Nina is a fun-loving, compassionate and empathic being who has been practicing yoga since 2013. She was lead to yoga for the physical benefits after living a sedimentary and toxic life for years and being diagnosed with mental illnesses. She was seeking something holistic that could help her and at that time she didn't really know what she needed. She just knew she needed a change. She didn't realize how much yoga would help her mentally, emotionally and spiritually just as much as physically.

​

Nina attributes her newly found mindset and overall wellbeing to yoga. She says, "if I would have never stepped foot on a yoga mat, I wouldn't be the person I am today and because of yoga I discovered my Dharma."

​

Nina graduated from Om Seva School of yoga in 2018. She is now a 200 E-RYT. She is also certified in Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga for Emotional Intelligence and is proudly a Trauma Informed Yoga instructor. She teaches yoga for Emotional Intelligence at Highland Hospital in Kanawha City and regularly volunteers her time to share the gift of yoga with others who are in need in her community. Nina has a passion for helping others cultivate deeper awareness and tap into the strength inside of them so they too can begin to transform their own life. Her classes are rooted in traditional yoga, mindfulness and are alignment based and heart centered. She incorporates trauma-sensitive lingo, mindful movements and practices with meditation, breath work, yogic philosophy and sound in order to create a safe, nurturing and fun space for others to connect an explore their inner and outer landscapes and cultivate space for healing on all levels.

She is extraordinarily passionate about a holistic approach to wellness and also became a certified Level 2 Reiki Practitioner in 2020. She graduated from Mountain State School of Massage in October 2021 and is a board certified massage therapist who specializes in Integrated session so she can continue to help her community find relief and heal naturally. 

​

Nina is married to her best friend Gideon and they have 4 fur children. She enjoys being home with her family but when she isn't there or teaching, she loves being in nature hiking, spending time with her friends, exercising, gardening, cooking, hula hooping, paddle boarding, roller skating, reading, painting and going to see live music.

Mandy is a retired dance teacher with 20 years class experience in ballet, tap, jazz and pointe, as well as back stage and production management, is moving forward into new avenues of staying active and healthy by sharing her skills in dance and creating workouts and flows that anyone can participate in. 

​

Mandy enjoys time with her friends and family, and traveling as often as possible. Finding any reason to expand her heart and mind with the experiences of this world. Keeping a mental and physical balance had always been a top priority for Mandy, creating a need for self awareness and causing a love for yoga, and pilates as well as forming a new love for ballet fitness.

​

Mandy is the mother of a 17 year old high schooled and Matriarch to her family has found a way to stay motivated and enjoy working out by sharing her energy with others.

​

Let Mandy remind you to take a moment from yourself, your mind and your body. Come condition like a dancer and bounce that booty.

Renee Huffman is a certified 200 RYS yoga teacher. She received her yoga certification from the Lifespring School of yoga in 2016. Renee first tried yoga and pilates in the late 90s after the birth of her first and only child. She returned to her practice in 2014, becoming so interested in learning more about yoga that she took the teacher training program with no intention of ever teaching. After some prodding and encouragement from her instructor, she decided to teach a few classes and discovered that sharing her interpretation of this ancient practice was something she truly enjoyed. She tries to share her love of yoga in each class she teaches, hopefully bringing knowledge, insight and a lot of humor, laughter and joy to all. Her classes are a blend of traditional and modern with some really good music thrown in!

       West Virginia born and bred, Ms. Huffman grew up playing in forests, catching crawdads in creeks and lightening bugs in her neighborhood. She has continued her love of anything outdoors, but has a particular fondness for any outdoor yoga, paddle boarding, hiking and just soaking up as much sunshine as possible. In addition to her son, Nick, she also has two cats, Twix and Khan and one Yorkie named Max. She is very grateful to be part of the Folded Leaf family. 

Sue is an activist at heart and readily connects social justice with mindfulness practices of yoga and meditation. In 2007, Sue received her 200 hour yoga teacher certificate, and in 2012, her 500 hour yoga teacher certificate - both from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health. She joined the staff at The Folded Leaf in March 2008. Sue is co-director of Laotong Yoga and meditation to adults incarcerated in WV state prisons.

