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Sharon Tessandori
Hi. Welcome. I’m Sharon, the really happy owner of Barefoot Works Yoga. I educate and inspire people to live their very best life. Yoga and Ayurveda (a fancy word for the art and science of self care) are the tools that I use for transforming body, mind, and heart.
I was among the first in my Appalachian family to go to college. Receiving my MS is to this day one of my proudest accomplishments. However I soon discovered it was not my path to work a nine to five job for someone else. I knew that my path must be one I forged myself. And I haven’t looked back. A strong desire to live a creative and authentic life and a deep love of yoga was the inspiration for Barefoot Works Yoga, which was established in 2004 and the opening of the studio came in 2006.
I am an “experienced yoga teacher” with Yoga Alliance, meaning that I’ve put in a lot of study and teaching of yoga. I’m also an Ayurveda Educator and have completed over 550 hours of study with the California College of Ayurveda. I’ve completed nearly 200 hours of study in yoga therapy and have studied with numerous yoga teachers with Seane Corn serving as my inspiration for Vinyasa Yoga.
I teach group classes at Barefoot Works, lead workshops and retreats, and direct our 200 hour yoga teacher training. All of which occur locally and internationally in amazing locations. Seriously, I am forever amazed that I get to make a living doing what I love and am passionate about. I nearly pinch myself daily.
Away from the yoga mat and studio you can find me cooking delicious vegetarian food, writing on my blog, reading non-fiction, walking in the cemetery by my home, sipping coffee, dreaming of upcoming travels and dancing wildly everywhere from Big Sur, to Tulum, to the entry foyer of my 100 year old home.
I’m thrilled that you’re here reading this and that you’re thinking of joining us for a yoga class. I can’t wait to meet you on the mat.
Sarah Frank Bowker
I just love teaching at this studio! I have been lucky to be a teacher here for over four years. I started my journey after meeting Sharon in early 2007. After a year filled with learning about myself and yoga, I took part in Sharon’s yoga teacher training. She gave me a strong foundation and a tree house to teach in that supports an amazing Lexington yoga community. I am currently completing my 500 hour training with Leeann Carey’s Yapana Yoga Therapy Program, which is further refining my teaching skills (and of course my own yoga practice). In addition to teaching weekly classes at the studio, I have assisted in Sharon’s summer retreat and teacher trainings and lead workshops and private yoga sessions at Barefoot Works.
I absolutely love the two classes I teach. Our Sunday morning class gives students the opportunity to move inward; to connect to spirit, to find their breath, and to re-center themselves in preparation for the new week ahead. Our Yin yoga class allows students to rest deeply in their bodies as they gently stretch their connective tissues. In teaching both of these classes, I truly enjoy guiding students into a restful place where they can explore more of the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of their yoga practice.
I am so fortunate to be a part of this yoga studio both as a teacher and as a student. We have a special community at Barefoot Works, one that challenges our students and teachers to keep growing and learning in a supportive, caring environment.
I am a yogini who teaches yoga at night and has a full time day job at the University of Kentucky! You’ll find me in the College of Agriculture as a Program Coordinator for the Community and Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky. When I’m not on the mat or at a desk, I love to cook and bake, knit, hang out with my husband, Brandon, and our two cats, see live music, take mini weekend trips to hike and camp in the many wonderful Kentucky parks, and I also enjoy keeping up with Cincinnati’s professional sports teams (go Reds!).
AnneDean Dotson
The practice of yoga rapidly began to steal my heart in October of 2009 when I stumbled upon Barefoot Works Yoga. It immediately became my "safe place" and my home away from home. I went on to complete the Barefoot Works Yoga 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training in June of 2010. All of my life experiences, my passion for mindful living, and gratitude for all the amazing things the body can do tend to flow into my teaching. I teach both at Barefoot Works and the YMCA on High Street and adore each and every one of my students. I emphasize self-care in my classes and doing only what feels good for the body, mind, and heart in that particular moment. My favorite part of teaching yoga is the look on students faces when they open their eyes after Savasana. Sometimes a little stillness is all that we need to put a smile on our face.
