Serenity Now Teachers

Noele is the owner of Serenity Now Yoga and the primary teacher at the studio. She has been teaching yoga full time since 2002. Noele completed her teacher training in 2002 in Memphis, TN through New York City based OM Yoga and it\'s director Cyndi Lee. Shortly after completing her training she moved to the Charleston area to be closer to her in-laws and the beach. Originally a born and bred Jersey girl, Noele moved to Memphis in 1995 to pursue her career in corporate accounting and financial reporting for International Paper Company. Her corporate experience taught her many valuable life skills, but she finds teaching yoga to be much more rewarding on many different levels.

Noele considers her students to be her greatest teachers, but is also deeply grateful for the teachings of Cyndi Lee, Andrey Lappa, Rodney Yee and Georg Feuerstein. Noele has found yoga to be her personal path towards living as a more fully evolved human being and finds it a great privilege to be able to share the experience of her own journey with others. She lives in Mt Pleasant with her husband Tom, Colbie, their sweet little yogi Chihuahua and kitties Penelope and Charlie (also natural yogis.)

Tom began his own yoga practice through compassionate but consistent persuasion from his wife Noele and was hooked immediately. A 1990 Citadel graduate with an MBA in Corporate Finance, Tom earns his living in the corporate world, but feels at home teaching yoga. He completed his teacher training in 2002 with Cyndi Lee, owner and director of OM Yoga in NYC and is a registered yoga teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance.

Tom believes a consistent yoga practice provides a strong, balanced and peaceful body and mind as well as being a great source of staying grounded and connected to others. Tom is dedicated to sharing his knowledge and experiences with others.

Jordan began her yoga practice as a counterbalance to the stress of trying to make it as an artist/freelancer in New York City. After moving to Charleston in 2004, she completed teacher training at Holy Cow Yoga and Holistic Center in an effort to deepen her own practice, and in the process discovered a love for teaching and sharing the profound mental and physical benefits of yoga with others. Taking classes at Serenity Now Yoga, Jordan found she always learned something new and was thrilled when Noele invited her to join the teaching staff there.

Jordan's classes are a combination of breath, movement, focus, and exploration/play. She is drawn to vinyasa flow with a strong focus on alignment both in and between postures, but she also loves breaking it down and exploring alignment, sometimes with props or partners. She is inspired by all of her students and teachers, with some of her main influences being Dharma Mittra, Edward Clark, and Andrey Lappa. Jordan can often be found playing around upside down, sometimes with her life partner Clayton who is a dedicated yogi himself. She is a firm believer that the practice of yoga (all 8 limbs of it!) can enhance anyone's quality of life, and enjoys working one on one with students who have special issues as well as people from all walks of life. Jordan is available to teach private and small group classes to anyone wishing to begin or further explore a yoga practice.

In 1994 Tricia decided to leave the cold Pennsylvania winters behind, packed up the car (bike in tow) and moved to Charleston. She now calls Mt. Pleasant home, where she lives along with her fuzzy pets. A vegetarian since 1984, Tricia moved to the lowcountry with the hopes of opening a veggie cafe, but as fate would have it she discovered yoga and found her true calling. (She still loves to cook!).

Tricia is now devoted to helping others uncover the abundant benefits of practicing yoga, both on and off the magic carpet (yoga mat). In 2001, Tricia was certified with 230 hours to teach Multi-Disciplinary yoga. The same year she received her certification to teach Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. She continued her studies in 2002 completing a 40 hour teacher training with Shiva Rea and a 50 hour teacher training with Doug Swenson. Tricia continues to study and attend workshops on a regular basis. In addition to her students and parents, her favorite teachers include Desiree Rhumbaugh, Sri Dharma Mittra and Yoga master Andrey Lappa. In late 2011, Tricia completed his level 2 Universal Yoga Teacher Training. Informally, Tricia studies by means of reading, experiential practice with fellow teachers, and life experiences. Tricia teaches vigorous vinyasa classes, universal yoga inspired classes, reflective yin yoga, restorative and gentle yoga classes and offers small group and private instruction.

Hannah's passion for yoga began in college through self study with books and a 20 minute yoga video. She extended her knowledge and experience by attending yoga classes, workshops and trainings. Hannah received her teacher certificate through Holy Cow Yoga and Holistic Center and is continuing her studies with a focus on the Anusara method of teaching yoga.

The Anusara method encourages students to celebrate the heart and to fall in love with who they are over and over again. Hannah encourages her students to embrace their differences and to see the good in everything and everybody. All of her teachers have inspired her in her life in one way or another. Her greatest influences have been John Friend, Desiree Rumbaugh, Sarah Faircloth, Sienna Sherman, Mitchell Bleier, and Stacey Collins.

Jaime began her yoga practice at the urging of a friend by taking her first class at Serenity Now Yoga in 2005. Her first teachers at the studio were Tom and Noele and after the initial class, she never looked back. Incorporating yoga into her life, both on and off the mat, has brought innumerable positive changes into her life. Realizing the transformation that is possible through yoga Jaime became a certified instructor in order to share this powerful tool with others.

