Our Teachers
Kim Bennett
Kim was born in Vietnam and raised in Blacksburg, VA. She began her yoga journey in 2016 as a way to aid her weight lifting routine by balancing strength and flexibility. She completed her YTT-200 training in Spring 2021 through the Kunga Yoga School at In Balance Yoga. Her practice is rooted in Vinyasa, Ashtanga, and Yin Yoga. She is passionate about sharing her love for yoga by helping others as they discover their own path. She feels that our mind, body, and breath share a deep connection that supports emotional health and well-being. Off the mat, Kim is a nurse and strives to bring movement and mindfulness to her patients and other healthcare providers. She enjoys spending time outdoors and making memories with her family and friends.
Robyn Berg
Robyn Berg is a 200 hour Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance after earning her certification as Kunga Yoga Teacher through In Balance Yoga Studio. In addition to teaching yoga, Robyn teaches movement, acting and other theatre courses at Radford University, where she is an Associate Professor and has been teaching and directing since 2015. Originally from Chicago, Robyn has also lived in New York City, Nashville and Gainesville, Florida (where received her MFA in Acting from UF). She currently lives in Blacksburg with her husband, two kiddos, and a boxador. Robyn's favorite classes are Chill Flow, Flow, Everyday Yoga and Yin. She also loves meditation, food, coffee, wine, tea, travel, and gardening.
Jason Clemons
Jason Clemons is a native of the New River Valley. He completed his 200 hour yoga teacher training with the Kunga Yoga School based in Wilmington, NC and Blacksburg, VA. He continues to study the 300 hour offerings of the Kunga Yoga School and stays immersed in an ongoing Yoga Sutra mentorship. He's the proud father of a twelve-year-old son. Their family also includes four cats and two dogs. When not practicing and teaching yoga, Jason is a cloud engineer for Virginia Tech.
Stephen Patrick Diesel
Stephen Patrick Diesel envisions yoga as a life-long practice. He is passionate about empowering others through movement with vigorous and playful flow, strength building, balance, and breath. Stephen believes a personal practice is an integral step along the path towards unlocking your individual potential.
In his time off the mat, Stephen can be found out on a trail, at a live music event, or tinkering with nascent technologies as a product manager.
Corinne Guimont
Corinne completed her 200 hour Kunga Yoga Teacher Training with In Balance in June 2021. She began practicing yoga in 2012 in her college dorms as a transition from her background in dance into other forms of movement. Her classes focus on finding comfortable movements for everyone. Corinne has been in the Blacksburg/Christiansburg area for over 5 years. When she is not on the mat, Corinne is a Librarian at Virginia Tech and loves to trail run and spend time outside with her family.
Trish Haak
Trish realized the mental benefits of yoga as a mental health provider and decided to pursue teacher training to enhance therapeutic tools for clients in her veterinary social work practice. Discovering the practice of yoga sparked her early love of physical movement as a swimmer, gymnast, and a runner, Trish’s personal fulfillment in her pursuit of yoga continues to grow. Trish completed her YTT-200 training under Peach Dumars, MFA, E-RYT 500, YACEP, through Virginia Tech. Trish’s style encourages nonjudgmental body awareness, restoration, and stress reduction while fostering a state of flow, inviting you to meet yourself where you are and grow from within. Understanding challenges resulting from early sports injuries and postpartum years, Trish sees tremendous hope in what yoga offers to calm the mind and body, rebuild a sense of self, recover from injury, build strength and flexibility, and foster new insights for a thriving life. Outside of her yoga practice, Trish is a full time research associate with Westat, and provides part-time veterinary social work through Trish Haak, LCSW, VSW, LLC. Trish loves spending time with her husband, kids, dogs & chickens, enjoys gardening and any chance to swim at the beach.
Christie Lacy
Christie began yoga in 2004 and instantly enjoyed the physical benefits, but it wasn’t until establishing a regular practice in 2011 that she fell in love with the deeper aspects of yoga. The gifts of one-pointed-focus, mind body connection, mindfulness, and meditation brought her softly through some rough roads and gained her dedication. Christie completed yoga training with Blacksburg School of Yoga with the desire to share all of the benefits of yoga with others. She also has a Masters of Education and has completed courses in Kuro Mindfulness and meditation. Christie enjoys teaching and practicing a range of yoga levels. By using props and instruction, she seeks to create an inclusive environment where each student can access their own yoga practice. When not on the mat, Christie is a scientist in biomedical research, a mother, and a seeker of peace in the forest, the sunshine, and the moonlight.
