Meet the Healing Elements and Wellness Team
Meet the amazing people who bring it all together here at Healing Elements & Wellness, including our Yoga instructors and massage therapists.
Wellness Teachers
Madeline Harpell
Retail Lead / Photographer
I am dedicated to a life of healing and authentic connection. There is not much that I love more than quality time spent with myself and the people I am close with. The foundation of my wellness journey was laid through a spiritual upbringing, and developed deeply through classes on meditation and wellness in college. Through this, I now strive to live most alive — tapping into the spirit for my most aware, honest and loving being.
Being outside, whatever the weather, is something that makes me feel most alive. Because of the support Earth provides us, I am passionate about sustainability and protecting the planet. I am drawn to the spiritual sources that we have access to on Earth like crystals, oils, herbs, energy work, readers and healers, and feel called to swim in this ocean of knowledge that the spiritual community provides. As an interdisciplinary artist, my art-making practices are focused in photography, fashion, drawing, writing, and movement. I am overjoyed to be part of this strong community, to continually be supported and to support in this connected healing journey we are all on.
Scott Skoog
Wellness Associate
Scott is on an ever evolving quest of compassion, thankfulness and wellness. Many experiences have urged him to pursue a life surrounded by healthy recreation and lovely people. For the most part, in 2007 he was awakened to a much healthier lifestyle. After experiencing many years of poor sleep and gastrointestinal issues “You are what you eat” became a deep set motto. And with the surprise introduction to yoga at a Spanish camp, life was becoming more and more amazing.
In College, Scott pursued a degree in Therapeutic Recreation. A program that blew his mind as well as opened his eyes to holistic healing, modalities to help people with all types of ability sets, and more compassion for the human condition.
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Alexandra Strong
Massage Therapist / Yoga Instructor
Alexandra Strong is a Massage Therapist, Yoga Teacher, Level II Reiki Practitioner, Doula, and Photographer. Her approach to all of her passions is intentional and authentic. Her deepest joy and purpose is to serve intuitively and creatively in a multitude of ways.
Alexandra received a 780 Hour Massage Therapy Certificate from Saint Paul College and has been practicing professionally for the past 4 years. Her bodywork style consists of a blend of Swedish, Deep Tissue, Trigger Point and Reiki/energetic techniques. She uses all of her senses to listen to your body and intuitively chooses the flow and depth that she feels your body is asking for.
As a bodyworker, Alexandra honors her role as a facilitator in your healing process and trusts in your body’s intelligent and innate ability to heal itself. None of her sessions are the same as she is constantly adapting to the information she is receiving and sessions are always customized to meet your needs. Alexandra does not personally align with the “no pain, no gain” philosophy for her practice; she believes that pain is often a warning signal and that there are gentler and more effective approaches to encourage healing! The energy of Alexandra’s massage style can be described as intentional, slow flowing, restorative, and nurturing. Her slow-flow approach offers your body the opportunity to settle deeper into relaxation so that you can take a break from daily patterns of tension and stress to focus on repairing and healing.
Through bodywork and yoga, Alexandra aims to create a safe and supportive space for students and clients to establish a deeper connection with their body, mind, and spirit through mindful movement, breath, and healing touch.
Although her professional passions are like a hobby for her, she also enjoys spending time with her 12 year old son and boston terrier mix pup. She loves being in nature, traveling, singing and listening to music, and connecting with like-minded souls.
Availability: Friday 11:30 – 5:30pm & Sunday 11:00am – 4:30pm
Morgan Thomas
Massage Therapist
Morgan is very passionate about helping the beings she works with to reawaken their own natural alchemical ability to transform and to experience balance body, mind, and soul. She integrates her training in Therapeutic Massage, Craniosacral, Breathwork, Reiki and Transformational Coaching to help guide these parts of self back into alignment and to help her clients remember their own inner capacity to experience healing and transformation. She honors compassion and loving kindness as the true healers and is most inspired by the human spirit`s ability to heal through love and the limitless potential that grows through the soil of transformation.
Modalities: Swedish/Relaxation, Deep Tissue/Trigger Point, Integrative, Craniosacral, Prenatal, Usui Reiki
Availability: Monday 11am – 5pm
Ray Neil
Massage Therapist
Ray is from North Carolina and has a passion for helping people. As a graduate of CenterPoint Massage & Shiatsu Therapy School & Clinic, Ray is specially trained in therapeutic deep tissue massage, relaxation, and Thai massage. She also has training in birth doula work and prenatal massage. Ray has an intuitive touch, establishing a unique session for each person. She has learned the art of listening to the muscle tissue, helping to relieve pain and create overall balance in both body and mind. Ray believes in bodywork for all people because everyone deserves the space for healing and to feel good! Outside of bodywork, Ray enjoys being outdoors, exploring the Twin Cities she now calls home, and playing with her two cats Nini and Charlie.
