Formerly The Yoga Studio of Johnson County

Yoga Teachers at Yoga School of Therapeutics

Yoga Teacher - Lienha Carleton Lienha Carleton, C.Y.T. 500
Lienha’s passion for yoga began as a teenager in her native Vietnam, where mother was a professor at the Medical University of Ho Chi Minh City. It was there that Lienha saw a demonstration by a yogi that started her path toward yoga. In 2003 she started studying yoga more seriously on her own. After finding The Yoga School in 2007, she began training to become a certified instructor. Having achieved that, she continues to regularly attend classes and workshops with national teachers. Lienha brings to the classroom a fresh approach to yoga, with sensitivity and a warm rapport with her students. Her teacher, Suzette Scholtes, says Lienha is a quick learner with an innate comprehension of yoga as both beauty and art. “Lienha has the potential to become an exceptional teacher of yoga. She has a gift.” Her other passions are clothing design and knowing what makes her computer tick. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Foreign Trade Relations from the Foreign Trade University, Vietnam.
Farrah D. Jensen - Yoga Teacher Farrah D. Jensen
Farrah’s sparkling personality makes her a popular and cherished yoga teacher. Soon completing her certification, she fell in love with yoga some years ago and committed to life-long practice and learning. She loves the way classical yoga frees up the body and the mind, lifting her spirit and providing wellness. She works with her students to create this synergy in body and mind and heart so her students leave class happy and fulfilled. She attended Kansas University, working her way through two and one-half years of study before marrying her husband, Bo. She is a native Kansan and a devoted wife and daughter. Her presentation of restorative and therapeutic yoga heals anxiety, tension, stress and lowers your blood pressure. Come relax in her new evening class.
Sharon Friedman Sharon Friedman, Assistant Event Manager
Sharon fell in love with yoga over 8 years ago and soon wanted to share its benefits and the wonderful “secret” of yoga. At the same time Sharon began to study Massage Therapy. She found that Yoga and Massage had many common elements. She loves to teach her clients about how the breathe and the body work together. She uses Yoga poses as therapy in her Massage and sees first hand how her clients benefit. A Bodyworker since her graduation from MTTI in 2001, Sharon is now completing her 200 hour Yoga Certification. She has attended many workshops with Doug Keller, John Schumacher, Aadil Palkhivala, Judith Lasater and Elise Miller.
Theresa Goodman Theresa Goodman - CYT RYT 500
Theresa's skill in yoga broadened and deepened when she joined the Teacher’s Training Program in February 2008. Theresa says yoga has helped her family and she remain even more healthy and happy in every way. She is a skilled herbalist, nutrition specialist and a daily meditator as well. She has studied with many influential master teachers including Paula Tortolano, Doug Keller, Aadil Palkhivala. She completes her 500 hour study in 2009. She and her husband, Mark, enjoy their home And four lovely sons. She was educated at Kansas State University in 1992-1993. She Says her personal yoga practice for her is an art form in which she strives for perfection for the physical and spiritual benefits.
Dennis Jones Dennis Jones
Dennis brings to the classroom a quiet strength and gentleness for a tall man of six feet five inches. He understands the pressures on men to push and play rough and succeed. His injuries in football led him to yoga where he has learned to manage old injuries. A native from Northeast Kansas City Missouri, Dennis attended the University of Missouri where he obtained degrees in Psychology and Biology… a perfect discipline for yoga! Currently he works for The Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation as a Surgical Consultant and have been in the surgical field for 10 years. Dennis has practiced almost daily since 2003.” He explored asthanga for the first 3 years then studied hatha, anasura, restorative, and vinyasa. Dennis traveled to Ashtwar and New Deli India in 2009 to study in advanced training, saying “I love to study and read.” He enjoys studying eastern philosophy, sports medicine, and time with family and friends.
Kim Lacy - Yoga Teacher Kim Lacy CYT, RYT 500
Kim Lacy is a certified Iyengar yoga instructor and dedicated yoga practitioner. After graduating from the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco in 1989, she moved to Washington to study with Aadil Palkhivala and has taught for years at his studio, Yoga Centers, as well as at Yoga Northwest, director Ingela Abbott. She is immensely grateful for yoga and the yogi friends, students and teachers she has met along the way, has recently moved back to Kansas and is looking forward to connecting with the yoga community here. She teaches now in Lawrence as well as at the Yoga School.
Julia Lentz - Yoga Teacher Julia Lentz - Sub Teacher and Workshop contributor
Julia’s warmth and quiet confidence transfers to her students making her a loved and popular teacher. She has immersed herself in various Hatha yoga traditions since 1997, including Kundalini, Iyengar, and Vinyasana Flow. She concluded in-depth training with Saul David Raye at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, Venice, CA; as well as completing her certification with Shiva Rea at the same school in 07-08. She takes time to travel east to complete her studies at Duke University’s Yoga Therapy Intensive with their Center for Integrative Medicine. This specialty focuses on working with seniors. Her other important teachers include Aadil Palkhivala, Doug Keller, Lisa Giroux, and Suzette Scholtes. This gifted teacher has been teaching yoga classes in the Hickman Mills School District and has led a series of therapy classes for the Yoga School. She brings to the classroom her rich knowledge of yoga combined with exceptional intuitive understanding of yoga as therapy.
Nancy McMillin - Yoga Teacher Nancy McMillan C.Y.T, RYT 500, Relax and Renew® certified
After serving as a substitute teacher during her apprenticeship at the school, Nancy became a regular teacher in 2006. Having discovered yoga in the early 90s Nancy is aware of the powerful effect yoga has had on her life. She firmly believes no matter one’s age or physical limitations, a focused practice can be life changing. A commitment to life-long learning challenges, motivates Nancy in her own study and in her teaching. In her classes she strives to make certain each student experiences a deeper awareness of their own body that will enable change and growth through their practice. She is grateful for inspirational teachers who give so much of themselves as she continues her own journey. She witnesses community forming between students and teachers with each giving and receiving equally. Regular attendance at workshops given by Aadil Palkhivala, Doug Keller, Judith Hansen Lasater,, Paula Tortolano has been invaluable in her continuing growth.
Victoria Newman Victoria Ann Newman, BSN, RN

