Core Leadership
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Lisa Danahy
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Jean McDonald
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Erica Jackson
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Emily Tremblay

Lisa Danahy
ERYT-200; RCYT, YACEP
Lisa is the founder and director of Create Calm. She is also a seasoned and highly successful professional in management, education, and leadership. At the core of her success is a rich and fulfilling yoga practice.
Lisa began her yoga journey in the early 1990's. Recognizing immediately the physical benefits of yoga and gradually uncovering its profound spiritual dimensions, Lisa was moved by her practice of Kripalu Yoga. In 2011, Lisa completed her 200-hour certification in Pranakriya Yoga, a classic form of Hatha yoga taught in the tradition of Swami Kripalu. Shortly thereafter she obtained additional certifications in Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra ®, Dynamic Gentle Yoga, Therapeutic Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Kripalu Yoga in Schools, and Radiant Child Yoga. She most recently completed the Radiant Child & Family Yoga 200-hour yoga teacher training and through private instruction with Shakta Khalsa, the founder of Radiant Child Yoga, has become a Radiant Child yoga teacher training facilitator.
Lisa is a published author on yoga and mindfulness education, most recently completing a five-article series that appeared in Teaching Young Children, a publication of NAEYC. Her long-time interest in serving adults and children is supported by a BA in Psychology and over 30 years of experience as an educator, former school administrator, and human resource manager. Lisa now leads private and group classes for students of all ages and off-site trainings and workshops for schools, businesses and organizations throughout the DC and VA area as the founder and director of INA Wellness and as an instructor at The Happy Yogi in Olney, MD.
Lisa believes that yoga is a building block for creating a community of active, aware, and compassionate citizens. Yoga is a practice that brings strength, joy and richness to life. Whether in corporate team building, developing cultural competencies, or inspiring individual growth, Lisa weaves yoga into lesson plans and workshops to create real, active, and substantive learning experiences for all of her students. Lisa aspires to be, in the words of Swami Kripalu, a “Pilgrim of Love” and is committed to improving health, enhancing resilience and building community through yoga and mindfulness education.
Certifications: ERYT 200 (Pranakriya Yoga & Radiant Child & Family Yoga); RCYT200 (Radiant Child Yoga) Kripalu Yoga Education in Schools; Kripalu Dynamic Gentle Yoga; Ashaya Therapeutic Yoga Level 1, Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra; Pranakriya Penatal Yoga; Approved Trainer, Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Division of Early Childhood Education (OSSE/ECE) for the District of Columbia.
Professional Affiliations: Registered Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP) National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC); International Board of Certified Trainers, Yoga Alliance (YA), and the Pranakriya Yoga Teachers Association (PYTA).

Jean McDonald

Erica Jackson
Certified Radiant Child Yoga Instructor, M.A. Bilingual Special Education, B.S. Early Childhood Education
Erica is a member of the Core Leadership team at Create Calm, and she leads our grant writing efforts. She has been an educator in Montgomery County Public Schools for the last 11 years, teaching First Grade, Kindergarten and Preschool Special Education. She has also worked in other childcare settings based on Montessori practices and the Project-Based Approach. Erica began to develop an interest in yoga while in college at the University of Maryland, College Park (Go Terps!) She continues her personal yoga practice at the Happy Yogi in Olney, MD. In her spare time, she volunteers at a food kitchen in D.C. and at the National Building Museum providing pop-up educational programming. Erica has been teaching with Create Calm since 2019, and she truly enjoys engaging with young learners and their families!

Emily Tremblay
RYT-200, Certified Children's Yoga Instructor, M.Ed. in Montessori Education
Emily is a valued member of the Core Leadership team at Create Calm. Emily has been growing her personal yoga practice for over 15 years. As her understanding of yoga has deepened, her relationship with it has evolved to become a means of relaxation and stress-relief on the mat as well as a guideline for living off the mat. Sharing the benefits of yoga with others is a great honor and joy.
Throughout her thirteen-year teaching career as an ESL teacher, Montessori guide, and yoga teacher, Emily has taught children of all ages as well as adults. As a Montessori guide, Emily has brought mindfulness and yoga into the classroom and has observed the positive effects that breathing techniques and mindful movement can have on young children. She believes that people of all ages can benefit from slowing down, moving more, and reconnecting with themselves. It is her great passion to guide others on their journey towards stillness and simplicity.
Instructors
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Allie Stephens
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Brigitte O’Ryan Pollio
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Dr. Diana Bermudez
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Eunice Pak
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Farah Bekdash
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Jenny Ferguson
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Julandah (Jay) Young
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Julie Holly
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Katalin Gimes
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Katherine Fleer
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Krupa Vora
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Laurie Schott
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Lindsey Simpson
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Lynne McLaine
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Mary Lynn Mellinger
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Monya Cohen
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Samar Ayyub
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Siji Oni
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Suzy Donohoe

