Meet the New Yoga Savannah Dream Team
Rooted in the vision of our founders and led by owners Lauren and Jen, New Yoga Savannah is a welcoming community where teachers share from the heart and guide with intention.
We believe yoga is for everybody and every body. Whether you're stepping onto a mat for the first time or have practiced for years, you'll be met exactly where you are.
Together, we create a space where students feel seen, supported, and encouraged to grow through movement, connection, and community.
Our Team
Lauren Butler
Lauren is a yoga teacher, wife, mother of two boys, and proud owner of New Yoga Savannah. Her yoga journey began in 2002 and has remained a source of healing, grounding, and growth throughout her life. After many years as a student, teacher, and part of this special community, becoming the studio’s owner feels like a beautiful full-circle moment.
Lauren completed her 200-hour teacher training at New Yoga Now with Kendall Beene and Erin Lambright, followed by a 50-hour Authentic Movement training with Erin Kelly and Stevi Gongora, and is currently completing her 300-hour advanced training. These influences inspire her creative sequencing and encourage students to move with curiosity.
Her classes are creative, upbeat, and rooted in joyful movement that builds strength, confidence, and connection. Lauren loves designing intentional flows that are both playful and purposeful, whether exploring a peak pose or simply enjoying the practice of movement. She hopes to continue nurturing a warm, welcoming studio where everyone can come as they are and feel at home.
Co-Owner
Jen McCarter
Jen is a self-proclaimed sequencing nerd who believes the studio is a place for absolutely everyone. Known for her warm, encouraging “mom energy,” she is your biggest cheerleader in the room, creating an inclusive environment where students of all levels feel supported. Her classes are masterfully layered; she thoughtfully balances strength and mobility to prepare the body for advanced peak asanas, ensuring every student has a place to work, explore, and safely grow.
Yoga blossomed in Jen’s life in 2013, becoming a profound modality for healing. Captivated by how the human body presents, heals, and evolves, she pursued her 200-hour teacher training at Sanctuary for Yoga in Nashville in 2016. What started as teaching a free community class at Hot Yoga of East Nashville quickly turned into a deep vocation. Jen went on to earn her 500-hour certification, manage the studio, co-lead their 200-hour Teacher Training, and eventually build and direct their 300-hour program. Eager to expand her knowledge of functional movement, she became a certified Pilates Reformer instructor in 2024 and completed her Comprehensive Pilates Training in 2025.
When she isn’t at the studio crafting her next sequence or mentoring teachers, Jen can be found out on the water aboard her 34-foot Beneteau sailboat with her husband, Charlie, their son, Duncan, and daughter, Lila.
Co-Owner
Teacher, Studio ManagerJanelle Musler
Janelle is the Studio Manager at New Yoga Savannah and usually teaches Vinyasa 2 and Strength & Flow classes. She believes yoga should be both welcoming and challenging—a practice that meets you where you are while encouraging you to grow. Her classes emphasize strong movement, thoughtful progressions, and the satisfaction of discovering what you are capable of. She leads the studio's book club, bringing together a love of reading, yoga philosophy, and meaningful conversation.
Betsy Powers
Betsy is an experienced yoga teacher and somatic therapist who believes deeply in the transformative power of practice. Her classes are simple yet challenging, welcoming students of all levels to explore the connection between body and mind. Drawing from her background in body psychotherapy, Betsy thoughtfully uses physical practice as a tool to support emotional balance and overall well-being. Her genuine love of yoga shines through in her teaching, creating space for students to move with awareness, build resilience, and discover greater connection within themselves.
Teacher
Will Boatwright
TeacherAs an avid semi-professional skateboarder and licensed Physical Therapy Assistant for 13 years, Will never imagined he'd be where he is today. A certified 200-hour yoga teacher currently pursuing his 500-hour certification, yoga has become a guiding force in his life. His practice extends beyond poses to his relationships, family, and most importantly, his son.
For Will, yoga is more than exercise—it is a source of calm, resilience, and healing for both body and mind. His training is rooted in Prajna Yoga, a system developed by Tias Little and taught by Marty and Marti Yura of Vista Yoga in Atlanta. Meaning "insight" in Sanskrit, Prajna Yoga emphasizes breath, alignment, and mindful movement. Will looks forward to sharing this transformative practice with you.
Kendall Beene
TeacherKendall ushers people home to their bodies, creating space to gently unwind protective patterns and experience the body not as something to optimize or control, but as a beloved and sacred place to live. With 30 years of yoga study and over 20 years of teaching, her intuitive, soulful approach is rooted in curiosity, compassion, and exploration. Currently completing her SATYA Somatic Awareness certification with Tias Little, Kendall draws from decades of study and private teaching to help students slow down, release tension, and discover greater ease, strength, and connection within themselves.
Emily Bowser
TeacherEmily’s first experience with yoga was the class she never attended – she was too scared to walk through the door. The following day she returned and kept coming back day after day. Years later, she is still just as in love with this practice as when she first began. Emily also loves spending time with her family, making art, swimming in the ocean and dancing in her living room.
