WHO WE ARE
Stephanie Trump Johnston, M.S.,M.A.,E-RYT 500 began her professional career as a Speech Language Pathologist and spent over 25 years specializing in the treatment of adults with neurological problems such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease/dementia. She began practicing yoga almost thirty years ago. She earned her initial Yoga Teacher Certification at the Peachtree Yoga Center in Atlanta, Georgia in 2000. Since that time she has completed over 3500 hours of yoga training with many schools and styles. She earned a Masters degree in Psychology from the Georgia School of Professional Psychology and has a particular interest in the relationship between neuropsychological and yogic theories. Most recently, she has done advanced training in yoga and its benefits to the brain and nervous system. Along with managing our yoga community, she is also an Adjunct Professor at Penn State Harrisburg where she teaches classes in Yoga and its philosophy. Stephanie has an open and light-hearted style and specializes in making yoga accessible and practical which allows for the possibility of living our lives in a more genuine and authentic way. Email her at steph@freespirityogahershey.com
Debbie Rill, RYT-500 teaches our Strengthen, Flow and Restore class. Her yoga journey began 19 years ago at Free Spirit Yoga, Hershey, as a new yoga student and earned her first 200 hours of teacher certification from Free Spirit Yoga in 2021. In addition, she completed her 300 hour training from Evolution Lancaster in 2023, where she continues to teach restorative yoga classes. Yoga practices have been a meaningful part of Debbie's life in retirement from public education, and she is passionate about teaching and sharing the transformational tools of yoga with others.
Kara Perella (she/her), RYT-500 substitutes and teaches the Sunday Community Class. She took her first yoga class at a YMCA as a teenager during a time when most people knew very little about yoga and continued to come back to the practice even when at that time classes were difficult to find. After many years of attending classes, Kara completed her 200 hour training in 2017 and then a 300 hour training in 2023. Other trainings completed have focused on Restorative Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Accessible Yoga and Kids Yoga. Kara primarily teaches Restorative and Hatha Yoga. Every class offered is lead with the intention to be inclusive, accessible, and trauma informed in order to create a space where individuals can move, breathe and make intentional choices for their practice without any expectations to look or be a certain way. In her free time, Kara enjoys hiking, traveling, cooking, reading, and spending time at home with her husband and two cats.
Shaun Levi, RYT-200 substitutes and teaches the Sunday Community Class. She combines breathwork, Hatha practice (strengthening postures), and Vinyasa in her classes. She adapts class as the seasons change to balance mind and body. Shaun is a RYT-200 and Yoga Nidra certified instructor. She is also an Ayurvedic specialist and Reiki master. Shaun is a writer who lives and works in Central PA. She enjoys travel, playing the blues, and sky-diving, to name a few.
Julieta Grodensky RYT-200 substitutes and teaches the Sunday Community Class. An eager student, she was first certified through Free Spirit Yoga in Hershey, PA, under the wonderful guidance of Stephanie Johnston. She later completed her second 200-hour training through Wild + Free Power Yoga in Elizabethtown, PA, under the incredible instruction of Jesse Cassady (The Grateful Yoga) and Lindsay Helt. Julieta found yoga when she was in the depths of rediscovering herself after leaving the military. At the time, moving gently and kindly was a bit foreign to her, but soon enough, her yoga mat became a constant place to land precisely as she was and just ~be~. In her classes, she focuses on creating a safe and welcoming environment where you can show up as you are, knowing that each day will be different. When she is not teaching yoga, you can find her out in nature with her husband and pups, playing childish tennis games at the local park, drinking too much espresso at a local coffee house, or curled up with her kitty and a good book.
Eddy Okum RYT-200 substitutes and teaches the Sunday Community Class. Eddy began practicing yoga seriously in the spring of 2020. His practice deepened after visiting the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in the Bahamas in 2021 and 2022. He wanted to explore yoga further and found a wonderful yoga teacher training through Free Spirit Yoga. After graduating, Eddy has enjoyed teaching the Sunday Community Classes to students of all different skill levels. He prefers to practice and teach Hatha Yoga that incorporates slow mindful movements, a focus on alignment and breathing, and holding poses to cultivate strength and endurance. He believes there are great benefits to practicing patience, truthfulness, generosity, and listening to rock and roll music at high volume levels.
Elizabeth May RYT-200 substitutes and teaches Sunday Community Yoga Class. She started practicing yoga 20 years ago to find peace from a stressful job and stayed for the relief yoga gave her. Yoga teacher training had always been on her bucket list. So, after moving to PA in 2023 she completed her teacher training through Free Spirit Yoga. Elizabeth loves teaching beginner yoga. Using her knowledge of the body as a massage therapist, and her passion to make yoga accessible, she teaches a slow-paced flow with explanations of the poses. Elizabeth loves exploring the PA countryside, reading and traveling to Colorado and Seattle to visit family.