  Beth is a certified health coach, specializing in Intuitive Eating and Movement. She is certified and passionate Yoga, Pilates and group Fitness of 12 years. 
12 years ago she was at a uncomfortable weight, had pre-hypertension and blood sugar issues.  She suffered from severe depression and had a hard time which led to putting on weight fast. 
"One day on my way to work I was in a horrible car accident that affected my spin.  My chiropractor suggested Yoga and Pilates to help restore some range of motion, build up some muscle strength and for rehabilitation.  As I started taking classes I just feel in love! I was able to move better and  felt better inside too!  I wasn't focused on it but weight came off and with it my blood sugar improved as did my blood pressure.  Movement has helped me through a lot of hard times in my life and I find it very therapeutic.   Yoga especially is such a great outlet physically and mentally. " 

Beth loves to help and inspire others to find movement that fits them and helps them in different areas of life. She  truly believe a well-rounded wellness program is essential to overall health. Her purpose is to help others on their wellness journeys and inspire the world to wellbeing. 
Beth is an amazing individual and I truly hope you all get to experience the light that she so graciously share with the world. 

Jennifer Knabb Rago is a playful soul that will safely take you on a yogic journey filled with humor, love, and sparkle. She will show you that yoga is much more than a pose. It is a voyage of the heart. Be prepared to peel back the layers of everyday stress and find your tribe leaving nothing left but pure heart shine.   Jennifer is deeply devoted to her husband and their two boys. She has a bachelors degree in Multi-Subject Elementary Education (K-8) and stays active on social media discussing beauty products, fashion, exercise, and everything that makes her heart smile.  In her former years, exercise felt like a chore that she often dreaded until she realized it could actually be fun and healing.  Jennifer views her practice as constantly evolving with particular interests in yoga, inversions, arm balances, acro, and breathing techniques. Jennifer also enjoys road cycling, hiking, and pilates. Admittedly, she started yoga to get a better body but quickly fell in love with what it does for mind. Yoga has given her a voice and inner peace. She completed her Ashaya Yoga in depth study/200 hour teacher training with the great Randy Boyd. This intensive training focuses on the practice of Asana, pranayama, meditation, philosophy, heart centered themes, and the four essentials of alignment. She is currently taking her Ashaya 300 hour training also with Randy Boyd. 

Bonnie took her first yoga class with Sara Golden in 2017 and that ignited a spirited return to the self, a more joyful and content self. Bonnie began her yogic educational pursuit and gained her 200-hour certification through Passion Yoga School in 2018. This 200-hour course was facilitated in Costa Rica on a permaculture farm located on the Caribbean coast. Totally connected to the present moment, with no access to internet, phone service and running water, a transformation began. It was here, where any doubt of the 8 limbed path was left in the jungle. Bonnie received a balanced education centered around the traditional elements of yoga provided to her by teachers who trained under Akhanda Yoga lineage in Rishikesh, India under Yogrishi Vishvketu. Yogrishi created the Akhanda approach with a basis in the Nath lineage. Bonnie began teaching beginner yoga series locally in Charleston, WV after returning home from Costa Rica. She taught yoga and meditation to residential youth at the Job Corp Center in Charleston, WV in 2019 where she supported youth with mindfulness and breath work techniques to help as they transitioned into adulthood through residential career training. She continued her education by participating in a six-week Womb Sciences immersion which covered topics such as ancestry, energetic systems, menstruation, and anatomy. Most recently she journeyed back to Costa Rica to become certified in Yin yoga the elements of Yin were embodied through connection, daily yin practices and conscious communication exercises. A typical class led by Bonnie will include invitational cues with trauma sensitive language to open a safe space for healing and growth. 

“My passion is to live from a space of contentment and non-attachment and to share the gifts of yoga and conscious communication with those who are aligned with me on this path.”

 Candace is from Canada!! Her and her family moved to West Virginia in 2017. Her yoga journey began after her children were born. She said she definitely needed an outlet to help her relax and always found that yoga helped to calm her busy, busy mind.

It wasn't until she moved to West Virginia that she was offered the opportunity to take teacher training. She was not allowed to work and didn't know a soul so she greatly needed something to do!

It was the best decision she ever made! It helped her transition from the move and cemented her love for yoga! She especially enjoy creating and taking hatha and vinyasa flow classes and loves how the breathe flows with the movement! She has been married since 2001 and has three beautiful girls as well as three crazy cats.
She loves to travel and loves outdoor activities and really enjoys crafts. She likes to sew, make jewelry and have recently tried watercolor paints.
She also recently started CrossFit and loves the combination of CrossFit and yoga. 

Sara has been teaching Yoga for over a decade. Primarily certified in Vinyasa (flow), she is an intuitive teacher who is skillful in honoring the energy, levels, and needs of those present. A professional musician, her classes incorporate intention and sound (often adding harmonium, mantra, singing bowl, or bells to enhance each individual's experience). She believes in Yoga as a healing modality for not just the physical body, but also the spirit. She strives to embody the phrase "living your Yoga" which, for her, includes hiking, raising mindful children, making music, and offering nutrition services. She performs regularly with theatre companies in the area and is also a juried Tamarack artisan. 

