Sarah DeFoor is Yovana's Founder

Stacia started her yoga practice in 2012 as a compliment to her running and strength training. Yoga helped improve her muscle length and flexibility. Then backbends changed her life. The addition of back bending into her regular practice has created more space in her spine and her back feels better than ever.  Stacia is a physical therapist and is using yoga to help her clients move better. Stacia  loves the physical benefits of yoga. She also loves how yoga slows her down and calms her mind. 

She is a 2022 graduate of the Yovana Yoga teacher training program. Her physical therapy background married with her own athletic ability gives her the amazing ability to truly teach yoga to anyone. However. she naturally teaches a more athletic practice because that is who she is.

Stacia lives in Dalton with her husband and son. 

 After experiencing back & neck pain, Kim sought help from a local chiropractor as well as a spine surgery center. She was trying to avoid surgery and sought out more holistic ways to heal from her pain. Yoga was highly recommended. When Yovana moved into downtown Sarah went around to all the merchants to invite them to the studio. Kim owned the Rusty Zipper on Court St. Kim told Sarah about her 5 herniated discs, spinal stenosis, and pinched nerves. Sarah accepted the challenge and Kim's love of yoga began. So far, yoga has fixed her spinal stenosis, released her nerves and her back & neck pain is much less. Kim completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2022 at Yovana Yoga. Now she is ready to share this healing practice as a teacher as well as continue her learning journey as a student. 

Kim did advanced teacher training in yoga for back care with Lillah Schwartz E-RYT 500 and I-AYT who authored the book, “Healing Our Backs with Yoga”.

Kim lives in Resaca with her husband Zip. She has sold her stores and is now focused on ways to help her body age better. 

Kate’s yoga journey began when she discovered her mom’s Rodney Yee VHS tapes as a teen. As a college student at UGA, Kate took a few yoga classes but began seriously practicing yoga when she was pregnant with her first daughter. Yoga helped her to prepare for childbirth and recover in the months after. Kate continued to practice yoga independently while pregnant with her second daughter. 

Yoga became a bigger part of her life when a family friend encouraged her to get certified to teach Yoga. Kate trained under Sue Hopkins, E-RYT 500 and C-IAYT . Training with Sue she found a deeper connection to yoga and a desire to share that connection with others. She completed her restorative teacher training at Yovana Yoga in 2020 under Sarah DeFoor E-RYT 500 and Certified Rest and Renew Restorative Trainer.  Kate trained in Yoga for Back care with Lillah Schwartz E-RYT 500 and I-AYT who authored the book, “Healing Our Backs with Yoga”.

Kate is a Calhoun native and lives close to downtown with her husband, Tim, her daughters, Maggie and Susanna and her two dogs. She is also an art teacher at  CMS & CHS.

Yes, she is your dentist, but at Yovana we call her Shireen. Because she is here to help fix your downward dog, not your teeth.  In 2017 Shireen's daughter, Hannah encouraged her to start yoga to fill the void she knew Shireen would have when she went off to college. 

Shireen suffered from chronic back, neck, & shoulder pain from years of being a dentist. Then she had a fall and broke her patella and radius. This brought on arthritis and tendinitis. Which took her to the chiropractor every week. The chiropractor told her as long as she practiced dentistry she would need to see him indefinitely. When she started yoga she found another way to relieve the pain. By the time Yovana opened she was already in love with how yoga made her body feel. She has been a regular student at Yovana since early 2019. She completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training at Yovana in 2022.  

 Shireen enhanced her knowledge of Yoga for back care by taking advanced training with Lillah Schwartz E-RYT 500 and I-AYT who is a specialist in yoga for back care and the asymmetrical pelvis. 

Shireen loves to challenge you and take you a bit deeper in the pose. She might say if you want to add a little spice do this.

In 2008 Melody began experiencing lower back pain, after visiting a chiropractor she found that she had two slipped discs, a pinched nerve & scoliosis.  After many adjustments she began to heal & with the nudging of her big sister, decided to give Yoga a try.  After just a few classes she fell in love and wanted to learn more and completed her 200 hour certification with Aura Wellness Center, along with mentoring coach Rhonda Shannon of Stretch & Breathe Yoga.  

Recently, Melody completed her second 200 hour certification at Yovana Yoga under the direction of Sarah DeFoor E-RYT 500 & Grace Stephen E-RYT 500 & PYT. This allowed her to register with Yoga Alliance as an RYT-200. Melody has done advanced teacher training in Yoga for Back Care with Sue Hopkins & Lillah Schwartz  both are E-RYT 500 & C-IAYT. She completed her restorative teacher training at Yovana Yoga in 2022 under Sarah DeFoor E-RYT 500 and Certified Rest and Renew Restorative Trainer.  Melody teaches alignment based Yoga and Yin.

Melody has been teaching a Monday night donation class benefiting the hot meals program at the VAC for a decade. First at her church then she moved this class to Yovana when we moved into our larger studio. Melody is a long time resident of Calhoun and has been married to husband Randy for 27 years, has two beautiful children, Tucker & Natalie, a lovely daughter-in law, Rachel and an adorable grandchild, Caroline, two cats, one dog and 15 chickens.