ROBYN LUND
OWNER
Robyn Lund, 500 E-RYT, came to yoga in college as a way to manage anxiety and stress. Having practiced for 15 years, she undertook her first Yoga Teacher Training in 2012, becoming Montana’s only Certified Curvy Yoga Teacher. Robyn has continued to study with Anna Guest-Jelly, founder of Curvy Yoga, Jivana Heyman of the Accessible Yoga Foundation, and Rachael Getecha of the Trauma Center for Trauma Sensitive Yoga, amongst others.
In 2013, Robyn opened the Gentle Healing Center in Helena, where she, along with several other teachers, lead weekly classes. In 2019, she founded the Montana Yoga Movement, a 501(c)3, aimed at bringing yoga to at-risk populations such as women’s shelters, in-patient addiction centers, homeless shelters, and more.
Robyn focuses on bringing yoga to your body, the one you have right now. Using props, specialized sequencing, and techniques to make classes accessible and enjoyable for everyone, no matter size, shape, ability to background.
PATRICIA TROOIEN
Patricia shares her love of yoga by consistently holding regular classes where students can grow and nurture their yoga practice. Patricia teaches a gentle Iyengar (alignment-based) style of yoga where she encourages participants to slow down, listen to their breath, and their body. Her classes are safe, relaxed, non-judgmental, and light-hearted.
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Patricia began her yoga journey in 2001 while teaching in a small community in Kansas and received her RYT 500-hour teacher certification from The Yoga School of Therapeutics with Suzette Scholtes in Kansas City. Patricia has had the pleasure of studying with master yogis including Doug Keller, Aadil Palkhivala, Judith Lasater, and Paula Self.
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Patricia feels blessed to have the opportunity to teach at Gentle Healing Wellness Center where every BODY is welcome.
MAUREEN BJERKE
Maureen started doing yoga in 2015 when she lived in Cameroon. She used a hand-me-down mat and a yoga book her sister sent her. Her studio was a mud-brick house and her fellow yogis were the kids in the village who taught her about life.
When Maureen came back to the states, it felt so fancy to go to a studio with her own yoga mat. Her favorite was hot power yoga and that is when she decided to do yoga teacher training in Missoula in 2017.
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Maureen broke her arm in 2018 and could no longer do the hot power yoga she once loved. She learned to love and appreciate restorative yoga, slow yoga, and mindfulness.
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Maureen loves the practice of yoga, on and off the mat. It has proven to be one of her strongest coping skills when life gets tough. Yoga principles align wonderfully with the kind of person she strives to be. Like many others, she struggled during COVID to maintain her yoga practice. She is happy to be getting back to teaching and practicing on a regular basis.
MALEEN OLSON
Maleen began her journey with yoga in 2011 as a frequent student trying to relieve back and hip pain. By 2016 her passion for yoga and it’s many physical, mental and spiritual benefits blossomed into the desire to teach. Now after 9 years of teaching, Maleen’s practice encompasses aspects of dance movement, pilates and strength building blended together for unique classes accessible by all.
As a mother of 2 teenagers and a bustling life only makes Maleen appreciate the peace, calm and grounding that yoga offers and loves to share that sanctuary with others. You can often find Maleen hiking the trails, paddle boarding the lakes and rivers and working in the garden.
ANDREA CARVALHO
In my offerings I strive to create a healing atmosphere, where you can feel safe to explore your body, your thoughts and your emotions. You can bring it all, wherever you are in your life – strong or sad or mad. It’s all good. We’ll explore a full spectrum of yoga tools, not just asana (postures) but also, pranayama (breathwork), meditation, mudra (hand gestures), mantra, philosophy and Ayurveda (indigenous east Indian medicine and life science).
I have been a student of yoga since 1995 and a registered teacher since 2014. I have also studied astrology, reiki and shamanism. Currently I am near to completion of my Yoga Therapy training. I hold registrations with Yoga Alliance at the RYT 500 level and I am a YACEP Teacher. When I’m not geeking out over yoga I love to cook, hike, dance, watch movies and share deeply with others the magic and the challenges of life.
BRENDA CAREY
Brenda Carey is dedicated to empower highly sensitive people and empaths to heal holistically. Blending the ancient wisdom of yoga, Ayurveda, Reiki, and meditation in non-traditional ways, she guides sensitives to connect to their own intuition and achieve vibrant health.