Modalities: Swedish/Relaxation, Deep Tissue/Trigger Point, Integrative, Prenatal, Thai Infused, Hot Stone
Availability: Thursdays 2:30pm – 7:30pm
Meagan Jarvi
Massage Therapist
Meagan graduated from the massage therapy program of Minnesota State Community and Technical College in 2012. She lived and worked in Madison WI for 6 years but recently moved back to MN. Meagan likes to customize each massage to her clients’ needs with an integrative approach of Swedish massage mixed with deep tissue and trigger point modalities. Other modalities she specializes in include prenatal massage and hot stone massage.
Outside of her massage career, Meagan’s hobbies include playing the piano, painting, writing, and photography.
Modalities: Reiki, Trigger Point, Relaxation, Deep Tissue, Integrated, Prenatal
Availability: Wednesday & Thursday 11:30am-5:30pm
Maria Tordoff
Massage Therapist
Maria is a healer who practices massage therapy to help decrease pain in soft tissue, build the client’s body awareness, and provide time for a client to relax and find respite from the busy day to day. Maria applies her knowledge of being a dancer and dance teacher to massage, where she views the whole body as a system rather than a collection of parts. She melts through soft tissue layer by layer in order to bring the body back to a healthier state with less tension and more ease of function. Maria practices Relaxation, Trigger Point Therapy, Cupping, Oncology Massage, and Reiki and can integrate the modalities in order to specialize with her client’s needs.
Maria holds her A.A.S in massage therapy from Northwestern Health Sciences and a BFA in modern dance and composition from UW Milwaukee.
When not doing bodywork, Maria enjoys reading all kinds of genres and journaling especially if given the chance to write outside.
Modalities: Swedish/Relaxation, Integrative, Trigger Point Therapy, Cupping, Oncology, Reiki
Availability: Wednesday & Saturday 11am – 5pm, Friday 11:30am – 5:30pm
Mary Sage Sennewald
Yoga Instructor / Massage Therapist
Mary Sage Sennewald is an advocate for empowerment, self-awareness, and collaboration. Through her co-creative livelihood as a life coach, yoga teacher, bodyworker, essential oils distributor, and birth doula, she strives to inspire friends to fill their lives with wellness. She holds a BA in Liberal Arts from the U of MN and has extensive education in healing modalities. Her classes, treatments and sessions are customized to support the individual needs and incorporate breath, alignment, guided relaxation and essential oils.
Classes: Restorative, Yoga Nidra
Availability: Thursday 11am – 3pm
Bela Martinez
Massage Therapist
Bela is a Licensed Massage Therapist and received her formal massage training at The Aveda Institute.
With over ten years of experience, Bela is skilled in many types of massage including hot stone, deep tissue/trigger point, therapeutic/relaxation, sports, aromatherapy, pregnancy, lymph, energy work, and spiritual unwinding massage.
As an emotional trauma expert, Bela’s calming spirit will guide you in your journey of healing while working with you to help you identify and release your stored trauma. Her confident touch, wisdom and knowledge will aid to expel the negative energy throughout your mind, body, and soul.
The relief and smile on her client’s face after they receive her healing touch gives her the drive and ambition to keep growing on her own spiritual journey.
Also, having played sports at a competitive level for over 25 years, Bela has had her fair share of injuries. Both her injuries and experience helping others heal through massage have aided in her knowledge and ability to help others improve their quality of life, and have also honed her talents in sports, deep tissue/trigger point, and hot stone massage
Modalities: Hot Stone, Deep tissue/Trigger point, Swedish/relaxation, Sports, Aromatherapy, Prenatal, Lymph, Energy work, and Spiritual Unwinding massage.
Availability: Sunday 11am – 6pm
Sara Augustin
Yoga Instructor
In my classes, you can expect an anatomical (area of the body) focus paired with an alignment action (how to engage, move, lengthen) . Each class is different every week, sometimes we are setting up big peak postures like arm balances and inversions or exploring body awareness like noticing how the pelvis changes throughout a series of poses. My classes have a light-hearted, workshoppy feel with plenty of demos and time for questions–maybe a joke here and there.
