Danielle started practicing yoga regularly at Prana Power Yoga in 2004 where she met her current business partner, Heidi MacVane. In 2007, she completed her first teacher training with Open Doors in Weymouth, MA and immediately began to teach. She feels lucky to have taught full time with Prana Power Yoga for two years where she fell in love not only with teaching yoga but being part of a yoga community. Danielle’s parents moved to Falmouth, ME in 2007 and after visiting them over the past few years she grew to love the Portland area. In the fall of 2009 she decided to make the move to Maine to be closer to her family and to open Greener Postures Yoga with Heidi MacVane.

Danielle graduated from James Madison University with a BS in Health Assessment and Promotion and completed a 10-month program to become a certified Holistic Health Counselor at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition in NYC. In addition to her first teacher training Danielle completed a 200-hour teacher training with Jacqui Bonwell in 2011, a training in teaching hip-hop yoga with Lynne Begier, as well as an advanced teacher training with Ame Wren and David Regelin. By continually exposing herself to different programs, workshops and instructors over the years, she has used these experiences as important stepping stones on her yogic path and to inform her own practice and teaching style.

Yoga, a physical and energetic practice that helps us to connect movement and breath within our bodies in a way that allows us to find our authentic self and shine even brighter. Heidi fell in love with this powerful practice for both the physical and energetic magic that quickly became apparent as she found her first mat in Boston, MA. Growing up in a unique island community she was always athletic whether it be as a lobsertman, lawn mower, or as a collegiate rower and believes the practice just makes sense, it combined her loves for both movement and emotional healing.

Heidi grew up on Cliff island, Portland Maine. She moved away, received her BSW from Syracuse University and MSW from BU and is a license independent clinical social worker. After practicing for a number of years she took her first 200 hour teacher training from Prana Power Yoga and second with the Sacred Seeds School of Yoga. She is certified to teach Trauma Sensitive Yoga through the Boston Trauma Center and feels it is important to lead students through a flow that encourages finding the balance of both the physical alignment and emotional transformation. Heidi is truly grateful for her yoga instructors including Seane Corn, Taylor and Philippe Wells, Jene Rose, Jacqui Bonwell, Jennifer Yarro, Ame Wren, and Danielle Toolan who have influenced her growth and teaching style.

Heidi moved back to Maine in 2007 and opened Greener Postures Yoga with her business partner, Danielle Toolan in 2010. For her, Greener Postures is truly a dream come true, it is an honored to help spread the light and love yoga brings to ones life. Heidi feels fortunate to be part of the yoga community in the Portland area and gratitude for all her teachers which not only include yoga instructors, but also her family, friends, and colleagues as she continues her journey of practicing and growing as a yoga teacher and business owner both on and off her mat!

Bryson began her yoga practice over 12 years ago as a weekend warrior. She explored Ashtanga, Bikram and Hatha yoga styles. In 2009 she discovered heated vinyasa and knew she was ready for more dedicated study. Initially drawn to the physical benefits and the cleansing heat she was soon grateful for how the vinyasa flow help calm her mind. Bryson was intrigued to learn more about yoga and with the support of master teachers like Richard Lanza, Stephanie Brown-Ford and Jacqui Bonwell, she came to better understand and appreciate the true healing powers of yoga practice.

Bryson has completed two 200 hour teacher trainings recognized by Yoga Alliance; Open Doors Power Yoga in Boston and Sacred Seed Yoga School completed in Portland Maine. She is what her teacher Jacqui calls a foot soldier of yoga and loves to share what she continues to learn. Bryson appreciates that every day we start again as beginners and she teaches an approachable class with a focus on fundamentals, a light hearted flow and spirited playlists. She is very thankful to both practice and teach in the Greener Postures Yoga community.

I have always been drawn to physical activity and love the feeling I get both physically and mentally after a hard workout, however, there was always an underlying layer of anxiety that I couldn't seem to shake. This is where yoga has completely transformed my life and brought me the inner peace I had always been seeking.

