Meet our
Instructors
At True North Yoga, our instructors are a huge part of what makes us special. Our teachers come from a variety of backgrounds with many specialties and are each dedicated to providing a caring and compassionate space where students can explore something more, on their mats and beyond.
Crystal Bailey
Crystal has been teaching and studying yoga since 2010, with a background as a fitness instructor since 1993. She completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training through Wanderlust Studios in Austin, Texas and Lake Tahoe, California. She completed her RYT 500 through Alaya Yoga School, and her 1000HR Alaya Yoga School Apprenticeship Program. She is now leading classes, workshops, and 200HR Teacher Training Immersions in her studio in Paducah, KY. Crystal is a co-owner of True North Yoga, LLC, where she has a passion for providing transformative yoga experiences for her students and providing a safe and welcoming environment at her studio. Crystal believes that yoga creates awareness of opportunities for us to evolve as human beings, to live from a place of gratitude and to become more comfortable in our bodies. Crystal’s love for yoga inspires her life as a mother and grandmother, and through all the lives that she touches.
Ginny Garner
Ginny began exploring yoga on and off in high school. She eventually returned to the practice for good after many years of pain due to a lower back injury. With her background as a school teacher, she naturally felt compelled to share the gifts yoga had given her with others. Ginny studied as an apprentice and began teaching yoga in 2013. She completed her 200 hour RYT training with Asheville Yoga Center in 2017. She finished her RYT 500 hour certification in 2020 during which she attended specialized training for restorative yoga, yin yoga, kids yoga, prenatal/postnatal yoga, meditation/ mindfulness, yoga for back care and vinyasa flow yoga. Since becoming a mother to two amazing children, her yoga practice continues to evolve and informs her daily life on and off her mat. Her personal style of teaching incorporates a strong connection between breath and movement, honoring what feels good for your body and achieving balance between power and flexibility, focus and surrender. She believes that yoga is for everyone and invites her students to let go of what they think yoga should be and accept all the possibilities and gifts the practice holds for them.
Stefany Carroll
Stefany’s journey into yoga started with physical pain. As a college student lugging around a heavy back pack, as a teacher of young kids having to spend time bent over, and as a waitress on her feet all day, her body hurt! A friend lent Stefany his yoga DVD after her chiropractor suggested she try it. Back then, Stefany found the practice dull, and that was the end of yoga for her. Years later, she came back to it. She started to practice nightly and her home practice began to grow. Then in 2015, she moved to Colorado. Her Yoga Training started in January 2016. From there she took any workshop, training, or class that she could find, learning many things along the way! Stefany loves to teach those who think only certain people can practice yoga and firmly believes there is a yoga practice out there for everyone. She hopes to help you find it!
Kathy Buri
Kathy started her yoga journey while living in Los Angeles and quickly fell in love with the physical practice. As her journey continued, practicing yoga became much more than moving the body and found a true connection of body and spirit, ultimately encouraging her to share this beautiful practice with others through teaching. Kathy received her 200-Hour Power Yoga certification through CorePower Yoga in 2017 and continued her yoga education with a 50-Hour Yoga Sculpt certification. She strives to connect students to their breath, bring awareness to their body and guide them through an intelligently sequenced practice with strength and positive energy. Kathy is excited to bring a part of her West Coast experience to her hometown and home studio.
Julie Folsom
Julie discovered yoga 20 years ago after experiencing multiple injuries sustained from long distance running. The physical practice of Yoga provided much needed muscle lengthening and stretching that she needed to continue my running. As she continued to explore the art and science of yoga, she also recognized the amazing union to be achieved between body, mind, and spirit. Eager to experience more, Julie completed a 300 hour yoga certification program with Nicole Brown and the Southern Institute of Yoga Instructors. She has also have taken many other courses of study with other teachers, including Bryan Kest, Libby Hinsley, Sean Corn, Kathryn Budig, and Leslie Kaminov. She continues her education with periodic trips to the Asheville Yoga Center for workshops where I’ve most recently completed yoga training for Sacroiliac Joint & Pelvic Inflammation, Yoga Psychology & Trauma, and Yoga for Seniors and those with Back Injuries. Julie turned 60 this year and embraces this wonderful sentiment from Mahatma Gandhi…. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
Dana Edwards
Dana is a self-described yoga nerd, cat lover, and silly introvert. She discovered yoga in 2016 and received her 200 hour yoga teacher certification in 2020 from The Maze Method through Yoga International. Off the mat she loves tending to her small jungle of house plants, playing video games, and listening to pop hits. She enjoys creating sequences for her students that are challenging but always fun. She hopes to encourage students to open their minds and explore what their bodies can do through their practice.
