Through years of education in yoga and the healing arts combined with personal growth and direction, Stephanie Gaylord has created Roots Holistic Wellness. Of course, wellness can be taught and explained in different ways, but Stephanie believes that knowing who we are and how we connect not only to each other, but to our environment and our surroundings is most important. 

Roots Wellness came to fruition after Stephanie’s many years of study in sociology, health coaching, and yoga. Yoga was a way for Stephanie to figure out a lifestyle medicine, learning to listen to her body more then what she was being told. Yoga helped her get through being a young mom and become a more confident individual.

Stephanie enjoys learning about ecology, biology, and the natural world around us. She is enthusiastic about different methods of growing food, foraging, learning about native plants & medicinal properties, and crafting things out of natural resources. She values nurturing connections with our planet, her two children, husband and the community.

Stephanie is a 200-HR RYT, completed a Bachelors Degree in Sociology & Liberal Arts, and has completed the Breathing Deeply Yoga Therapy Foundations Program along with the IIN Integrative Health Coaching Program in 2015. She is always learning more from many different teachers about the connection between wellness, movement, lifestyle, and life itself in ways that are simple and anyone can utilize.

Above all, Kristy is a mother to her daughter Lila Grace. She is deeply passionate about helping mamas find power and purpose on their motherhood journey. 

Kristy has been practicing yoga and meditation for over a decade and teaching for the past 8 years. She’s a musician and loves to sing and share sound healings, and an applied aromatherapist who’s super passionate about plants + non-toxic living.

Kristy is also a mentor + coach for mamas and mamas-to-be. She currently has an online program called Conscious Conception and is in the process of creating an at-home prenatal yoga and meditation program and podcast all about motherhood. 

Patrick Heffernan completed his 200 hr yoga teaching certification at Sadhana Yoga Studio (Hudson, NY), led by Sondra Loring and Raghunath. He is currently working on the completion of his 300 hr training with Matt Giordano.  With a blend of anatomically precise posturing and creative sequencing, Patrick weaves dharma, bhakti and a sense of humor into his teaching, inviting students to get curious about their experience with yoga on and off the mat. Over his last seven years as a yoga teacher, he has cultivated a love for sharing his yoga practice not only through asana, but through chanting, kirtan, storytelling and meditation.

A lover of movement and music since childhood, I have enjoyed anything that connects the mind body and soul. Maintaining my connection with the health and wellness industry ( a licensed massage therapist and NCBTMB MT ) and my love of theatrics I joined a burlesque group in 2005. Having the time of my life my body also responded in a beautiful way! Keeping this in mind, I started my journey into any kind of fun fitness. In 2010 I suffered a debilitating back injury and was on the brink of surgery. My curiosity ( and willful stubbornness against surgery ) led me on a journey of self-healing. Understanding the mechanicals of the human body I became a devoted pilates student for years and returned to full mobility, pain free.

Mixing my love of dance & pilates, I discovered the perfect fitness: Barre. After being a student I went to Brooklyn, NY to become certified in Barre Above. I’ve been teaching Barre ( and burlesque) for a combined total of 6 years. I’ve seen the life changing results in both myself and my students.

All classes finish with my number one favorite thing: a custom oil that I apply at cool down before I send you blissfully on your way.

Chris began studying Martial Arts over 40 years ago. In his teens, he discovered  Taoism and Traditional Chinese Medicine and his life would be forever changed. Over the next decades, Chris, studied and trained in China with Taoist, Buddhist and Muslim Martial Arts Masters, as well as with other Masters in Europe and the Americas.. After a near fatal car accident in the 90’s, Chris changed his focus and concentration to internal  Martial Arts and Practices, facilitating  a rapid recovery, and a long term plan for a quality of life. 

Chris is an LMT with specialization in TCM and Asian Modalities. Studied Shiatsu with Ohashi, as well as Adaptable Polarity,  Dynamic Neuromuscular Assessment, and is an Apprentice Barefoot Doctor. 

