the Team
We pride ourselves on offering a diverse and skilled team of certified yoga instructors, each bringing their unique style and expertise to help you on your journey toward balance, strength, and inner peace.
Whitney Carey
I’m a mom, a wife, and a dedicated yoga teacher whose life was transformed by the practice of yoga. My journey began in health and wellness coaching, where I loved helping others find their way to a healthier, more balanced life. But it was when I discovered yoga that everything changed for me. Yoga became more than just a practice—it became a way of life, profoundly influencing how I live and how I show up each day. It brought me peace, clarity, and a deeper connection to myself and my community.
This personal transformation inspired me to share yoga with others, believing deeply in its power to heal and uplift. After completing my 200-hour yoga teacher training, I felt called to dive even deeper, now pursuing my YTT 300 to expand my knowledge and ability to guide others. As the owner of the YOGA loft, my mission is to create a nurturing, inclusive space where everyone feels welcome to explore the benefits of breath work, mindfulness, and movement.
Yoga has changed my life, and I am committed to bringing that same sense of growth, peace, and empowerment to my community. Come join me on the mat, and let’s experience the joy of movement, the power of stillness, and the strength of community together.
Kara Keene
Kara is a North Carolina native, an E-RYT 200-hour, an RPYT, and she is currently enrolled in 300-hour YTT. She loves coffee and is a book nerd, a wife, a mom of two “wildlings,” a writer, and a former English teacher. Kara also created the workshop, “Poetry-in-Motion,” which explores the intersections of meditation, movement, and creativity.
Yoga was an infrequent visitor in Kara's twenties, and truly found her while she was teaching college English in Ithaca, NY. Kara continued to build her practice, which anchored her during relocations and other life events. In her second MA program, while also teaching in a highly stressful environment, yoga stirred something in Kara’s soul. So, she created the sparks of “Poetry-in-Motion” to help herself and her high-school students thrive.
In 2020 Kara was pregnant with her daughter and the world became silent. Kara practiced yoga and meditation daily. After her daughter's birth, Kara enrolled in a 200-hour YTT program. Upon completion, Kara began her yoga-teaching career and enrolled in Prenatal YTT. She had already experienced the incredible effects of yoga through pregnancy, labor and delivery, and postpartum recovery, and she was expecting her second child. Kara was also living through Postpartum Depression and Anxiety. Yoga was–and still is–Kara’s therapy. Movement, meditation, breathwork, and inspiring those connections in her yoga students were the only things that grounded and healed Kara.
Kara’s classes are a dance between ease and effort, and often take her students on a journey around (and sometimes off of!) their mats. She strives to strike a balance between traditional asanas, playful transitions, challenging holds, and grounded ease. Kara's goal is to foster a supportive, safe, and fun environment where every student can connect with their unique self and inner light. Her personal practice and that she shares with the community is a magical space where everything becomes “curiouser and curiouser.
Jenn Parks
I trained through Indigo Hot Yoga’s Hot Hybrid Yoga Teacher Training 200 Hr, Hot Hybrid Yoga Sculpt, Hot Hybrid Yoga Teacher Training 300 Hr, Empower Movement Advanced Teacher Training through the Yoga Joint, and earned certifications in Yoga Assisting, Trauma-Informed/ Trauma -Sensitive Yoga, among others. I also love a great yoga workshop to dive-in, and I’ve had an opportunity to learn from many, wonderful local instructors, in addition to Carson Clay Calhoun, Lara Heimann, and Kathryn Budig.
My first yoga experience was in college with a Rodney Yee VHS tape to support my training as a dancer at UNC. Fast forward to 2012, while excelling in a lengthy career in Outpatient Radiology as a Sales and Marketing Manager, I rediscovered yoga. Riddled with physical tension and anxiety at the time, I was desperate to feel better. Yoga continues to help me heal and manage chronic tension (so much so my Occupational Therapist and Sports Medicine Acupuncturists were intrigued to start yoga and were my first private yoga clients after completing 200 hr training in 2017). The mental resilience, strength, and peace that my yoga practice affords is invaluable.
I can't wait to share this practice and have you in class!
Jennefer Gribble
As a dreamer and a planner, Jennefer mapped out her whole life with little space for reality to unfold organically. After the birth of her son in 2011, a midwife suggested yoga as a way to physically pull her body back into shape after pregnancy. Little did she know, walking into the walls of a yoga studio would radically transform every aspect of her life. Jennefer still dreams BIG and plans hard but has learned to open her palms for the gifts God has for her life.
Jennefer is passionate to remind us that santosha (contentment) is available to us, no matter what is happening in or around us. That “Gratitude is the gateway to joy”.
Jennefer is passionate about building meaningful connections with her students on their journey towards unlocking their untapped potential. She believes students of all ages can be empowered to fulfill their dreams; find healing, peace, and joy on their own beautiful life path.
Emma Heinrich
In Emma’s classes, you’ll have ample time to connect to your own space, practice and creative intuition. Drop away from the external world, withdraw from your senses and ground yourself in the present moment by diving into the practice of intentional pranayama and fluid, playful asanas.
Sylvie Marjanowicz
Sylvie is a passionate and purposeful individual who has dedicated her life to the pursuit of whole-body health. As an NCCA-accredited fitness and holistic health professional with over two decades of experience, she has supported people across various platforms, helping them achieve optimal health, fitness, and overall well-being.
A lifelong learner and athlete, Sylvie has explored and been formally trained in many fitness modalities. After a car accident in 1997, she turned to yoga for her recovery, which sparked her deep interest in holistic health. Sylvie is now a holistic health-life-fitness coach, Reiki master, RYT200 yoga teacher, BASI mat Pilates instructor, and has been certified in integrative techniques including sound healing, aromatherapy, meditation, and breathwork. She is currently pursuing her YTT300 and shamanic energy medicine certification.
Sylvie's teaching style is intuitive, creative, and fun, with a well-rounded education rooted in a whole-body approach. She creates a safe and welcoming space for all levels, guiding participants to connect with their bodies, cultivate mindfulness, and stir their souls.
Danielle Forghetti
Danielle found yoga a decade ago after falling in love with health and fitness in her twenties as a strength coach and bootcamp instructor. Craving balance to the intensity of weights, yoga provided a unique challenge physically and mentally on and off the mat. What began as an educational delve into mobility turned into a passionate curiosity towards yoga teacher training in 2018. That experience would become a personal deep dive into an understanding of the self and mental health, unlocking the ability to connect with other humans on a much more profound and compassionate level. Growing up in and around instability and inconsistency, Danielle strives to create an inviting and warm atmosphere for everyone in the community starting with her family at home in an environment that revolves around wellness. When she's not teaching yoga, coaching or homeschooling her daughter Kendall, Danielle loves nature, lifting weights, growing plants, taking care of chickens, going on adventures and DIY home projects with her husband, Gary. An active lifestyle is the top priority, which is why the family is so happy to be able to practice together at The Yoga Loft. Now Danielle knows that it is yoga who found her and she is so grateful for the introduction back to herself.
Danielle brings a unique strength and power component to her slow and mindful ashtanga vinyasa. A balance of deep stretching with optional challenging asana that paves the way for play and yin postures sprinkled throughout the practice. Whether you choose to remain in a grounding shape and breathe or move through the entire sequence, you will leave feeling empowered and vibrationally ready to remain present.