I have been practicing yoga for the past sixteen years, and completed my first 200-hour teacher training course based on Ashtanga Yoga in 2003. At that time, while living in Boston and working in the financial industry, I found yoga as a way to get my physical and spiritual "workout" into a hectic life. I loved how it made me feel and realized I wanted it to become more than a supplement to my life; I wanted yoga to become my career and help other people feel its benefits. Since completing my first training, I have studied with David Swenson and most recently completed my second 200-hour vinyasa training with Jacqui Bonwell, master teacher from Boston, MA.

Being a mom to three children, I brought my passion for yoga to young children and have been teaching yoga for kids since 2007. I find such satisfaction in not only seeing young children's excitement for yoga, but in watching and hearing about them teaching their families and peers some of the yoga that they have learned. I have been living in the Portland area with my husband and children for the past five years and am grateful to live in such a majestic place. As I continue to teach yoga, it is my goal to not only help my students become stronger and healthier physically, but help them achieve the inner peace, confidence and happiness that they deserve.

Gretchen Campos has cherished the practice of asana since just about the first time she was on a borrowed mat in a cramped bedroom following a VHS tape in January 2000.

Through exploring yoga and developing a deeper awareness of the whole practice, she was able to find consistency and stability in a sometimes geographically widespread life. She thanks all the fellow students she has practiced amongst in all the corners of the country she has visited. Some of the most influential of those have been the Haines Yoga Club in Haines AK, time with Mount Madonna Center in Watsonville CA and the amazing yogis of Boston and the Pioneer Valley in Massachusetts.

She completed her 200-hour Yoga Alliance certified teacher training with Prana Power Yoga, in Cambridge, MA in 2007. Leading classes since then, she constantly strives to provide a mindful and breath centered practice while sharing an attitude of lightness with her fellow practitioners.

Recently moving to Maine, she is pleased to be a member of South Portland’s own Greener Postures Yoga community.

To teach is to love. In 2003, Leni took her first yoga class. Despite the copious amounts of sweat, and the rigidness of her hamstrings, it was the start of a true love affair. After playing competitive field hockey for 13 years, she was looking for something to fill the organized sports void. As with many physical endeavors, there tends to be an ending, but what inspired her and continues to do so, is the sustainable, life-long practice that yoga can offer. Leni is wholeheartedly committed to her practice-- and the curiosity and compassion that it creates in her is reflected in her teaching.

Relying on her personal practice, Leni teaches from a place of understanding, humility and humor. She encourages her students to practice as a means to explore the body’s potential, respect its boundaries, and to break through the mind’s limitations. Leni’s teaching style is influenced by her teachers; and she has studied extensively with Ame Wren through her mentorship program, and received her 200 hour certification under the direction of Jacqui Bonwell. She works thoughtfully to teach alignment-focused vinyasa that seeks to intentionally explore certain parts of the body and peak postures.

Leni is truly humbled to be a part of the Greener Postures community. She extends an infinite amount of gratitude to her teachers, every single one them, and is honored to lead her students. She is eternally grateful for her life’s blessings, most of all her family, love, and the coast of Maine.

For Bethany, yoga is a process of refining her awareness. Her classes are rooted in her experience growing up as a gymnast and springboard diver, turned Yogini, as well as her own daily practice. As a teacher, her goal is to weave precise physical movement, intelligence, and intention into one sweaty, uplifting experience. Astute and deliberate sequencing- founded in her love for anatomy and healing the physical body- is used to ensure potency, sustainability and relevancy.

Beyond her 200 hours of training with Jacqui Bonwell, Bethany is inspired by the creativity, articulation, and serenity of Ame Wren; the vision, voice, and techniques of David Regelin; and the experience, precision, sacredness, and sweet nature of Melora Gregory. She has observed how the same practice that empowered her in one phase of her life, might actually weaken her in another, so, her classes are influenced by her ongoing study of an always-evolving list of incredible teachers, aiming to give students the tools to develop a functional practice that enables good posture, perspective, insight and well-being. She supports a sustainable practice, one that serves her students for a lifetime; ultimately developing an inner world of eternal possibilities physically and spiritually. She believes yoga should be used to lay the foundation of intentions that can be realized outside of the time spent on the mat.

