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Mary Bartel, B.S., ERYT-500
Structural Yoga™ Therapist and Teacher
Certified Professional Kripalu Hatha Yoga Instructor
Mindfulness Meditation Instructor
Owner/Director Inner Quest Yoga & Wellness Center

Mary is a certified Structural Yoga™ Therapist and Instructor by Mukunda Stiles, Yoga Therapy Center (750 hrs.) and a registered and certified professional level Kripalu Yoga teacher (500 hours) by the Kripalu Center.  Mary holds additional certificates in Chakra Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Pregnancy Yoga.  She has advanced training in Integrative Restorative (iRest) Yoga Nidra (Mindfulness Meditation), currently studying under Richard Miller, PhD. 

As a Structural Yoga™ Therapist Mary works 1:1 to help client's alleviate symptoms of imbalance and manage pain from chronic conditions and structural concerns via individually prescribed yoga practice and life style and diet recommendations.

Mary has a passion for helping people with special needs.  Her personal history of chronic back and neck pain led her to yoga and then Structural Yoga
Therapy.  With the knowledge gained and persistent yoga therapy practices and meditation she has found balance and relief.  Mary has since developed therapeutics yoga programs for back care.  Mary also works with cancer patients through the local hospital and residents at St. Joseph's Addiction Treatment & Recovery Center in Saranac Lake.

If you are ready to devote yourself to practices that will deepen your spiritual growth, enhance your vitality, and improve your health and well being, Mary wishes to help you on an inner quest to find what is innately yours: strength, peace, wisdom and much joy.


Jackie Foster, RYT
Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor

A negative self image and persistent joint and back pain brought me to yoga.  I have since discovered Yoga is much more than the physical postures.  Kripalu yoga is about creating non-judgmental awareness and exploring physical, mental and emotional edges.  The practices leads me to inner stillness on and off the mat, and in meditation.  I wish to share this practice with others and help them accept where they are, embrace their true nature, and be open to growth through experience. 

Jackie has a 200-hour teacher certification from Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.  She previously taught mat Pilates here at Inner Quest Yoga & Wellness Center.  She taught Pilates and Spinning at Four Seasons Fitness Studio in Owego NY prior to moving to Saranac Lake.

  Jackie and her husband enjoy hiking and cross country skiing in the beautiful Adirondacks.   She looks forward to continuing her inquiry into yoga with more Kripalu trainings.


Leigh Ann Tahash, B.A.

Dance of Light

Leigh Ann studied ballet while earning her Bachelors of Arts degree from Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia in 1984. In addition to her extensive dance training in college, she has studied and taught children and adults at many prominent schools in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Leigh Ann is popular and well respected for her teaching philosophy which encourages a deep understanding of the body, and movement, through proper placement, alignment and technique.

Leigh Ann credits Lucy Bowen McCauley, a former faculty member at the Academy of the Maryland Youth Ballet, with the method of stretch technique which is a strong part of her background. She also credits much of her success to teachers Maureen Basta Miller, Eric Hampton, and Michelle Lees.

Leigh Ann has taught for the Georgetown School of Ballet, the Wyngate Elementary PTA Ballet Program in Bethesda, MD., and the Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation. Most recently Leigh Ann was on faculty at the Arlington Center for Dance from 1990-2004, and the Academy of the Maryland Youth Ballet from 1996-2004, in addition to her work at Joy of Motion Dance Center from 1992-2004.


Jim Hoit, LMT
Certified Tai Chi Easy®
Qi Gong Facilitator
 

Jim has been studying and practicing Tai Chi and Qi Gong for a number of years.  If you live in or around Saranac Lake you might have seen him in one of the parks practicing this meditation in motion. Jim has wanted to share this healing modality with others for quite some time as he has witnessed its many benefits.  In June, 2006 he committed to this calling, trained and became certified as a facilitator of Tai Chi Easy® Qi Gong at the Omega Institute.

Jim is a 1999 graduate of Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca, NY.  Since graduation he has completed a 110 hr. reflexology certification program at the Omega Institute and a 200 hr. essential oil certification at Finger Lakes.  He has also studied Chi Nei Tsang with the Healing Tao Institute & Chinese medical theory with Michael & Lesley Tierra.  Currently he is a student of the Ohashi Institute.

 


Stuart Harmer

Personal Trainer
 

Stuart Harmer is the newest instructor to join Inner Quest Wellness Center.  A transplant from Nashville, where he graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Education. After too much stress in corporate sales and real estate development, he committed himself to health and wellness over materialism, not only for himself but also for others.

He is certified as a Personal Trainer through NFPT. (National Federation of Personal Trainers).  He was trained by, and worked for, celebrity trainers in Nashville for 5 years.  Upon the birth of his first child, he and his wife decided that Saranac Lake was the best place to raise a family and practice.

Mary Bartel and her Inner Quest Yoga & Wellness Center represent to him many shared philosophies regarding health and wellness.  Therefore, his alignment with Mary was inevitable.  He offers to Inner Quest a cutting edge fitness philosophy that will synergize well with the current instructors and classes. 
 




Meditation Buddha