Meet Sharon Green

“I believe yoga should be accessible, functional, and practical and should be available to all bodies. My passion and love for yoga is in helping people to discover how to care for themselves and find the kind of deep healing that I have found through the practice. Our bodies need time to open and accept the practice of yoga before we even think about strength and flexibility. This is why I believe so strongly in offering yoga that is gentle and accessible to all bodies.”

Sharon has been practicing and teaching yoga for over twenty years. She is a certified 500 hour Professional Kripalu Yoga teacher and licensed massage therapist as well as the owner and Director of Bloom Yoga & Wellness, LLC.

Sharon teaches yoga throughout Blair County, Pennsylvania at recovery centers and senior living facilities.

Sharon’s training and decades of teaching allow her to teach classes for students at all stages of life, with a variety of health and physical conditions. Her work in recovery and mental health gives her the ability to teach yoga to combat depression and anxiety.

Sharon has specialized yoga training for:

• Limited mobility
• Pregnancy
• MS
• Cancer
• Heart Conditions
• Depression and Anxiety
• Substance Use Disorder – Recovery
• YogaEd for Children

Meet Cristal Lidwell

“I have been teaching yoga for three years and I love seeing my students transform their lives. Having struggled for most of my life with many insecurities, I understand how it feels to try something new. At the age of 50, after 17 years as a yoga student, I decided to become a teacher because yoga had offered me so much and helped me to grow in so many ways. I still consider myself a student and I work at learning new ways to practice and teach yoga. Yoga is a gift to myself and I am so happy to be able to share this gift with my students at Bloom.”

Cristal has her 200 hour certification from Anjali Yoga teacher training and is currently advancing her education towards her 500 hour certification at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

Cristal has studied with Lee Albert, Sudha, Angela Farmer, Joyce Peirce, Rudy Peirce from Kripalu; in addition to Yoganand, Tiffany Chan, Shari Friederichsen, and Dr. Carrie Demers.

Meet Koelle Williams

Koelle began her personal meditation practice nine years ago and completed the 6 week Mindfulness course presented by Allegheny Mindfulness Fall 2018.  Koelle has also has been extensively trained in mindfulness, including a seven-week online credentialing course called The Power of Awareness by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.

Koelle says, “I have been personally amazed by the power of mindfulness in my meditation practice, but even more so in my daily life and relationships.”

“One of the most valuable lessons for me has been that mindfulness is a practice, in the full sense of the word. There’s no need to fear failure or to become upset over set-backs, because we are all human, and each moment that does not happen exactly as I want is still an opportunity to learn and begin again. How freeing is that!”

“I’m so excited to be a part of the Bloom community, and to share the the gifts that mindfulness has given to me with others. As Ram Dass said, ‘We are all just walking each other home.’  What a blessing to walk hand in hand with those you love.”

Koelle has been co-facilitating a mindfulness meditation group with Tony Pater since July 2019.

Meet Tony Pater

Anthony Pater is a Pennsylvania certified alcohol and drug counselor and certified co-occurring disorders professional. He has worked in various settings including group homes, prisons, adolescent detention centers, and public schools throughout Blair County. 

Tony has been practicing mindfulness meditation for the last 15 years, taken numerous workshops on the subject including “mindfulness in recovery” with Buddhist monk and author John Bruna at the Mindful Life Program in Carbondale, Colorado, and taught mindfulness stress reduction locally for Allegheny Mindfulness. 

He currently has a private practice in Hollidaysburg, PA working with people and families who experience substance use disorders and mental health problems, utilizing formal and informal mindfulness-based skills and interventions to assist his patients in the recovery process.