Faculty

SCHYS delineates our faculty at various levels: Program Faculty, Administrative Faculty, Assistant Faculty, and Faculty who may teach as a guest instructor or for part of a program in a particular specialty. Each of these position descriptions is described below.

Program Faculty - serve as our core teaching faculty and may be for a particular location or may teach at multiple locations.  These Program faculty are able to teach any part of the curriculum in our Yoga Therapy Certificate Program (YTCP), Prenatal Yoga Training Program (PYTP), or our 300-Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training Program (300-hr).  Unless otherwise noted, faculty listed teach out YTCP.  Program faculty also act as mentors and meet with students individually to review cases, subject matter, and for private consultation yoga therapy appointments.

Administrative Faculty - meet with students to review a student’s progress in the program including progress charts/transcripts, Thinkific materials, technical issues, financial issues, grievance issues, review work with a client, go over questions from online classes, IPPMs, SDLs, or any other parts of the program.

Assistant Faculty - are in training to be on staff as Program faculty.  They may teach parts of the program and are under Program Faculty guidance.  They may also act in the role of mentor and therefore conduct private yoga therapy sessions for students in SCHYS training programs, help with understanding knowledge from the online classes or program modules, and help integrate knowledge obtained for better understanding of the SCHYS programs.

Guest Faculty - Guest or Adjunct Faculty teach select parts of the curriculum for which they are considered an expert in their field.  We have Ayuvedic Practitioners who teach the Ayurvedic portions of our training programs, and western medical practitioners who teach aspects of western anatomy and physiology.

Faculty are listed below in alphabetical order.

Martha Catz, MS, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

Faculty

Martha is the owner and director of The Yoga Connection School of Yoga in Smithfield, North Carolina. She has introduced yoga as a form of health and wellness to rural North Carolina through her teachings in Smithfield. Offering the full spectrum of yoga tools, Martha runs teacher trainings, workshops, and conducts private yoga therapy appointments.

JJ Gormley, MS, C-IAYT, CN, E-RYT 500, RPYT, RCYT

SCHYS Executive Director | Program Director | Certified Yoga Therapist |Certified Nutritionist | Certified Yoga Teacher

Program Faculty, Administrator

JJ Gormley is the founder of Surya Chandra Healing Yoga School. She’s been leading training programs since 1994 for those dedicated to the teachings of yoga. She is a Certified Yoga Therapist, who has been teaching yoga since 1989.  She has studied from many of the world’s leading yoga teachers and studied in many of the major yoga traditions.  She has presented at annual yoga therapy conferences (Symposium for Yoga Therapy & Research, Yoga Therapy Summit, and Yoga As Medicine), taught yoga philosophy at the Smithsonian Institute’s Resident Associate Program, served on a panel for Yoga for Systemic Lupus at the National Institute for Health in Bethesda, MD, has served on the Peer Review Board for the Accreditation Committee of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and is on the Advisory Board for Yoga Therapy Today magazine.  She has been featured in numerous magazine articles.  Her teaching style is gentle and accepting with attention to alignment and safety.

Meredith Harbour, C-IAYT, CYT500

Program Faculty

Meredith has been teaching since 2010 having received her training in the Krishnamacharya tradition. She received her 500-hour training with Krishnamacharya Healing Yoga Foundation, studying under Chase Bossart and Amy Wheeler and subsequently completed her Yoga Therapy Certificate with SCHYS in 2018. Meredith’s breath-based classes are designed to bring focus to the mind while creating strength & flexibility in the body and reducing stress. Her practice is perfect for students looking to find balance in their lives. As a yoga teacher and as a certified yoga therapist, she brings joy and understanding to every class and private session, meeting her students where they are.

Katie Hoffman, MA, E-RYT, C-IAYT

Katie teaches small group yoga classes to children and adults and often incorporates art and creative expression into her classes.  She works closely with the Cancer Wellness Center designing classes and workshops for their clients.  In addition to being registered at the 500-HR level with Yoga Alliance, Katie has completed trainings in Prenatal Yoga, Children’s Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Yoga Nidra. She is a certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) and continues to study with her teachers JJ Gormley, Laura Jane Mellencamp, and Suddha Weixler.

