GBTT Faculty | The Glowing Body

Program Director

Kim Lomonaco, MS, CCC-SLP, E-RYT 200, LMT, Studio Co-Owner

Kim serves as the director and a Lead Trainer of Glowing Body Teacher Training. She designs and facilitates each program with whole-hearted intentionality. She blends the practical with the aspirational, honoring the search for contentment, and the drive toward betterment, within herself and her students.

Kim took her first yoga class at the age of 17 at a YMCA, when her mom bribed her with $20 to attend. At 20 years old, she started teaching yoga in the student recreation center at her college. A year later, she earned her Bachelor’s degree at the same time that she completed her first 200 hour yoga training. When she was 26, she completed her second, more focused 200 hour training, and has never stopped studying and teaching yoga since.

In her time at Glowing Body, Kim was the first teacher to offer a donation- based class here in 2008. She has taught here continuously for 14 years, served first as desk staff, then studio manager for 2 years, and took ownership of the studio in April 2017. At that time, she took the reigns as the director of Glowing Body’s already reputable teacher training program. In September of 2018, she completed her certification in massage therapy at Asheville School of Massage & Yoga, and is practicing currently as a licensed massage therapist, specializing in Thai yoga massage.

With several thousand hours of classroom teaching, nearly 1000 hours of formal yoga training with teachers near and far in the areas of anatomy, physiology, therapeutics, history, philosophy, meditation, and Thai Yoga Massage, as well as countless hours of personal practice and self-led study, Kim brings humility, experience, and a discriminating view to practicing and teaching. She believes yoga offers ingenious tools to deal with the ups and downs of life, either as a stand alone pursuit, or as an holistic addition to other health and wisdom practices one may undertake.

In addition to her pursuits on the yoga mat, Kim holds a Master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology, has given birth to two precious sons, and works part time as a Speech Language Pathologist in local hospitals. She dabbles in pottery and rock climbing, and goes day-hiking with her family any chance she gets.

Listen to Kim on the Insisterhood Podcast to learn more about her and the Glowing Body Teacher Training.

Lead Trainer

Jen Beyt Coffin, E-RYT 200

Jen serves as a Lead Trainer for Glowing Body Teacher Training, bringing her specialization in alignment focused asana and individualization through the use of props – including the Glowing Body’s own yoga ropes wall. She also serves as one of our program mentors.

Jen loves yoga. You will see her passion when you work with her. Yoga has been a transformative force in her life, which has helped her through tough times, taught her patience, and kept her physically fit and mostly sane for 20+ years.

Jen loves a good prop and some leverage in her yoga, so over the years she has honed her skills in using blocks, straps, chairs, bolsters, yoga wheels, and the ropes wall to refine her understanding of her practice and help her students lessen their learning curve.

She has studied with many of the greats in the yoga world, but considers her students to be her biggest influences. Their ability to be humbled and challenged with smiles on their faces and love in their hearts is what inspires her to grow as a teacher. Jen’s goal is to encourage her students to find the therapeutic benefits of their practice through the use of leverage, be it vigorous or more passive, so that it may be a life long endeavor.

Local Faculty

Jill Frere, E-RYT 500, DYRT 1000

Jill leads Glowing Body Teacher Training’s sections on pranayama and meditation techniques, mantra, and the Bhagavad Gita. She also serves as one of our program mentors.

Jill was born right here in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her love of yoga first began in 2001 when she took some classes in college and read Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahamsa Yogananda.

Jill is an RYT E-500, and a Dharma Yoga Registered Teacher at the 1000 hour level. She lived in NYC for 10 years, where she loved creating and performing dances and studying and teaching yoga. When employed with Dances for a Variable Population, a company whose members’ ages ranged from 22 to 92, she discovered her love of working with seniors.

In 2010, Jill moved back to Knoxville, where she continues to share her passion at the Glowing Body, Lotus Light Center, and Strang Senior Center, as well as with private clients, Studio Arts for Dancers, and Go! Contemporary Dance Works. Jill is fervent about all aspects of yoga and weaves many different elements into each class, from breathing and meditation, to the philosophy and physical practice of yoga. Jill is currently developing a moving meditative practice called Moving Ground.

Amberly Kelley-Dotson, RYT-500

Amberly teaches Glowing Body Teacher Training’s sections on inclusion, accessibility, and diversity. She also serves as one of our program mentors.

Amberly has been teaching yoga since 2016 and has continued her study and education by attending multiple therapeutic and trauma-informed trainings. As a queer woman, she is passionate about inclusion and accessibility and is always learning and growing. She recently completed her 500-hour training through the American Viniyoga Institute, with hopes of becoming a certified yoga therapist. In 2019, she enrolled in a Holistic Mental Health Coaching program, and graduated from the Nickerson Institute in 2020.

Amberly takes a breath-centric approach to yoga and to life. She views the body and mind as part of a holistic system, and addresses it as such. Amberly is an attentive teacher, and an inclusion enthusiast, who holds space for her students to explore whatever their practice may be calling for—be it emotional, physical or spiritual.

Kelly Scott, LMT, RTT, NCBTMB Provider, Studio Co-Owner

Kelly leads sessions for Glowing Body Teacher Training in hands-on skills for yoga, approaching touch with a compassion-based philosophy. She provides trainees with expert instruction, having been a trainer of massage therapists for many years.

