TRUE FREEDOM TEACHERS


Jeff Emerson - Executive Director - Teacher 

 

Jeff is a Reiki Master with an E-RYT500 and is the author of Unfolding the Lotus, Working the Fourth Step through the Chakra System. Jeff is the founder of True Freedom Recovery Yoga, one of the world's first 200-hour teaching programs for people in 12-Step Recovery. Jeff is a member of long-term recovery with over 30 years clean. Jeff has taught meditation in halfway houses, prisons, homeless shelters, 12 step conventions, and juvenile detention centers.

 

Jeff is the co-founder of , A Policy for Caring Inc., the parent organization of True Freedom Recovery yoga - dedicated to yoga, meditation, and the recovery process. Jeff has been practicing yoga and meditation for over 30 years and has been  imparting his wisdom and sharing his gift with people from all walks of life for the last decade.

Kate Paytes - Yoga Teacher - Hatha

 

I am a mother, daughter, sister, friend, partner, worker, yogi, plant and animal lover, hiker, culinary genius (at home), and the list goes on. I am an enthusiastic lover of life! I love excuses to use the word 'super', and I always laugh at my own jokes.

I completed my 200-hour training at Cincinnati Yoga School. My yoga journey started with DVDs in my living room when I was expected my first child over 13 years ago. My yoga certification and dedication to my practice has taken me awhile - being the eternal student excites me! I am constantly growing and changing in life and in my practice.

My class is playful and fun - never too serious! The message is Light and Love. My class is perfect for any degree of yogi, never to be intimidating, but will still get you to push to your limits. I have  love/hate relationship with core work, too! Come join me, let's breathe, bend, balance, and ground ourselves.

My name is Ralph Eagle and i graduated from  200 RYT training in February of 2017. I absolutely love being part of teaching yoga at True Freedom as well as bringing yoga to men at CCAT for over 2 years. I also enjoy playing guitar as well as a few construction projects every now and then. At my classes we will show ourselves compassion, We do a lot of shoulder asana to release stress. If you come you will get in a lot of hip openers, eye yoga, foot massage, wall yoga. I like to focus on the energy center of the mind eye as well as the heart, connecting as we breathe. Even though i teach a Yin Yoga class you will probably get a light core workout as well. You might also get a special treat of new students coming to class to teach. I hope to see you soon. Namaste

Andrea Renee Bengal

I fell in love with all that yoga encompasses and entails a little over two years ago when I first came to True Freedom Yoga. Not only is yoga such a beautiful compliment to my recovery program, it has added so much to my life. Yoga helped me remember to see my own bright light shining brightly within that I had kept covered so long thru my addiction. It is my passion and dharma to help others see their own radiant light, beauty and innate worth in the same way yoga and my teachers helped me to. Yoga helps me to create space and to let things go. Yoga  has also taught me to be still with myself and my mind and to simply breathe.  It also has allowed me to appreciate the beauty of my own body and of every body and help others do the same. 

 I completed my 200 RYT in Spring of 2020 and will complete 300RYT in February of 2021.  I received reiki 2 attunement  in December of 2020.  My class is a bit of yin accompanied with a gentle vinyasa  flow very beginner friendly. I  also work as a home health aide and have volunteered with Hospice and am a proud mother of two young men. True Freedom is my second home. I hope to see you soon. 

Tara Toensmeyer RYT-500

 

Tara finished her 500 hour training at True Freedom and is teaching a great yin/yang fusion class. Tara has a heart of gold and a very giving spirit. She raised her nephew for many years because it was the right thing to do. she works a strong program and has gone deep into her yoga studies. Her classes are calming and open. 

 

 

“I’m Sam! I fell in love with yoga years ago and felt right at home on the mat. My journey began with yoga postures, books about staying present and journeys into the soul. I was then introduced to True Freedom which opened new doors for my recovery, yogic lifestyle, fellowship, and my spirituality. I can only hope to give back what has been so freely given to me here in the studio. I continue to peel back the layers and discover who I am and who I want to be. I completed YTT-200 in February 2021, and will begin YTT-300 in April. I spend my free time with my daughter and family, and enjoy letting my creativity flow through my artwork.” I loved the yin yang class I did. Or doing a nice flow class.