People

Amoena’s first exposure to yoga occurred as a child, watching her mother moving in and out of poses.  As an adult, Amoena began a regular yoga practice in 2018 and through her yoga practice, Amoena was able to reduce stress and decrease the effects of emotional trauma.  In 2022, Amoena discovered a yoga teacher training opportunity at Anderson Yoga Center and earned her RYT200 Yoga Teacher certification in 2023.

Amoena enjoys teaching mindful and gentle vinyasa-based classes and incorporates yin yoga, restorative yoga, meditation, and pranayama into her own practice.  Additionally, Amoena enjoys beachcombing, hiking, camping, and foraging for mushrooms.  Prior to being a yoga instructor, Amoena spent 30+ years in higher education, both as a teacher and an administrator. 

Brooke is a clinical herbalist, holistic nutritionist, personal trainer and owner of Wild Healing Co.  With over 7 years of experience empowering individuals on their wellness journey's, Brooke is dedicated to guiding clients to feel their best, inside and out, using a functional and integrative approach.  She guides clients to discover the root causes holding them back from optimal health and offers comprehensive, personalized plans which incorporate nutrition, movement, mindfulness and herbal remedies.  Her goal is to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to make sustainable changes and achieve lasting wellness.  

Brooke works with clients 1:1, teaches classes and workshops at Green Heart Awakening and also has an herbal-infused product line!  If you would like to learn more about Brooke and how to work with her you can visit www.wildhealingco.com.

Christy has played guitar for more than 30 years, been a songwriter for 25 years, and she has taught people of all ages to play over the last 15 years. She shares her gifts in Simply Sound and other classes as well as Singing Circle gatherings, using guitar, drum, signing bowls, rattle, and more to soothe the nervous system. She also offers private Sound Healing and Mindful-Life Coaching.

Karen Sonnenwald is a woman on a mission. It is her firm belief that taking care of oneself is not a luxury but a necessity, especially for women! It is through her own personal journey that she discovered the power of meditation, yoga, and the chakra system early on in life. She has studied many spiritual traditions that allow her to form a daily practice that is unique and welcoming to individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds. She holds a BA in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies from Montclair State University. She studied MBSR at Ramapo University and Yin yoga at Jaipure yoga. She taught meditation and held labyrinth walks at Cedar Crest Active Retirement Community in Pompton Plains, NJ.

When she is not working in the healthcare industry, she enjoys being outdoors, taking photos of nature, practicing qigong (a recent addition to her daily practices), listening to podcasts and audiobooks, and sitting in quiet contemplation with her cat, Shakti. 

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Karen offers Reiki Trainings, is available for private Reiki and meditation sessions, and once a month teams up with Christy to offer a Sound with Reiki class.

Melissa is co-owner of Green Heart Awakening. She has been studying herbalism since 2010 and practicing yoga since 1995. Melissa began teaching yoga in 2016 and enjoys offering yoga classes that are accessible for all bodies.

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Melissa teaches Yoga for Any Body classes in the GHA Wellness Lab.

Shannon is co-owner of Green Heart Awakening and teaches occasional plant-based cooking classes. Shas been eating and cooking mostly plant-based meals for over 13 years. She started for health reasons and now there are all kinds of reasons why her diet is plant-based. She has over a decade of experience in creating plant-based recipes that are easy, healthy, and enjoyable to eat.

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Shannon is also a Master Gardener and manages the Green Heart Awakening greenhouse.

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Shannon teaches occasional cooking classes, and you can also request a cooking class for your group of 4-8 people by emailing shannon@greenheartawakening.com.

Vel has been a compassionate person her whole life, offering a safe, sacred space for others to be their True Selves. She is an Intuitive Channel, Medium, and Spiritual Advisor here on this construct of Earth. 

Vel offers services in ways that are genuine, caring, honest, and fun to promote the healthy balance of mind/body/spirit. She believes that she is here to awaken those that may have been asleep to their own Divinity and guide those that want to further their spiritual and energetic practices. She truly believe every one is One and One with God and have all they need within them to be the healer they are.

