Grace has been in the fitness industry for over 27 years. Grace is Jiva Mukti, Ashtanga, and Universal Yoga certified, has studied extensively with Bryan Kest, and completed Teacher Training with David Swenson for both the primary and intermediate series of Ashtanga.
Grace studied in-depth with Sharon Gannon and David Life, Richard Freeman, Rod Stryker, Baron Baptiste, Andrey Lappa, and Nischala Joy Devi. Grace leads workshops and Teacher Trainings in both Power Yoga and Hot 26TM, which she created, developed and holds the trademark.
email Grace at gracemyoga@gmail.com
Jodie began practicing yoga in 1998. To deepen her practice and share her love of yoga, Jodie completed a 200 hour Kripalu teacher training
program under Yoganand Michael Carroll; a 40 hour sequencing training with Rolf Gates; and Prenatal Yoga training with Stephanie Keach. Her background allows her to create a holistic yoga class that incorporates elements of the physical, mental and energetic bodies. Jodie is a
Registered Nurse; a Healing Touch Practitioner (energy healer); and a certified Consulting Hypnotist (through the National Guild of Hypnotists). She is also training in clinical aromatherapy.
photo by Craig Reynolds
email Jodie at jodie.charlotteyoga@gmail.com
A graduate of UNC-CH law school, Joey is a full- time mediator who found yoga in 2000 in an attempt to help relieve the stress from his daily involvement with conflict resolution. He has been part of Charlotte Yoga from the beginning as a student and will tell you that when he walks through the doors of the studio, “I simply feel like I am spiritually at home.” Joey has been certified through Charlotte Yoga’s 200-hour training program in addition to having taken multiple workshops with Grace Morales, Bryan Kest, Rolf Gates, David Swenson, Andrey Lappa and Baron Baptiste. To Joey, teaching yoga is an opportunity to serve and give back. His emphasis on yoga is that of a moving meditation with a focus on the power of intention and equanimity. Joey believes that every time we come to the mat, yoga truly helps to remind us of our divine self. While emphasizing the spiritual, there is also the occasional insertion of a little humor and irreverence into both his personal practice and his teaching.
photo by Wanda Koch
Suzanne began her yoga journey in 1993 in New York City practicing Ashtanga yoga with Beryl Bender Birch and she has been hooked on yoga ever since! At the time, Suzanne was training for marathons. In 1997, Suzanne moved to Charlotte with her husband Joe and triplet boys; she began practicing Power Yoga with her neighbor, Grace Morales. Suzanne completed Power Yoga and Hot 26TM Yoga teacher training with Grace Morales in 2005 and is registered with Yoga Alliance® at the 200 hour level. In 2006, she completed a week long Hot 26TM Yoga intensive with Grace Morales. Suzanne has attended workshops with Bryan Kest, Sean Corne, and John Friend.
"My gratitude is endless to Grace for creating Charlotte Yoga and always raising the bar." - Suzanne Bergen
photo by Wanda Koch
Email Suzanne at suzanne.charlotteyoga@gmail.com
April Bowen is a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga Teacher, who has been practicing for more than twenty years and teaching for eight years. After spending 13 years 
dancing, April took her first yoga class in 1989, while she was in college. After the birth of her daughter in 2000, she began practicing several times a week. By 2002, she knew that she wanted to start teaching. She completed a 36-hour Pure Yoga Teacher Intensive with Yogarupa Rod Stryker in 2003 and began teaching. In 2010, she completed her 200-hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Rolf Gates. April is currently working toward her 500-hour Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training with Rolf Gates, to be completed in 2012. In addition, she has attended master classes with Grace Morales, Stephanie Keach and Bryan Kest. April enjoys teaching Vinyasa style classes, with emphasis on strength, endurance and proper alignment. She takes time each week to be a student, desiring growth in her own practice.
Angie began practicing yoga at Charlotte Yoga in 2010, and received her 200 RYT in 2011 from Johnna Smith and Tanner Bazemore where she trained in Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga. She continues to love, study, and practice Ashtanga, and hopes to someday donate her time to teaching the ancient tradition of Ashtanga to women and men who struggle with drug and alcohol addiction. Angie is currently studying with Grace Morales, while working toward her 500 RYT with Rolf Gates. Additionally, she has participated in master classes under the instruction of Rolf Gates and Bryan Kest. Angie expresses gratitutde for her practice and her teachers by stating, “My mat has always been a source of refuge for me: an amazing 2X6 feet of space that will always accept me, strengthen me, humble me, and transform me. I simply cannot find the words to express how truly grateful I am to my yoga teachers and all the teachers at Charlotte Yoga. A deep, heart felt ‘thank you’ goes out to each of them. I am humbled and honored to learn from and practice with such an extraordinary group of people.”
Angie has her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and Masters in Education with an emphasis in Reading Education. Currently, she is working toward obtaining her Master of Science in School Psychology and Specialist in School Psychology degrees. Starting in the fall of 2011 Angie will begin a traineeship with the Charlotte Mecklenburg School System.
“Yoga is the suspension of the fluctuations of the mind."
-- Yoga Sutra I.2
Biography coming soon.
