Meet Your Instructor

Welcome! My name is Claire Hollady, and I live and work in Fort Valley, Virginia . I am a certified yoga instructor with a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) certification; a 30-hour Restorative Yoga certification; a 20-hour Yin Yoga certification; and a 25-hour Chair Yoga certification. I also completed a continuing education course on Arthritis and Yoga and am a registered yoga teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance.

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My yoga adventure began when I was 62 years old and looking for ways to alleviate post-knee replacement surgery discomfort that traditional physical therapy didn't address. Despite living in the middle of nowhere, there was a yoga studio only 30 minutes from home, so I went to a class. After that first class, I felt like I'd found my "thing," my exercise thing, that I had longed for.  As an aside, that instructor also used crystal sound healing bowls during Savasana, and I fell in love with those too. ​​

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It didn't take me long to figure out that yoga isn't about the headstands and backbends. It's about showing up for a few minutes a day in whatever way I can show up. It not only provides me with some relief from osteoarthritis, debilitating back problems, and the inevitable aches and pains of aging, it also quiets my noisy mind. 

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It's important to note here that yoga doesn't necessarily FIX injuries or challenging body conditions. Learning body awareness is the first step in understanding if your body needs exercise or medical attention.

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After practicing regularly at home and in a studio for a couple of years, I decided to teach yoga in Fort Valley to, hopefully, make yoga geographically accessible to those of us who live in this remote community. I am also passionate about dispelling the myth that yoga is only for the young, fit and flexible. Given proper guidance on using props and modifications, yoga is for most, if not all, of us.