing up years competing in competitive cheer and is a certified USAG instructor. 

Stacey Herrington is a Certified Master Yoga Instructor with other certifications including Chair Yoga, Plus Size Yoga and Trauma Informed Yoga. She considers her “job” a get-to and a privilege to help others reach their full potential through the power of movement and breath work. Stacey believes that movement is important for everyone, regardless of age or ability. She likes to challenge her students to play in their poses and go deep but also keeps her classes very light-hearted and fun.

Stacey currently teaches with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island at the Your Blue Stores at various Rhode Island locations and currently on Facebook Live for them.

During the summer months, Stacey gets the pleasure of joining Yoga at the Point and teaching Slow Flow classes at Conimicut Point Park in Warwick.

She is excited to join the Thrive Collaborative and share her love of Slow Flow practice and Chair Yoga practice with the community of East Greenwich, Warwick and Rhode Island.

Nina started her yoga practice years ago as a way to bring her body into balance after years of teaching group fitness.  Nina holds a RYT 500 Certification in Prana Flow and has taught in numerous health clubs, taught private classes and taught at Laughing Elephant Yoga Studio.

After years of running and teaching spin classes, Nina was drawn to yoga as a way to open up her back hamstrings and hips while enjoying the spirituality of the practice.  Nina taught a “Yoga for Athletes” class for years hoping to introduce yoga to a new population. Nina’s classes have evolved over the years into a gentle flow, with a long warm up, deep stretching and an abundance of spirituality.

Nina has a career in law, raised two very successful and handsome men and is currently mommy to Bella!

Kathy is a Laughing Elephant Yoga RYT 200 certified yoga teacher with an energetic practice. She is a believer in life-long learning who seeks to engage and encourage her students in their practices. Her Vinyasa class emphasizes progressive poses to instill strength, calmness and confidence in her students.
Kathy enjoys making her students laugh as they flow through the poses leading right into shavasana .

Debbie Valois ERYT 500

As a dedicated student and teacher of the Flow, Debbie offers an approach to yoga that is both playful and transformative. Through creative and carefully designed sequencing, Debbie offers space for students of all levels to gently come to their evolutionary edge with grace and joy while cultivating strength and humility.

Debbie is honored to have done the majority of her formal training with Shiva Rea’s Samudra School for Living Yoga  and Coral Brown locally. She has also had the pleasure of studying with Seane Corn, Rod Stryker, Ana Forrest and many other respected teachers. Debbie assisted Coral with many teacher trainings, and this past year conducted her own with her BFF Lori Mancini and Sharon Mcguire. Debbie and Lori owned Laughing Elephant Yoga for almost 10years, and had a wonderful time building the community. Debbie has also found love in Aerial silks and other performance apparatus and has been training locally in RI at Arielle Extreme with Amanda Cortellesso for 6 years.

Sharon Mcguire

Sharon holds a (RYT-200) certification in Prana Flow and a (RYT-200) certification in Wild Wisdom Vinyasa. Sharon has also assisted in The 200hr Wild Wisdom teacher trainings as well as Laughing Elephant 200hr teacher trainings. She is a certified embody love facilitator and has facilitated and participated in workshops. She has a Masters in Science and a career in biotechnology as well as a general love of science, nutrition and the human body.

She has a physical and spiritual strength to her teaching that is compelling and comforting. Her classes offer students the ability to explore poses using intelligent sequencing and body movement that allows for playfulness and exploration.

Jackie started practicing yoga in 2002 she was amazed to find the calming impact that the practice had on her state of mind. As a nurse, Jackie was instantly interested in how the brain could be reprogrammed to not react impulsively, but in a calm, clear manner. Realizing that this finding was directly related to the practice of yoga and meditation, Jackie decided to pursue the deeper dimensions of yoga and enrolled in yoga teacher training.

What originally began as a form of physical exercise to strengthen her body, stretch, and create flexibility, became a way of life for Jackie. Her teaching is a mirror for her practice. Encouraging students to come to yoga as a complement to running, hiking and biking, and to stay for the mental and emotional benefits. Jackie completed her 200 hr teacher training with Coral Brown at All That Matters in 2019. She has been a registered nurse for over 22 years and is Reiki II certified through Marg Tudino at Earthway Studios. Yoga, meditation and Reiki help cultivate an awareness in life that Jackie brings to the mat. Her strong desire to share with others so they can experience these amazing benefits is her goal as she teaches yoga.

Julie began her yoga exploration over 10 years ago with a once a week class to relieve severe back pain. She attributes her healing to yoga’s ability to build strength and flexibility and to its transformational capabilities on and off the mat.  Julie enjoys teaching and sharing the many gifts of yoga with her students. Her classes are light hearted, free flowing 

and intrinsic by design.

Julie completed her 200 HR and 300 HR Prana Flow Vinyasa teacher trainings with Coral Brown in 2014 and is a registered Yoga Alliance teacher.

Aeriel loves Yoga!  She loves practicing, teaching and exploring all the ways the practice of yoga shows up in her life every day both on and off the mat. 

As a teacher, she invites students to explore the power and movement of their breath in each shape, movement and transition. She welcomes students to move from thoughts and expectations of what they “can’t do” to explore and discover what they “can do” inviting a greater awareness for each individual to find their way to greater live, compassion and freedom for themselves in their own life journey.