With a degree in Performing arts, Chris is an Actor and Producer on stage and screen, artist, writer and all around Renaissance man. Chris has modeled his life after a Chinese ‘Youxia,’ ‘Wandering Knight,’. and endeavors to be an ally to other pilgrims on the path.  Empowering those to be their best selves through internal practices and self cultivation.

Melissa has blended her passions as a yoga teacher and artist, moving beyond asana practice to yantra to help others deepen and clarify their understanding of yoga. Melissa also promotes yantra painting as a form of meditation in and of itself. This visual tool engages the brain’s right hemisphere and helps people with a strong affinity for visual expression to connect.

Melissa is a graduate of numerous yoga teaching programs, including the American Viniyoga Institute E-RYT 500 and Heart of Yoga. She was an adjunct professor of art at the University of New Haven in Connecticut and has received numerous fellowships, including the prestigious Pollock-Krasner grant, and recently finished the Spring 2019 Fellowship Program at the Good Work Institute  

My first career was in midwifery. I loved not only the births, but learning about the various
birth traditions and healing modalities that cultures around the world use to stay healthy. I graduated from Goddard
College where I completed a Bachelor’s Degree program for Health Arts and Sciences. Using
that knowledge I began working as a Midwife in the U.S. and Central America. I worked
alongside traditional Mayan midwives in Guatemala for two years learning centuries old birth
and healing traditions.
After picking up parasites in Guatemala and never really getting them out, I began having some
pretty serious health challenges that lasted for years and none of the things I had studied were
helping me. Not even the harsh allopathic medicines were able to get rid of them. I spent a lot
of time and money trying different things to help myself get well with only minor improvements.
A friend in Central America, who shared the same struggles as me, told me about biomagnetic
therapy and that it had helped her get well. Biomagnetism (or biomagnetic therapy) is a healing
modality that uses pairs of magnets to bring pH balance to different areas of the body and it
comes from Dr. Goiz in Mexico City.
Not being able to find a biomagnetic therapy practitioner anywhere near me I decided to become one myself. In the
process of learning the techniques, I cleared myself of parasites and I have my energy back to
myself. I also cured myself of lyme and anaplasmosis in a matter of days, just with magnets. I
have disappeared aches and pains as fast as they appeared. For me biomagnetic therapy was
the key to figuring out what the root cause of my chronic illness was and where I could focus to
solve it, while also giving me a tool to actually solve it. I have also been helping others find
better health using biomagnetism since I began studying in 2020.
I am so excited to be able to share this powerful healing modality with the community here. I feel
that it is so valuable because the magnets can actually identify specifically where the body has
gotten out of balance, and then using the magnets those areas can be brought back into
balance. Once there is a pH balance in the body, the body heals itself. It’s amazing. And it’s
very efficient. I thank God every day for the return of my health and biomagnetism has played a
huge role in that.
I live in Harlemville with my family and aside from doing healing sessions, which is one of my
favorite things, I enjoy walking the trails, being in the garden, leading groups of people in song,
and being a regular part of a very rich community life.

Rebecca is a mother, healer, death doula and teacher.  She has been involved in the mind-body field for over 20 years – a journey that dates back to when she was 17 and diagnosed with cancer.  That diagnosis was the impetus for transformation, leading to a life rich in wholesome nutrition, body awareness and unshakeable understanding of the power that belief, intention and love have in the healing process.  Rebecca brings a 600 hour Comprehensive Pilates certification, as well as a strong and deep background as an intuitive healer to her work and the classes she teaches.

Nora Fenner is a 500hr Kripalu Yoga Teacher, Yoga Health Coach and Energy Healer. She leads dynamic yoga classes and supports a community that studies habits over ten weeks to improve sleep, digestion, and overall better health. She supports habit evolution on and off the yoga mat by leading one-on-one and group sessions with like-minded participants. Her sessions foster an environment where all participants feel supported to meet their body, mind and spirit goals. She brings an authentic, grounded and light cheer to her classes. Nora feels the practice guides her to inner peace and strength, which she shares through yoga and coaching. Visit noraleighyoga.com to connect and learn more.