Off the mat, I surround myself with books in my role as an Acquisitions Editor at the University Press of Kentucky and a part-time bookseller at The Morris Book Shop. I spend my free time reading, journaling, dreaming, making mixed CDs, riding my mint green beach cruiser, frolicking with my pets, cooking, relaxing on my front porch, and spending time laughing with my best friends.
Julie Ransdell
My journey into yoga started several years ago with the hope of cultivating a healthy exercise regimen. I soon found that yoga not only toned and fueled my body, it calmed my mind and provided me a space to be free and creative. I wanted to stop keeping this discovery to myself, and start spreading it to others. So I completed Barefoot Works Yoga Teacher Training in the Spring of 2010 and soon became a certified yoga instructor.
What I enjoy most about teaching yoga is being able to assist others in finding acceptance and peace no matter where they are in their yoga practice and to take that peace off their mat and into the world. To me, yoga leads the way into a life where we can unwind, de-stress and breathe intently through any moment life throws our way.
Off the mat, you can most often find me at home with my husband tending to our garden or riding bikes around our neighborhood. I believe in supporting local business and local musicians. I love reading, cooking, dancing, UK basketball, Bob Dylan and daydreaming!
Meredith Swim
I am a yogini on a quest for self-discovery on and off the yoga mat. As a teenager I serendipitously stumbled upon my first yoga class. I have been down doggin' it ever since! I am empowered by the emotional and physical benefits of the practice and feel inspired to share the wisdom and power of yoga with others.
In 2009 I underwent Sharon's Yoga Teacher Training at Barefoot Works and received my 200 hour Yoga Alliance Teaching Certification. In the summer of 2010 I received a Kids Yoga Teacher Certification at the Asheville School of Massage and Yoga in Asheville, North Carolina in hopes to continue sharing the gift of yoga with teens and children.
This splendid yoga journey has led me to teach in a university gym and dorms, middle schools, and family fun nights! Though I've unrolled the yoga mat in many a place, my true yoga home is Barefoot Works. I feel truly honored to be part of the Barefoot Works yoga family, and especially love teaching a crew of terrific teens every Tuesday!
Laura Whitaker
Although I attended a few classes here and there in college, it wasn't until after I graduated that I truly explored yoga. Following a year of dedicated Bikram Yoga practice and a year of no yoga whatsoever, I finally found my way to Barefoot Works. Since then, I haven't slowed down and I haven't looked back. In 2010, I attended the Barefoot Works Yoga Teacher Training in Tulum, Mexico (and, yes, it was as amazing as it sounds). There, I challenged myself, learned more about yoga than I ever imagined, met fabulous yogis, and ate the world's freshest guacamole. Best of all, I was inspired and empowered to find my voice and my passion as an instructor.
As a teacher, I feel most honored at the end of each practice when I have that lovely privilege of exchanging smiles and "Namastes" with each yogi. My biggest goal as a yoga instructor is for students to leave class feeling happier and healthier than when they first stepped onto the mat. These feelings of happiness and health may manifest in different forms for different people on different days (less stressed, more content, less stiff, more mindful). I find that these elements have their unique ways of touching us on the mat, however fleeting or subtle they may feel. I hope to embrace this philosophy in my classes. And I've been known to help yogis work up heat and sweat in the process, too!
When I'm not teaching, practicing, or reading about yoga, I'm most likely working at the fabulous Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning or pursuing my Masters in Public Administration at UK. I also enjoy reading for my book club, making handmade greeting cards, pinning away on Pinterest, and sending subliminal messages to my boyfriend that we should go to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt. I have the honor of teaching the Monday classes at Barefoot Works, both Level 1 and Beyond Yoga Basics.
