Meet Our Team

Meet the team of instructors at Body Balance Yoga & Fitness. All of our instructors are dedicated to sharing their love of yoga with their students within a compassionate and inclusive environment. As you read below, you’ll see that our team offers a rich, diverse background of experience and training and thus a variety of classes to meet individual needs and practices.

Amanda Jackson
Owner/Manager/Instructor

Amanda is a E-RYT 500, RPYT, YACEP with the Yoga Alliance and she teaches a variety of classes including Vinyasa Flow, Hot Yoga, Power Yoga and Gentle Restorative Yoga. Amanda started doing yoga at age 24 and has loved using it as a therapy for the body and spirit ever since.

Her international training with Rolf Gates, and with School Yoga Institute in Guatemala gives her classes a for any-Body experience.

Amanda is a long-time athlete who has participated in half marathon races and enjoys metabolic strength training.  After experiencing chronic back pain at 24 years old, it was recommended to Amanda that she try yoga as a possible solution.  Amanda immediately started practicing yoga and quickly transformed her body to be pain free and stronger.  She understands how to nurture the body through yoga to bring it back into wholeness.  It isn’t unusual to walk out of Amanda’s classes feeling positively lovely and ready for the day ahead.

In her yoga classes, Amanda brings her smooth cadence and her compassion for others as she teaches others to practice one breath at a time.  She is a certified Sound Healer with the Sound Conservatory in Virginia Beach, as well as, and offers Prenatal Yoga classes in our larger Hampton Roads Community!

Amanda Jackson

Alexis Broker
Instructor

Alexis Broker is a certified RYT-500 yoga instructor with specialized training in therapeutic yoga and trauma-sensitive practices. Alexis brings her expertise to a variety of classes, including Hot 26, All Levels Vinyasa, and yoga for children aged 2-5.

Alexis has a deep commitment to supporting her students’ well-being, her educational background includes:

  • 200-hour Yoga Therapeutic Training in Costa Rica
  • 300-hour Yoga Therapeutic Training in Greece
  • 20-hour Trauma & PTSD Yoga Training (online)
  • 15-hour Somatic Movement Training
  • 20-hour Yoga Nidra Training

She has taught mat pilates and sculpt classes in various settings for strength training and exercise. In addition to teaching, she enjoys spending time outdoors, walking her dog, and being with family. Alexis is dedicated to fostering a supportive and healing environment for all her students.

Audrey Henriquez
Instructor

Audrey is an E-RYT 200, RYT 500, YACEP. She completed her 200-hour training in 2019 with the teacher who introduced her to yoga. She has since taught many types of yoga and completed different trainings, including a Sound Meditation Training and currently finishing up her 300- hour yoga teacher training.

Growing up, she wanted to be a musician and a teacher. For many years, you could find her in the math classroom teaching algebra or geometry, wishing she was better at playing her instrument or singing so that she could be on stage somewhere. As she continued to teach yoga, she realized that sometimes we don’t fully understand our dreams and how we’ve reached reality with them until we change our perspective.

After leaving the traditional classroom and now using her teaching skills to hold a safe space for people to foster self-care and understanding for their mind and bodies both on and off the mat. She truly finds joy in helping people find where Yoga can fit into their lives and adapting it to themselves. Her desire to meet people where they are keeps her busy teaching all types of yoga from sound meditations to hot and sweaty vinyasas and everything in between including Restorative Yin, Gentle Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Hot Yoga, and more. By continuing to be a student this continues to help her grow as a teacher, therefore you’ll find her practicing frequently on and off the mat, she loves a nice gentle flow or a hot yoga flow to help her come back to herself.

Audrey Henriquez

Bunkie Righter
Instructor

Bunkie is an RYT-500 graduate of Shanti Garudasana Yoga Training School in Williamsburg VA and a RYT 300 graduate of Inner Peace Yoga Therapy Center located in Durango, Colorado.