Michelle Leibrock, C-IAYT, RYT-500

Program Faculty

Michelle has been practicing yoga for over 14 years.  She pursued yoga teacher training with the intention of deepening her own practice, both physically and spiritually. Through the training she found great joy in bringing yoga to caregivers and others who thought yoga was inaccessible to them.  Michelle uses clean and concise cueing of classical yoga in the Krishnamacharya lineage to help students increase strength and flexibility along with incorporating breath-work into each class to calm the mind and reduce stress. Her desire to make yoga accessible to everyone led her to Curvy Yoga certification to learn modifications for bigger bodies.  She completed her 200-hour teacher certification at Focus Yoga and is a registered teacher with Yoga Alliance. She completed the 900-hour Yoga Therapy Training Program through Surya Chandra Healing Yoga School and is a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT).

Sandra Loeffler, C-IAYT, C-TRE Provider, C-Mental Health Coach, C-Integrative Nutritional Health Coach, Yoga Therapist for Trauma, E-RYT500, RPT

Assistant Faculty

Sandra is the owner of Therapy Through Motion.  She specializes in the response of the autonomic nervous system, the limbic system, and the cranial nerves.  With these specialties, she helps her clients reconnect and feel safe in their body.  This builds a healthy response in the nervous system to enjoy and experience life.  She completed her C-IAYT through SCHYS.

Laura Jane Mellencamp-Murphy MA, C-IAYT, E-RYT 500

Faculty

Laura Jane is the founder and director of one of Chicagoland's premier yoga studios - Yoga Among Friends. She has had in-depth studies in yogic philosophies and as a clinical psychologist. She enjoys blending her MA in Clinical and Counseling Psychology with her Yoga Therapy providing her clients with a holistic approach to psychological and emotional imbalances.

Barb Pishock, C-IAYT, RYT-500

Administrator, Program Faculty, Administrative Faculty

10 years ago, Barb began her Yoga Journey with Ren Fields for her 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Certification at the Healing Arts and Yoga Studio in Fredericksburg, VA. She received her 500 Hour Yoga Teacher Certification with JJ at the SCHYS and is almost finished with JJ’s 900 Hour Yoga Therapy Certification Program.  She looks forward to continuing her Yoga Journey and helping others find balance and health in their lives.  Barb also is an administrator for the Teacher Training Programs.

Christy Rous, C-IAYT, ERYT-500

Program Coordinator-Virginia, Program Faculty, Administrative Faculty

Christy has been practicing yoga since 2012 and has graduated from the 200-hr teacher training program and the Yoga Therapy Program at SCHYS. She took her first yoga class in 2012 and says “I came to the mat with physical limitations such as a disc issue causing me great pain with even the slightest back bend. In addition, I had a hip issue due to scoliosis, and my balance had declined with age. Now, my spine on most days is pain free, and my hip pain is all but gone. My balance has greatly improved as well.” Christy teaches a breath-centered practice with lots of modifications for student’s issues and she also feels that it is important to teach the student how to have a safe home practice.

Mary Ellen Taylor (Schoenjohn), C-IAYT, RYT-500

Assistant Faculty

Mare is the Director of Grow Well Yoga, Barre & Fitness studio in Naperville, IL. She works as a Yoga Therapist at Grow Wellness Group, a comprehensive counseling and therapy practice focused on wellness of mind, body, and spirit. She helps clients with many issues, and has a focus on those with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress (PTSD), panic disorders, eating disorders, bipolar, insomnia, and phobias.

Faculty listed by location of our current training programs:

Faculty are listed by location although at times some faculty travel to other locations to assist teaching the program.  JJ Gormley teaches part of the program at all locations.

Florida-Navarre at ElemenTree Yoga Studio:

Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training

Program Faculty – Cara Gaddy, JJ Gormley.

Illinois-Naperville at Grow Well Yoga

Program Faculty – JJ Gormley, Assistant Faculty: Mary Ellen Taylor, Kate Fleming

 North Carolina-Carolina Beach at Salty Dog Yoga:

Program Faculty – JJ Gormley, Christy Rous, Martha Catz, Assistant Faculty: Amy Sawyer

North Carolina-Smithfield at The Yoga Connection:

Program Faculty – JJ Gormley, Martha Catz, Christy Rous, Assistant Faculty: Amy Sawyer, Sandra Loeffler

Mentors – Sandra Loeffler, Amy Sawyer

Virginia-Culpeper at The Natural Spine:

Program Faculty – JJ Gormley, Christy Rous, Assistant Faculty: Barb Pishock, and Sandra Loeffler

Guest Faculty at any location:

Chase Bossart, N.Dan Catz, Brendan Feeley, George Nemecz, Carolina Owen, Cynthia Snodgrass, Julie Stewart, and/or Amy Wheeler.