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!
Kara
Owner-Creator | 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 Tuesdays 7am, 10 am and FriYay Yoga on Fridays at 10:00am. She’s also available for private instruction!
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.
Allora
Yoga (RYT 200)
Aloha beautiful people! I'm Allora and I teach Gentle Yoga on Wednesday nights at 5:30pm. I graduated from YTT at Zin Yoga Studio this past spring, and I am so excited to start teaching at this phenomenal place! My goal as a teacher is to bring forth love and respect to the art of yoga while adding a sense of fun to each class. I fell in love with the philosophical side of yoga during teacher training, so I plan to bring some of what I learned into my classes and spread that knowledge to all of my students.
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.
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.
Christopher
Yoga (RYT 500)
Christopher grew up in Greenville, NC and graduated from UNC-G. He first discovered yoga in 1997 after moving to San Francisco. As a therapist, he was fascinated by yoga’s integration of mind, body and spirit. After teaching and training for 25 years, he moved back to NC in 2019. His classes are a moving meditation, mindfully sequenced to build strength and balance, flowing into deep rest and inner peace.
Join Christopher Tuesdays at 5:30pm for All levels Flow, Wednesdays at 10:30am for Gentle Yoga, and Saturdays at 11am for Gentle yoga
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.
Kristin
Yoga RYT200 Dr of Physical Therapy
Kristin started practicing yoga in her teens after an injury sidelined her from the soccer field temporarily. And while she initially started yoga for the physical benefits, she stayed for the mental and emotional aspects.
In 2017, she completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training in Morgantown, West Virginia. And she taught consistently until relocating to Raleigh with her husband and pup in 2022.
That same injury that brought her to yoga, led Kristin to pursue a career in physical therapy. She is now a doctor of physical therapy with specialty in women’s and pelvic health. She uses her extensive knowledge of the body and its mechanics to inform her yoga teaching.
She has a passion for trauma informed teaching practice. Her classes offer a safe place for folks to tune into their bodies, connect to their breath, and explore poses and postures on their mats.
Jennifer T.K.
Jennifer has been an ACE certified group fitness instructor. As a high school athlete, she strove to find a way to stay active as an adult. Weight rooms and solo jogging did not ignite a passion, but she found her niche in the world of group fitness, first as a long-time participant, and then as an instructor.
When not in the group fitness studio, Jennifer can be found working full time as a counselor at South Garner High School, or at her home in Garner enjoying time with her husband Don, two children, their dog, two cats and bunny.
Sharon
Yoga RYT200
Sharon is a certified yoga teacher who creates welcoming, exploratory classes that encourage students to move with curiosity and confidence. Her teaching blends clear alignment cues with freedom to play, offering options for both challenge and ease throughout class.
Sharon believes there's no right or wrong on the mats - only an opportunity to connect with yourself through mindful movement and breath. With a long background in dance, she brings an appreciation for fluid, expressive sequences and a special love for balance and flow.
Egey
Yoga Instructor
Egey started practicing yoga not long after he moved to Garner from Northern Virginia in 2021. His interest in yoga stemmed from a desire to unify his mental, emotional, and spiritual development into an embodied practice with his local community. Physical fitness has always been a part of his life in the forms of soccer, running, and weightlifting, but yoga presented an invitation to explore new areas that integrated mind, body, and spirit.
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In 2023, Egey completed his 200-hour yoga teacher training at Zin. He is passionate about exploring the breadth of the human experience through yoga, and cultivating a space for practitioners at any level to find what they need through their practice.
Lauren
Yoga (RYT 200) |
I primarily teach gentle and open level yoga classes. I have additional training in Yoga for Athletes.
As an instructor, I believe very strongly in the power of community. I love a flow heavy practice, and in class I try to focus on connecting breath with the body’s movements alongside building strength, stability and ease for each individual. In my personal practice I love a grounded, powerful flow, and often try to reflect this in my classes as well.
I have a background of teaching as a speech language pathologist to all ages (1-99!). I aim to provide a safe, relaxed space to move and groove together!
Veronica
Yoga (RYT 200) | Yoga in Spanish
Veronica started her yoga journey eight years ago. She was looking to find a balance that would help her with the stress, anxiety and depression she was having during that part of her life. For several years, the practice of yoga helped her balance her physical, emotional and spiritual health. In 2020, she began to deepen her journey of self-healing and self-discovery and decided to complete her YTT 200 training at Zin Yoga Studio. This certification helped her to discover herself in a profound way and took her personal practice to a deeper level. Along the way, she has also completed her certification as a personal trainer and Holistic Health Coach by the Institute of Integral Nutrition of New York City (lIN). She believes that the practice of meditation, yoga and mindfulness can help everyone to live a much fuller and healthier life by taking care of their mind, body and spirit. Veronica believes that yoga is for everyone and she enjoys offering lots of options for movement where everyone in class feels welcome. She loves to create a space and an experience in every of her classes where people of all ages, skills and yoga level feel comfortable and safe on their path of self-discovery and yoga.