Catharine Eberhart
Certified Purna Yoga Instructor
Director, Purna Yoga East
E-RYT 500
(Experienced-Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
Member, International Association of Yoga Therapists
Lead Instructor, 500-hour College of Purna Yoga Teacher Training Program, Yoga Centers, Bellevue, WA
NC Licensed Massage and Bodywork Therapist #2034
MA in education, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Since 2001 Catharine has joyfully shared her love of yoga in Clayton. She taught for the Parks and Recreation Department at The Clayton Center through her business East Second Street Yoga and Massage. In 2009 the dream of having a proper yoga studio in Clayton was realized when she and her husband, Bob, purchased the historic First Bank of Clayton building on East First Street. Changing the business name to Purna Yoga East is her way of honoring the holistic approach to yoga that has transformed and continues to guide her life.
Catharine studies regularly with the founders of Purna Yoga, Aadil Palkhivala and Mirra, with whom she has traveled to India. She is a Certified Purna Yoga Instructor, having completed Aadil and Mirra’s College of Purna Yoga with over 2,000 hours of training in asana, pranayama, meditation, nutrition, applied philosophy and yoga therapy.
In addition to teaching ongoing classes at Purna Yoga East, instructing aspiring yoga teachers at the Yoga Alliance 200-hour level in Clayton and directing the Purna Yoga East Studio, Catharine also teaches the 500-hour College of Purna Yoga Teacher Training Program at Yoga Centers for Aadil and Mirra in Bellevue, WA.
Trusted and caring, she is honored to share her knowledge and experience with others.
Anna Williamson
Certified Purna Yoga Instructor
Specialty Workshop Instructor, Purna Yoga East
Director, Yoga Johns Yoga Studio, Laurinburg NC
RYT 500 (Registered Yoga Teacher since 2003,Yoga Alliance)
MFA in Art at UNC Chapel Hill, NC
MA in Sculpture, Villa Schifanoia (Florence, Italy)
Advanced training in Yoga Nidra iRest Integrative Restoration with Richard Miller http://www.irest.us/
For three decades Anna worked as an artist, creating art, earning degrees in the United States and Italy, and teaching at colleges in Tennessee and North Carolina. In the 1990s she began to practice yoga in Chapel Hill. Over the last 10 years she has studied with four of the world's leading yoga teachers in the United States and Canada.
Through yoga, Anna learned the art of going within and finding the energy that can penetrate outward through all layers of the body and mind. Yoga is the most intimate, challenging and exhilarating of all transformative experiences.
Anna began to teach yoga in 2003 and now finds herself teaching a group of people who have begun to open themselves up to the wonder of yoga. She believes that as we unveil ourselves over time, we move into one integrative body that turns us into a new living form.
Anna teaches Yoga Nidra and philosophy workshops at Purna Yoga East.
Bob Maiers
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
BA in Business Administration, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Practicing yoga for a decade and teaching since 2006, Bob has a love of yoga surpassed only by his love for his beautiful wife and director of Purna Yoga East, Catharine Eberhart.
Having earned his RYT-200 certification in July 2009 at Yoga Centers in Bellevue, WA, Bob continues to expand his teaching skills by attending workshops with master teachers Aadil Palkhivala and Mirra. Over New Year’s 2009 he traveled to India where he visited Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and Matrimandir in Auroville.
Bob enjoys sharing knowledge of alignment-based yoga with beginners in his Level 1 and Level 1-2 classes. He teaches with energy and sincerity, and incorporates humor while maintaining students’ safety and the integrity of the yoga.
Susan Myers
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
BA in English and Psychology, Meredith College
Susan came to yoga with a desire to improve her strength and flexibility but found the rewards of her practice to be much greater than just those physical benefits. Her life has become more peaceful and centered because of her yoga.
Susan is an active member of the PTA at her son’s school, is an artist and loves dogs.
She joyously shares her knowledge of yoga through the Level 2 and Level 1-2 classes while honoring each student and the art of yoga.
Tonia Bowen
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
Tonia’s quest for flexibility, strength and inner balance brought her to yoga more than six years ago. Through her search she has found not only those gifts but a quieter mind, enabling her to perform better at work and have a more joyful outlook on life.
She has taken several workshops with Purna Yoga founder Aadil Palkhivala and senior Purna Yoga instructor Aurora, in addition to attending weekly yoga classes. During a life-changing visit to India, Tonia spent time meditating at Sri Aruobindo Ashram in Pondicherry and Matrimandir in Auroville, deepening her insight into yoga.
Tonia cherishes and adores her husband, for whom she is truly thankful, and their two four-legged, furry children. Owning and running her own business for more than 10 years, she has found that yoga has helped her balance and prioritize her career within her life.
Tonia is grateful for the opportunity to share the wonders and grace of Purna Yoga with her students in class.
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Professional Instructors
Bobbie Ginnane
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
Bobbie began studying yoga in 2006 at the suggestion of her massage therapist. After seeing her flexibility increase from the practice, her husband was inspired to join her in yoga classes, too.
Bobbie is a mother of three grown children and grandmother of four – triplet elementary-age granddaughters and a toddler grandson – whom she hosts every summer at her home for Camp Gramma Wamma.
Bobbie delights in the enthusiasm and wonder of children as she shares yoga with kids ages 9 to 11 in her classes.
She is also an animal lover and active member of English Springer Rescue America (ESRA) with two adopted senior springers. She enjoys gardening and reading and has worked for 23 years as a software engineer at IBM.
Hank Harris
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
Hank began studying yoga initially for the stretching, strengthening and relaxation benefits of the practice. Once he began taking classes, he came to the realization that yoga was so much more and enjoyed the benefits of the total mind-body connection.
He has been practicing for four years and has taken specialty workshops with Purna Yoga founders Aadil Palkhivala and Mirra as well as with senior Purna Yoga teacher Aurora.
Hank teaches Level 1 and Level 1-2 classes at Purna Yoga East. He strives to share the enjoyment he has found in his yoga practice with students in class.
Hank plays the guitar and mandolin, is an exceptional cook and home gardener and is CEO of Harris Construction Services. Harris Construction Services completed the up-fit for Purna Yoga East and installed the Great Yoga Wall for the studio.
Lara Perry
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
BA in Art History, Duke University, Durham, NC
Lara developed her love of teaching while living in Japan and Taiwan. Along with her husband, Rick Mercier, she traveled extensively in Asia during this time. They have also resided in Texas, Massachusetts and Virginia, where she worked for a variety of nonprofit organizations.
After their daughter, Maya, was born, they returned to North Carolina. Now Lara is a stay-at-home mom who also coordinates volunteers for The Clayton Center, serves on Clayton’s Public Art Advisory Board and rents a booth at an antique shop.
Lara loves practicing Purna Yoga for the balance and perspective it brings to everyday life – physically, mentally and spiritually. She is especially enthusiastic about sharing these gifts of Purna Yoga with other busy mothers in class.
Valerie Sayre
Instructor, Purna Yoga East
RYT 200 (Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Alliance)
BA in English, University of Rio Grande, Rio Grande, OH
Valerie came to yoga in search of the amazing physical benefits she’d heard about. She was hooked from the first class, not just on the physical benefits, but also on the sense of calm that she carried home from that first class.
Valerie is a graduate of Purna Yoga East’s first 200-hour Teacher Training Program, and is excited about the opportunity to introduce yoga to others through her classes.
Valerie is a wife and a mother of two wonderful children. She likes to spend her free time reading, volunteering at her children’s school and just spending time with her family.