Jeff has been practicing yoga for 30 years and teaching around the country for the past 20 years.  He has an extensive background in Ashtanga Vinyasa and studied with senior teachers including Tim Miller, David Swenson, and David Williams.  Being an ardent student of yoga philosophy and searching for something deeper led him to His Holiness Swami Vidyadhishananda, a Himalayan monk of the ancient Vedanta order, who is a Kriyāyogi and a Meditation Master from the combined heritage of Rishi Sages and Nath Yogis. Under the guidance of His Holiness, Jeff studies Yoga/Vedic philosophy including ayurvedic high pranic living based on the soli-lunar calendar, mindfulness, Himalayan yoga vinyasa krama, advanced pranayama, meditation and in 2007 was initiated into Kriya Yoga Mediation of the Nath Tradition of yogis.

Stephanie is the founder and lead therapist of Elevate Integrative Wellness.  She seeks wholeness through holistic approaches and trauma informed strategies. With a MA in Counseling from Marshall University and BA in Psychology from West Virginia State University, a  Licensed School Counselor, RYT500 Yoga Teacher Certification, and spiritual leader, she understands how to work with people where they are along their journey and help them achieve their goals. She practices a REALationship centered, eclectic approach that empowers people, strengthens families, and ultimately communities. 
She is the Integrative Wellness Therapist for ChildLaw Services Inc. where she is able to deliver Elevate into schools all across our great state.  She teaches yoga in several locations and offers online classes, as well as provides support for others along their journey.   
When Stephanie is not teaching you will find her adventuring with her 3 kids, Husband, and furbaby.  They enjoy traveling, spending time hiking trails in every state, but most enjoy hiking, biking, and SUP boarding in our great state.  She is a true Mountain momma, her family is dedicated to seeing WV reach its fullest potential, Almost Heaven.

 Joe Leads Seated Hatha Yoga AKA Chair Yoga . He started his practice in 2005. In 2010 he graduated from OM SEVA YOGA TEACHER TRAINING at The Folded Leaf. He is also a massage therapist and graduated from Mountain State School of Massage in 2014. 
During his 34 year Career in the United States Airforce, he served as aircraft propulsion technician, then various supervisory positions. He had the opportunity to travel the world and retired as a Chief Master Sargeant in 2004. 
His goal as a Yoga teacher is to always provide the most meaningful lessons possible.  Every hour will include preforming yoga postures, meditation,  breathing techniques and also a bit of laughter. 
When he is not teaching her enjoys hiking, birdwatching, gardening, planes, trains and automobiles.

 
Ronnie Is a local West Virginian from Poca, WV where he lives with his wife Ashley, and kids Rachael 26, and Bronson 21. Ronnie was drawn to Yoga by a bulged disc in his neck, where he found the healing power of Yoga as well as the many heart centered benefits the practice offers.
Ronnie's classes are  informed by the alignment based heart centered Ashaya Yoga method. After being introduced to the many benefits of Yoga in his early 40's, Ronnie has completed his 200hr teacher training certification and is currently furthering his journey  in the 300hr Mastery Teacher/Therapy Training Program with renowned Teacher Trainer Randy Boyd. He continues to be inspired by the MANY life-affirming attributes of Yoga Practice and desires to constantly learn new techniques to assist his students to live outside the "pain zone" and uncover their true nature, which is joy.  His class will focus on the benefits of awareness, mindfulness, meditation, mantra, asanas (poses), and pranayama (breathing exercises) by creating theme-based sequences,  honoring the ancient tradition of Yoga and exploring modern exercise modalities. The result is an evolving practice accessible to all. 
BEGINNERS, smiles and laughs INCLUDED!! 

Jen is a kind, loving and care free soul, who doesn't sweat the small stuff.. She is a mother of 3 kids and 4 fur babies. She loves music, particularly anything Grateful Dead related. She discovered yoga after a perfect storm of seasonal Affective disorder, and a Mid life crisis. " For years I had little kids, a job, a husband whose needs came before mine. And for years I was happily going thru the day to day tasks of family caretaking. The kids got older and became more independent and that opened up time for myself that I wasn't used to having and tbh wasn't sure what to do with. My identity was wrapped up in my role that I played in the lives of others. Quinn, Owen and Chloe's mom, Brett's wife, the caretaker of the family. I wasn't sure who I was anymore and how the hell to find that out. My husband encouraged me to get something for me, I begrudgingly went along with his idea and went to a yoga class to check it out." Jennifer went to her first yoga class in the winter of 2017. During that class she said she felt physically awkward and weak, after class "I felt each and every muscle including some that I didn’t even know I had but even in the midst of that I also felt calmer, vibrant and more intrigued." She became hooked on how her mind would seemily take a break during class and  began to experience a physical feeling of openness and ease. "Over time a regular yoga practice in class shifted to a practice of yoga off the mat and it has become a way of life for me now", she says.. "The mind, body, breath connection trickled down to how I treat myself and others.  The positive effects have forever changed my life and also awakened a desire to share the practice with others."  Jennifer completed her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Randy Boyd in June 2019.  "I continue to learn and be a student of this physical and spiritual practice." 
She aims to help you develope strength, flexibly of the body and mind, self-love, grace and a deeper connection to ones authentic self in her classes.  