Allie Stephens

Brigitte O’Ryan Pollio
E-RYT 200, YACEP, RCYT, MAT in Teaching, Radiant Child Yoga Ambassador
Brigitte was introduced to yoga at an early age by her father who used to do headstands and sun salutations in their backyard. As an adult, Brigitte was drawn to practice yoga and found that it brought strength, balance, and an overall sense of well-being into her life. In 2006, she completed her YTT and has been teaching yoga ever since. In addition to teaching adults, Brigitte is passionate about bringing yoga to children of all ages. She has trained extensively with Radiant Child Yoga and is a qualified Ambassador Trainer and a Registered Children's Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance. Since 2006, she has taught yoga to hundreds of children in studios, schools, and after school programs.
A long-time educator, Brigitte holds a MAT in teaching from George Washington University and has worked as a Kindergarten teacher, an art teacher, and museum educator. Currently, Brigitte works with the National Gallery of Art's Art Around the Corner program, a collaborative program with DC Public Schools that brings elementary students to the museum five times in their school year to experience art, slow-looking, art-making, and artful thinking. Brigitte is passionate about bringing yoga to adults and children of all ages, and encourages her students to discover how their practice can build inner strength, calm, focus and flexibility both on and off their mat.

Dr. Diana Bermudez

Eunice Pak
RYT 200 - Radiant Child & Family Yoga Instructor
Eunice has worked with children and the elderly population for over 20 years in the healthcare field, rehabilitation, support services for high-risk populations, and early childhood education in both teaching and administrative roles. She has volunteered locally and in impoverished communities overseas as a promoter of community building and wellness.
As a 200-hour yoga instructor and certified children's yoga educator, Eunice continues to combine her experience, her compassion for the lives of others, and her love of working with children and adults to teach them tools for building a healthy and happy life. Being a mom of three young children provides many opportunities for her to put her skills and knowledge to practice on a regular basis, and is a humble reminder of our dual roles as teacher and lifelong learner.

Farah Bekdash
MA Biology, Certified Children’s Yoga Instructor
Farah began practicing yoga in her early teens after discovering it on daytime television during a school break. Farah continued to practice yoga throughout university, her Master's degree in Biology and while teaching preschool. Her love for yoga spread to her family, motivating her to train as a kid's Budding Yogis yoga and mindfulness teacher at Circle Yoga in Washington DC. A mom to three, certified labor doula and childbirth educator and amateur anything crafty, Farah tries to incorporate mindfulness and good intentions in all aspects of her life. Her teaching experience ranges from toddlers to middle school ages at yoga studios, public and private schools and exclusive sessions at specialty programs. Bilingual, Farah also teaches classes in Arabic. She combines storytelling, music, imagination and movement allowing even the youngest of yogis to blossom and grow.

Jenny Ferguson
RYT-200, IKYTA Yoga Therapy Certification, Certified Children's Yoga Instructor
Jenny has been teaching yoga to children in the NOVA area for 2 years. She works with children of all ages and abilities. Jenny is working with Create Calm as a mentor to teens and leads children's classes. She is passionate about bringing yoga to students, teachers, families, children, and parents in hopes to bring a deeper community connection in both schools and home environments. In her free time you can find her at the gym, in the woods, doing DIY projects, or enjoying time with her husband, four kids, and many animals.

Julandah (Jay) Young

Julie Holly
Certified Yoga Educator, Personal Trainer, Cancer Exercise Specialist and Energy Healer with a degree from Howard University where she studied Art and Journalism
Julie entered the Wellness Industry in 2003 with the goal of helping people feel better mentally, spiritually and physically. In 2010, she expanded her wellness practice into the Yoga Space and began teaching full time in 2014.
For a decade, Julie has gained the reputation of teaching classes that are not only fun, but are also educational. She has a history of building a strong yoga community that is steeped in integrity, curiosity and laughter.

