Vira Kravets
About:
Vira is a dancer and a gymnast in the past, who has been practicing yoga since 2010 on a regular basis. She is a RYT-200 teacher. Her love to yoga stemmed from the calm and peace the practice brought her during the years of the graduated school. Later she was able to avoid a knee surgery by strengthening the muscles via carefully practicing yoga, which only doubled her passion about yoga practice. Vira completed her Yoga Teacher Training at yogacastlerock.com led by Jeanne Reslan, Rebecca Swenson, Marci McDonald, and Danielle Less McDowell.
Vira is a researcher at the Barbara Davis Research Center for Childhood Diabetes. She studies reasons for type one diabetes, the auto-immune disease. She is interested in how our nervous system affects our guts and vice versa. She is fascinated by the power our psychology has over our physical body. Hence, the love to the mind-body connection provided by yoga. Vira loves workshops like Arm Balancing and Acro Yoga, but she also enjoys more grounding practices, like Nidra and Yin yoga.
Whether she is on a plane, in a challenging meeting, or about to give a presentation to a large group of people, Vira always finds her center by practicing yoga via deep breath. Morning yoga is her anchor, and a way to set the intention for the day. Her fellow yogis and friends are her inspiration.
Krista Hinman
About:
Krista is an RYT-200 teacher and completed her Yoga Teacher Training at yogacastlerock.com with Jeanne Reslan, Rebecca Swenson, Marci McDonald, and Danielle Less McDowell. She began practicing Ashtanga asana over 25 years ago while in high school (back when there weren’t really yoga studios in the west) and has been practicing variety of styles regularly ever since. Krista’s been active in the Denver-area yoga community and online since 2011 and has hosted several Instagram “yoga challenges” including “#ColoradoLovesYoga – sponsored by KDeer Apparel, Corepower Yoga Parker, @FourSeeAppael, @yogalitathletics, @fractal.9, @coloradoloveclothing.
Krista has attended countless workshops with yoga teachers including Tiffany Cruikshank, Kathryn Budig, Gina Caputo, Shannon Paige, Kino McGregor, Richard Freeman, and Bo Forbes. She loves all types of yoga, from hand-balancing to gentle asana to meditation and pranayama, and is particularly passionate about ensuring yoga is accessible to all. Krista is pursuing her trauma informed yoga certification, and is president of her company’s disability employee resource group which supports employees with disabilities and neurodivergences. She has worked on fundraising, advocating, and volunteering for institutions including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), National Stroke Association, aphasia research, and brain injury survivors.
With over 1,000 yoga classes as a student locally in Colorado (and countless classes while traveling and online), Krista is committed to always keeping a “beginner mind,” and believes the best teacher for anyone will always be themself. Read more about Krista here.
Mona Hinman-Briscoe
About:
“When nothing seems right..go left!”
As a lifelong adventure enthusiast and adrenaline junkie, yoga did not initially appeal to Mona. Mona unknowingly thought the pace, difficulty and cardiovascular benefits, too modest for her liking… and then she started actually practicing yoga. Regularly. Frequently. Specifically, hot yoga – and to her surprise, she fell in love with the practice.
This practice of yoga has taught Mona that the benefits of coming to the mat extend well beyond anything physical (and she has to say that physically, yoga has lengthened and toned her entire body more than anything else). She frequently shares with others that yoga saved her life. In struggles that seemed impossible to “survive,” she found that her mat provided grace, space, peace, solitude, strength, clarity, and most importantly, taught her the powerful life-force of breath (pranayama).
Yoga teaches you to breathe through the uncomfortable and difficult postures… and that, friends, transfers directly off one’s mat. If you can learn to breathe through the struggles of life, both physical and mental, then invariably, you will have the fortitude to not just survive, but to thrive.
Yoga is about practice, not perfection. It’s a constant evolution, an ever evolving harmony of freedom and release. Yoga holds both a physical and mental relationship that encourages personal growth both physically and spiritually, and reveals the interconnectedness we all have with each other and the world at large.
Mona has been a devoted yogi for 10 years and has attended classes, events and workshops in the thousands! She is a 200-hour RYT certified Yoga Alliance instructor who trained under Jeanne Reslan at The Yoga Studio, Castle Rock. She is also pursuing certifications in Yoga Nidra and Trauma Informed Yoga to further support those with emotional trauma. As the wife of a former first responder and a trauma survivor herself – she knows first hand the effects of PTSD and trauma. Mona hopes to provide relief and healing through the practice of yoga.
Off her mat, Mona is an avid skier, snowboarder, surfer, paddle boarder, runner, hiker, backpacker, outdoor enthusiast, reader, thrill-seeker, and animal-lover. She is a 7th generation Colorado native (her family’s origins trace back to the Blackfoot Indians), wife and mom to three AMAZING children! Mona is a former roller derby athlete who travelled worldwide with a championship team competing in the sport. You may also recognize Mona from the CBS reality TV show, “The Amazing Race – Season 22,” where her and Beth, a lifetime dear friend and roller derby teammate, traveled the world experiencing countless thrills and chills. In fact, Mona and Beth made it to the final 3, ultimately not taking home the $1,000,000 prize, but rather something far more valuable, the life changing experience of seeing the world.
Mona’s friend and family will tell you that above all, she is a helper. Mona is always looking for ways to support, love and grow those around her. Vinyasa is Mona’s favorite style of yoga and she aims to infuse compassion, creativity, simplicity and inspiration in each of her classes. Her hope is that each time you step off your mat, you leave feeling nourished, balanced and invigorated.
Dee Morgenthaler
About:
I discovered the benefits of a regular yoga practice when my body could no longer handle running. In the beginning I was a “hot-yoga or no-yoga” kind of gal. If it didn’t hurt or make me feel like passing out, I didn’t want anything to do with it. Thankfully, I have since grown to be more loving towards my body and mind. I believe strongly in the restorative and healing power of collective breath. I love leading others to discover their own peace through yoga.
As the wife of a first responder and a survivor, I am pursuing certification in Restorative Yoga Nidra and Trauma Informed Yoga to help those suffering from PTSD and other forms of emotional trauma. I completed my RYT-200 Yoga Teacher Training at yogacastlerock.com with Jeanne Reslan and I am a member of Yoga Alliance.
I have lived in Castle Rock, Colorado for more than 20 years with my husband, Eric. We have two teenaged daughters and three more furry children.
Morning Yoga With Friends 