Lotus Yoga Instructors

All of our teachers have completed at minimum a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program accredited by the Yoga Alliance. We encourage all of our teachers to continue their education by way of maintaining their personal practice, reading, attending workshops, and pursuing additional tiers of training in their fields of interest and expertise.

Chloë Craver

Specializations
Vinyasa Yoga
Yoga Teacher Training
Mentorship
Herbalism

Chloë is the creator & founder of Lotus Yoga Academy. An E-500+ hour Certified Yoga instructor, her classes combine the dynamics of movement patterns with thought provoking intentions and anecdotes to get the art of asana unified with living yoga. She channels experiences into lessons that can be heard & felt time and time again. Lotus Yoga Academy began as a school, blossomed into a brick & mortar studio, and continues to evolve into an online platform to bring yoga to you, wherever you are. She is passionate about her own healing and uses that as the fuel to share what she learns along the way, pulling in ancient wisdom and alchemizing it to fit our modern lives.

Neil Craver

Specializations
Kundalini Yoga
Vinyasa Yoga
Strength Training
Breath-work

Neil is a Lotus Yoga Alumni from the OG training group, pre studio! He has since undergone a training program with the Rama Institute based in LA, and is working hard to share his love of Kundalini yoga, breath-work, and meditation to our Winston-Salem wellness community and beyond. He has a passion for the unique things in life, often seeking the road less traveled in all aspects of the phrase. He encourages dedication from anyone willing to try his classes and believes we are all limitless when we free ourselves from our limiting thought patterns. Growth Mindset! He partners with Chloë to help her bring all ideas to life for Lotus and beyond!

Michelle Johnson

Specializations

Spiritual Practice
Activism
Healing

Michelle Cassandra Johnson is an author, activist, spiritual teacher and practitioner, racial equity consultant and trainer, and intuitive healer. She teaches workshops and immersions and leads retreats and transformative experiences nationwide. Michelle is a 500hr ERYT, YACEP. She has been teaching yoga since 2009 after her 200hr training at Franklin Street Yoga. She went on to complete her 500hr training at Asheville Yoga Center and has trained in many lineages of yoga. Michelle leads courageously from the heart with compassion. Her classes focus on individual and collective transformation through movement, pranayama, self-reflection, and working to identify the reasons why we suffer so that we may remember our pathway to freedom.

Michelle published the first edition of Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World in 2017; and the 2nd edition of Skill in Action in November 2021, published by Shambhala Publications. She has written several other books about grief, healing rituals for the collective, the kleshas, and more!

Julia-Grace Polich

Specializations
Vinyasa Yoga
Yin Yoga
Yoga Nidra
Acro Yoga

Julia-Grace began her journey with yoga in 2001 and since has developed a passion for Eastern philosophy and the traditional practices of yoga. In 2016, she completed her 200 hour YTT certification studying under J Miles, Jane Bahneman, and Kelly Kostecki in Richmond, VA. In her teachings, she focuses on nurturing the body through breath, connecting breath to movement, and through movement finding stillness. Off the mat, Julia-Grace is a biomedical engineer having received her PhD at Wake Forest to further her passion about human physiology and biomechanics. She looks forward to sharing her joys in this practice with you in class!

Rachel Paige

Specializations
Vinyasa Yoga
Embodiment

Rachel is a yoga teacher and embodiment guide with over 15 years of yoga experience, committed to creating spaces where you can reconnect with your body, rediscover your power, and release what no longer serves you. Her teaching blends traditional asana, breathwork, and somatic practices to help you move beyond intellectual understanding into a deep, felt experience. She values awareness of sensations, emotions, and energy as they arise during practice, offering simple yet potent cues that invite you to explore your rhythm, intuition, and inner wisdom. Together, we cultivate a journey of self-discovery and embodiment, guiding you toward a life of authenticity, vibrancy, and wholeness

Olena Withrow

Specializations

Vinyasa Yoga Spirituality

Olena Withrow (Lena) completed her 200 hour training with Lotus in 2023, weaving together a love of movement and spirituality with a passion for guiding students into spaces where they can connect to their truest self and honor their own hopes, needs, and fears. Currently completing a Master of Divinity degree, with a background in dance, Lena combined her weekly rhythms of movement and spirituality to the practice of yoga and continues to find purpose in the journey of discovering what is possible. On and off the mat, Lena is committed to exploring spaces of inclusive spirituality, holding space in her classes for all who seek to blend meaning and movement in community. In Lena’s class you can expect a good mix of fun dancey sequences, fiery empowering vinyasa flows, and ample space for mindfulness and connection.

Misty Gabriel

Specializations
Vinyasa Yoga
Yoga for Athletes
Local & Sustainable food sourcing

Misty is a 500-Hour Certified Yoga instructor, pulling multiple trainings & styles into her inspiring classes! She began teaching in 2016 after studying with Dancing Dogs Yoga (Greensboro), and then continued her studies in 2019 with Awakened Life School of Yoga (Bali). She packs a powerful punch of movement and philosophy in all of her classes. Misty also teaches spin and yoga at Synergy in Winston-Salem, where you can find some incredible hybrid yoga+spin+HIIT classes all in one house! Practice with Misty online & in-person every Monday night at Lotus, and browse our replay library for some fire past classes she’s delivered.

Shanon Greig

Specializations
Vinyasa Yoga
Earth Flow
Alignment

Shanon finished her yoga teacher training in early 2017 with Sandy Delgado of Savvy Soul Yoga! Her classes are well thought out and intentional as she draws on her education and experience as an Occupation Therapy Assistant. Shanon thrives on positive connection and interaction with community and brings that high vibe energy into any and every space she enters. Check the schedule and online studio for classes she leads!

You can often find Shanon on Sundays in our 9am Earth Flow or 12pm Solar Flow.

Emily Shindledecker

Specializations
Yin Yoga
Vinyasa Yoga
Friendship

Emily is a Lotus Yoga Alumni and has been teaching at Lotus since April 2019. She fell in love with Ashtanga, slow flow, and Yin styles of practice and leaned into the Yinyasa offerings at Lotus pretty quickly in her teaching career. She has a gentle soul and adventurous heart which help her bring such a joy to her yoga practice & teachings! You can livestream her classes, practice with her in previously recorded yin classes, or catch her in-person on the schedule! Emily has brought so much love & friendship into our community and we are forever grateful for her energy and heart.
Join her for our sunrise classes on weekdays and every Sunday evening for Yin.

Bailey MacDonnell

Specializations
Vinyasa Yoga
Earth Flow

Bailey has been teaching yoga since 2017 in Texas, Rhode Island, and most recently, North Carolina. Her practice is a fusion of rigorous hatha movements influenced by Katonah Yoga, with feel-good vinyasa sequences that “just make sense.” Bailey seeks the balance between joy and steadiness in her personal practice and in her guidance of others. She believes honing one’s personal power is one of the great reasons to practice yoga. Expect to work toward challenging postures, and hopefully laugh along the way.