Meet Danielle, the owner of The Yoga Barre and inspiration behind the positive vibes flowing out of the studio each and every day. Danielle is deeply passionate about inspiring and empowering people to change the way they think about their lives, their health, and their futures. She wants you to know that you can feel amazing, live in a state of abundance, and create anything you wish for your life and The Yoga Barre's just the tip of the iceberg.
Danielle’s Journey to the mat started 10 years ago with a serious and chronic illness and 2 car accidents. Its hard for her to admit now, but it took two years of convincing before she would even try yoga. What started as an hour long class of sitting in childs pose (completely frustrated with her body and situation) has turned into a vibrant practice she can’t live with out. Yoga quickly became part of her solution to pain management, shifted into a work out routine, and has slowly become a spiritual and whole hearted practice built to feed the mind, body, and soul. Now she's absolutely in love with yoga's cousin barre (pure joy!), and loves sharing the upbeat atmosphere and good vibes with all of you! She's yoga certified in hatha and vinyasa flow for all levels, certified in mindful yoga for trauma and addiciton, barre certified, personal nutrition certified, and most importantly she's got a fire in her heart and a vision in her brain of changing the world ;-) Come see for yourself, she's on fire!
Elisa began her yoga journey about 4 years ago, on the recommendation of her doctor as an alternative to the anti-anxiety medications that she had been placed on.
After taking about a months worth of classes, she left to get her doctorate in Physical Therapy, but unfortunately, the anxiety disorder reared its face in true destructive fashion, and she was forced to drop out.
Returning to yoga and truly investing in it, and in turn, reaping the benefits of those investments, Elisa got certified to teach yoga after it successfully helped her be able to wean completely off of the medications. Her desire is to share the immense health benefits that yoga has with everyone that sets foot in the studio.
With her background in Physical Therapy, she strongly believes that not only is alignment key, but that safety in a pose is more important than trying to force the body into something it is not yet ready to achieve.
Her sincerest hope for her students is that they achieve their personal goals, while also working on our universal goals of building strength, flexibility, body awareness, mental acuity and developing the permeating peace that we can carry with us throughout our life journey
As a full time mom of two busy boys, Allison was looking for a way to keep in shape and take a little time for herself. She found that at The Yoga Barre. She fell in love when The Yoga Barre first came to washougal, and she couldn't get enough. She got so hooked that she decided to become a Yoga Barre certified instructor. What Allison loves most about her classes, is spending time with other women (and sometimes men!) who are taking a little time out of their busy day to treat themselves to a great workout. Especially other busy moms like herself. Ever since teaching her first class, she has been a natural and students love her fun upbeat and killer classes. When Allison is not teaching, she can typically be found spending time with her husband and boys. She's crazy about paddle boarding, camping, and just lounging by the Columbia. Her deck overlooking Silver Star mountain is her happy place. Allison also does graphic work on the side, has been renovating her home with her own row crafty hands, and is even the booster club president at her kids school.
With a strong background in dance and gymnastics, fitness is one of the foundations of Tara's life as an busy mom and active member of the community. Tara has spent years learning about many different elements of holistic heath, which brings a helpful perspective to her role as a teacher. She believes in having fun while staying healthy, and has found barre to be a great marriage of the two. Her classes are intense, with focus on proper alignment and moves that will get your heart pounding and spirits lifted. Essential oils are often used to enhance the experience.
Kathy began her yoga practice in 2009 when she was going through a difficult career decision and personal time. "It was a time I began trying to figure out who the 'real' me was. Yoga helped facilitate a spiritual journey into my inner self. I had taught step aerobics, pilates and traditional dance exercise and thought yoga was just about stretching, I was amazed at how challenging yoga can be. I love that yoga allows you to be where you are, whatever your level of fitness and flexibility. I really love the spiritual side of yoga as well and that we can take what we gain from our mat and integrate in into our daily lives. My inner voice often reminds me, 'Don't forget to breathe'". Kathy completed her RYT 200 teacher training in January of 2015 and enjoys teaching Vinyasa Flow, Fundamentals and Yin style yoga. When off her mat, Kathy enjoys gardening, traveling with her husband Dave and visits with her three grown sons.
Elise is passionate about health and wellness. She is part of the organization Freedom2Thrive that helps people achieve their craziest goals living a life of health, growth and success on your terms. Elise loves helping others out on their life journey and yoga is definitely a piece of the puzzle. She went to school at western Washington University where she studied biology. Being surrounded in a very competitive academic culture she sought out yoga to manage the stress. She began paracticing at 3 oms yoga studio in Bellingham and has been practicing yoga ever since. Yoga brings mindfulness, peace and strength to her life and she wants to share that with others. She is a lotus seed certified instructor from right here in Portland.
