Megan J Hoeffner

Earning a B.A. in Dance Performance from Winthrop University in South Carolina, upon graduation Megan returned to the ESMD and haphazardly began her career in group fitness. She began teaching group fitness classes at various locations in the area and the opportunity to teach yoga was presented. Megan began teaching yoga classes at a gym, the focus being mainly on the physical workout. Always wanting to know more, Megan enrolled in a 200-hr YTT program with OM MY YOGA Academy. Thinking the training would be another group fitness certification, she was not aware of the life changing experience she was about to have. Upon completion of her 200-hr YTT in June 2013, Megan was humbled by the eye opening experience she undertook for the past 6 months. She is forever grateful for the knowledge and wisdom she gained during training, holding it as one of the most important and life shaping events of her life thus far. Both on and off her mat, Megan has a quest for knowledge. In December 2016 she earned her M.S. in Applied Health Physiology from Salisbury University. While studying she taught Kinesiology and Fitness Instruction courses as a graduate teaching assistant for the Undergraduate Exercise Science Department. She gained an immense amount of knowledge of the physical body in motion and was able to apply her knowledge and experience of teaching advanced concepts in Kinesiology to her yoga practice and her yoga students. The learning didn’t stop there, in April 2017 Megan set off to attend a 300hr YTT in breath taking Ubud, Bali with Zuna Yoga. The program was a month long immersive intensive fashioned in the Hatha Yoga tradition and focused strongly on breath work and meditation. While studying under the direction of Everett Newell, Katherine Girling, and Anna Rhein of Zuna Yoga Megan was able to experience the pure, prolific, and unwavering power of the breath and knew the physical would never offer her the same experience. With the death of her father just two months prior to her training, Megan was able to transcend the confines of her mind and body through meditation and experience the energy of her father several times while in Bali. Megan was once again humbled by her experience during her 300-hr YTT and realized the magic and power of yoga is in the stillness and silence.             Hitting the ground running Megan has taught over 1,500 hours of yoga classes as an     E-200 RYT/500RYT YACEP; teaching in yoga studios and gyms in Maryland, New York, and began hosting retreats annually in El Salvador. Her teaching style fuses Vinyasa and Hatha traditions placing a huge importance upon the breath and mind/body connection. Her sequences remain basic to focus on inviting the breath, the animating life force into each asana, knowing that with control over the breath you also have control over the physical body and the mind. The cues take you deeper mentally, as Megan directs the breath in each asana, all while providing excellent direction physically to keep the practice anatomically safe. Working with the idea that life is happening for you and not to you, Megan invites you to join her on your mat and challenges you to experience the advanced practices of yoga through developing a deep relationship with your breath.