Teachers

Michelle Dorer is the director of the Ashtanga Yoga Center in the Outer Banks which opened in September 2005.  She began practicing yoga in 2002 when she was a student at the University of Virginia. She was happy to meet her teacher Tim Miller in Charlottesville, VA in April 2004.  She has and continues to make annual trips to Encinitas, CA, attends his workshops and conferences worldwide, completed his First Series Teacher Training, Second Series Teacher Training, and Third Series Teacher Training.  Tim has taught her well into the Fourth Series of the Ashtanga Yoga sequences.  Michelle had the opportunity to practice with Pattabhi Jois at the tale end of his life and has also studied with several other prominent Ashtanga Yoga teachers within the Lineage, has been practicing Ashtanga Yoga daily uninterrupted for 18 years, has attended several workshops on various areas of spirituality such as Meditation, Chanting, Astrology, Ayurveda, studies of sacred texts, and has a love for lore, dancing, and gathering around Fire.  She has a BA in psychology from the University of Virginia.  It is her intention as a teacher to help facilitate the continuation of her students’ physical practice while nourishing their spiritual and emotional growth symbiotically.  She is interested in the global movement of Awakening that is currently happening and supports any holistic practice that facilitates this process.

I have been studying and practicing yoga for 25 years and sharing what I learn through teaching since 1998. I have taught yoga classes on the Outer Banks in just about every imaginable setting — gyms, churches, schools, homes, businesses, yoga studios, lawns, beaches, etc. I have my 200-hour hatha yoga certification through Integral Yoga Institute, and I am certified to teach prenatal yoga and meditation. I also have Level I and II Reiki certifications. Beyond those official certifications, I have taken hundreds of hours of workshops and trainings in hatha yoga, yogic philosophy, mindfulness, meditation, pranayama (breathwork), energy healing and Shamanic energy healing with the Light Body School.

I don't teach a specific lineage or prescribed style of yoga. My classes are a creative mix of vinyasa flow, deep stretch and restorative postures. I respect that the tradition of yoga is more than just the physical postures and incorporate breathwork, meditation and philosophy into my classes.

My goal is that everyone in class experiences the value of breathing deeply, gets into some deep satisfying stretches, is challenged in some new way through a little hard work, learns something about the health benefits of the practices, becomes more aware of their mind chatter (and hopefully learns to quiet it down) and ultimately gets into a state of deep relaxation and connects with that place of inner peace, even if just for a moment.