Aeriel came to yoga 13 years ago after an injury that changed her life significantly. The practice of yoga brought a new sense of energy and awareness as she rehabilitated her ability to move and function once again. Aeriel is formally trained and holds a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and has 25 years of experience.   Twelve years ago she was foundationally trained in the style of Forrest Yoga (200 Hrs) along with 2 Certificates in Trauma Sensitive Yoga in 2011 through The Justice Institute.

Aeriel has continued her yoga studies over the years in Ashtanga Yoga, Yin Yoga, Structural Yoga for Injuries and Yoga Nidra Meditation. Aeriel’s strongest influence in the yoga world are her students, Ana Forrest, Debbie Valois and Alan Finger of Ishta Yoga. Most recently she participated in The Laughing Elephant Yoga Teacher Training (200 Hrs). 

An actor, singer and teacher of performing arts.

He has lived in Portsmouth, RI for almost his entire life, and has been a Zumba instructor for the last 4 and half years. His teaching style combines a laid-back attitude, energetic dancing, and terrible puns. From time to time, you may even catch him singing during class. When he isn’t on the dance floor, Jeff likes to spend his time teaching for the Gotschall Access Program, as well as engaging in various artistic endeavors. He has frequently worked at the nearby 

Arctic Playhouse, appearing in Breaking Legs, The Diary of Anne Frank and Visiting Mr. Green. In his down time, he enjoys long walks, yoga, and reading novels.

A mama to Seamus, a dharma dweller and a teacher of teachers, Coral Brown is known for her integrative, lighthearted approach that fuses the energetic, creative energy of vinyasa yoga with her experience as a holistic counselor. Coral is a licensed mental health counselor and draws on 20 years of experience in yoga, philosophy, and holistic counseling to provide fertile, open space for the processes of healing and transformation.

Coral’s teachings are fueled by the desire to reveal and cultivate the essence of our individual and collective dharma, and instill it into every aspect of our being.

She has trained in the Iyengar and Jivamukti methods and is a senior teacher of Prana Vinyasa flow. Coral leads teacher trainings, retreats and workshops worldwide, is a regular contributor to Yoga Journal and has featured classes on YogaGirl.com<http://YogaGirl.com>

Erin’s yoga journey began with her first class in 2008.  She was intrigued by the way her body felt, the emotional release she experienced, and the connection with others.  She began regularly practicing Bikram, then Power Yoga, and then explored Heated Vinyasa, Acro, Ariel, which eventually lead to breath work and Somatic Movement - all of which supported experiences and challenges faced during different stages of her life.  Yoga provided Erin the opportunity to reconnect with herself, restore balance, and quiet her mind, uninterrupted by life's demands.  She completed her 200-hour Teacher Training through Barre & Soul in Boston in 2015 and went on to compete a 300-hour advanced studies training in traditional Hatha Yogawith Theresa Murphy in Rhode Island in 2018. 

Erin’s classes are a blend of Vinyasa and Iyengar styles that reflect her diverse training and her own practice.  She creates an atmosphere that allows students to practice safely and discover their own strengths, desires, and aspirations.  Her fun and invigorating classes incorporate themes of inspiration, self-love, and life lessons; through these themes she encourages students to transfer the breath, patience, and confidence gained on their mats into everyday life.  

Erin is an empathetic woman, mother, licensed mental health clinician, and dog lover who works hard, loves deeply, and finds good and strength in everyone and any situation.  As a behavioral health professional, Erin has experience working with individuals faced with anxiety, depression, addiction, physical and emotional trauma, and grief and loss.  Therapy similar to yoga is an investment in self - it is a commitment of time offering learning, empowerment, and skill acquisition. The space may at times feel uncomfortable or challenging, but the opposing feelings represent hard work and personal growth.  

Erin offers several traditional and non-traditional modalities of healing and wellness.  She assists clients and students to identify how emotional feelings and thought processes resonate in thephysical body.  Therapeutic offerings include the use of Emotional Freedom techniques, muscle testing, and somatic yogic movement, due to the deep connection between the mind and body.  Movement creates confidence and fosters action leading to lasting change.     

Dani (pronouns e/em/eir) is a guided meditation coach. Eir life purpose is to engender productivity and healing in our hectic worklife by fully engaging mind, body, heart and soul. 

Eir guided meditation technique, the LIGHTHEART CYCLE, draws from experiences as a Chief Operating and Financial Officer, certified leadership coach, master level Reiki healer, and shamanic practitioner.

Dani collaborates with organizational clients through eir practice, BraveShift. You can also hear more about worklife healing through eir podcast, the Workplace Healer.

Armanda‘s yoga classes are created with an authentic sense of ease & refinement integrating movement & asana from the gentle side of Hatha, Kundalini, & Vinyasa styles. My experience within the Healing Arts as a Yoga teacher, Massage Therapist, & Aromatherapist have brought her to a “less is more” philosophy emphasizing a body/mind/spirit awareness... Each class ends with Yoga’s most powerful & healing  pose “ Savasana” which translates into relaxation. All that is needed to attend class is a yoga mat & an open heart...

Armanda 💚