Danielle received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1997. Upon graduating she was hired to teach at UNCC which is what brought her to Charlotte. In 2003 Danielle found Charlotte Yoga and embraced the possibilities yoga had to offer her and how it positively affected her art. She completed Power Yoga and Hot 26TM Teacher Training with Grace Morales in 2005 and is in the process of becoming certified with the Yoga Alliance® at the 500 hour level. Danielle is certified in Level 1 Universal Yoga with Andrey Lappa and has attended workshops with Grace Morales and Bryan Kest. In addition, in 2010 she completed a 30 hour training on the Six Gems of Para Yoga and a 40 hour training on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Rod Stryker. Last but not least, Danielle is a Licensed Massage Therapist. Her yoga practice gives her great strength and stability that allow her to massage your aches and pains away!
photo by Wanda Koch
Rowena studied classical ballet, jazz and modern dance from childhood until she moved to Charlotte in 2001. After an injury took her away from
dance, Rowena began her search for a meaningful way to express herself, not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually. That search eventually led her to yoga in 2005 and then Charlotte Yoga in 2007. After several years of practice, Rowena decided it was time to give back and guide others through the yoga journey.
Rowena completed a 45 Hour Vinyasa Teacher Training with Stephanie Keach in 2007 and recently completed her 200 Hour Power Yoga Teacher Training with Grace Morales and MyLinda Morales Hutchings, of Charlotte Yoga, in June 2009 and became certified through Yoga Alliance in September of 2009. Rowena's classes are also influenced by her studies with Bryan Kest, Rolf Gates and Leslie Kaminoff.
Rowena has her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Boston College and works full time in the field of Human Resources and Talent Development.
“It’s also helpful to realize that this very body that we have, that’s sitting right here, right now .. with its aches and its pleasures .. is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive …" - Pema Chodron
Email Rowena at rowena.charlotteyoga@gmail.com!
Ken was drawn to yoga in 2000 by a desire to learn the amazing balancing and flexibility he saw in class. His practice has evolved to realizing the physical really is just a portal to the spiritual. He started teaching In 2007 when he attended a packed class where the instructor did not show. Without any planning, he moved his mat to the front of the room and taught the class. Everyone stayed for the class since they needed a bit more laughter in their life.
Ken obtained his 200 hour certification through Charlotte Yoga with Rolf Gates. His first workshop was through Charlotte Yoga in 2003. He has attended workshops with John Friend, Desiree Rambaugh, Sienna Sherman, Mitchel Bleier and others. Ken likes to focus on things in class which simply make our lives better.
Charlie began his practice in January of 2009 - just about his only New Year's Resolution that has ever stuck. In 2011, Charlie completed his 200 hour Power Yoga Teacher Training at Charlotte Yoga with Grace Morales. Charlie has attended Master Classes with Grace Morales and Bryan Kest and will begin a 500 hour Teacher Training with Grace Morales in 2012.
Off the mat, Charlie works full time in the financial services industry in fixed income sales and trading. Charlie has run two marathons and has a few more on the horizon. Through his practice, Charlie has found that as long as he makes time for his mat, everything else seems to fall into place.
Upon moving to Charlotte in December of 2004, Jaimi took her first yoga class with Grace Morales at Charlotte Yoga. After years as a dedicated student, Jaimi decided it was time to take her practice to the next level and start teaching again. In May 2008 she completed a 200 hour Power Yoga Teacher Training with Grace Morales. She has attended workshops with Baron Baptiste and Stephanie Keach. "I look forward to continuing the growth of my knowledge of yoga and all it has to offer, so that I may hopefully empower someone the way in which Grace has empowered me." Jaimi Jones
photo by Wanda Koch
Email Jaimi at jaimij@gmail.com
While living in Boston, Annelise studied under Richard Lanza, Jene Rossi, and Susan Frazier, completing her 200-hour Yoga Alliance® Teacher Training at Open Doors on the South Shore. She returned to North Carolina in 2004 and began teaching in downtown Greensboro, introducing yoga to a new audience. Annelise began practicing at Charlotte Yoga in 2002. She continues to train and has attended workshops with Baron Baptiste, Shiva Rea, and John Friend.
photo by Wanda Koch
email Annelise at annelise.charlotteyoga@gmail.com
Christine began her yoga journey after graduating from college and returning to her hometown of Charlotte in 2004. Long hours of sitting behind a desk at her investment banking job left her with chronic lower back pain, a scattered mind and a rigid body. She quickly realized that yoga classes at the gym melted away her tension and cleared her mind. The many benefits of a regular practice at Charlotte Yoga continued to unfold for her. As a lifelong spiritual seeker and lover of physical movement, yoga was a natural fit. In 2011, she decided to delve deeper and complete her 200 hour Power Yoga Teacher Training at Charlotte Yoga with Grace Morales. Christine has attended workshops and master classes with Bryan Kest and Grace Morales.
photo by Brandy Cardarelli Photography
Lee Anne first began her yoga practice in 2003 and began practicing at Charlotte Yoga in 2006. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with a concentration in graphic 
design.
Lee Anne has completed her 230 hour Yoga Alliance® Teaching Training through the Bodhi Tree Yoga School of Charlotte (Lesa Crocker) as well a 200 Hour Power Yoga Yoga Alliance® Teaching Training through Charlotte Yoga (Grace Morales and MyLinda Morales-Hutchings). In July of 2011 she was designated E-RYT 200 (www.yogaalliance.org).
She continues her yoga education in her Charlotte Yoga community and with Yogarupa Rod Stryker (Para Yoga). Lee Anne has also attended master classes with Stephanie Keach, Bryan Kest, Andrey Lappa and Sarah Powers.
photo by Craig Reynolds
email Lee Anne at leeanne.charlotteyoga@gmail.com
Biography coming soon.