Lindsay Sydnor
Lindsay’s love of fitness began in 1996 when she started working at a Curves franchise while in college. Over the next 15+ years she would open several of her own franchises, as she found her purpose through helping others achieve their goals and find self confidence through movement and exercise. In 2009, she quickly became a regular in Shannon McGee’s vinyasa flow yoga class. She was initially drawn in by the physical challenge, but found herself craving the sense of peace and calm that followed each class. Lindsay began student teaching in 2013, and received her 200 hr certification in May 2014 through Aura Wellness Center. Her classes, while challenging, are lighthearted and fun, and she strives to make them accessible for all levels. When she’s not teaching, you will find her working in her flowers, hiking in the forest, watching the night sky, or reading a good book.
Lindsay Black
Dell Taylor
Dell comes from a dance and gymnastics background. She began teaching yoga in 2011 and enjoys teaching power vinyasa, the hot sequence and yin. Dell brings creativity, curiosity, attention to alignment, balance and transitioning, strength, breath, faith and playfulness into the classroom. She enjoys setting students up for success in their practice and providing a challenge. She is passionate about teaching and exploring the connection between the mind and the body, and journeying toward our most authentic self. She enjoys seeing the many benefits and blessings in her students and self, through a dedicated yoga practice. One of her greatest privileges is the opportunity to teach yoga and be part of space filled with like-minded individuals, moving and breathing together in the present moment.
Suzi Renaud
Suzi Renaud began teaching aerobics and stretch classes in offices and gyms around the Dallas, Texas area in 1998. She joined the YMCA fitness team in 1990 where she received a Group Fitness Certification. In 1993 she certified with Kripalu Yoga and obtained other certifications included Aerobics, Step, Reebok Slide, Spin, NIA Technique, Pilates, Boxing Aerobics, Power Yoga, PiYo, AAAI/ISMA Yoga I and II, Mind/Body, Advanced Pilates, Advanced Yoga, Senior Fitness, and Primary Barre. In 1997-98, Suzi’s passion for fitness and teaching took her around the world teaching Yoga, Pilates, and Chair Yoga for Steiner International of Great Britain, on Holland America cruise ship. In 2001, Suzi returned to Paducah, KY and she began teaching Yoga and Aerobics for local hospitals. She continued Yoga, Pilates, and Dance training with Savannah Yoga, Miami Life Center, YMCA/Atlanta, and the premiere dance studio Pineapple in London, England. In 2003, she opened The Yoga Room for Yoga and Pilates, and began teaching at Paducah Parks and Recreation. In 2007, she trained with Dr. Paul Lam in San Antonio to be certified in Sun Style Tai Chi and also attained 31 hours of study in Healing Taoist Qigong with Dr. Roger Jahnke at NICABM Psychology of Health and Immunity Conference in 2007. Over the years Suzi has taught Yoga for children, and produced a fitness show for television. When Suzi’s not teaching she enjoys playing games, listening to opera, going to music festivals, reading historical fiction, and traveling.
Scotty Butler
Scotty’s journey with yoga began in 2020. He was at a point in his life where he found himself seeking purpose, all while ‘just going through the motions’, as so many of us are programmed to do. As much as he loved the physical aspect of yoga, the real magic happened when he discovered and fell in love with the spiritual aspects of the practice. In 2021, he found himself seeking more guidance and purpose, as he navigated a difficult and trying season. Scotty dove headfirst and deeper into his yoga practice to help him find his way back to FEELING again. Scotty’s intention is to get people to their mats and show them how to better connect to self through the practice of yoga, breath work, and meditation. He wants to show people how to bring awareness back to their hearts and to begin listening to their bodies with non-judgment. Scotty has his 200-hour RYT yoga certification with the Alaya school of yoga. He is also the facilitator of a local men’s group dedicated to holding a safe space for men to heal, grow, and embrace their inner strength together in a supportive environment.
Koryn Hatfield
Koryn began exploring yoga in her teens falling in love with the physical practice, especially hot yoga. In college, her practice deepened and became a way for her to find calm during the storm. She gained a lot of resiliency, strength, and clarity by having a dedicated practice through these years and it inspired her to continue her practice after college. She started to become curious about this journey and discovery of self through yoga and felt motivated to learn more. This led her to complete my 200HR training through Alaya Yoga School, where her appreciation for yoga grew even more. Koryn feels beyond excited and blessed to share yoga with others because it has really connected her more with herself and the world around her.