Kelly’s education and study has been a journey of continuous unfolding to reach her authentic self. Having had the privilege of learning from many versatile and well seasoned teachers in Costa Rica, Thailand, Bali, France and the United States, she brings a wealth of knowledge and a cultural respect to her private practice and classrooms. Her unique style guides students along the journey of healing chronic and acute pain.

Kelly’s approach, infused with Thai yoga, Dynamic Thai, and Osteo-Thai principles, is a blend of powerful bodywork, creative movement, and finely tuned compassionate intuition. She offers valuable methodology for anyone interested in acquiring deeper insight into the vast complexity of body, mind, and spirit. Her work has the natural ability to transform lives, and to bring balance and well-being to every body.

Kim Picklap, RYT 500

Kim serves as one of our program mentors.

Kim completed her Yoga Alliance certified hatha program with Yoga District in Washington, DC in 2010. Her Yoga Alliance 300 hour YTT was done with Authentic Movements.

Kim’s classes typically have a flow element, which combines creativity and intelligent bio-mechanics. She strives to create a space for supported playfulness that allows each unique spirit to surface.

Kim believes that every body is different. Physically, Emotionally, Mentally. Our bones fit together a little bit differently, our muscles develop in their own way, our fascia has it’s own channels of communication. Our unique physical bodies carry our life story in them – how we breathe, where we are loose, where we are tense.

She encourages self respect through only doing what you feel makes you better – leave the pieces that don’t serve you. This is Your Journey, Your Story, and Your Body. Her teachings are here as a framework, but only you can know what you truly need.

Dr. Sarah Fields, PT, DPT, LMT, CYT

Sarah offers instruction on injury prevention and management for Glowing Body Teacher Training. Sarah guides trainees through techniques to improve the body’s response to stress, to reduce chronic systemic inflammation, as well as address or avoid common aches and pains that might affect yoga practitioners.

Marrying a passion for treating the whole person (not just symptoms) and a diverse skill set, Sarah loves to integrate her experience and expertise to develop a treatment plans that help her clients have lasting change and help them to lead productive lives. Along with her Doctorate in Physical Therapy, Sarah has certifications and experience in teaching yoga, yoga therapy, massage therapy, and health coaching.

Visiting Experts

Marcy Braverman Goldstein, PhD, CYT

In Glowing Body Teacher Training, Marcy teaches on the history and texts of yoga, illuminating the roots of yoga, tracking its passage into the West, and connecting the dots between past and modern approaches to practice.

Marcy Braverman Goldstein, Ph.D. earned her doctoral degree in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Marcy has taught at UC Riverside, Davidson College, UNC Charlotte, and the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice. She is a core faculty member at Embodied Philosophy and is Coordinator of the Writing Mentorship for the Yoga Philosophy Certification.

As founder and director of Sanskrit Revolution, Marcy teaches Sanskrit, yoga history, ethical speech, and philosophy at studios, schools, and festivals nationally. She presents at professional conferences and has earned numerous fellowships and honors including the Professor Gerald James Larson Dissertation Award. Additionally, she participates in interfaith panels and offers diversity training at schools and corporations.

Drawing from her academic background and 25 years of practicing yoga, Marcy creates classes that illuminate the language and culture of yoga, deepen people’s knowledge, sharpen critical thinking skills, and inspire personal and community growth.

Shala Worsley, E-RYT 500

Shala joins Glowing Body Teacher Training to share sessions on energetic anatomy and the chakras.

Shala has been teaching yoga since 1999 and enjoys creating a space for people to release stress and tension, and tap into deep inner knowing, through yoga classes, workshops, and trainings, as well as private Ayurveda and Astrology sessions. She instructs with a style which blends intuitive flow and attention to detail, a combination informed by her background in Kripalu, Iyengar, Vinyasa Flow, Yin Yoga, and bodywork. She incorporates pranayama, meditation, eclectic rhythms, therapeutic and yin yoga, as well as yoga philosophy into each class.

Shala is Founder of Asheville School of Massage & Yoga, a school for Massage & Ayurveda Certification Programs from 2005-2020; Lead Instructor for Asheville Yoga Center‘s 200-hour Teacher Training and 300-hour Advanced Training Programs.

Vishnu Dass, A.D.

Vishnu shares an introduction to the art and science of Ayurveda, linking its wisdom and utility to Glowing Body Teacher Trainers’ exploration of a holistic yoga practice.

Vishnu is an Ayurvedic Doctor (NAMA) with two decades of clinical experience. He received his Ayurvedic training under the guidance of world-renowned Ayurvedic physician Dr. Vasant Lad and is a graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque.

Vishnu is the owner and director of Blue Lotus Ayurveda, located in Asheville, NC, as well as the author of Ayurvedic Herbology East & West – A Practical Guide to Ayurvedic Herbal Medicine, and Vishnu’s Kitchen – A Practical Guide to Ayurvedic Cooking.

Vishnu Dass has been practicing and teaching Hatha Yoga and Yoga philosophy since 1992 in the tradition of his teacher Sri Baba Hari Dass. He also offers Jyotish, Vedic Astrology readings.