Meet Our Teachers
Amelia Reiser, RYT 500
Atlanta based movement artist Amelia Reiser, a native of Norman, OK, attended The University of Georgia and completed a BFA in Dance Performance in 2011. Finding home in Atlanta, Amelia began practicing yoga steadily at Decatur Yoga & Pilates as an approach to manage ongoing anxiety and strengthen her dance performance. Finding herself interested to know more about the ancient history of yoga, better understand the mind body spirit connection, and deepen her knowledge of anatomy, she decided to pursue teacher training. Amelia completed her 200 hour Yoga Alliance certification in Pranakriya Yoga (2014) under the instruction and guidance of Yoganand Michael Carrol and Marlysa Sullivan DPT, C-IAYT. She has completed additional training in Yin Yoga (2016) with Douglas Johnson E-RYT 500, YACEP, and Trauma Informed Yoga (2017) with Holle Black C-IAYT, E-RYT 500. Amelia received her 500hr Yoga Alliance certification (2022) from Tough Love Yoga under the guidance of Neda Draupadi Honarvar E-RYT 500, YACEP.
Amelia is greatly influenced by her late mother, Dr. Joan Phillips PhD, LMFT, LPC, ART-BC, who worked primarily as an art therapist and crisis counselor, and instilled in her at a young age the importance of community care and outreach. After her mother’s passing in 2017, Amelia felt called to carry on her mother's legacy in her own way, and began working with Centering Youth at the Department of Juvenile Justice.
In addition to guiding yoga classes with Centering Youth and at various studios in Atlanta, Amelia continues to work as a professional contemporary dance maker and performer.
Galen Coles
Galen is a passionate yoga instructor specializing in a variety of Vinyasa styles. His classes emphasize the connection between mind and body, and using breath as a tool to maintain presence while exploring different postures. Galen uses yoga as a tool for self-discovery and aspires to cultivate this in his classes through the practice of asana, pranayama, and exploration of yoga philosophy. He is also a practitioner of Vipassana meditation.
Galen graduated from Valdosta State University with a BA and a minor in Advertising. He received his 200-hour certification in 2018 from Sacred Thread Yoga and has since attended a variety of workshops and intensive yoga training. He completed the Trauma Informed Yoga instruction training module with Holle Black in 2022 through The Center for Integrative Yoga Studies.
In addition to teaching yoga, Galen is also a licensed realtor and an avid photographer.
Bree Hibbs-Kinney, RYT 500, TCTSY-F
Bree had a massive stroke in 2014 and her entire world shifted. Although she had an established yoga practice since 2001, after her stroke, yoga became her lifeline. In a matter of moments, she went from being an erudite, agile performance artist and adventurer to a person who could not speak, could not read, could barely control the entire right-side of her body. “Humbling” does not even begin to describe the effect it had on her. As soon as she was released from the hospital, she returned to her yoga practice; initially in the form of daily, private sessions with a loving yoga instructor. Her team of dedicated medical providers were astounded at how quickly she outpaced their expectations. Ultimately, her recovery went well beyond the prognosis she had been given.
In 2017, Bree began Integrative Flow 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Veronica Lewinger. In the midst of her program, she became pregnant with her first and only child, and earned her certification in 2018 as she entered the second trimester. In 2021, Bree completed the Center for Trauma & Embodiment, Justice Resource Institute TC-TSY Facilitator Certification while living at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in MA. The study of trauma and embodiment alongside the experience of birthing her son compelled her to seek out Mama Tree Prenatal Yoga Training with Jane Austin in San Francisco. Bree specializes in working with pregnant women and new mothers to heal their bodies and gain empowerment in the journey of motherhood.
The most recent step in her journey was to seek out further instruction in the field of attachment theory. Bree earned her Somatic Attachment Therapy Certification from Embody Lab. Bree’s ongoing journey is now a lifelong practice and she applies her learning to both private and community classes through the study and facilitation of embodiment through yoga and somatic practices.
Jasmine Irish
Originally from the West Coast, Jasmine moved to Atlanta in 2009 and now calls it home. She is a long-time yoga practitioner and completed her 200-hour teacher training in 2022 through Highland Yoga. Jasmine attended training on Trauma-informed yoga instruction with Centering Youth co-founder Holle Black, and incorporated the lessons she learned into her classes immediately. Jasmine has a bachelor's degree in Politics from Oglethorpe University and a Master's in Public Health from Emory University. She works full-time at Emory School of Nursing as a research project manager and has worked on a team researching the effects of trauma-informed yoga on patients with PTSD. In her spare time, Jasmine enjoys swimming, hiking, and spending time with her family and pets.
Carly Brown, RYT 500
Carly Brown is a breathwork and meditation instructor, community care facilitator, coach, and writer who has fully embraced trauma informed sensibilities in her yoga teaching. She has been a yoga instructor in Atlanta since May 2015. Carly has completed two different 200-hour certifications, a 300-hour certification, and Holle Black’s training in Trauma Informed instruction. She has taught countless hours of group classes, workshops, yoga teacher training, and private sessions. You can find Carly leading free community yoga in the park, leading individual self care coaching sessions, or sharing her writing in her bi-weekly newsletter.
“Behind every practice, workshop, piece of writing, or Self Care Session, is the intention of holding space for self-healing. I always show up knowing that the person or people in front of me are in charge of their own bodies, and their own process. I am just there with the tools to help guide them back to themselves and the deep wisdom that lives within all of us.”
Ian Elmore-Moore
Originally from Newark, New Jersey, Ian has been committed to serving others. Known as the “Mindset Coach” Ian Elmore-Moore has been a certified RYT since 2016. He brings the skills, strategies, tools, and techniques to reprogram you and your organization's mind and body to success.
Since 2013, he has been dedicated to providing mindset education to people, schools, and corporations. His experience includes serving as CEO of Noble Truth LLC, Executive Director of the Noble Truth Project Inc. Owner of Glaciers Italian Ice, Senior Director at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Gang Prevention Director of the Fulton County District Attorney Office, and a two-time nominee for district Teacher of the Year.
Ian has founded a yoga series entitled Real Men Do Yoga designed to expose males of all ages to the benefits of yoga and mindfulness.
He is a proud alumnus of Morehouse College and lives in Atlanta with his wife, two young boys, and yorkie-poodle.
Vladimir Tchakarov, RYT500
Vladimir discovered yoga at age 7 when he opened his mother’s yoga books and found that he could do all the postures inside with ease. Both his parents practiced yoga and meditation and attempted to pass on to him different techniques but as a young boy Vladimir showed more interest in martial arts. He spent the next 17 years practicing various traditional styles obtaining a black belt and winning numerous tournaments in his country of birth Bulgaria. He stepped back on the yoga path when in his early twenties he lost his father to colon cancer and began to practice yoga to heal his grief and to fulfill his father’s wish that he developed spiritually. After a few months into the practice Vladimir was attending classes and meditating every day, sometimes spending a whole day at the studio and taking up to 5 classes. Since then Vladimir has completed his 500 hour certification with Yoganand Michael Carrol and has studied closely with him assisting both 200 and 500 hour trainings and working to become a senior teacher in the tradition. Vladimir teaches yoga full time and he has a broad spectrum of experience. He’s taught classes to students, seniors, advanced practitioners, beginners, disabled military veterans and individuals with mental disabilities. Vladimir’s goal as a teacher is to pass on the tool of transformation that is yoga to everyone in his path in need of physical, mental, and emotional healing.