Lauren Lucas
Lauren is RTY200 certified teacher with Yoga Alliance through the Kunga Yoga School, completing her certification through In Balance Yoga in November 2021. Lauren has been practicing since 2010 when she realized not only the physical benefits of a yoga practice but also the improvements to her own mental health. She now works to share the benefits of yoga in her professional life, in the community mental health world, as well as with friends and family. When she isn’t practicing yoga she enjoys traveling, engaging in a variety of outdoor adventures, gardening, and spending time with her husband and their cats. Join Lauren for playful flows with a lovely mix of effort and ease.
Lisa Machi
Lisa is a yoga instructor, meditation facilitator, and Reiki practitioner. Her approach to yoga is one of service that unites mind, body, and spirit. She offers a gentle style of yoga that incorporates meditation and breath work with a focus on stress reduction and calming the nervous system.
Lisa enjoys teaching Yin and Restorative styles of Yoga as well as chair yoga and has a passion for making yoga accessible to all.
- August 2024: 200 Hr YTT Kunga Yoga School at In Balance Yoga, Blacksburg VA
- August 2024: Yin Yoga Certification- Bodshere Health and Wellness Yoga Teacher Training, online
- August 2024: Restorative Yoga Certification- Inspire Movement Coaching, Amanda Lawford MA online
- July 2023: Meditation Teacher Certification- Priority Academy, Graham Nicholas, online
- June 2023: Reiki Level 1,2, Master/Teacher Certification , Traditional Usui Reiki- Lisa Powers online
Chelsea McCreight
Chelsea, RYT 200, discovered yoga when she moved to the New River Valley 8 years ago. Tired of aggravating old sports injuries through traditional exercise, she quickly fell in love with yoga and gentle, compassionate movement. Inspired by her friend Kady, Chelsea completed a Yoga Teacher Training program in 2021. Since then, she has been committed to teaching body-positive classes filled with laughter and killer playlists. Her favorites classes to teach are Slow Flow, Hatha, and Athletic Recovery.
Chelsea currently works at Virginia Tech and lives in Christiansburg with her husband and 70-pound lapdog. When she isn’t in the studio, she enjoys reading, going to local breweries with her friends, and ridiculously long trips to Aldi.
Laurie Riner
As an athletic young girl growing up in the mountains of western Virginia, Laurie discovered from an early age that she enjoyed expressive movement. Everything from dance to softball, everything just felt more fun if she was moving! Her interest in yoga came about naturally and she took her first yoga class over 20 years ago. She became certified to teach in the Ashtanga tradition at Blue Ridge School of Massage & Yoga in 2012 and has maintained a personal practice and taught vinyasa-style yoga ever since.
Laurie enjoys sharing her yoga practice as a way of getting grounded in the body, switching gears from a stressful day, and using the physical effort of the practice to grow physically, spiritually, and emotionally. She believes that learning about and becoming aware of body sensations creates space to get in touch with our individuality, our needs and ultimately helps us communicate better with others.
Laurie has a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Radford University and has owned a restaurant, practiced massage therapy, and studied Ayurveda. She loves diving into psychology topics, knitting and camping in her free time.
Diana Shippee
RYT200 & Aerial yoga basics level one.
Diana completed her RYT 200 and Aerial yoga basics in 2021. She completed the Kunga Yoga School 200RYT.
Instructed by Nicole LaFon, Lisa Pelanne, Aaron Richards, & Erin Nuckols.
Aerial yoga certification through FlyDog Yoga, instructed by Eliza Whiteman.
Diana teaches yoga flow, restorative yoga, aerial yoga basic, and restorative aerial yoga. Her passion is helping others find peace and joy within their practice. She enjoys making yoga accessible to all ages and body types.
Anna Williams
Anna began her yoga journey after signing up for a college elective in 2013. After attending several classes, she quickly discovered the many benefits that improved the various other outdoor physical activities she enjoyed as hobbies. While she noticed her strength and flexibility expanding, she also found how much her mind was quieted and she became more present when incorporating her breath and movement.
2015, Anna graduated with an undergrad in Healthy Lifestyles Coaching at Arizona State University. Struggling to get her foot in the door of the health field, she eventually decided to pursue YTT as a way to further her education and find new ways to help others find the same passion for wellness that she did. While attending training during the peak of a pandemic wasn’t what she always envisioned, it allowed her to be inspired by the ways she could let go of structure and improve her mental flexibility, truly personalizing the journey.
She desires to always be a student and found that teaching is one of the best ways to learn. She is a graduate of the Uttara 200 hr Kriya Hatha Tantra Vinyasa teacher training and is registered with Yoga Alliance. Her intention is to guide others into a path of self awareness and love by creating an environment that allows everyone to be exactly where they are and leave them empowered to keep pushing forward.