My passion for helping folks discover their body and breath awareness is driven by my dedication as a student. I am an E-RYT 500 with over 600 hours of study and practice with Christina Sell. I hold continued education with the Yoga Tune Up method. Also, as a way to foster an atmosphere of studentship and applied therapeutics, I’m currently a student of the Inner Peace Yoga Therapy program.
Classes: Alignment Flow
www.sarajeannetteyoga.com
Rebecca Curland
Yoga Instructor
Influenced by Classical yoga and Bhakti traditions, Rebecca guides heart-centered vinyasa classes with specific attention to alignment and subtle body awareness. Her classes infuse skillful sequencing and intelligent cueing with themes that illuminate and honor the core of the yoga teachings.
Rebecca began studying yoga in 2008 and completed her initial 200-hour teacher training in 2011. Rebecca has continued her studies locally through the Himalayan Yoga Tradition and has traveled to study with a variety of master teachers including Seane Corn, Shiva Rea and Saul David Raye. She has made multiple pilgrimages to India to honor and experience the root culture and holy sites from which the practice of yoga has evolved. Rebecca draws on her experiences to channel authentic teachings while cultivating sacred space in which students are encouraged to access Self through the architecture of the postures and technology of the breath.
Classes: Vinyasa
Paula Lindemann
Yoga Instructor
My travels to India and Thailand inspire and influence my teaching style. I love sharing new techniques combined with the old. My focus is on alignment and breath to build strength and balance in our bodies and minds. I invite you to step outside of your comfort zone, have fun, and surprise yourself.
I received my 230 RYT through the Yoga Center of Minneapolis and I am registered with Yoga Alliance, CPR/AED certified, BA in Theatre. Off the mat I enjoy acting, traveling, trekking and cycling.
Classes: Vinyasa
Erin Jorich
Yoga Instructor
Erin Jorich completed her first 200-Hour Teacher Training in 2009 after studying Dance and Sociology at the University of Minnesota. The practice of yoga created space for her to investigate physical movement without the pressure of a performance or
evaluation. With time Erin came to realize the deeper benefits of the practice and found it to be a necessary tool to manage anxiety and stress. With over a decade of teaching experience and 7000+ teaching hours, Erin has had a lot of time to experiment and develop her voice as a yoga teacher. In 2017 she completed her 500-Hour Teacher Training with Jason Crandell in San Francisco, CA. Her classes are strong in alignment and anatomy while emphasizing personal investigation and self compassion. She aims to hold space for all students who are open to what the practice of yoga has to offer.
When she’s not on her mat or in a yoga studio Erin can be found training for triathlons, reading, exploring the outdoors, baking, and volunteering with her pup, Wallace, who provides social-emotional support to vulnerable youth around the Twin Cities.
Classes: Vinyasa
Jess Rometti
Yoga Instructor / Yoga Therapist
Jessica began practicing yoga in 2010 and completed her RYT-200 at The Yoga Center of Minneapolis in 2013. Yoga, at first just a movement practice, became her path to healing after years of eating disorders and depression. A firm believer and witness to the healing powers of yoga, she is currently studying Yoga Therapy with Chase Bossart, Dolphi Wetergren and Kevin Kortan at The Yoga Center of Minneapolis. Jessica teaches with an emphasis on the individual experience, encouraging students to find expressive, unique movement paired with conscious breath. Jessica strives to lead a practice that is designed not just for the physical body but for the entire system, a practice that leaves students feeling closer to their true nature.
Classes: Gentle Flow
Jessica Jacovitch
Yoga Instructor
Jessica has been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for the past 10 years, and a movement enthusiast all her life. Her first memories of yoga include following along to a VHS tape during childhood. Many years later, she returned to the practice out of curiosity for a new form of movement, which soon exposed an underlying desire for deeper connection. Over the years, she has come to know the transformative power of yoga in uncovering our innate resources of love & compassion. She completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2016 at Big River Yoga in Minneapolis, and has since completed additional training in yin yoga, trauma sensitive yoga, thai adjustments, and somatic practices to support restorative postures. Her teachings focus on cultivating curiosity and creativity, and are heavily influenced by her training as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. Jessica welcomes everyone to the yoga mat and aims to provide asana teachings which are accessible to all bodies and walks of life.
