Angie Edmunds
Angie began regularly practicing yoga at Om Shala in 2013. During this time she discovered how the practice mirrored and complimented the meditative state she had grown to love as a swimmer: a prolonged interaction with challenge and solitude, cultivated by the rhythmic pairing of movement and breath.
The dance of intentional effort and surrendered ease continues to weave its way into Angie’s diverse work as a scuba instructor, environmental educator, and artist. She believes that on the mat, we study ourselves in challenge to train resilience, discernment, and grace. Off the mat, our training follows.
As a teacher, Angie is motivated by the magic that happens when the breath and body are given the opportunity to occupy the driver’s seat of felt experience, free from the incessant narration and judgment of the mind. In her personal journey with yoga she has found the tools to serve her greatly in excavating space for the heart to become a revealer of truth and guidance- illuminating what is authentic, over what is expected.
She believes that through consistent practice, we can fortify the heart’s voice, foster a greater sense of universal curiosity, and get closer to re-membering the self.
Angie has been a student of Suzanne’s since 2017 and completed the Tosha Yoga Teacher Training Program in 2023.
B Sweeney
B is a lifelong athlete who loves to go big. After shredding her knee skiing as a teenager, she found yoga and was immediately captivated by the refined strength it required and the power of the breath. Recovering from that injury became her first real lesson in endurance—what’s required to keep showing up when progress is slow and the body feels unfamiliar. Yoga taught her how to slow down, cultivate balance, endure discomfort, and trust the body’s ability to heal.
Her experience comes from tucking herself under the wings of legends in their field. She competed and interned in D1 NCAA Athletics at the University of Washington, where she developed a deep understanding of strength and conditioning. From there she began teaching Yoga for Athletes with Jasyoga, the first company of its kind on the West Coast, and eventually completed her 200-hour teacher training at Yoga Tree in San Francisco, influenced by the lineages of Pattabhi Jois and BKS Iyengar.
Hungry for more, she spent three years interning with physical therapists at Experience Momentum, studying advanced biomechanics, injury prevention, and performance. She started a Doctorate of Physical Therapy but did not complete. On her own she continued exploring anatomy, breath, and the human spirit through direct study with teachers including (our very own!) Suzanne Dunning, Tiffany Cruikshank, Annie Carpenter, Jason Bowman, Karen Gurtner, Michelle Drielsma, Tom Meyers, and Bree Dillon.
As a teacher, her goal is to help students develop a moving, breathing, spiritual practice that creates a sense of freedom with strength, mobility, purpose, and a sense of humor
As a new mother, B now finds her teaching deeply shaped by another form of endurance—the physical, emotional, and spiritual stamina that motherhood continues to demand and refine.
Chloe Fender
Yoga has supported Chloe's body and mind through many stages in her life. Seeking support for chronic pain, Chloe started practicing yoga at the YMCA in high school. She found independence from the strength and resilience learned while attending early morning classes before school. In the following years, Chloe learned how to find belonging in herself through her yoga practice. She feels deeply inspired by her teacher Stacey Dockins' embodied philosophy.
Chloe is excited by sharing yoga with people of all identities, ages and experience levels. She taught for nearly 5 years at the climbing gym in Corvallis, Oregon holding space for a diverse community. Teaching yoga has taught her true presence; to be with herself, her students and the tradition at once. Teaching is a bright spot for Chloe each week and she hopes to share the independence, belonging and presence that yoga has taught her.
Chloe has been teaching steady but challenging vinyasa/hatha style classes since 2019. Her classes prioritize embodiment through autonomy and curiosity, encouraging choice and discovery. She is dedicated to helping students cultivate breath and body awareness, viewing the practice as an opportunity for inquiry into mental and somatic patterns, as well as postural habits.
Outside the studio, Chloe works as an ecotoxicologist and spends her time playing outside and in the kitchen.
Kati Knapp
Kati was first drawn to yoga during a challenging chapter in her life—seeking peace, healing, and something to hold onto. What began as a personal refuge soon became a lifelong devotion rooted in yogic philosophy, mindful movement, and the inward path of meditation and self-inquiry.
Over time, the practice became her anchor: a daily ritual of honoring the body and breath. She discovered not only confidence and awareness but also the quiet joy of living fully in the present. This journey awakened something within—a call to teach, to guide, and to share the magic of yoga with others.
Her teaching is an offering from the heart. Through a blend of vinyasa, yin, meditation and handstand training, Kati’s classes are both grounding and expansive—inviting students to explore with curiosity, move with intention, and feel a renewed sense of clarity. She guides with grace and encourages each person to grow at their own pace and meet themselves with compassion and honesty.
Kati is a 500-hour certified yoga teacher through Aligned Yoga, having completed her advanced training with Briohny Smyth. She is deeply inspired by the timeless wisdom of yoga and the way it continues to unfold in life. She draws from these teachings both on and off the mat, allowing them to shape how she moves through the world and how she holds space for others.
Beyond the studio, Kati leads local and international retreats that offer the chance to slow down, breathe deeply, and return to what truly lights you up. She believes yoga isn’t just something we do—it’s a way of being. And when we practice in alignment with who we are, we remember what it feels like to be truly alive.
Serena Jowaisas
Serena’s yoga journey started in 1999 when she was introduced to a body scan meditation. The moment she was invited to bring her attention inside and rest she knew she found something profound that would be very influential in her life, but she didn’t quite understand why it felt so powerful.
In 2009 while living in the SF Bay Area, after practicing on her own for a decade, she found public classes. She attended a 200 hour teacher training. After exploring the diversity of yoga she settled in to take a deep dive with Annie Carpenter, with over 500 hours of training.
She has since come to understand that yoga is relationship. That moment that she closed her eyes and was asked to go inside was the beginning of a relationship with herself that was long overdue.
Yoga invites a slow and steady refinement of more skillful action towards oneself, and the world. Yoga is skill in action. When we develop a practice and we show up regularly profound shifts start to happen.
Serena brings her passion and curiosity, love of movement and anatomy, as well as meditation and classical philosophy into her teaching. She aims to meet students where they are and provide a safe space for exploration and transformation.
Suzanne Dunning
Suzanne was first introduced to the magic of yoga by her mother when she was a little girl. As a teenager she began attending Ashtanga classes and a sharing yoga with her fellow high school students.
Her first teachers included Shiva Rea, a Rodney Yee VHS tape, and Lori Snyder. She first officially trained in 2005 with Alice Joanou, a Vinyasa teacher in the TKV Desikachar lineage and a former renounced student of K. Pattabhi Jois. Suzanne first began a meditation practice under the guidance of fellow classmate Christopher (Hareesh) Wallis at UC Berkeley.
Later she deepened her knowledge of anatomy and yoga philosophy with Leslie Kaminoff of The Breathing Project in New York. Her current teachers also include Tom Meyers of Anatomy Trains, Tias Little, and most recently with Josh Schrei.
She has a degree in Integrative Medicine from UC Berkeley where she worked and studied with teachers such as Michael Pollan, Jack Kornfield, and Joanna Macy while researching and writing her thesis on ancestral recipes for healing.
Suzanne has steeped herself in the study of Ayurveda and aromatherapy and plant medicine for over 20 years. She started studying herbs and essential oils as a young girl - she became a clinically trained herbalist through the Northwest School for Botanical Studies in 2009.
Suzanne’s heart is devoted to the disarming power of beauty- to the world of culinary flavor, the spectrum of the emotional scent landscape, and the insistence of poetry to strip us of our defenses.
She moved home to Arcata in 2009 and begin creating Tosha in 2013 and opened the studio doors in 2015.