 Johnna has been practicing Yoga since 2001 and Pilates since 2005. Johnna has been teaching Yoga since 2003 and Pilates since 2007. 

She is also a 200hr ERYT with the Yoga Alliance, certified in Hatha Yoga in the Kripalu tradition. 
She is comprehensively trained Pilate's instructor through Balanced Body University and also PMA (Pilates Method Alliance) Certified. 
She loves the benefits of both Yoga and Pilates and feel they are the "Yin" and "Yang" of mindful movement practices. 
Her primary practice is Vinyasa Flow and a “Yogalates” hybrid that blends both Yoga and Pilates.

Jennie is the Assistant Director of the West Virginia Alliance of Recovery Residences and was leadership staff at Recovery Point Charleston, the state's largest women's recovery housing program, creating the Yoga Program and teaching yoga and mindfulness to the women there from 2016-2020. She is reliable as well we passionate; with 10 years in her personal recovery and 7 years of yoga practices at The Folded Leaf studio, she fiercely advocates for the healing space created by recover housing and believes in the healing power of yoga. She achieved her 200 hour YTT under April Woody at Om Seva School of yoga in 2018 and researches the evidence-base for yoga and meditation healing complex trauma in her spare time.

​

"Ever moment of my new life in recovery amazes me. Sharing my experience with yoga and mindfulness is the key to my happiness. I find that being vulnerable allows me to authentically connect to others who may be just starting their journey toward healing."

Lindy Hoeft, MSW, has been practicing yoga since 1999, and teaching since 2005. She has always been drawn to a more meditative practice with a focus on the energetic aspects of yoga. Her classes blend her knowledge of energy therapy, yoga, and sound to create a safe container for inner transformation. 
Lindy has completed 200-hr trainings in Integrative Hatha Yoga, Kuṇḍalinī Yoga & Meditation, and Nāda/Mantra Yoga. She is continuing her yogic studies in a 300-hr program. Lindy also holds a Master of Social Work with an emphasis in counseling, as well as a degree in Massage Therapy. She is the owner of Heart Matrix where she assists clients on their journey of self-discovery. She uses a blend of counseling, energy therapy, and yogic practices to help her clients heal and live more authentically in their truth.

Tracy began training in the Lakulish and Kripalu Shaktipet lineage of yoga in 2009, then received her 200 hour teacher training in 2010. she was among the first group of students to graduate from the Om Seva School of Yoga, a training in the Vinyasa flow style og yoga that is deeply rooted in the Ashtanga yoga tradition. Over the following decade she continued to study within the lyengar, Viniyoga, Parayoga and Kundalini traditions. Drawing from these varied sources, she strives to facilitate a practice beyond the physical discipline and empower students with the framework to develop a sustainable personal practice. Using straightforward alignment based cues, she offers a breath focused practice designed to be moving meditation.

Angela found yoga approximately 6 years ago when she was transitioning from performing with the Charleston Ballet. She has been a Registered Nurse since 2005 and recently completed personal trainer certification through ACE. “Yoga started for me initially as a physical practice. I needed to find a way to move my body if I was no longer performing, but little did I know the profound effect it would have on my life. It has helped to instill awareness of my being, and find love in myself and others. It has guided me through the stress of being a nurse and in coping with anxiety, loss, and suffering, especially during times of Covid. I hope to help plant this seed in others as well as continue to learn and grow from one another so that we can flow through our hardships and find the simplistic joys in our everyday lives.”

Angela completed her 200hr Hatha yoga teacher certification at the Aegialis School of Yoga in Amorgos, Greece under the instruction of Miriam Indries. She continues to grow in her practice through self-study and integration of the yoga tradition in her daily life and will be attending future programs for advancement in yoga certification. 

Megan trained in Tai Chi and Shaolin at Shaolin Martial Arts Center in Nitro. She began student teaching in 2005 and took over as the head instructor from 2012-2018.When Megan isn't teaching, she also enjoys training in other styles of martial arts, hiking, and making friends with animals.