Erin Lambright
Erin Lambright is a seasoned and highly respected yoga and meditation teacher who has been teaching in the Savannah area for over five years. With a background in gymnastics and dance, yoga was an easy transition. Yoga also fits perfectly with her UGA degree in Therapeutic Recreation. Though Erin has taught multiple styles of yoga from hot and sweaty power yoga to therapeutic yoga for illness and injury, she is most at home teaching a slow, steady, challenging flow. She has seen this modality give her students time to gain confidence and ease in their practice.
Teacher
Heather DuCloux
Heather’s classes blend athletic movement with mindful awareness, helping students build strength, mobility, and balance for everyday life. After more than 20 years of teaching group exercise, she discovered yoga as a way to move beyond high-impact fitness and explore a more sustainable approach to movement. Now a 200-hour certified yoga instructor, Heather encourages students to challenge themselves while honoring their body’s unique needs, creating a practice that supports long-term well-being and leaves you feeling stronger, more capable, and more connected.
Teacher
Shea Walker
TeacherShea brings a calming, deeply rooted approach to yoga, weaving together asana, philosophy, pranayama, Ayurveda, and self-inquiry. Practicing since 1998 and teaching since 2016, she is an experienced yoga teacher, Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist, and Yoga Nidra facilitator whose offerings are informed by the traditions of the Himalayan Masters and Sri Vidya Tantra. Whether a practice is gentle or challenging, students often find grounding in Shea’s calming presence and voice. Her passion is sharing the tools of yoga and Ayurveda to help students explore mind, body, and spirit, creating meaningful transformation both on and off the mat.
Jill Holliday
TeacherJill shares a gentle, nurturing practice rooted in mindfulness, creativity, and curiosity. An artist and longtime educator, she first discovered yoga through the heat and power of Vinyasa before deepening her practice through New Yoga School and exploring the eight limbs of yoga. Today, she finds balance through both yin and yang styles of practice. Jill brings that same sense of thoughtful exploration to her classes, inviting students to slow down, turn inward, and reconnect with themselves through movement, awareness, and ease.
Paola Ronchetti
TeacherPaola brings creativity, elegance, and joy to the mat, designing mindful flows that often feel like a dance, accompanied by thoughtfully curated music. Originally from Brazil, she left a career in fashion to embrace yoga, bringing her eye for creativity and commitment to excellence into her teaching. Practicing since 2014, Paola completed her 200-hour teacher training at New Yoga Now. She loves the energy of a flowing practice as much as the stillness of restorative and somatic yoga, creating a light-hearted, supportive space that inspires students of all levels to experience yoga on and off the mat.
Emily approaches yoga as a practice of coming home to the wisdom of the body. Through movement, breath, and awareness, she invites students to explore the deeper patterns we carry and cultivate a more trusting, intuitive relationship with themselves. For Emily, the physical practice is a doorway into the subtler layers of yoga, creating space for meditation, breathwork, healing, and self-discovery. Her teaching encourages students to listen inward, connect with the heart, and trust the body as a guide toward greater awareness, harmony, and possibility.
TeacherEmily Bremer
Nancy Giganon
TeacherNancy Giganon Ward is a yoga teacher, hypnotherapist, and massage practitioner whose approach to well-being is rooted in gentleness, balance, and authentic connection. Originally from France, Nancy moved to Savannah in 2024 and has since begun sharing her practice with the local community.
Her teaching style combines graceful, grounding, and empowering movement with an intuitive approach shaped by her experience across multiple healing practices. Through movement and meditation, Nancy creates a nurturing space for students to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and awaken their inner light.
Cassie Nowicki
TeacherCassie brings a playful, welcoming energy to the mat, blending intentional dharmas with creative movement and moments of challenge. Her teaching encourages both energetic and physical discovery, inviting students to explore their practice with curiosity. Always seeking new ways to communicate movement, Cassie uses thoughtful, creative cueing to help students deepen their mind-body connection. Her classes create space to move, experiment, and challenge yourself while staying connected to the intention behind the practice.
Dani’s classes blend playful movement with meaningful moments of reflection, inviting students to leave feeling more embodied and empowered. Her connection to yoga began while studying environmental studies, where the practice helped her understand the relationship between personal and collective healing. She believes yoga can create change through movement, breath, awareness, and compassion—while still leaving plenty of room for joy and curiosity. Dani also brings her practice beyond the studio, leading free community classes through Yoga in the Park at Forsyth Park.
TeacherDani B
Elena Kokakis
TeacherElena discovered a deep love for yoga in 2020 while practicing outdoors in Savannah’s Forsyth Park. She dove headfirst into her studies, earning her 200-hour certification with Meg Shuba before traveling to Greece to deepen her practice. Now a 500-hour registered yoga teacher through Body Poetic Yoga Academy, Elena has taught at studios and luxury hotels throughout the Southeast. Her classes blend intelligent sequencing with yogic philosophy, creating thoughtful practices that engage both body and mind. Off the mat, you’ll likely find her sipping espresso or planning her next yoga retreat.
Wayne Lee
TeacherWayne brings 13 years of teaching experience, a mastery of breath, and plenty of humor to the mat. His classes pair slow, intentional movement with powerful holds, creating space to build strength, explore each pose, and stay connected to the breath along the way. Wayne believes yoga is for everyone and brings an approachable, playful spirit to his teaching. Expect a practice that challenges you without taking itself too seriously—and a reminder that sometimes the best way to get deeper into a pose is simply to smile.