Meet Our Teachers!

Savana Harwood

Ocracoke Island Yoga Studio Owner

E-RYT500 Certified in Hot Vinyasa, YACEP Standup Paddle board Teacher & Trainer, Certified Reiki Practitioner, Aerial Yoga, Restorative, Yin, Mindful Meditation, LSD, First Aide CPR.

Savana loves to teach from the lense of ALL LEVELS. With alignment in mind She offers many variation to suit your body’s needs in each moment with the understanding that the body will feel different day to day or from pose to pose. Savana says that Yoga has drastically changed the way she walks through everyday life. She found patience, gratitude and self love ( to name a few) within the practice of yoga. She Loves that Yoga is called a practice because it doesn’t ask that you show up perfect ( already strong, flexible or all knowing), it asks you to come to your mat exactly as you are. The benefits of yoga showed up almost immediately for Savana, and it was very apparent that this was more than just a normal workout, She decided to deepen her practice and gratefully attained her 200 hr Yoga certification in Vinyasa flow through Hotasana University in Southern Pines with Virginia Gallagher and Lisa Tiffany March of 2016.She then moved to Ocracoke Island to teach yoga on the beautiful beach of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and soon after opened Ocracoke Island Yoga Studio in 2018!

“Yoga is meeting yourself on the mat each day, giving yourself love, compassion and kindness so that you can radiate it to the rest of the world ! Come flow with me and I promise you will soon find many reasons to love yoga and most importantly yourself!”- Savana

Virginia Gallagher

Hot Asana Founder/Owner of Hot Asana Southern Pines, E-RYT 500, RCYT, YACEP, Certified Yin Yoga Instructor, Hot Asana Yoga University Founder/Owner, Certified Mindfulness Meditation Teacher

We are all on our own personal journey. I would like to share a little bit about my yoga journey with you…

I attended my first Hot Yoga Class on August 12, 2007 and fell in love with the mental and physical connection I felt. I began practicing 3 – 6 times a week, shed 40 pounds in 4 months, and was able to discontinue the use of all of my prescription medications. I began to feel healthier and stronger than ever. Convinced of the benefits of yoga, I continued my daily practice and began to deepen my dedication to and knowledge of yoga.

I began my teacher training in 2008 and since then have completed multiple 200 and 500 hour certifications, Yin Yoga training and Mindfulness Meditation Vipasana. My trainings have been diverse but my teaching style has been primarily influenced by Grace and MyLinda Morales, Jimmy Barkan, Rolf Gates, Chris & John Yax , Deepak Chopra, Bryan Kest and Paul Grilley. I fundamentally believe that anyone can change their body and their life. I believe we can in fact, grow younger and stronger. I would love to show you how yoga can be a part of that change. It doesn’t matter when or in what condition you start…JUST START. Your best YOU may very well be yet to come.

Desiree Adams

RYT200, Certified Yin, Restorative, Reiki Master, Aroma Therapy Healing, Somatic Trauma Therapy.

Desirée has found great joy in teaching at Ocracoke Island Yoga Studio since June 2020. She has her RYT-200 with certifications in Yin Yoga, Restorative, and Integrated Somatic Trauma Therapy. She is also a Reiki Master and certified in Aroma Therapy Healing and often incorporates those modalities into her classes. Whether being challenged by a Power Yoga or embracing the tender care of Candle-Lit Restorative, she knows that Yoga is not only a physical practice but a spiritual one which nourishes the entire soma and allows the practitioner to connect with themselves, others, and the divine (whatever their understanding of that may be). She encourages her classes to follow what expands the heart and body, rather than what the ego defines as "doing yoga," and asks participants to take themselves a bit less seriously to find the joy in the ancient science of Yoga. 

Desiree Teaches All levels Flow, Power Yoga, Gentle & Restorative Yoga.

Yasmine Colebank

CYT200

Yasmine has been practicing yoga since 2018. She found yoga her senior year of highschool and gravitated more towards it in college as means of exercising her body and mind to help relieve the stresses of school. She has just recently become a certified yoga teacher, earning her 200 certifications at FlyDog Yoga in Charlottesville, VA. Yasmine gravitates towards the rigorous Power Vinyasa as a student and teacher. In her power classes you can expect to sweat, laugh, and float out of the studio feeling powerful and ready to take on the rest of the day!

Sarah Shellow

RYT200

Sarah Shellow has been practicing yoga for twenty-five years and teaching for fifteen. Sarah teaches mixed-level, gentle, and restorative yoga, and she enjoys creating a sense of community in the classroom. Her yoga classes are filled with an appreciation for the life experiences each student brings. She loves helping people discover and celebrate their innate gifts and assisting students in finding the most comfortable and joyful expression of the poses for their bodies. Her classes reflect her love for poetry, stories, and the language of transformation. Sarah was trained in the Anusara method and in aspects of Para Yoga. She honors teachers Marion Griffin, Suzie Hurley, John Friend, Noah Maze, and Naime Jezzeny among others for her introduction and deep immersion into the beauty and challenge that is her experience of yoga. She has trained in therapeutics and Ayurveda, and she enjoys teaching classes that reflect the needs of each season. For the ever-present guidance of her meditation practice, she is indebted to her teacher, Paul Muller-Ortega. Outside of class, Sarah writes about the confluence of yoga and culture in Cuba. She is deeply appreciative of the yoga practitioners in Cuba who inspired her to become a yoga teacher. She continues to work with several members of the yoga community in Cuba to build bridges between people of the United States and Cuba through yoga and meditation. On Ocracoke, she enjoys teaching yoga in Spanish. Everybody is welcome!