Sara, Founder, RYT 500 x 2, Certified Menopause Coach, Certified Ayurveda Coach

Specialties: Nervous System Regulation / Somatic Movement / Yoga Nidra / Anatomy.

Sara opened Shine in 2015, a year after she finished her treatment for Stage 3 Breast Cancer.

She opened Shine’s doors as a means of helping other people who had gone through a life-changing experience, physically, mentally, or emotionally, to find joy and steadiness again. This has always been her mission and still is, tent years later.

Sara is known for her deeply focused alignment and anatomy-based classes, her restorative classes, and her somatic flow classes.

She is a Certified Yoga Medicine Therapeutic Specialist and has ten years of experience helping individuals better understand their bodies and heal through private sessions.

Sara also taps into her experience as a professional writer, researcher, and professor of Comparative Literature and Writing when developing her highly-rated yoga teacher trainings, workshops, and programs. Her work as a teacher at the University-level has helped to make her Yoga Teacher Training program exceptional.

Sara’s expertise

Buffalo News Article

Work with Roswell Park Cancer Institute

Yoga for  Cancer Survivors Class for Roswell

Yoga  for Cancer Survivors Class for Roswell Variations

Bed Yoga for Cancer Patients ( Roswell)

Chair Yoga for Cancer Patients (Roswell)

Sara is certified through Kripalu, Dr. Ray Long, Jason Crandell, Yoga Medicine, Tias Little, Tracee Stanley, and Katherine Templeton.

Schedule: Somatics, Good Morning, Private Sessions, Workshops, Trainings

Courtney, Senior Teacher, RYT 250 Deep Yoga Method

Specialties: Trauma / Restorative / Yoga Nidra

Before beginning to teach yoga exclusively, Courtney was a Certified Oncology Nurse for 28 years. She specialized in infusional chemotherapy, hospice, and palliative care.

In February 2023, she retired from nursing in order to pursue her passion for yoga. Her background guides her approach to teaching yoga. She teaches with caring and sensitivity and sees yoga as another path to help people heal, not dissimilar to nursing.

Courtney began practicing yoga 20 years ago. Being on the mat brings her peace and perspective in her everyday life.

Her practice has been instrumental in healing from complicated trauma-related anxiety and PTSD. She is focusing her continuing study on trauma-informed yoga and yoga for anxiety and grief so that she can share what has been transformational in her life.

Courtney was certified through the Deep Yoga Method. And wants to share that “Shine has been such a bright light in my life. I’m so very honored to be part of the Shine family.“

Additional Training: Courtney is certified in Trauma-Informed Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Tantric Meditation. She has also completed the following Deep Yoga Method Advanced Yoga Teacher training Modules: Rest and Retreat, Yoga Teacher’s Guide to and through the Body. She is enrolled in the Deep Yoga Method Advanced Yoga Teacher Training and mentorship program. She has trained extensively with Tracee Stanley.

Schedule: Rest and Remember, Pause, Flow to Rest

Amanda, Senior Teacher and Student Support, RYT 250 Deep Yoga Method

Specialties: Myofascial Release / Cuing / Gentle Leadership

Amanda began her yoga practice because she had an endless feeling of burnout. She was doing too much of what she didn’t love and not enough of what brought her joy. 

She practiced yoga on and off for over a decade. Even when the practice was irregular, there was one constant; whenever she practiced, everything else in her life became clearer and more balanced.

Yoga brings Amanda peace, it makes her feel balanced, centered, strong, and courageous. It’s given her support through the good and not so good times.

She hopes her students will take the opportunity to go inward in her classes, to ask themselves what it is they need in the moment, to take good care of themselves, and to listen to their inner voice and trust it. She wants her students to have self-compassion, to find inner peace and courage for themselves.

You can expect to feel like you belong in Amanda’s classes, to feel safe, and to both receive and give kindness.

Additional Training: Amanda has completed both Rest and Retreat and Yoga Teacher’s Guide to and through the Body through the Deep Yoga Method Advanced Yoga Teacher Training program. She is continuing to pursue her 500-hour certification in the Deep Yoga Method. Amanda is also studying Myofascial Release through Yoga Medicine.

Schedule: Candlelit Myofasical Release, Ground, Flow to Rest

Amanda provides student support for all Shine students in addition to teaching.If you have any questions regarding your account or membership, contact her at Amanda@shineyogawny.com

Nicole, RYT 250 Deep Yoga Method

Specialties: Vinyasa/ Sequencing

Nicole is a full-time Teacher of the Deaf in her 15th year of teaching at St. Mary's School for the Deaf.

Nicole has always been interested in wellness. She played tennis in high school and college and dabbled in yoga and pilates, among other things, over the years. The Shine Yoga Teacher Training found her just when she needed it!

Nicole's thoughts on yoga: "I understand that even when you’re doing something you love, work days (and life!) can be hectic, stressful, and lead to burnout. Yoga grounds me, calms my anxious mind, and provides a sense of peace and community not found elsewhere. I love that it’s consistently there on the good days and the could-be-better days…it neither celebrates perfection (something I’m constantly learning to let go of) nor offers judgement on any missteps."

Schedule: Mindful Movement

Dr. Melissa, RYT 250 Deep Yoga Method

Specialty: Strength

Melissa is a dentist at a federally qualified health center, where she has the privilege of caring for vulnerable and underserved communities. While she has a strong appreciation for modern medicine and science, she’s always been curious and open to more holistic ways of healing and transformation. That curiosity is what sparked her interest in yoga and all the benefits it provides.

Yoga has been transformational for her. It has helped her step out of a fast-paced mindset and into a space of awareness, compassion, and connection. It reminds her that presence is powerful—and that wholeness isn’t something we chase, but something we uncover.

Outside of work and teaching, Melissa loves traveling, hiking, kayaking, and reading—especially in places that bring me close to nature. She is also a Reiki Master.

Melissa says, “As a teacher, I hope to create a space where students feel grounded, empowered, and deeply connected—not only to themselves, but to the world around them.”

Schedule: Resilience

Dr. Diane RYT 250 Deep Yoga Method

Specialties: Deep Core/ Pelvic Floor/ Breath/Women’s Health

Diane earned an undergraduate degree in nutritional science from Cornell University and then continued on to earn a Master’s degree and a doctorate in physical therapy at Drexel University and Utica University, respectively.

Initially, Diane pursued yoga teacher training to become a better clinician, not to become a yoga teacher. With a new perspective about the body, she would be better able to help and empower her patients. But first slowly, and then suddenly, it all came together – yoga was the perfect place for her to communicate her deep knowledge in a practical way to help others.

In Diane’s 30 years as a physical therapist, she’s never stopped learning. In 2023, specialized courses on the pelvic floor led her to a new passion – and a new direction for her career. As she dug deep into the curriculum, she quickly understood how impactful breathing is to proper functioning of the pelvic floor. She realized that many of her patients weren’t breathing optimally or even considering their breathing, “because it’s involuntary.”

So, her physical therapy and yoga worlds collided, brought together by the breath – something essential to both the pelvic floor and yoga.

Diane loves how yoga considers the whole body functioning as a unit, while at the same time, recognizing the value of individual parts. She loves to teach those nitty gritty details! But she also strives to make things tangible and practical so that the knowledge is useful to others. The addition of yoga into Diane’s skillset has been invaluable. Yoga is the perfect place for Diane to share her unique perspective to help people in the community outside of physical therapy. She hopes that you’ll join her.

Schedule: Diane teaches special series and workshops