Our Teachers & Staff
We can’t even begin to describe how grateful we are to have these most amazing souls sharing their gifts and passions with us. From personality to skill, we hands down have the best team around and hope you’ll take advantage of having them all in one place!
Angela H
Yoga (RYT 500) Zin Yoga Studio’s Co-Lead Trainer for 200YTT
Angela teaches in the vinyāsa style of yoga. Her classes focus on linking poses together and connecting the breath with movement. She strives to bring a peaceful, yet uplifting energy to her classes and encourages her students to look inside themselves to connect with their inner beauty, strength and peace, during their practice both on and off the mat. Angela enjoys sharing information about anatomy and its relationship to poses and movements throughout her classes. She also loves to incorporate chanting at the beginning or end of the practice and often plays her harmonium in śavāsana. Along with vinyāsa, she teaches restorative yoga, meditation, Sanskrit, yoga history and philosophy and kid’s yoga.
Angela completed a 200-hour teacher training in 2010 and a 500-hour training in 2017, both at blue lotus yoga studio in Raleigh, NC. She continues to study anatomy on a regular basis and has devoted several years to studying the Sanskrit language, yoga history and yoga philosophies.
Angela G
Yoga (E-RYT 200, YACEP, 500RYT)
Angela Y. Griffin is a 500 hour Registered Yoga Teacher who received her training from Indigo Hot Yoga Center and blue lotus in Raleigh. She has been a lifelong fitness and health advocate as early as childhood and through adulthood. Although a student of many yoga disciplines, her passion is for gentle and YIN yoga. Over the years, Angela’s dedication to teaching in the areas of inclusivity and accessibility has evolved. Angela finds that the practice of yoga brings clarity, calmness and an overall sense of peace to her life. Her passion is to share this with everyone she comes in contact. A message that Angela tries to spread is that you do not have to be flexible to do yoga, just willing. Yoga is a lifestyle and we have so much power in our breath.
You are invited to join Angela at one of the yoga sessions that can be tailored to help you stretch your mind and body, thus helping to alleviate stress, and encourage whole body wellness.
Ashleigh
Yoga (RYT 500)
Ashleigh is a nationally certified yoga teacher with extensive training in restorative and therapeutic yoga. She loves bringing the life-changing practices of yoga to her students. From asana (with an emphasis on alignment) to breathwork and meditation she works with her students exactly where they are to help guide them home to themselves.
Join Ashleigh weekly on Wednesdays at 6pm Flow and Restore ; and occasionally for special offerings like Yoga Nidra!
Chris
Yoga (RYT 200) | Fitness
Currently working as a first responder and rock climbing coach, Chris is abundantly clear that yoga is life and practice extends far beyond the four corners of the mat. Chris’s personal practice and classes fuse concepts of basic (and advanced) human mechanics, while continuing to strengthen roots in mindfulness and yoga history in order to continue a 5,000-year practice dedicated to coming back to the present moment.
Although Chris is not currently on the weekly schedule, we invite you to keep an eye out for the special offerings he regularly brings to Zin!
Elizabeth
Yoga (RYT 500) I Yoga Therapist I Barre Fitness
Elizabeth has been practicing Yoga for 15+ years. She completed her 200-hour Yoga certification through Eight Limbs Yoga Centers in Seattle, WA in 2014 and has been teaching ever since.
Dealing with years of chronic low back pain she was diagnosed with degenerative arthritis in her lower back (L4 & L5). It was with this diagnosis that she decided to pursue becoming a Yoga Therapist. She has completed an 865-hour Yoga Therapy Program through The Optimal State of Living and is currently in her Practicum pursuing her C-IAYT. She believes Yoga is essential to healthy aging, and overall health and fitness including mental well-being. She feels honored to share her passion and knowledge with others.
Elizabeth is married, has 5 children and 6 grandchildren. When she’s not teaching Yoga or Barre, she enjoys Cuban Salsa dancing with her husband and playing Pickleball!
Join Elizabeth weekly for Barre Express on Mondays at 5:30pm, Myofascial Release and Deep Stretch at 6:30pm, Open Level Flow Yoga on Saturdays at 9:30am and Gentle Yoga Saturdays at 11am. You can book private Yoga Therapy sessions with her through our site.
Jennifer
Lounge Manager
You can enjoy Jennifer’s sweet presence throughout the week during our open boutique and lounge hours, as well as at our weekly wine tastings on Thursday evenings!
Kara
Owner | Lead YTT Trainer | Yoga (E-RYT 500, YACEP) Reiki | Fitness
North Carolina native, Kara has been teaching yoga to The Triangle since 2008 and in the fitness industry since 2006. She then opened Zin, Garner’s first yoga studio, in November 2014. Students can expect a class of passionate alignment instruction, hands on assists that support healing in the body, unapologetic encouragement of self-care, and fun music along with sporadic bursts of contagious laughter.
Join Kara weekly for Gentle Yoga on Wednesdays at 10:30am, Flow Yoga (level 2) Tuesdays 7pm and FriYay Yoga on Fridays at 10:00am. She’s also available for private instruction!
Cristen
Yoga (RYT 200) |Qi Gong
Cristen knows that yoga is for everyone despite the perception that yoga is for super-bendy folks only. She offers trauma-informed, accessible, grounding, thoughtfully paced classes. Cristen is also a qi gong practitioner, and a relentless domestic violence victim advocate. She found yoga in 2002 and was diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis in 2004. After years of chronic illness, she recognized that all bodies need the care and love that yoga provides and completed yoga teacher training in 2020 to deepen her own practice and to spread the yoga. For fun, she loves dancing, gardening, buying sassy outfits for her little terrier, nature walks, and going out for live music.
Cristen currently teaches Slow Flow Tuesdays at 5:30pm
Sean
Yoga
Sean was introduced to yoga while training for the Houston Marathon back in 2000. While in physical therapy it was advised that he take yoga to help stretch and speed up his recovery. It worked and he successfully completed his one and only marathon. Physical activity has always been his escape from stress, so Sean's practice is largely influenced by his desire to let things go. Sean discovered that yoga is the perfect way for him to both achieve an active lifestyle while also truly letting go.
Michelle
Yoga (RYT 200) | Kid’s Yoga
Michelle loves to be outdoors, curled up with a stack of books, drinking lots of coffee, and listening to music. When you come to her classes, you can expect her to play her harmonium and share stories from India before diving into the physical and metal practices of yoga, which will leave your spirit and sou feeling fed and your body and mind taken care of with lots of options to meet you where you are. She’s also up for grabbing cups of coffee after class, because once you share coffee or tea, you’re basically family.
AMANDA
Bartender on the wine side
Amanda is a middle school teacher who loves to read, snuggle with her dog, and spend time with family and friends. She grew up in Garner and loves to go to the beach as often as possible. You can find her in the wine lounge on Tuesday evenings and occasionally on the weekends.