YOGA FOR ALL ABILITIES
Our Teaching Team
Meet the people who hold the work, teach the programs, and support the method as it continues to grow.
Teaching Roles
PROGRAM TEACHER
Approved to teach the specific certification program or training named in their bio.
CO-TEACHER IN TRAINING
Senior Licensed Practitioner teaching under Sonia or Renata while being prepared for a fuller teaching role.
CPD TEACHER
Approved to teach a continuing education course. CPDs provide credit or contact hours, not a certificate.
SENIOR LICENSED PRACTITIONER
Certified to teach children and students with additional needs, but not to train teachers unless also approved for a specific program or CPD.
Team Profiles
PART 1 PROGRAM TEACHER
Erin Shanthi Haddock
C-IAYT, E-RYT 500, E-RCYT and YACEP.
Shanthi attended her first Yoga for All Abilities Part 1 program with Sonia in 2010. The emotional transformation she experienced gave her yoga practice new meaning and led her to continue studying closely with Sonia.
She received a 200-hour yoga teacher certification in 2012, continued her studies at Master Satchidananda's Integral Yoga Institute, and later received a 500-hour certification and C-IAYT Yoga Therapy certification. In 2017, she opened Five Keys Yoga Center in Chicago as a home for Yoga for All Abilities.
Teaching role
95H Certification Program Part 1 teacher.
Work settings
Schools, health centers, medical clinics, and community settings in Chicago.
Focus
Helping children access a gentle, effective practice with steadiness and joy.
PART 1 PROGRAM TEACHER AND PART 2 CO-TEACHER IN TRAINING
Sridevi Denisa Nenova
Senior Yoga for All Abilities Practitioner and Advanced Hatha Yoga Teacher
Denisa began martial arts at age seven and yoga at age thirteen. She attended her first Sivananda 200-hour teacher training at age twenty-one and later completed a 500-hour advanced teacher training.
After her mother's passing, Denisa met Sonia Sumar and discovered Yoga for All Abilities. She trained with Sonia in 2009, a turning point that she describes as coming home and finding purpose. She has shared the method with people with additional needs ever since.
Her dedication led her to open MahaDevi Yoga Centre in London in 2015, a center dedicated to offering Yoga for All Abilities throughout the week. Her work with children's hospices in London has become a deeply personal mission and lifelong service.
Teaching role
95H Certification Program Part 1 teacher and Part 2 co-teacher in training, teaching with Renata or Sonia.
Center
Founder of MahaDevi Yoga Centre in London.
Mission
Bringing Yoga for All Abilities to children, families, and hospice settings.
PART 1 PROGRAM TEACHER
Irene Gallagher
RCYT, RYT 200, NAHA Level 1
Irene began her yoga journey in 2009 after returning to Taiwan from Seattle. Witnessing the impact of yoga on children awakened her passion for the work, and she began specialized training in the Sonia Sumar Method.
She earned her RYT 200 with Sivananda Yoga in 2012 and became a Registered Children's Yoga Teacher through Yoga for All Abilities in 2013. That same year, she founded Aditi Yoga Studio in Taipei, creating a sanctuary for students of all ages and abilities.
Irene has volunteered weekly at St. Anne's Home since 2015, became the Taiwan program coordinator in 2017, and later trained in Yoga for Scleroderma. She also brings aromatherapy into her work and created the Mandarin-language podcast Have you Yoga today?
Teaching role
95H Certification Program Part 1 teacher and essential oils CPD teacher.
Location
Taipei, Taiwan.
Focus
Inclusive yoga, aromatherapy, community service, and multi-sensory practice.
CPD TEACHER
Kathy Randolph
RCYT, RYT 200, NAHA Level 1
Kathy began her personal yoga practice in 1969 and started studying Integral Yoga with Lisa Dalberg in 1990. After reading Yoga for All Abilities, and with Lisa's encouragement, Kathy began training with Sonia Sumar in 1999.
That same year, Kathy co-founded The Yoga Center in Reno, Nevada, created to facilitate Yoga for All Abilities. She completed advanced courses, became certified as a Hatha Yoga teacher in 2004, and continues studying with Sonia through the CPD and Hatha Teacher Training pathways.
In 2002, Kathy began applying Yoga for All Abilities techniques to scleroderma, a focus she has presented through Scleroderma Foundation conferences around the United States.
Teaching role
Yoga for Scleroderma continuing education teacher. Kathy has retired from teaching Part 1.
Special focus
Yoga for Scleroderma, arthritis, chronic conditions, and adaptive practice.
Location
Reno, Nevada.
CPD TEACHER
Cheryl Albright
OTR/L, C-IAYT, E-RYT 200, YACEP
Cheryl began studying Yoga for All Abilities, the Sonia Sumar Method, in 2009 after working as an occupational therapist for six years. Her personal connection to the work also comes through her older brother, who has autism.
She founded Soul To Soul Yoga in Sarasota, Florida in 2016 after years of using the method in many settings. Cheryl completed advanced courses, became certified as a Hatha Yoga teacher in 2014, and became a certified yoga therapist through IAYT in 2017.
Cheryl teaches in schools, group homes, homes, adult day training centers, and her own center across Sarasota, Manatee, Pinellas, and Hillsborough counties. She also presents on yoga research and how the components of Yoga for All Abilities are used therapeutically.
Teaching role
Teacher for Trauma, Sensory Processing, and Working with Limited Language.
Professional background
Occupational therapist and certified yoga therapist.
Location
Florida and North Carolina.
CPD TEACHER
Anne Buckley Reen
OTR, RYT
Anne began her journey with Yoga for All Abilities in 1999 after many years of personal yoga practice. As a pediatric occupational therapist since the 1980s, she brought yoga into her private therapy work in New York and saw how deeply it could support students with developmental challenges.
After creating a yoga room in her therapy studio, Anne saw strong responses from students who had difficulty engaging or staying calm. These students became her teachers as they developed improved sensory processing, motor processing, communication, function, calm, and connection.
In 2007, Anne was invited by the Superintendent of Special Education in New York City to address a city-wide meeting of special education principals. She was then asked to develop a morning movement-based curriculum to support sensory, motor, emotional, and learning readiness.
Teaching role
Get Ready To Learn - Yoga in the Classroom CPD teacher. This program provides credit/contact hours, not a certificate.
Professional background
Pediatric occupational therapist and yoga teacher.
Focus
School readiness, sensory-motor processing, attention, regulation, and classroom function.
