'Twenty three years ago I found yoga...'

This month we hear from Melora Gregory, our esteemed Monhegan Island yoga instructor.  Melora has delighted us with her lovely spirit and easy smile for years and for a moment we can peak into her life and hear a little of what she brings to us every September on Monhegan Island.


'...and within a year began teaching it. Back then there were only 5 other yoga teachers in Portland Maine, and only 3 yoga studios. Now there are over a hundred teachers, many studios, and even teacher trainings. We’ve come a long way yogis!

I am grateful to have studied with many wonderful master yoga teachers, of different styles, and have developed a teaching style that offers what I like best from my experience. I generally pick a theme to weave through the postures, warmup with a gentle flow, sequence thoughtfully so that we effortlessly find ourselves in a target posture, then restore balance and ease through a supported relaxation and inversion practice. Often ending with selected inspiring readings. I love the ‘why’ of what we are doing and share the benefits, or the anatomy reasons for certain things as we go along.

Grandfathered into becoming a registered instructor with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 500 in 2002, I continue my studies and keep my E-RYT in good standing. This Summer I will be taking a 3 day retreat with a foremost teacher of the Sacred Feminine, Sally Kempton, focusing our practice around some of the Goddesses of Hindu Mythology.

In 2003 I found another passion,Yamuna Body Rolling®. This self administered bodywork achieves the therapeutic benefits of deep tissue massage, myofascial release, bone stimulation and creation of space in the joints! I travelled to New York city in 2009 to certify in Yamuna Body Rolling® Level ll and then began teaching this modality to a rapidly expanding student base in Maine. This inspired me to continue my training in the YBR Foot Fitness series in 2011, and the YBR In Bed series in 2012, which I took with the founder of the practice, Yamuna Zake. 

Yamuna Body Rolling® uses patented balls of various sizes and densities to knead out body tension. The balls provide direct bone density stimulation, elongation and alignment of muscles, immediate feedback of where we are stuck, and a feeling of spaciousness in our joints. The many, simple, yet powerful routines release tension, break up adhesions, and energize all areas of the body.   An ideal practice for everyone, at all fitness levels, for dramatic and immediate results.  

It has been my pleasure to follow my passion for teaching yoga and now also,Yamuna Body Rolling, full-time. I have been asked to be the yoga teacher for many week-long retreats to beautiful places. I have taught yoga at castles in Italy, on beaches in Costa Rica, in the jungle of Belize, and on Maine's own Monhegan Island.

Our next Monhegan Island trip is on the horizon, September 18-24, and I will teach a morning flow yoga and an afternoon restorative practice, and will be available for private sessions and will bring some of the Yamuna Body Rolling® balls for use and purchase. Now my 7th or 8th time on this retreat, I look forward to the isolation and ruggedness of remote Maine Island life, the extreme beauty of the rocky cliffs and massive sea filled with seals and sea birds and the wonderful friends I meet and the laughter that we share! 

I am currently teaching weekly classes at Bridge Studio at Art of Awareness in South Portland, UNE, and IDEXX. I also give workshops at various yoga studios around the Greater Portland Area and teach private lessons which are geared towards addressing each individuals' specific concerns. To find more about my classes go to melorayoga.com.

Hope to see you soon!

Melora