FRANCES STAHNKE, RYT, CMT, BodyMaster^©
Director and Owner of Sacred Well

Frances Stahnke is a certified BodyMaster™ yoga teacher. The BodyMaster training emphasizes hatha yoga, meditation, pranayama, kriya yoga, yoga nidra and BodyTuning (a form of therapeutic bodywork). Frances has been a practitioner and teacher of yoga for 25 years,  her current  teacher being Master  teacher Glenn Black. The teachings of Mata Amritanandamayi, Swami Sivananda, Swami Rama, and B.K.S. Iyengar have strongly influenced Frances's approach to teaching yoga. Frances' teaching emphasizes the importance of connecting proper alignment and breath with the power of being present. Her 20 years as a Certified Massage Therapist and now  BodyMaster^© enables her to use yoga, meditation and BodyTuning to treat injuries and other health conditions. Frances is the founder and director of Sacred Well Yoga Studio and Healing Center which has been in Falls Church, VA since January of 2000 and has established a Yoga Alliance approved 200-hour teacher-training course.

Cindy Wargo, RYT

Cindy originally began practicing yoga as a complement to her running regimen but has found that yoga alone has changed her life. She loves to help her students find their own mind/body connection in class and throughout daily life. Cindy is a recent graduate of the Sacred Well Teacher Training program, and has studied yoga since early 2003. She feels that the asanas are an integral part of the yogic journey, and she looks forward to sharing this ancient science with others.

Melanie Settje, RYT

Melanie took the scenic route from her native South Dakota, unrolling her mat in Colorado, England, the Dominican Republic, Germany, and Italy before arriving at Sacred Well in February of 2006. She especially likes introducing beginning students to the joys and surprises that await them as they develop their own yoga practice.She has an affinity for vinyasa yoga and believes that anything worth doing is worth doing with a twinkle in your eye.

Fritz Partlow, RYT

Fritz brings her understanding of the infinite possibilities of the mind and body to her yoga practice. A recent graduate of the Sacred Well Teacher Training Program, Fritz has been studying yoga with BodyMaster Frances Stahnke since 2001. She has also studied "The Anatomy of Yoga" with Glenn Black. As a practitioner of yoga, Fritz has experienced a profound impact in her overall sense of well being and state of mind. She is especially enthusiastic about helping her students experience the healing effects of yoga and helping them create balance in the body which as Iyengar says "is the foundation for balance in life."

Gail Salvetti, RYT

After retiring in 2001 Gail Salvetti began studying yoga and found her yoga home at Sacred Well in 2002. While asana practice was a great beginning she finds that yoga continually brings newness to her life through both its spiritual and physical aspects and helps the mind be calm and centered. She is excited about helping others learn and experience how our bodies work and how much better we feel when we stretch ourselves in our body, mind, and spirit. She believes that yoga is important and valuable throughout life.

Suzanne Bakewell, RYT

Suzanne Bakewell took up yoga as an antidote to working in a large advertising agency. The yogic path has been a transformational life experience with psychic rewards far beyond toning the body and managing stress. Suzanne has been teaching since 2005 and loves creating interesting classes and seeing her students in a peaceful shavasana after practice. Outside the studio, Suzanne provides marketing and communications services and enjoys great literature, knitting, friends, and family (not necessarily in that order).

Audrey Brooks, RYT

Audrey Brooks has gained an understanding of the body in motion through her experience as a certified dance instructor. Her dance background blends easily with yoga training where she is exploring the deeper connection between the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions. As a recent graduate of the Sacred Well teacher training program, Audrey's goal is to help her students find a sense of well being, balance, and enjoyment through the practice of yoga.

Chris Apostolou, RYT

Chris was first exposed to the practice of Yoga in 1999. A long time student of the Martial Arts, Chris taught Tae Kwon Do in Northern Virginia before heading to New York City. There he trained with Grandmaster Wai Ming Chau in the Chinese art of Wu Mui Kung Fu. It was in NY that Yoga would make its deep impression. He found the physical training of Kung Fu to be too limiting and that one could never progress as an artist without meditation and spirituality. Yoga proved to be the perfect balance. By delving deep into mind, body and spirit Chris hopes to spark the same journey in his students as it has for him. A journey that everyday proves to be beautiful and full of limitless possibilities and experiences.

Sue Lyn Schramm, RYT

Sue Lyn Schramm began her study of yoga after back pain led six nurse friends to tell her, “you should take yoga!” She was delighted to find that not only did yoga help her body, but also her mind and spirit. She delights in teaching beginning and more advanced students to share her appreciation of the calming and healing effects of a yoga practice. Sue Lyn is also a hospice consultant and writer who keeps a blog called Mulberry Jam: Adventures in Mindful Living (www.mulberryjam.net). She is a recent graduate of the Sacred Well Teacher Training Program.

Kristin Stroup, RYT

Kristin has been practicing yoga at Sacred Well since she moved to northern Virginia in 2005. Prior to that, experience with shamans in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador as well as the urban jungle of New York prepared her with teachings on spirit, meditation, humility, and healing. For Kris, the most profound gift of yoga is that it allows us to transcend our own stories in order to find that the greater truth---and the greatest teacher---lies within after all. In her day job Kris works with the U.S. military and international aid organizations (not necessarily together) to promote the use of renewable energy and other sustainable practices for the future of the planet.

Michelle Malo, RYT

Michelle has been a certified yoga and fitness instructor for 10 years. Michelle has a passion for inspiring individuals in their own path of healing, wholeness and wellness through consistent and dynamic work with the body, mind and spirit. She is also a licensed clinical social worker embracing workwith persons challenged with chronic illness and hospice.

Evelyne Noel, RYT

As a recent graduate of the Sacred Well Teacher Training program, Evelyne brings to her teaching a comfortable presence born from 25 years in the field of education and an openness of spirit developed from years of work in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. She loves to teach because teaching opens doors, transforming possibilities into realities. She returned to yoga after knee surgery 4 years ago. She feels that yoga increases her flexibility and strength, keeps her centered and helps her promote a more compassionate world where personal and inhibiting barriers gently dissolve.

Carole Toulousy-Michel, RYT

Carole Toulousy-Michel began her relationship with Sacred Well in 2002 attending the Sunday evening meditation sessions. Since that time, she has continuously participated to yoga classes and is a recent graduate of Sacred Well Teacher Training program. She is a student of Hindu philosophy and has recently spent time in India and Japan. She has a keen interest in alternative healing and has used homeopathy for 20 years. As a former triathlete and an avid swimmer, Pranayama has helped her increase her breathing capacity. She firmly believes that through yoga, you can change the memories of your mind-connected body for healing purposes.