Grace Blanco
Grace took her first yoga class in 2013 because of a broken heart and immediately fell in love with the practice. Her journey started with meditation, then she was introduced to Kundalini yoga and finally Vinyasa yoga. Yoga became the magical medicine for her body, mind, and soul. In 2019 she moved to Paducah and the first thing she googled was “where can I practice yoga?” True North was the very first option. The spiritual and physical parts of yoga made her feel so good that she decided to take the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training under the Alaya Experience School as a way to share this way of living with other people. Her intention is to create a safe space for you to experience the benefits of this practice and inspire you to live a more conscious and peaceful life.
Kirsten Simpson
Since 2012, Kirsten has had yoga in her life on and off. But it wasn’t until September of 2018 that she began to practice weekly when she joined Baptiste Power Yoga Oxford. With it being her first year of graduate school at Ole Miss, she found myself coming to yoga as a way to stay connected with herself both mentally and physically. Having a strong yoga community was something that kept her coming back, and she took her practice one step further in the summer of 2019. Recently she and her husband moved from Oxford, MS to Kentucky, and she is so excited to join the yoga community at True North! She earned her 200-hour RYT certification through Baptiste Power Yoga Nashville and has completed the Baptiste Institute’s Yoga Teacher Course. Kirsten feels that this teacher training transformed her life and she wants to help everyone experience yoga, and hopes it will encourage others to go through a transformation of their own which they can take with them on and off of the mat.
AsilaClaire Baldry
Asilo Yoga is the name of AsilaClaire’s style. Asilo – sanctuary and yoga – meditation. So, her intention is to offer a sanctuary in which to meditate within an asana practice. Asila’s journey into yoga began in 1995 when she stumbled onto some VHS tapes of Bryan Kest (founder of Power Yoga). While going through a difficult time in 2007, a person she hardly knew took her to her first yoga class at a studio. That class left her feeling empowered and would change her life. That point is one that she intends to hold close as she begins each class – the potential the practice has to deeply impact a person. Drawing from the experience of her own practice, she began teaching Yoga in 2008. Since then, she completed her 200 hour certification and attended 2 workshops plus an online teacher training with Bryan Kest. Asila believes that since we’re all beautifully unique, the practice of yoga should embody that. Students are encouraged to make the practice as personal as possible. Yoga is not a practice of quantity, but rather a practice of quality of touch. Giving from her heart and soul, with a sense of humor, and an absolute love for sharing the multi-faceted practice of yoga is what Asila intends to bring to each class. All classes are approachable for everyone… “just do it all to your personal degree.”
Steve Forchetti
Steve is originally from South Philadelphia and is a graduate of Penn State University. Steve has studied the Healing Arts, Yoga, Shamanism, Alchemy and Hermetics since 2010. In 2011, he began my Reiki Journey and in 2013, he became an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church Monastery. In 2015 Steve began studying Hermetics with the Modern Mystery School. In 2019, he was trained in the Transcendental Meditation Technique and after a traumatic spine injury, he began my Yoga journey. Yoga holds a special place in Steve’s heart because it helped him to be able to become active after being forced into a phase of stillness as well as to be able to physically integrate his spiritual practices. In 2020 he became a Reiki Master, Life Activation Practitioner and Certified Meditation Coach. In 2021, he began studying Kaballah. In 2022, he became an RYT-200 and became certified to teach Yin. Additionally, he traveled to London and was initiated as a Celtic Shaman and has begun the path of the Ritual Master. Steve is a passionate healer with an alternative approach and is dedicated to helping people move through a wide range of physical, emotional and spiritual transitions in the most efficient and transformative way possible.
Heather Kratz
Heather is a dance, movement, and yoga educator with over 20 years of experience. Her classes are infused with humor and joy and taught with kindness and empathy, and are accompanied by live music, provided by her multi-instrument-playing partner. Over the years her various dance studies focused on traditional West African dances of Guinea,
and she earned her 200 YTT at Kindness Yoga in Denver in 2019. In 2022 Heather moved from Colorado to Kentucky to live nearer family, and teach in her beautiful home state. She created Aim Beyond-a fusion of movement, yoga, and dance for every body- with the intention of uplifting individuals and communities by making joyful movement accessible to people of all ages and abilities. Experiences and studies in education, dance, music, science, and yoga inform her playful, eclectic, and dynamic teaching style. Her love for teaching is authentic, and her passion for sharing joy and uplifting others is beyond!
Alison Watson
Alison is a RYT® 200 certified instructor, as well as a Reiki Level 2 Practitioner. She was raised in Marshall County and graduated from Murray State University with a Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Business Administration. She and her family live in Benton.
Having practiced yoga sporadically for over 20 years, Alison was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2019, and was told by her physical therapist that yoga would provide the most benefit for her condition. She fell in love with Restorative, Yin, Gentle, and traditional Hatha poses, and decided that teaching yoga would help her maintain her own health while being able to share her practice with others who would benefit from it just as much as she has.