Eric Newton has been drawn to yoga since an early age. Before football games in high school, he would find the physical preparedness and mental calm provided to him by the practice to enhance his playing, since then the benefits have continued to accumulate. Yoga has provided him with a healthy outlet for his naturally high-energy constitution. Before developing a practice this energy had been channeled in some unhealthy ways. Being a very physical person, playing competitive sports through the years and then becoming a landscaper and mason, he enjoys seeing what his body is capable of doing. The yoga asanas provide an outlet for some of that physicality, expanding strength and flexibility but the rest of the practice has provided the balance his body and mind needs to stay calm. No matter the situation, Eric feels his yoga practice helps him stay balanced, focused, and ready for the day.

Eric has had a few of those ‘ah-ha’ moments through his practice and realized he could teach yoga and pay forward the benefits he has received. He completed Jacqui Bonwell’s Sacred Seeds 200 hour Yoga Alliance certified training in 2010. Through this instruction, he learned how to teach a well-rounded, safe and meaningful class. Eric continues his own training by attending workshops and through his reading list. He enjoys teaching a light hearted and purposeful class that is accessible to anyone, whether new to yoga or a seasoned practitioner.

Katherine took her first yoga class a few years ago. She was initially drawn to this practice with visions of a “yoga bum” dancing in her head. Katherine began practicing yoga on a regular basis at Greener Postures in 2010. Although the physical and sweaty vinyasa benefits are what appealed to her most, initially- that all changed for her last year. After going through a very emotional time Katherine came to recognize the powerful emotional and spiritual work that she had been experiencing all along on her yoga mat. Gravitating towards her mat for its therapeutic qualities is something she began to be very passionate about. Recognizing the transformation that yoga has had in her life she decided become trained as an instructor in the style of yoga that had appealed to her most, following in the footsteps of Danielle and Heidi (who's classes had long served as inspiration for Katherine along both her yogic and life journey), Katherine become certified through a 200 hour program with Prana Power Yoga in Cambrige Mass.

Katherine has also received additional certification in Balasana Kids Yoga through Prana Power yoga. She has greatly enjoyed teaching kids classes at her mother’s home daycare and now Greener Postures! She is thrilled with the idea of helping instill the yogic principles of stillness, balance, flexibility, focus, peace, grace, connection, health, self-esteem, and well being in children.

Katherine is currently working towards her Masters in Social Work and is also trained to teach Trauma Sensitive Yoga through the Boston Trauma Center. She looks forward to integrating her passions of talk therapy and yoga practice as she recognizes the overlap of values within both of her passions.

Katherine is extremely grateful for all of the instructors that have been such an integral part of her growth including but not limited to Taylor and Philippe Wells, Sue Jones, Tisha Bremner, and of course Danielle Toolan, and Heidi MacVane. She is honored to be teaching at Greener Postures where she first discovered her own love for yoga.

Gina completed her 200 hr yoga teacher training in 2008 with Core Power Yoga in Denver, Colorado and has been teaching Vinyasa yoga ever since. Over the years she has taught yoga in studios, classrooms, corporate office buildings and friend's living rooms in Wyoming, Colorado, Massachusetts and now Maine. Her goal is to make yoga and its health benefits accessible to everyone and encourages her students to find that delicate balance of effort and surrender. She strives to makes her classes fun and lighthearted while leaving students feeling both grounded and energized.

Gina is grateful to her mother for introducing her to yoga at age 16 and for being a constant source of motivation for a lifelong practice. She has also been inspired by many great teachers including Lisa Richards, Marley Vigdorth, Ana Forrest, Shiva Rae and Sean Corn. Gina is thankful for yoga in her own life and the community it has created everywhere she has called home. She is thrilled to be a member of the Greener Postures community and to share her love of yoga with her students and fellow teachers.