She is a yoga & meditation teacher of various styles (ERYT-500), Reiki Master, Ayurvedic Health Coach and Sacred Ceremony Facilitator.
CHRIS RUDMAN
Chris came to yoga in her 20s. It was an evening Hatha Yoga class taking place in an old Bavarian building where the rooms had high ceilings, and it was quiet and peaceful. Chris has since returned to yoga every time when her mind and body longed for peace and quiet. After meeting Robyn at the Farmer’s Market yoga classes, Chris became a regular at Gentle Healing in 2020 after some major changes in her private life. Yoga allowed Chris to reconnect to her mind, body, and spirit, and recreate a sense of wellbeing that seemed lost. Having been an advocate for people with disabilities, Chris was intrigued by Robyn’s Ahimsa Yoga Teacher Training with a focus on accessibility. Chris participated in the first round of Gentle Healing’s YTT and finished her 200-hour YTT in March 2023. She’s been teaching pop-ups and slow & mindful classes since last summer - always with a focus on helping her students find slowness, presence, and reconnect to their breath.
ANGIE GIFFORD
Angie’s approach to yoga is a slow-slow practice focused on mindful movement. She aims to create a laid back, warm and welcoming space that is non-intimidating and open to all, allowing students of all levels to honor their bodies and find the balance between breath and movement, body and soul. As a Helena native, she is an outdoor junkie and believes that being in nature is just as important as the time on the mat. You can often find her taking her yoga outside on Helena’s trails and bodies of water.
CODY MELTON
Cody has been active all his life, first as a distance runner in school to most recently coaching and participating in CrossFit for over ten years. About five years ago something wasn’t working and he started thinking outside the box for things that would help his mind and body. Cody was in “good shape” but felt drained and anxious every day. He nervously took his first yoga class, worried about rejection or ridicule because of how inflexible he was; however, what Cody found was a caring and compassionate community and lifestyle.
Cody loves providing options for his students: a different way of fitness, a different way of thinking, a different compass to live their life by. Through the adaptable classes he offers, new and seasoned yogis alike will find a practice centered around breath, mindfulness, and movement with the aim of giving you the tools to make it through your days just a little bit more calm than before.
CAIT MCWILLIAMS
Cait is a Body-Oriented Trauma Specialist. She's been studying yoga since 2005 where she got her first 200 hour certification in Washington D.C. She dove into studying yoga for mental health after personally experiencing how the practice of yoga could crack open even the thickest shell of a trauma response. She currently works with private clients, offers series & workshops for groups and supports staff at local non-profits along with her weekly class here at Gentle Healing. Cait is trained in and pulls from a variety of tools including; the asana practice of yoga, yoga for mental health, Yoga Nidra, restorative yoga, yin yoga, Ayurvedic Medicine, Trauma-Informed Yoga, and Somatic Experiencing. You can learn more about Cait here - http://www.thebodyiswise.com
DEB HALLIDAY
Deb believes in joy and in the ecstatic flow of energy (spanda) that flows like a river through each us, connecting us to the cosmos. She believes in yoga as a transformative invitation to explore our beauty, strength, wisdom, fierce courage and abundance. She studies with Shiva Rea and is a 300-hour certified Prana Vinyasa® + Soulful Wellness teacher with the Samudra School of Yoga. She also is about to be certified in Energy Medicine Yoga, is Reiki Level One-certified, and has been practicing yoga and qi gong for over 20 years.
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Deb is enamored with sacred yoga texts that connect us to the divine feminine energy of our Universe. She hosts Goddesses of Yoga workshops at the downtown studio, as well as a weekly Soul Shine Flow class that will leave you feeling expansive, clearer in mind and body, and, she hopes: more joy-filled.
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Through her project https://juicypurusha.com/, Deb curates gatherings that encourage us to draw from our own sources of wisdom and delight to live more closely into our life’s path.
ILGAZ CASEY
Ilgaz has been involved in various performance projects through writing, acting, and teaching since 2006. In 2019-2020, she pursued her interest in movement by getting certified as a Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst at Integrated Movement Studies (Salt Lake City , UT).
Currently she is a mother of two young kids and explores the ways to connect to a larger community of mothers by offering movement classes.
