email: rebecca@svalja.yoga

Rebecca is the owner and operator of Svälja Whole-Being. She is on a path of creating spaces where healing and deep inner wisdom can blossom through connection of one’s heart. Through her many years working in advocacy and community support, she is most interested in empowering people to find healing that is centered in their own being through re-discovery of their own deep wells of wisdom and love.  She seeks to support in fostering deep relationships, holistic listening, meaningful communication, and connection to Spirit.

Rebecca holds a BA in Sociology and is a Certified Sexologist and Sexual Wellness Coach. She is a Certified Qigong Trainer and RYT 200.

Rebecca came to Qigong as a trauma survivor seeking healing for her own physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. As a teacher, she focuses on a gentle, trauma conscious approach that offers practices to ground, in order that participants might feel the power of their own wisdom and healing within. Embracing the knowledge that one can heal one’s self is powerful, centering and life giving– this is a beautiful truth that Rebecca knows intimately.

Rebecca loves spending time with her partner, two kids, pup, cat and the loving community of friends and neighbors around her. Sitting with Mother Earth and playing cello are key healing practices she enjoys along with Qigong. Engaging the magic of curiosity, learning, and the sun and moon keep her spirit wondering and flourishing on the way.

IG:@miribeach FB: Miri-YumYum Hanson
email: miriam@svalja.yoga ph: 218-390-4933

Miriam is the Yoga School Director at Svälja Yoga. She is a lead teacher for Svälja’s Yoga Teacher Training, and a lead specialty trauma-conscious yoga guide.

Duluth native Miriam built a bilingual elementary school in Roatan, Honduras after completing her BA at U of MN Twin Cites. Yoga showed her the way to practice being connected and present. She has been a student in yoga classes all over the world, which has broadened her perspective and complemented her practice.

Miriam completed TT200 on the island of Roatan with Martha Berry School in 2011. With Martha's worldly view, Miriam was able to find her voice and personal power in guiding Vinyasa. After discovering Yin Yoga in 2002, Miriam has come to embrace this style. She is now a certified Yin Teacher Trainer with training from the world-renowned instructor Bernie Clark, and is a Levels 1 & 2 Yin Teacher Trainer through Michelle Pietrzak-Wegner. She took her first Yin Yoga Teacher Training in 2015 and has continued to deepen her Yin education with over 70 contact training hours. Miriam has led weekly or twice-weekly Yin studio sessions since 2012, including extended workshops and specialty offerings. Additionally, she is certified in trauma-sensitive yoga through the Center for Trauma and Embodiment, Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga, and has Advanced Adaptive Yoga and Yoga for Trauma & PTSD Training with Matthew Sanford and Mind Body Solutions. She extensively studied Patanjali's Yoga Sutra with her esteemed instructor Bhavani Maki and weaves yoga philosophy teachings into her classes. She completed her RYT500 with the final project of memorizing the entire Samadhi Pada in Sanskrit. See her published piece on Sutra 1.20 in Midwest Yoga+ LIfe. Miriam is also grateful for her extensive studies with Indu Arora in Ayurveda and Yoga Philosophy.

Miriam believes in the power of yoga to transform trauma and stress and lead us to freedom from suffering through daily practice of Patanjali’s Eightfold Path. She enjoys the fellowship and healing power of yoga, as well as the opportunity to nurture a loving space of breath, movement and discerning awareness.

Miriam primarily is dedicated to guiding Svälja’s weekly Trauma-Conscious yoga classes through partnerships with several community organizations. Join Miriam for her Yin + Live Music Collaborations that she has been doing for many years. Also check out her specialty refined-study workshops and Yin Certificate Program!

IG: @kyle.leia FB: Kyle Leia Elden Heyesen
email: kyleleia@svalja.yoga ph: 218-341-6115

Kyle Leia is the founder of Svälja Yoga, and Lead Teacher in our 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training guiding the Trauma-Conscious track.

Kyle is a published poet. Her book Grace Intoxicated and some of her newer poems are available on her website.

You can learn more about her in her FULL BIO!

“I can’t help it!
I’m smitten with you, Life,
downright grateful.

I’m grace intoxicated,
buzzed on happiness—joy spins circles
and makes me dizzy,
leaves me smiling.”