Danielle Roy-Becker took her first yoga class in 1998 and knew immediately her practice would last her lifetime. Her initial goal was to get in shape but she quickly realized the benefits where more than just physical, that became just a bonus of the practice. Her mat had become her place of reflection, of nurturing and of balancing for her whole self.

She took classes on and off while raising her young children but knew she needed more consistency for herself. In 2009, she committed to a regular practice that helped her balance her busy life. It was then that she realized she wanted more from her practice and wanted to share her passion with others. In 2011 she completed her Yoga Alliance certified 200 hr teacher training with Master Teacher, Jacqui Bonwell. It was one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

She feels honored to be part of the Greener Postures Community. She understands the importance of teaching a balanced class in order to create the physical and energetic shift that all of our bodies desire. As a Reiki practitioner, Danielle is especially conscious of the importance of alignment both physically and energetically. She loves to challenge and nurture her students helping them reconnect with themselves. She is so grateful to Danielle and Heidi for their vision and for providing the space that allows everyone to grow, to breathe and to practice.

Lauren has been practicing yoga since the age of 14. When she moved to Boston in 2005, she fell in love with power vinyasa yoga, and began teaching in 2008 in the Boston area. She recently moved to South Portland with her husband and their one-year-old daughter, Ellery, and is thrilled to be teaching at Greener Postures Yoga.

Lauren's teaching is rooted in the Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga style. She completed Levels 1 and 2 of training with Baron Baptiste, as well as a Boston-based teacher training with Baptiste Master Teachers Claire Este-McDonald and Gregor Singleton. Lauren is also a trained teaching assistant, and loves mentoring newer assistants in the powerful art of hands-on assisting.

Lauren has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Yale University, and is currently earning her Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from UMass Boston.

Lisa found herself at her first yoga class in 2008. After spending the majority of the class in childs pose, Lisa found the power of her breath and hasn’t looked back since. She began practicing regularly at Greener Postures in 2010 where she connected most deeply with herself; finding confidence, peace, and freedom. Yoga has created a unique and special journey for Lisa, one where she continues to feel empowered and inspired.

Lisa is most thankful for the beautiful and influential teachers in her life: Lydia Lobozzo Burnham who encouraged her to get onto her mat; Jacqui Bonwell who pushed her beyond what she thought she was ever capable; the entire Greener Postures teaching staff who have taught her most importantly how to practice yoga off the mat by sharing love, joy, and gratitude with those surrounding her.

Lisa hopes to share her journey of yoga by empowering others to feel that same love, joy, and gratitude within themselves so that they to can pass it along to those they come in contact with. She brings a lighthearted energy to her classes and aims to be as relatable as possible with her students. She completed her 200 hour teacher training with Jacqui Bonwell in 2013 and is committed to exposing herself to various workshops and instructors in the future to be the best teacher she can be. She truly feels honored and incredibly blessed to be teaching in the Greener Postures Community!

Justine enrolled in her first yoga class eleven years ago when her she became pregnant with her son. The gentle flow of pre-natal yoga helped support her during this period of transition but it wasn’t until she was trying to heal from a running injury that she truly began to commit to her practice. Though it was a physical ailment that brought her to the studio, she couldn’t deny the impact yoga had on her spiritually and mentally. She experimented with different styles and found the flow of Vinyasa gave her the perfect combination of inward connection and physical challenge.

After years of pondering, she finally enrolled in a 200-hour teacher training program with Jacqui Bonwell of the Sacred Seeds Yoga School in 2012. As a registered Yoga Alliance Vinyasa instructor, she hopes through teaching yoga she can help others see the beautiful connection between our physical and mental bodies.

Justine is proud to be a part of the strong and vibrant yoga community of Maine and in 2012 was inspired to co-found Maine YogaFest to help strengthen the yoga movement and culture in our beautiful State.