Bunkie currently teaches early morning Hot Flow classes at Body Balance and revels in the opportunity to facilitate classes inclusive of everyone. In addition to her yoga studies, Bunkie has also studied and practiced Buddhist, Hindu and transcendental meditation as well as Mindbody healing practices for many years studying with guru Sri Chinmoy in NYC as well as many other practitioners associated with the Edgar Cayce Institute in Virginia Beach VA.

Bunkie is a great believer that staying on your yoga mat and being in a community of others practicing can foster greater peace and wellbeing for all. When not on her mat or teaching yoga Bunkie loves to hike, cook, create malas and spend loads of time with her large, loving family.

Crystal Mann
Instructor

Crystal is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT), having earned her certification in April 2014. She was first introduced to yoga while living in San Francisco, where she began practicing at a local YMCA. Later, while earning her master’s degree from EVMS in Norfolk, VA, she was drawn back to yoga as a way to support relaxation and manage stress.

As a Physician Assistant, Crystal brings a deep understanding of the powerful connection between the mind and body—something she believes yoga uniquely cultivates. Her classes reflect this perspective, blending mindful movement with breath awareness to create a balanced and accessible practice.

Crystal enjoys teaching vinyasa-style classes with an emphasis on alignment and pranayama (breathwork). She strives to create a welcoming space where students feel encouraged to explore their own yoga journey and discover their personal mind–body connection.

Outside the studio, Crystal enjoys stand-up paddleboarding (SUP), the arts and theater, hiking, and traveling.

Dawn Curran
Instructor

Dawn is a RYT-500 with Yoga Alliance and is certified in Yin Yoga and Restorative Yoga.  In addition, Dawn teaches all types of yoga classes from Gentle Yoga to Power Sculpt Yoga.

Her yoga style addresses the whole person, focusing on the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of the body.  She feels that yoga is a practice that is accessible to everyone and hopes that students that take her class leave their mats feeling refreshed and stronger in mind, body, and spirit.

Dawn’s yoga journey began when she started taking yoga classes in 2009.  She immediately felt the physical benefits, but quickly understood the healing power of yoga finding inner strength and peace.  Her practice has helped her to grow stronger physically and emotionally, both on and off the mat.  Yoga inspires her to live each moment mindfully and she is grateful to be able to teach something that she is so passionate about.

When Dawn is not practicing yoga, she enjoys playing tennis, being outdoors, and spending time with her husband and two beautiful daughters.

Dawn Curran

Katherine Guthrie
Instructor

Katherine is an RYT–500 instructor who currently teaches Hot Yoga at Body Balance. She has extensive training in different types of yoga including vinyasa, yin, trauma-informed, restorative, and gentle.

She received her RYT–200 instruction with Cindy Crace at Shanti Garadasana and her RYT–500 training from Asheville Yoga. Katherine believes that, by connecting breath to movement, yoga can strengthen and heal our mind-body connection.

Katherine was a collegiate student-athlete who swam and ran cross country at the University of California, Davis. She took her first yoga class when she was 18, because she thought the stretching would complement her other sports. Her yoga practice continued to grow after college as a support mechanism for her other athletic endeavors (e.g., triathlons and marathons). With motherhood her yoga practice changed and deepened with each pregnancy. In fact, all four of her children have grown up practicing yoga at Body Balance. Because yoga is a family practice, you’ll often see the family at the studio.

Outside of yoga, Katherine has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan. As a professor at William & Mary, she has spent the last two decades teaching finance. When not teaching or practicing yoga, Katherine spends time with her family. She is also a WJCC Master Gardener and loves to be in the garden studying the medicinal properties of herbs.

Katherine Sokolowsky

Mary Robinson
Instructor

Mary is a RYT-200 and she is currently teaching Sunday Morning Flow and Hot 26 Fusion at Body Balance. Mary found her love of movement at age 3 when she started ballet, and continued dancing through high school.