— k y l e l e i a

email: yttassistant@svalja.yoga

Anissa is an alum of Cohort 3 from Svälja’s House of the Gathering Yoga School.

Her interest in yoga began early, sparked by books and DVDs during grade school. In 2012, Anissa attended her first in-person yoga class at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. By 2016, her practice deepened as she incorporated yoga to heal and prevent injuries while training for Grandma’s Marathon. Since then, yoga has become an integral part of her daily life. In early 2020, Anissa earned certifications in yoga trapeze, breath coaching, and gravity yoga.

In November 2020, Anissa completed her 250-hour trauma-conscious teaching certification through the House of the Gathering Yoga School, which opened new opportunities and fueled her dedication to lifelong learning. She is currently pursuing a 300-hour training with Authentic Movements to further her knowledge and teaching skills.

Originally from central Wisconsin, Anissa now calls Duluth home. In her free time, she enjoys running, crafting, tackling DIY home projects, and spending time with her dog.

Anissa is the HGYS 2025 YTT Assistant.

IG: peace_of_onion FB: orion.sorrell

Meet Orion!

Orion was a member of the HGYS 2022 YTT Cohort. They describe the program as being a powerful catalyst for self exploration and transformation. Though they are not currently pursuing teaching yoga, they enjoyed deepening and expanding their personal practice of breath work, intuitive movement and ecstatic dance.

Orion is a certified NLP Life Coach, currently working as a Career Coach with the vulnerable adult population here in Duluth.

When they’re not working they enjoy being out in nature with their dog, traveling and exploring, crafting and creating, or getting lost in an antique store or a good book.

Orion is excited to be present in their role as the 2023 YTT Intern, acting as a supportive force for each of you through this beautiful journey!

Yoga has been a driving force in Emily‘s life for 15 years. She has over 1500 hours of teaching experience and is an E-200 RYT certified instructor with Yoga Alliance. She received her training at the Sivananda Kutir Ashram in Netala, India in 2011, and has continued her training with renowned teachers across the globe. Emily’s areas of focus in teaching are, biomechanically sound movement patterns and cueing, creative flows, pranayama, and giggles. She is as down-to-earth as she is energetic, and her passion for yoga is apparent within moments of meeting her.

She received a BA of Fine Arts from Northwestern State University of Louisiana, and is also a Licensed Massage Therapist, specializing in Myofascial Release, Traditional Ashiatsu, and Thai Bodywork. She has worked at Muggymoose Massage & Thai Bodywork since 2016.

Born in Venezuela and raised in Louisiana, Emily backpacked and bounced around until finding her home on the shores of Lake Superior in 2008. She spends her free time hiking with Niko, her Border Collie, creating, cooking, singing, and dancing ~ with the intention of fully exploring what life has to offer, one day at a time, with compassion and gratitude.

email: seth.qigong@gmail.com

Seth holds a MA in Spiritual Formation & Leadership and a BA in Philosophy & Religion. He is currently in Svalja’s 300 hour YTT with anticipated graduation in 2026. He is a Certified Qigong Practice Group Leader through Spring Forest Qigong. Seth is also a Rule 114 Facilitative Mediator through the Conflict Resolution Center.

Seth is the Executive Director of Damiano Center and works with people experiencing housing insecurity, poverty and all that comes with these realities.

IG: @grains_of_stars FB: Kristy Marie NurJehan Chisti website : www.kristymariemassage.com
Email: kristy@kristymariemassage.com ph: (218)591-8304

Kristy Marie is a yoga guide at Svälja Yoga and an instructor for Svälja’s House of the Gathering School. Kristy also leads Kirtan, a musical and devotional yogic practice.

Kristy began practicing yoga 20 years ago and has been a student ever since. She was in the first cohort of House of the gathering yoga school, Svälja’s first incarnation of the YTT program. She has a full-time massage and myofascial release practice here in Duluth.

Kristy studied and lived in Hawaii for four of the most formative years of her life. It was in Hawaii where she was immersed in a melting pot of different spiritual paths and an abundance of teachers ready to share these ancient wisdoms. She was Initiated as a Sufi in 2005 and has been studying all paths of the heart, religions, and traditions, finding unity between all ways. She uses mantras from the sacred traditions in a Bhakti (devotional) yoga practice called Kirtan. In this practice, we use the tool of the voice along with these archetypical sacred phrases to eradicate negativities of the mind and raise the essence of virtues and high ideals within us.