Miranda is a busy wife and mother to two energetic little girls, as well as a Registered Nurse at OHSU. Fitness has always been a huge part of her and her husband’s lives, and she initially started attending classes the The Yoga Barre to mix it up a little between Crossfit sessions. She quickly fell in love with the style of the classes, the environment, and the people, really enjoying the intensity of the workouts and strong sense of community at the studio. She eventually decided to become a certified instructor to further her understanding of the practice, and now gets to share her love of barre with others!
Susana is from the beautiful Rosario, Argentina. You may notice the cute accent and fun rhythm she brings from her heritage into the studio. Her passion for dancing started when she was young with ballet and jazz. And when she attended a Ballet Dance School it quickly expanded to a love for other styles of dancing. When she moved to Vancouver she found Zumba and a new vibrant passion for fitness. Now Susana is certified to teach Zumba, Pilates, Yoga, and Barre! Her classes are up beat high energy and fast paced but with easy to follow steps.
Briana discovered Pilates as an acting student in college. She quickly felt the work's positive changes in everything she did from rock-climbing to driving long distances. Now, as a mom of a rather powerful 4 year old, she's even more grateful for the strength and body awareness she's found from being a Pilates devotee. She was certified in 2011 under Dorothee VandeWalle's intensive 700 hour apprenticeship program in Seattle and, since then, Briana has been having a blast teaching this elegant method (and seeing its results!) to wonderful people in Oakland, San Francisco, Portland and now Washougal. She's beyond excited to be a part of The Yoga Barre community! When not in the studio, you might catch her on TV in a commercial, on stage in Portland, or hiking in the gorge with her husband, kiddo, and shepherd mix. And...the latest project that Pilates is helping her with? Creating a permaculture homestead here in the Washougal hills! Farming is hard-core ;)
Find more about Briana and her work at brianaratterman.com
Michelle found yoga after trying a few months of tai chi, a couple of years of Crossfit, a few handfuls of sessions with a personal trainer, and a bunch of group fitness classes - all which kept bringing her back to the same question of why these movements were chosen and how they were supposed to help the body. Yoga came into her life next and she fell in love with the way the movements made her feel. She trained in Bali to earn her 200-hour Intensive Yoga Teacher Training at Power of Now Oasis in Sanur under the tutelage of teachers from the oldest institution of yoga in the world; The Yoga Institute, Mumbai, India. There she deepened her knowledge of yoga poses and how to find freedom within the movements. Michelle is currently in the midst of working through my 500/1000 hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training with Yoga Medicine's Tiffany Cruikshank. Michelle created the persona of "A Mobile Yogi" because, to her, yoga and mobility go hand in hand. Her style of teaching is to offer both fun yoga flows and a blend of the more Western-style world of mobility.
Kim is married and the mother of two beautiful daughters and has been a resident of this lovely area for 20 years. She is educated in the field of early childhood development and education and holds a BA degree with an emphasis in women and family studies and is also a certified and practicing breastfeeding consultant. Kim's passion is for babies and preschool-aged children and their families. Providing them with support and a solid foundation for a happy, healthy life has been her life's passion and purpose! She looks forward to meeting each of you soon in one of my fun and educational Zumbini classes soon!
Caitlin’s yoga journey began by falling flat on her face and bruising her nose. She was trying to imitate a Yoga Journal cover model doing Crow Pose. She’s gotten a lot better in the 10+ years since, she promises. In that time, her yoga practice has cured not only her ego, but also the chronic back pain, insomnia, depression, and anxiety that plagued her all through her teenage years. Now she’s a self-proclaimed Yoga Fanatic and will tell literally everyone about how amazing yoga is.
She never expected to become a yoga teacher. She was happily working as a civil engineer when she took her 200hr teacher training with The Lotus Seed “to deepen her personal practice.” But there was no going back after that. Caitlin started teaching yoga full-time in 2016.
Caitlin brings her passion for Empowered Healing to her yoga classes through the integration of science-based disciplines including anatomy and kinesiology with the spiritual and emotional practices outlined in the ancient yoga teachings. You’ll leave her class feeling strong, relaxed, and in-tune with your mind, body, and spirit.
Check out her website at caitlindoesnutrition.com for more fun stuff!
Adriana is a healthy lifestyle and wellness advocate, a barre enthusiast, and a nature lover. In addition to being a busy mother of a toddler, she also works at WSU Vancouver and Clark College proving advising and instruction to students. She has a background in teaching and coaching as well as a Master of Science degree in Educational Counseling. She has practiced Barre and Yoga for many years in studios throughout Washington, Oregon, and Connecticut. She decided to become a Barre instructor after realizing she wanted to share her fitness passion with others. She believes that taking time to focus on yourself, such as taking a fitness class, will renew your energy and give you a fresh perspective. She hopes to motivate and inspire others to meet their goals and reach personal success.
Candace began her yoga journey at a young age with her gymnastics team and has been in love ever since her first downdog! She is a mom and massage therapist with a unique perspective on holistic healing and wellness. In her class you will get a little bit of everything including philosophy, flexibility and a good energizing sweat! She is an RYT-200 and can’t wait to see what’s next on the mat and the future!