Victoria holds that rare gift of a yoga teacher who brings to her students the benefits of many teachers-in-one.

Victoria has been an RN at hospitals and clinics in Missouri and Kansas, and has worked in the mental health field and as an EMT. Certified by The Yoga School of Therapeutics, she intends to complete advanced trainings for many more years with her goal to help merge Western with Eastern philosophy, bringing wellness from both traditions. Her foundation is built upon her service in the Air Force, and a career in health care. While in the Air Force Reserve, she was awarded the Air Force Achievement Medal, and volunteered work in a program called “Day of Caring.” Her devotion to helping people easily translates to her students as she knows how to listen, offering gentle yoga asana for the maximum affect, whether easing a tight back or lifting anxiety and worry. Victoria’s students find her a gentle and gifted instructor as she lifts their confidence in her presence. Her long-term history in wellness is a double bonus for anyone who takes a class with this talented teacher.
Jill Ousley - Yoga Teacher Jill Ousley
Studying yoga for more than 21 years, Jill has refined her practice to an art. Studying with Suzette for four years, Jill formerly taught in community centers. She worked as an apprentice instructor with the Yoga Studio in 2001. As a teacher, her goal is for each student to experience their body’s full potential with yoga’s many benefits. With her strong foundation in yoga, Jill offers the balance of knowledge and the joy of creativity in her teaching.
Suzette Scholtes - Yoga Director

Suzette Scholtes, CYT, E-RYT 500
Teaching yoga and meditation since l984, Suzette founded The Yoga Studio of Johnson as a formal corporation in l994. She also serves as Director of Teacher’s Training. Suzette says to teach one must be committed to service while keeping a sense of humor. Her studies continue this day in advanced trainings across the country.

Suzette’s community service has brought recognition in both awards and press. Her published works include a current column in KC Wellness Journal. She previously wrote a monthly column for Enlightened Practice Magazine. Her other published non-fiction material on health and wellness has appeared in many national and regional magazines. Her audio tape “Yoga Balance” was published by New Leaf, Atlanta, in l996. She was awarded for her non-fiction work in l989 by Writer’s Digest Magazine.

In 2006, she was hired by KU Medical Center to lead a study on yoga’s effects on Parkinson ’s disease where she relied upon her 12,000 hours of training to create new yoga therapeutics. Suzette’s presentations on yoga and health have been received by such groups as the Kansas University School Nursing, The American Business Women’s International Conference, Wyandotte County Mental Health Association, Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Unity Church and more. She leads yoga workshops and conferences in many others cities, including an annual presentation in Wichita, Kansas.

Suzette says that an effective teacher helps students empower themselves to create wellness in body, mind, and emotions.

The Teacher of Yoga

Challenged by a gathering of a variety of students, how does the teacher present the yoga experience for the many body-types present?

The skilled teacher knows that teaching is seeing. The sight, first scientific, broadens to a sense of something greater than self. The orchestration of postures taught is a complex mix of vertical and lateral and spiraling movements originating from grounding the bones. This cannot be discussed or lectured but must be felt by the student. The more the student finds resistance, the more probable the release.

Beginner and teacher are equal, especially in the sense that the origin of energy does not discriminate. The complex paradox of release and resistance ultimately is governed by choice. The positive ego-I as opposed to the negative ego-I is willing to grow, commit, stretch, and expand without prejudice from past experiences. There is obvious knowing within yoga asana. However, new territories are presented and from the new perspective, the student may choose to venture more deep or more broad, or more centered or not.

Thus the teacher of yoga presents a complex science and art. It demands of a teacher an ongoing practice of observing and exploring yoga in its many forms. Without it, the teacher may become dull, predictable, or self-focused.