Joy Whalen Fichiera, Yoga Instructor (E-RYT) & Owner
Joy Whalen Fichiera has been studying yoga since she first took a class in college twelve years ago. It was then that she first experienced the stillness and clarity within that yoga can bring and which she hopes to bring to her students’ lives. Joy graduated from Brown University with a degree in Health and Society and received her yoga training at the Southwest Institute for Healing Arts in Scottsdale, Arizona. She currently is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) as recognized by the Yoga Alliance and is a certified Pregnancy Yoga Teacher and a Teacher Trainer for YogaEd. Joy has taught classes and workshops in corporations, yoga studios, school districts and YMCAs for the past eight years. In her classes, Joy blends many styles of yoga into an uplifting and soothing yoga practice. Joy lives in Newbury, Vermont with her husband, Paul, and children, Tyler, Lucas and Haley.

Ken Parker, Tai Chi Instructor
My name is Ken Parker, I lived in Woodsville, NH as a kid and attended grade school there. I visited Wells River many times growing up. I have lived in the area for most of my life and reside in Lyman, NH. I am a twelve-year student of William Bernsen. Mr. Bernsen has studied under Master Tung Kai-Ying for thirty years. Master Tung Kai-Ying is the grandson of Grand Master Tung Ying-Chieh who studied with Master Yang Cheng-Fu for seventeen years. The secret to the Chinese martial arts is to know, honor, and respect the lineage.

I study under Mr. Bernsen regularly throughout the year and study directly under Master Tung Kai-Ying and Master Tung Chen-Wei through quarterly seminars held in New Hampshire.

In 1999, 213 of us accompanied Master Tung to China for 10 days. Our group, all students of Master Tung, were from the USA, France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. We did a demonstration of various forms that we had learned in a newly opened martial arts center. We visited Master Tung’s hometown, climbed a portion of the Great Wall of China, and toured Beijing’s famous tourist spots.

In my classes, I emphasize form, structure, opening of the joints, sinews and the mind.

Master Tung says, “T’ai Chi Ch’uan is not a display of strength, power or violence. It is to attain serenity, tranquility, and discovery of one’s self. It is truly an exercise of the mind.”

For more information:
Biography of Master Tung
The Art

Linda Boudreault, Yoga Instructor
Linda Boudreault has been practicing yoga for 25 years. She has studied with Patricia Walden, Peentz Dubble, Ramadan Patel, and Jill Johnson. She has completed a two-year qualified teacher training course with Janice Vien of the Yoga Connection, and has been teaching yoga in the Upper Valley for over two years. Linda has also been a professional singer for 32 years. She and her husband Ted Mortimer maintain a busy performance schedule playing jazz, blues, and soul.

Susan Kapp Monaghan, Yoga Instructor
Susan Kapp Monaghan began practicing Hatha Yoga in 1997, before her daughter Eve was born. She has studied Astanga Yoga with Stephen Leslie, Beryl Bender, Kathy McNames, David and Doug Swenson. She has also completed her Astanga Primary Series teachers training with David Swenson in 2000. In May 2008, Susan earned her Masters in Education through Plymouth State University. Susan brings to her daily practice over 25 years of dance training, specifically modern and contact improvisation. Other areas of interest include triathlon training, racing and mountaineering. Moving meditation has enabled Susan to balance her life with her partner John, as a mother, artist, teacher and engineer. Susan has been teaching Astanga Yoga classes in the Upper Valley since 2000.