About

Kim Kimberly Burwell, E-RYT 200

The Goal: To bring yoga safely and thoughtfully to every body.

The Journey: After several years as a Certified Personal Trainer and Fitness Instructor I found yoga while attending a fitness conference. The instructor was patient and gave great cues and I did things I wasn’t sure I could do. Best of all, after years of tennis, running, and aerobics, I did not need a new pair of shoes! I floated out of that class not only feeling lighter in my body but softer in my spirit and connected somehow.

Yoga kept me sane through an Achilles Tendon injury which sidelined my tennis and halted my aerobics career. It kept me safe, happy, and healthy through my pregnancy, and helped me with the resolve to have a natural birth. After seven years of teaching, I found a teacher training program that gave me structure and discipline, a study of philosophy which led me beyond just physical practice with poses and breathing, and knowledge of anatomy beyond that which I practiced as a trainer. I studied with a masterful teacher named Doug Keller and his teaching partner Susan Van Nuys as well as several other teachers in Northern Virginia. After moving to Alabama, I was blessed to be trained by Karen O'Donnell Clarke, a Kripalu yoga teacher who pioneered Adaptive Yoga. I’m fascinated by the ability to customize poses to meet challenges in a person’s life. The process of Adaptive yoga considers the limitations and possibilities and then creates the best possible reality. That’s my goal.

Amanda Maddox Dorsett, RYT

I was introduced to yoga in 1999 in Mobile, AL through an instructor by the name of Nadia Jenkins. I went to her class and left feeling like a brand new person. Before this, I had been living with severe back pain from a 65 ft fall off a waterfall in 1994. Pain was a constant in my life, I was told that I should not be able to have children, and that I would be limited in my physical activity.

With Nadia's help, I was able to recover to a more active place with less pain. On several occasions she encouraged me to become a teacher and in 2006 I got the chance at Yandara, a wonderful school in deserts of Baja Mexico. It was a thorough course where Hatha Yoga and good diet were always the focus. It is 10 years later. I am here with two kids and can do a back bend -- something the doctors said I wouldn't be able to do! I am living proof that yoga can change your life and make you better.