She considers yoga to be the way to know oneself and through this knowledge wisdom, confidence and kindness will surely follow. Jaime aims to have her classes inform, inspire, balance and relax students. She considers Serenity Now Yoga to be her true yoga home and is inspired and rewarded to teach and practice there.

Doryjane began practicing yoga in 2002, drawn at first by the physical practice as a complement to her love of running and mountain biking, as well as by its emphasis on the mind-body connection that was lacking in her career as a professor. Her interests soon evolved to embrace yoga's philosophical, scientific, and spiritual teachings, and she has especially enjoyed exploring the resonances between yoga and her academic work in cultural theory: both realms involve practices for us to observe and "unhook" from conditioned responses to experience in order to live more balanced, ethical, and meaningful lives.

Galvanized by experiencing the benefits of yoga within her own life, Doryjane trained as a teacher on retreat under Andrey Lappa in 2008. Andrey remains her strongest influence and mentor, but she also aspires to the examples of Noele and the teachers at Serenity Now. Their commitment to sharing with students the insights developed through workshops with myriad master teachers, as well as from their own dedicated practices, is a continual source of inspiration. Doryjane encourages her students to keep heart and mind open, aware, and curious during practice, and to be willing to challenge their comfort zones--physical and otherwise--as they translate their experiences on the mat into newly fulfilling ways of being in the world.

Steven Willard first stepped onto a yoga mat in 1987 and a lifelong friendship was born. Initially drawn to yoga as just a way to deal with physical injuries, it wasn't long before Steven noticed how much better he felt internally. Steven is a big believer that yoga is a powerful tool in teaching us to accept ourselves in this moment and to let go of the idea, or expectation of perfection. Steven infuses his classes with enthusiasm, humor and fun. It's those moments of working hard, sweating and laughing that bliss sneaks in and takes root. As someone once described him, "If Kathy Griffin and Deepak Chopra had a lovechild that grew up to teach yoga, that would be Steven."

Darragh Dunleavy is a 200 Hour Registered Yoga Alliance Instructor. She began her personal practice of Yoga in 1998 under Laurie Clarke of Sun-to-Moon Yoga in Mt. Pleasant. Darragh took her initial instructor training at the East-West School of Yoga in Houston, Texas in 2006 after retiring from teaching in the Charleston County School District.  Darragh is currently enrolled in the Advanced Teacher Training Program at Holy Cow Yoga Center in Charleston, and is certified in Prenatal Yoga. She has been teaching Gentle Yoga both independently and at East Shore Athletic Club since 2007. Darragh is also a Licensed Massage Therapist and Reiki Master.

Stacy Gervon began her yoga practice in 2005 and is now a certified yoga teacher through Nosara Yoga Institute and a registered yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance. A student of many teachers; Stacy is trained in children's yoga through Grounded: Yoga, Laughter, Elevation and in Pilates through STOTT Pilates Method of Body Conditioning. A former dancer with a background in Psychology; she is inspired and passionate about teaching. Her classes are creative and dynamic. They invite a turning within, a waking to all aspects of oneself. She believes in the wisdom of the body, the guidance of the breath, and the experience of the heart.

Stacy resides on Folly Beach and enjoys the ocean and all nature, traveling and experiencing other cultures, music, cooking, and spending time with friends and family. She is interested in all healing arts and conscious living. Peace Light Love

Born in Columbia, SC, Suzanne Hancock moved to Charleston in July of 2008. Suzanne attended the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she attained a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in finance. After several years in the "real world," she realized that though she was groomed to be an investment banker and had a passion for numbers, the setting and hours of a profession rooted in her specialty were rigid and did not fulfill her on a personal level.

Suzanne's life was vastly changed by yoga in ways she didn't recognize until they were deeply rooted within her. Yoga helped her get through a difficult time in her life and changed her outlook on... well, pretty much everything. She began practicing regularly, and her passion led her to partake in the 200-hour training program in 2009. She became a certified yoga instructor after a dedicated process of self-study and heightened awareness. Suzanne then went on to study Yin Yoga. She embraced this style of yoga that couples breath and surrender and was fascinated by the shifts that occurred within her body's connective tissue-- almost immediately. Under the guidance of Sarah Powers, she completed the Yin Yoga teacher training program in Chapel Hill, NC in 2010.

In her classes, she emphasizes the importance of staying internally present rather than "going through the motions." Suzanne is quick to prescribe yoga to anyone and everyone (and she does!) for its benefits both on and off the mat.

Colbie joined Serenity Now Yoga in 2008 after spending six months at Pet Helpers on Folly Road. For the previous ten years she had been forced to breed puppies for a puppy mill in rural South Carolina. With much love patience and understanding from her new family and the wonderful students and teachers at Serenity Now she is learning to trust, communicate and enjoy life to the fullest. You can find her greeting students, relaxing on the couch, snuggling up to Lizzie, her golden retriever friend or helping her mom, Noele, teach class. You might even catch her dancing, she loves Krishna Das! Colbie wants people to know that it's never too late to open your heart and learn to love and she also asks that you make pet adoption your first option.