Meghan Skirha
True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness, all one’s honesty. Albert Einstein
Namaste Everyone! My name is Meghan Skirha and I am honored to be considered a guide to your personal yoga journey. My goal is to impart to you, the joy and fulfillment yoga offers as well as the enlightenment one can experience each and every time you come to the mat. Plus, these workouts Rock!
My love for moving meditation grew out of the experimentation with variant dance forms, in both the performance and tutorial roles. The formative challenge of choreographing the magical flow of movement sequences to music and coupling one’s spirit with their biomechanics drove me to be a lifelong student of physical expression.
After becoming a certified yoga teacher, life brought me to Lexington, KY, where I live with my husband and two daughters and am proud to join the talented teachers at Barefoot Works.
Much like people, the diversity of yoga was something that caught my attention and immediately attracted me to the practice. A firm believer that yoga is a personal and individualized journey, I am both appreciative of and receptive to all kinds of styles and forms. Yoga gives you open-mindedness. My own practice and yoga style is most greatly influenced by Vinyasa flow and I am exhilarated by the creation of dynamic, uplifting sequences by which to inspire my students. My classes are energetic and musically infused, each a little different from the last or the next. New and seasoned yogis are welcome as modifications are always offered and encouraged. I strive to make all yoga practitioners feel safe, comfortable and scrutiny-free irrespective of where you are in your life or in your practice. Yoga gives you perseverance.
Come to class prepared to sweat and smile and hopefully leave feeling a little bit inspired. And if you don’t, that’s okay too; there is still the nimbleness, peace, commitment, humanitarianism, confidence, open-mindedness, motivation, and perseverance; you get to take it with you. And of course, don’t forget the sweat!
See you on the mat!
Sara Keyser
Sara uses an integrative approach to teaching that combines insight, playfulness and compassion to form deep connections with her class. She is passionate about the true value and transformative aspects of yoga and is grateful to have the opportunity to enlighten others of its virtues.
Drawing inspiration from many styles, Sara places precedence on understanding the needs of her students with keen awareness to the changing environment and the season. A natural athlete and outdoors enthusiast, Sara's perspective of the body has evolved through her experience and study of endurance training. She emphasizes the pertinence of proper alignment on the yoga mat to maximize strength and flexibility in other activities.
Devoted to the path of self-realization, Sara traveled to Southeast Asia to deepen her study of yoga, meditation and eastern medicinal methods. It was in beautiful Bali, Indonesia where she became accredited to teach yoga under the guidance of Tara Judelle, Certified Anusara Teacher. The Anusara method, rooted in Tantric philosophy, has inspired Sara to weave all of her interest into a grounded, spiritually infused, mind-body practice.
She invites students to come to the mat with respect to where they are.
Visit Sara's website at: http://www.heartiyoga.com/
Stephanie Studler
Stephanie has been practicing yoga since 1997 and teaching since 2005. As a result of nearly 1,000 hours of teacher training programs, she has earned several diverse certifications in lineages including Kripalu, Yin, and Ashtanga. Her classes incorporate familiar poses with creative sequences and meticulous alignment in hopes that students continually grow and deepen their practices in comfortable but surprising ways. Expect to focus on the form and function of asana as well as learn a lot about yogic anatomy, philosophy, and history.
Erin Royal
In 2002, while completing a masters degree in psychology, I attended my first-ever yoga class in the lovely space that is now Barefoot Works. I loved it then, and I love it even more now! I am grateful to be here as a teacher, working alongside other inspiring souls. Since that first class my fascination and appreciation for the mind-body connection has deepened and I am passionate about integrating yoga with my psychological practice.
I completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training program with Erin Smith in 2009. As a Registered Yoga Teacher I am attentive to alignment and will often give suggestions for adjustments and accommodations. I love to incorporate mindfulness into my classes, reminding students to breathe, to notice, to be present with their own experience on the mat. My hope is that you will leave my Yoga Basics class feeling confident and grounded.
Off the mat and out of the office I love listening to live music, walking with Scout the dog, talking on the back porch with my husband, reading, writing poetry, and taking road trips to anywhere.