Classes: Alignment Flow, Yin Yoga
Lo Childers
Yoga Instructor
Lauren (Lo) Childers found Yoga in college-while she was studying Health and Wellness Promotion-as a way to deal with stress, and stay active. That hobby turned into a regular at home practice as well as attending classes at some of MN’s finest & most fun studios. The desire to dive deeper into the “why” behind one’s practice, lead her through a 6 month Teacher Training journey where she became an RYT200 in December 2019. For Lo, Yoga makes her feel whole and complete. She aspires to provide her students with their feeling of wholeness within each class she teaches. Outside of teaching Yoga, Lo loves spending time outdoors in her hammock or out on her paddleboard. For more information on Lo, please visit: @wholewithlo on Instagram, Facebook and/or https://wholewithlo.wixsite.com/mysite
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Vaughn Powell
Yoga Instructor
Vaughn has been practicing yoga for years, but officially became enamored when she realized that her daily practice enhanced her self-awareness and ability to think clearly. She is interested in the connection between mind and body and how we can use the breath to strengthen parts of the brain that make us mindful and present in our physical form.
Vaughn believes that when you move with your breath, you are increasing your understanding of how your body responds to different stimuli. A regular yoga practice allows you to notice what is happening in your body and gain the tools you need to regulate those sensations. A study of and fascination with anatomy has helped her intelligently instruct and assist students as they practice as well as reinforce the bridge between mind and body awareness.
Vaughn’s personal practice is rooted in the traditional Ashtanga system where she has immersed herself in the power of the breath, body movement and detoxification within a set sequence of asanas (postures). Ashtanga ensures that she remains a student and continues to notice how her practice influences her teaching style and everyday life.
Classes: Vinyasa, Flow
Jaime DeSmit
Yoga Instructor
Yoga and meditation have become a home base for me, a place of recalibration, of coming into myself. I invite you to experience this connection in the studio with me. I celebrate all bodies and encourage you to do what feels right for you today. I am trained in Vinyasa and have practiced many styles over 15 years and bring those into my classes.
I cultivate a deep connection to the earth through folk herbalism, organic farming and stints of living off-grid. I also practice Reiki here in the Twin Cities, create jewelry from mostly recycled materials and read a lot of psychology.
Classes: Vinyasa, Restorative Flow, Flow
Kate Cherne
Yoga Instructor
Kate has been actively teaching yoga in the Twin Cities since she received her 200 hour certificate in 2008. “Yoga has always been about healing for me.” Over the years, Kate has learned how to practice yoga off the mat and incorporates the foundational wisdom of yoga into every aspect of her life. She has deep reverence for the practice and holds sacred space for her students to show up in whatever way they need to. Kate’s vinyasa classes are focused on strength, alignment, breath and awareness. Yoga is so many different things for so many different people and Kate works to make her classes accessible on all levels. Kate is trained in vinyasa, yin and restorative yoga and loves to incorporate astrology and other intuitive insights into her classes. What continues to inspire Kate is yoga’s ability to heal, not just on the surface but on all layers. Yoga practice has a way of getting deep down to the root of what needs the healing light of our awareness. This is where Kate strives to guide her students.
Schedule: Sunday 10:30am 75 min Vinyasa
Elizabeth
Tarot Reading
Elizabeth was born in a haunted house in rural pennsylvania that gave her a lifelong connection to the spirit world. She has developed her mediumship abilities at numerous haunted homes, paranormal investigations and haunted locations over the years and added tarot to the mix 15 years ago. She has worked professionally as a medium and tarot reader for over 10 years and believes helping others navigate the often uncomfortable and confusing world of spirit is her true vocation even though she still sometimes sleeps with the lights on.
Erin Anderson
Crystal Singing Bowl Sound Healing
From a very early age, Erin has been tuning in to energies most people either don’t notice or prefer to ignore (just ask her poor parents). She has spent the past few years developing her natural abilities as a clairvoyant reader and healer, training with gifted psychics and energy practitioners around the world.
Erin is passionate about using her skills and vision to help others access their own truth and create more of their one-of-a-kind magic. To this end, she offers intuitive aura readings, classes & workshops, and teaches meditation techniques for personal empowerment and transformation.
Ashley Nissen
Yoga Instructor
Ashley’s path to yoga started in 2010 as a way to support her own health and wellbeing. With limited flexibility and mobility, she found her way to her mat, to a practice which has transformed her life.
Fast forward to today and Ashley’s personal journey into the physical and spiritual and a deep desire to know more took her to Guatemala where she completed her 200-hour teacher training. Nestled between active volcanoes on Lake Atitlan she studied with School Yoga Institute taking a deep dive into the body, mind, and soul of yoga.
Schedule: Wednesday 6pm Vinyasa
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Sharon Bruhjell-Coleman