While in college, she found yoga and has practiced ever since. Mary has been teaching yoga since 2014 and lives in Williamsburg with her husband, 3 young children, and dog. Beyond yoga, she loves to read, bake and spend time outside.

Mary considers herself a lifelong student. She loves to learn and is eternally grateful for countless life lessons found on her mat. She aims to infuse her classes with the same joy, compassion, and healing that she has found through yoga. Find her on Instagram @maryrobinsonyoga.

Mary Robinson

Michele Rose
Instructor/Massage Therapist

Michele received her 200-hour certification to teach Hatha Yoga in 2006 from the Himalayan Institute Teachers Association, completing her training at their center in Allahabad, India. She is a certified Stott Pilates comprehensive instructor, a licensed massage therapist, and an enthusiastic teaching sub at Body Balance.

Michele took her first yoga class over 30 years ago as a college elective and has been practicing ever since! After college she moved to New York City where she lived for the next 20 years, exploring the numerous yoga studios, experiencing the various styles, and taking workshops in Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga. She has taught both large group classes and private yoga sessions.In 2014 she enrolled in a 300-hour certification in therapeutic yoga with Lisa Bennett-Matkin taking place in upstate New York. Halfway through this training, life presented a different path, and she followed her husband to his new job in Virginia.

Since settling in Williamsburg, Michele has discovered the joy of paddleboarding. She is also the owner of Massage & Movement, offering both mobile and in-studio massage sessions. Learn more information at www.mrosemassage.com.

Michelle Rose

Rhiannon Ellis
Instructor

Rhiannon is a Certified Personal Trainer (NASM), Corrective Exercise Specialist (ISAA), Certified Group Fitness Instructor (ISAA), 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (Center for Natural Living), Certified Mindset Coach (Noom), and Wudang Tai Chi teacher committed to the lifelong study of the art (Taoist Wellness Academy).

Rhiannon’s approach blends evidence-based fitness with a deep appreciation for mindful movement. She believes that developing strength, mobility, and resilience is important, but so is learning to listen to the body. She strives to help others cultivate both physical health and a deeper connection to themselves. Rhiannon firmly believes that the body can be a gateway to vitality as well as personal and spiritual growth.

Shaye Molendyke
Instructor

Shaye Molendyke is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT 900-hour), Trauma-informed E-RYT-500, and Continuing Education Provider (YACEP). Shaye has been teaching yoga since 2003 and practicing since 1998 with more than 5,000 teaching hours.

Recently Shaye discovered the power of therapeutic narrative and loves to combine stories with the latest discoveries in quantum physics, neuroscience and epigenetics to empower yoga teachers to better articulate how yoga works to ease suffering and to bring more people to the banquet table of healing that yoga practices offer.

In addition to her client work and group teaching, Shaye is both the Corporate Education Director and Creator/Director of the Warriors and Warriors Kids Certificate of Enhanced Qualification 140-hour and 100-hour Programs at YogaFit Worldwide®. These curricula are trauma-informed yoga protocols designed to help and empower anyone struggling with PTSD or with unresolved physical and emotional trauma to include yoga teachers, mental health workers, educators, veterans, their families, first responders and those who help and support them. In addition, within YogaFit Worldwide®, Shaye serves as a Senior Master Trainer and as a mentor and faculty member of its Healthcare Yoga Therapy Program.

Shaye is a 28-year Air Force veteran, retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She earned her Master’s in Counseling from the University of Maryland in 2003 while she was in the military and spent a year working directly with veterans returning from the Iraq war on the in-patient psychiatric ward at Landstuhl base Germany. In 2012, she combined her military and counseling experience with her love of yoga in creating the trauma-sensitive yoga programs she is in charge of today at YogaFit Worldwide®.

Shaye remains committed and passionate about bridging the related fields of somatic based psychotherapies and trauma-informed yoga and recently completed the HearthMath® Clinical Certification for Stress, Anxiety, and Self-Regulation providing clients with tools to use Heart Rate Variability monitoring for daily stress management.

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