Phone:
404-377-4899
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Our Studios
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide a safe and welcoming environment whereby a student can: learn about the true essence of yoga through exploration, discovery, acceptance and understanding, in order to… progress in a calm, mindful and safe yoga practice to… become a strong, knowledgeable and discerning yogi or yogini. This beautiful evolution would lead this yogi or yogini to take their yoga off the mat into their everyday lives in order to…make the world a better place!
Our Philosophy
DY encourages a balanced approach to yoga, embracing a blend of styles and methods. Our instructors work with students at every level of experience, providing modifications for asanas (poses) as needed, helping them learn to listen to and trust the wisdom of their own bodies, and encouraging home practice to deepen the health and wellness benefits of yoga. All of our teachers are yoga alliance certified and are always evolving through continuing education and workshops to help keep their teaching fresh and inspiring.Classes often begin with setting an intention, relaxation and pranayama (breathwork), followed by a flowing series of asanas (poses) that range from gentle movements to a challenging physical workout. Conscious breathing, which creates a steady, energized presence, is coordinated with the various practices. Classes end with time for rest and integration.
The Importance of Safety
At Decatur Yoga, safety is paramount. We meet you where you are on your yoga path, offering modifications and encouraging you to honor and accept where you are. We never push, but simply guide, educate and encourage you to find your best self on and off the mat.People with diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension (elevated blood pressure), or inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis should be careful in the hot classes and monitor their symptoms in response to the heat. We invite you to sit down and take breaks as often as you need to in our hot classes in order to progressively acclimate to this new environment. If you are brand new to yoga, please introduce yourself to our teachers so they are aware.
Our Founder’s Story
“Many paths to the same mountain”
An Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, Debra holds certifications in several yoga styles including Bikram, Vinyasa Flow, Yin, and Prenatal, and has taken Essential Pilates Mat Training through Stott Pilates. Currently pursuing a 500 hour yoga certification in Yoga Therapy through the Center For Integrative Yoga Studies, she consistently attends national yoga conferences and workshops to embrace the role of being a student with a “beginners mind”. The ancient healing art of Ayurveda and the gentle power of meditation are disciplines that inspire her to seek out the deeper traditions of yoga.
Debra especially enjoys the opportunity to share the fundamentals of yoga with new students and receives great reward in witnessing their progress over time. She is a stickler for safety since she has personally experienced a serious and unnecessary injury at the hands of an over-zealous and unknowledgeable teacher. As a result, safety has become the cornerstone of the entire studio.
Her teaching style emphasizes proper alignment, mindful breath and the importance of a foundation in stability, while always encouraging an attitude of acceptance and an awareness of mind-body intelligence. Her role as owner is to offer as many slices of the “yoga pie” as possible, taught in the safest way possible, so that DY students may be exposed to the many ways that yoga can be expressed. Her mantra is “There are many paths to the same mountain, be safe and enjoy the view!” The variety of yoga styles offered at DY, reflect her interest in and appreciation of an eclectic, balanced and evolving yoga practice.
We look forward to meeting you.
Welcome to the journey.
Namaste
Meet Our Management Team
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at Decatur Yoga. Along with Debra, here are the ladies who help make it all run smoothly.
Studio Manager
Ashley is a yoga teacher and life coach from San Francisco, California, who recently moved to Atlanta from Melbourne, Australia. She fell in love with yoga in 2008, when she discovered that the strength built on the mat translated to immeasurable strength in her life. What she loves most about yoga is exactly this: how we show up on the mat shows us how we are showing up in our lives (and provides opportunities for big shifts!).
Inspired by her own practice and ready to move deeper, Ashley completed her RYT-200 with Laughing Lotus in 2014 and shortly thereafter left a successful corporate career in finance to pursue her passion and guide others through yoga and life. Ready for a new adventure, she traveled on a one-way ticket to Melbourne where she taught yoga in studios, led sold-out workshops and helped the over-worked and over-stressed rejuvenate and rebalance through blissful weekend retreats.
Ashley’s classes are both strong and nurturing and are aimed at full recalibration– an opportunity to come back into alignment in body, mind and heart. She uses deep connection to the breath and thoughtful guidance to move students into places and postures they didn’t know they could do. She weaves in mindfulness and deep meditation so students leave feeling revitalized, refreshed and inspired by their own potential.
Front Desk Manager
Sumayya Allen is a yoga teacher and certified permaculture designer. She has spent years working in urban farming, education, and agroecological landscape design in the metro-Atlanta area. Her passion for holistic systems of growing healthy food and community evolved into her studying, practicing and eventually teaching yoga.
She loves teaching because she believes in and has personally experienced the transformational power of yoga to unify body, mind, heart and soul. Sharing and inspiring others to become more embodied and connected to themselves is what guides and motivates her to teach. Sumayya received her 200hr certification from Hotlanta Yoga in vinyasa and athletic power yoga. She has been teaching full-time, offering handstand workshops and leading retreats since 2017. Serving as front desk manager at Decatur Yoga, Sumayya draws upon her many years of business management experience as well as her love for connecting to community.
Outside of the studio, you will find Sumayya with her hands in the earth, bathing in the forest, floating in rivers and seas, and watching sunsets on mountain tops.
In addition to management, the front desk staff at DY is very valuable to us, and necessary in making the studio the best it can be. Both staff and management are here to answer your questions and help you in any way we can.
Interested in joining our wonderful front desk team? Please fill out our online application.