Katalin Gimes
E-RYT 200, Level 2 (500 Hours), Kundalini Research Institute certified, Radiant Child, Level 1-3
Katalin has been a yoga teacher for more than 15 years. Kati has practiced, studied and taught a rainbow of yoga traditions including hatha, vinyasa, and Iyengar. Through her yoga journey, she has developed her own unique teaching style that focuses on connection to the breath and attention to alignment. She addresses the individual needs of each of her students, creating a challenging but safe environment to help guide everyone through the physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions of yoga. Kati studied under the guidance of teachers including Annie Carpenter, Shiva Rea, Sarah Powers and Dharma Mittra. Kati has a deep commitment to the practice of Kundalini yoga, and is a Level Two Certified Instructor by the Kundalini Research Institute (KRI). She has also studied yoga therapy with Mukunda Stiles and completed an in-depth course on Ayurveda. In addition to private clients, she teaches at local yoga studios, corporations and government agencies including the National Institutes of Health.
Kati was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary. She began her career at MTV, the Hungarian national television broadcasting organization, buying and producing documentary programming. She later moved to the United States and from 1993 to 2016, worked at Leadership Montgomery in Rockville, Maryland. As Program Director, she was responsible for designing and implementing a leadership training program for more than 120 participants each year. She wrote and edited the organization's newsletter and Annual Report, and managed the annual fundraising gala.

Katherine Fleer

Krupa Vora

Laurie Schott

Lindsey Simpson
Certified Radiant Child Yoga Instructor, Licensed Holistic Esthetician, Reiki Level 1, BA Psychology and Business
Lindsey's biggest passion in life is helping people feel healthy and radiant from the inside out. She has spent nearly a decade working in the wellness industry, most recently as a Holistic Esthetician, and her experience combines eastern methods with modern science to help bring positive change. Throughout her career, Lindsey has worked one-on-one with clients of all ages to create a safe space to relax, rejuvenate, and find inner peace and strength. Through her personal yoga practice, Lindsey has felt more aligned, empowered, grounded and happy. She was inspired to train as a children's yoga teacher after seeing the benefits of mindfulness and movement in her own two sons.

Lynne McLaine
Certified Radiant Child Yoga Instructor, Reiki Master
Lynne has been a practicing Dental Hygienist for over 30 years. 15 years ago, Lynne started practicing yoga and decided to start sharing her love for yoga with her granddaughter in 2016. She began formally teaching children's yoga in 2018 and started teaching yoga in the school settings. Lynne has a special interest in teaching children in grades K-6. She also enjoys sharing tools and techniques with those who work with and care for children. Lynne focuses on practical, relevant and integrative healing modalities to support children and youth in affirming their greatness.

Mary Lynn Mellinger

Monya Cohen

Samar Ayyub
200 hour Vinyasa, Certified Radiant Child Yoga Instructor
Samar is a first grade teacher and certified special educator with Montgomery County Public Schools. She values the importance of practicing compassion and connecting awareness in the body and mind through her yoga practice. Her love for yoga blossomed during her first year of teaching while concurrently working on her masters in special education. The practice has taught her many lessons, but the most meaningful lesson to her has been how to breathe through challenges that come up during everyday life. She wanted to pass this practice on to her students, hoping to create a mindful and compassionate classroom community. Samar completed her 200-hour vinyasa teacher training in 2017 and the Radiant Child Yoga (levels 1&2) teacher training in 2018. Not only does her passion come from the techniques that Samar teaches, but the lessons taught to her by her students.

Siji Oni
MS, Industrial Organizational Psychology, Certified Radiant Child Yoga Instructor
Siji received his B.A in Psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and went on to receive his M.S in Industrial Organizational Psychology from the University of Missouri Science and Technology. He uses that expertise to bring quality across Create Calm's programming. Throughout his college years he worked with children and teens in varying capacities primarily through the Montgomery County Recreation Department. As a physically active adult, Siji grew increasingly interested in yoga and the benefits it offers in overall health, then he received his certification to bring yoga to children and teens.

Suzy Donohoe
Suzy has been teaching yoga for three years and taught middle school for 30 years in Arlington County working with second language learners. She is a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher and Radiant Child yoga instructor. Suzy enjoys working with pre-teen and teenage students to help them use the tools of yoga to face life's challenges and be successful. In her free time, she loves to be on the water kayaking or stand up paddling. She is a literacy tutor in Anne Arundel County and teaches English as a second language in Annapolis.