Our Teachers
All of the teachers at Healthy Life Yoga Studio have 200-hour and higher certifications and have been teaching for several years. They continue to train by attending various workshops and conferences throughout the year with world renown instructors to provide you with the best informative and supportive environment possible.

Our yoga instructors are registered yoga teachers with Yoga Alliance. To register with Yoga Alliance, instructors must meet certain high training standards. 
>> Learn more... about the level of training that Yoga Alliance requires, which ensures a safer environment for you.

Meichelle Norwood, IYT, ERYT
Manager and owner of Healthy Life Yoga Studio, Yoga Instructor

"Yoga is more than stretching the body. It can teach you to connect with your inner power and wisdom." -Meichelle

Meichelle devotes her life to promoting yoga and its benefits. Yoga made profound changes in her life in over coming PTSS, and inspired her to share its benefits with others. She has been practicing yoga since 1999. She is a certified Integral Yoga® Teacher and received her 200-hour teacher training from Satchidananda Ashram ~Yogaville in Buckingham, VA in 2002. She has over 2000 hours of classroom teaching experience, is a certified prenatal instructor and attends multiple workshops a year. She continues her study of yoga through personal practice, ancient text teachings, and workshops with devoted teachers like Desiree Rumbaugh, Suzie Hurley, and Erich Shiffmann.  Meichelle also enjoys renovating her 1950s home with her husband, playing guitar, growing veggies and chasing her dog around the back yard.

Linda McDorman
Yoga Instructor

Linda has been in the health and physical fitness business since 1987, as a certified group exercise instructor and personal trainer. Her love for yoga inspired her to attend a 200-hour teacher training program through Yogafit®, in the Vinyasa Flow style. She received her RYT 200 in December 2005, and is working towards a 500-hour recognition by attending continuing education training on a regular basis. She has studied with Beryl Bender Birch, Richard Freeman, Ana Forrest, Roger Cole, Seane Corn, Baron Baptiste, and Rodney Yee. Linda has found a tranquility and inner peace from yoga that could never be obtained from other fitness disciplines, and now is quite passionate about her teaching and personal practice. She derives great joy from sharing the benefits of yoga with others. Linda is a native Richmonder, has a wonderful husband and four furry kids (one dog, 3 cats), a bird watching hobby and is a flower and vegetable gardener.

Mike Williams
Yoga Instructor
Feldenkrais Practitioner

“The Feldenkrais Method® teaches you how to discover possibilities. Yoga teaches you how to experience them.” -Mike

Mike is a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, completing the 800-hour training program in 2005. Mike discovered yoga in his search for a body strengthening method to recommend to his clients. He began taking yoga here at HLY in 2006 and decided to become a yoga teacher, attending the Richmond Integral Training Program in 2007 to get his 200-hour certificate. Mike continues to study yoga through the works of B.K.S. Iyengar, Patanjali, Erich Shiffmann, Beryl Bender Birch, Mukunda Stiles, and David Swenson. Mike has developed a unique style that blends the strength and flexibility benefits of yoga with the self-awareness and learning offered by the Feldenkrais Method®.

Julynn Holy "Johara"
Dance Instructor

Johara has been studying the art of Middle Easter dance for over 9 years. She began taking lessons while attending the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and continued for all four years of school. After graduating, she became a member of Desert Wind Dance Company, a professional dance company based in Newport News, Virginia. Johara was a member and principle dancer in Desert Wind for five years. Johara has danced at numerous locations in both Williamsburg and Richmond Virginia, as well as at dance events throughout the East Coast.

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