Meet Our Teachers
Stacey Duquette
Studio Director, E-RYT 500
The calming effects of breathwork, meditation and flowing with alignment are a central focus of Stacey’s teaching. She strives to create a safe atmosphere for every student infused with humor, lightheartedness and warmth. She integrates over 25 years of movement experience including her background as a Licensed Massage Therapist specializing in Orthopedic Manual Therapy and in Dance, Somatic Movement, Pilates and Fitness. She completed her primary Yoga training between 1996-1999 under the mentorship of Rodney Yee at The Piedmont Yoga Studio in Piedmont, CA. While living in Northern California for 17 years, she had the opportunity to study with many senior Yoga teachers in a variety of traditions and in depth trainings. She holds an additional 500 hour certification with The Hard and The Soft Yoga Institute under the mentorship of Beryl Bender Birch. In addition, she is a faculty member with The Hard and The Soft Yoga Institutes teacher training at Heartsong Yoga Center in East Longmeadow, MA. When she’s not on her mat, she enjoys spending time with her family and outdoor activities such as gardening, hiking, biking and snowshoeing.
Kathleen Gormally
Yoga Instructor
Kathleen’s classes are a reflection of honoring the traditional lineage of yoga and her love of exploring movement and strength building. She has 500 hours with Beryl Bender Birch of the Hard and Soft Institute in MA and restorative yoga training with Gail Boorstein Grossman on Cape Cod. She is continuing her education through a monthly intensive with Kimberly Dahlmann of Yoga East and yearly workshops with other senior teachers. Kathleen is known for her patience and quick smile always there to bring a sense of comfort and ease to the class. When she is not teaching yoga, she loves hiking, gardening, reading, and taking care of her four children.
Mark Kent
Yoga Instructor
Mark has been an outdoor enthusiast his entire life, discovering yoga in 2001. He became certified as an AFAA yoga instructor, YMCA cycling instructor, pilates instructor and spent 6 years part-time teaching for the YMCA. In 2011, Mark enrolled with The Hard & Soft Yoga Institute, completing his 500 hour study in 2019. Mark’s yoga practice and yoga teaching help to provide perspective and balance with his full-time career as an engineer. As a yoga teacher, Mark enjoys sharing the calm focus and serenity that yoga and meditation practice can bring to his students.
Sue Kent
Yoga Instructor
Sue Kent has been a student of yoga since 2005. Her training includes: RYT-500 The Hard & The Soft Yoga Institute at Heartsong Yoga in East Longmeadow, MA, certified teacher with Yoga for the Rest of Us, Peggy Cappy Enterprises and a continued foundation of informal training with her mentor, Stacy Duquette. She is a former class instructor at the Scantic Valley YMCA (strength, spin, Pilates). Since 2015, she has taught chair-assisted yoga, functional fitness and mat yoga classes at the Hampden Senior Center and Hampden Library. Sue enjoys connecting people with movement, information, nature and community.
Kim Nietupski
Yoga Instructor
As a nurse, Kim was drawn into the Ashtanga lineage over 20 years ago to promote health and wellness following an illness. She found strength, healing and community through yoga. In 2000, she took her first teacher training with Beryl Bender Birch at Heartsong Yoga in East Longmeadow. This practice has sustained her through life’s peaks and valleys and serendipitously, in the quest for more alignment based yoga, to Kimberly Dahlmann’s immersions at Yoga East in Vermont. She continues to evolve in the classical 8 limbed path with over 700 hours of accredited Yoga Alliance trainings and hopes to share some of her journey with you.