For the past 9 years, she has studied at length with John Barnes and the Myofascial release approach, taking 11 or more courses and shadowing him in his Pennsylvania clinic. The greater understanding of the fascia and its role in both the physicality and psyche/consciousness of every person feeds everything Kristy brings to both her massage practice and her yoga practice. She brings this deeply rooted fascial understanding into YTT also, co-leading the fascia workshop.

Kristy has also contemplated Death and Dying for over 20 years with the mantra “you have to learn how to die before you can live'' as her guide. She has studied with masters such as Ram Das and Bodhi Be at the Doorway to Light in Maui Hawaii, stewards in the conscious dying movement. She also has studied with Jerry Grace Lyons from Final Passages, Institute of Conscious Dying, Home Funeral, and Green Burial Education. Kristy has led workshops locally, including for House of The Gathering YTT students on exploring the deeper meaning behind the corpse pose. Embrace death, and enhance life.

Angela has been cultivating an interest in health and healing for over fifteen years. From traditional food preparations and herbal remedies to markets, classes, and workshops, she is passionate about sharing her knowledge and experience. Fermenting vegetables was one of the great lessons she learned while residing in South Korea in 2006-7. This experience opened a realm of taste, food preparation, safety, and health that was unknown to her until then. Back in Minnesota in 2009, she and her husband Ted started studying Permaculture and Herbalism as this was inevitable in their passion for plants as medicine, food, and ecological function.

As a natural outgrowth of studies and experiences, Angela began pursuing formal traditional healing knowledge of Herbalism and soon realized this was to be a lifelong journey. She knew instinctively that to round out the wheel, she was going to learn from many teachers and traditions. Angela completed numerous programs and classes within the School of Green Wisdom, Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism + Phyllis Light, Sajah Popham’s Evolutionary Herbalism, and Paul Bergner’s Food for Optimal Health program which highlights diet and identifying food sensitivities as the foundation to health.

As a student of Nature and plant purveyor, Angela recommends we all get back in touch with the rhythms and cycles of the natural world by simply sitting and tuning in, tasting plants, and recognizing health as our right and responsibility. We are intuitive beings from the natural world and healing is our innate ability. One can catch Angela, Ted, and their three children hiking the trails, river romping, and enjoying the gardens of Duluth.

Rachel Mock is a mother, partner, and proprietress of Global Village.

Kundalini Yoga reached out and took hold of her in 2010. Desperately seeking guidance amidst the tumult & pain of the events surrounding her Saturn Return, she found herself in a groovy, little, downtown studio with her first and most beloved teacher. Within 3 sessions, it was clear it would be a lifelong path.

As the old paradigm shifts, her perspective & approach to the teachings continue to evolve. She believes that tenderness & grace are as central to the practice as strength & discipline.

She invites you to meet some of the kriyas and meditations that have become dear friends to her.

Abigail experienced the transformational power of yoga during a period of change and uncertainty in her life. Since then, yoga has been a grounding and healing practice for her. Yoga taught Abigail how to cultivate inner resilience and learn about her body's abilities and limitations. In 2021, Abigail graduated from Svalja Yoga’s HGYS YTT. To Abigail, teaching yoga is about helping others find healing and peace.

Abigail loves to be in nature and enjoys gardening, hiking, kayaking, rock climbing, and camping. Her other hobbies include crochet, reading, and vegan cooking. Recently she has been cherishing time with her new baby girl.

e-mail: sam@svalja.yoga

Sam graduated from Svalja's Yoga Teacher Training in 2021 and has been on a transformational journey ever since. Her involvement with the Svalja Whole-Being community has profoundly impacted her life, leading her to explore the most intimate depths within and broaden her perspectives of the greater world outside.

Currently, Sam serves as the Administrative Director at Svalja, ensuring smooth operations behind the scenes. She also dedicates significant time to her kitchen, experimenting with food creation and caring for her family.

She lives up the shore with her husband Paul, their daughter Solvei, and their beloved pup & cat.