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Vel offers a Divine Feminine Empowerment Circle and Moon Groups as well as private consultations.

Annie lives and guides others from the perspective that reconnecting with ourselves as Nature; creative, nourishing and connected to all is an enlivening and generative way to create a life we love. 

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Annie leads Living the Seasonas workshops, guiding participants to reconnect with nature's cyclical, seasonal energy and their own sacred Wild selves.

Casey Certain is trained in hypnotherapy, meditation, breathwork, yoga, aromatherapy, auriculotherapy, among other modalities. Her great joy, however, is introducing individuals to the Animal Allies who have been working, and who wish to continue working, with them in order to bring balance to their healing journey. Her own journey is assisted most frequently by Rabbit, Blue Jay, Fox, Crow, and Black Snake.

Casey's journey with yoga began when she was 15. Throughout her years of practice, she has adopted the philosophy that the teachings and practices found in yoga support an awakening into a more compassionate and balanced state of being that supports health and longevity through alignment of mind, body, and spirit.

Since 2016, Casey has led various yoga and meditation classes for youth and adults as a path for pursuing mental, physical, and emotional health and wellness. Her calm energy and ability to create safe space make meditation, pranayama and restorative yoga her specialties. It is her greatest desire that those who join her for any session walk away having fully dropped into the body while building awareness of their breath so that they feel empowered and at peace.

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Working to explore, record, and share what the Animals, Plants, and Land wish to share and teach, she now offers private sessions and retreats as an Integrative Healing Arts Practitioner at her homestead in Walhalla, South Carolina, with her husband David.

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You can learn more about her homestead and healing arts practice at reidhomestead.com and find some of her recorded Animal Meditations on her Patreon Inner Certainty Healing Arts.

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Casey teaches Teen Yoga at Green Heart Awakening.

Gary Michaelangelo Carbone has been training in Tai Chi, Qigong, and Chinese Martial Arts since 1983 and has been teaching professionally since 1995. He is grateful and honored to share this beautiful system with others.

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Gary teaches Tai Chi & Qigong classes at Green Heart Awakening.

Lee Ann teaches Yoga for Any Body classes on Mondays at 10 a.m. and Chair Yoga classes on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11:45 a.m.

Sarah joined Green Heart Awakening in June 2023. She is a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with a Ph.D. in Sport Studies from the University of Tennessee. She completed her yoga teacher training in 2018 at the Yoga Deza Institute in Fayetteville, Arkansas and is trained in power yoga, yoga sculpt, and yin yoga.

Sarah often shares inspiring quotes with her students, such as, "I am possible" and "You’ve always had the power, my dear, you just had to learn it for yourself." As Glinda the Good Witch reminds Dorothy in *The Wizard of Oz*, the power lies within ourselves. For students who struggle to find answers externally or seek external validation, this message resonates deeply. Sarah reminds us that not only do we have the power within to find our Crow pose, but we also have the power within to find our own way in life.

When she’s not practicing yoga or binge-watching the latest series on Netflix, Sarah is an Associate Professor of Athletic Leadership at Clemson University, researching student-athlete development. A native of Aurora, Illinois, Sarah and her partner, Joey, reside in Pendleton with their two dogs and four cats.

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Read more about Sarah's classes here.

Tracy has been practicing yoga for over a decade. She did her yoga teacher training in Asheville, NC at Asheville Yoga Center and has been teaching since 2018. Both yoga and wellness are integral parts of her daily life. Tracy believes moving your body daily, feeding your body healthy, nutritious plant-based food, and being mindful and intentional in your life choices lead to a happier, healthier life.

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When she’s not teaching or coaching, you may find her with her horse, Romeo, trying out new plant-based recipes, reading, art journaling, or in her garden.

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It is her passion, challenge and goal, to help women get to a place where they are happy and healthy, bringing them back to a place of joy and love for themselves as the beautiful people that we are!