Our Story
Erika Hill, Owner
I became a Registered Nurse in the Emergency Department over a decade ago because I wanted to help people. As a hobby, I taught yoga and group fitness. The more I practiced yoga, I found that the mind-body connection gave me an essential balance in my life. In order to continue to help others lead a healthy and productive life, I decided to follow my passion and open my own studio. And like the lotus flower blooms beautiful every day, it is Studio Lotus’s mission to help others find their enlightenment. Every day.
Taylor, Teacher
Yoga is like coming home. Knowing you have everything you need in your mind, body, and soul. Everyone’s home is unique, and is perfect and safe for them.
As an instructor, I strive to guide people home. To create a safe space for individuals to fall into complete love and acceptance of themselves. My goal is to release any “shoulds” and expectations. Yoga is far beyond a physical practice of postures. When you take my classes, I will invite and challenge you to move into and out of your body into the elements and energies within creating strength and balance. Bettering yourself for a better world. I will hold space for my students and bring them into the present, helping them let go of the rest and be their most authentic self.
Emily, Teacher
Emily is an Idaho native, outdoor-loving gal who was first introduced to yoga in 2009, using yoga as cross training for long-distance running. Emily has been running races around the Idaho foothills and the Northwest for almost 20 years and has a true passion for getting out into nature and moving the body in a way that feels good from day to day. After experiencing a large amount of physical burn out and consistent running injuries, Emily decided it was time to take the next step in her self-care by recommitting to her yoga practice. In the Spring of 2021, Emily completed her 200-hour YTT through Boise Om School and has been teaching ever since.
“Recommitting to my yoga practice has provided the space to slow down, embrace the moment and listen to how my heart, mind and body are feeling from day to day. Yoga has allowed me to become more vulnerable and open with my feelings and to be more accepting of the parts of myself I always saw as flawed.”
As a yoga teacher Emily is committed to sharing this practice with students of all ages and abilities, enjoys working with athletes and aims to consistently provide a safe space for students to grow mentally and physically. Away from the studio Emily loves to travel with her husband and doggos, along with growing food in the garden and cooking for friends and family.
Kylie, Teacher
I have been practicing yoga for 6 years now, I have enhanced my knowledge and love for yoga this past year when i received my 200hr certificate as a registered Yoga teacher!
Yoga has given me the ability to connect with my inner self, sustaining a healthy mind and happy heart through the breath and movement that yoga innately provides.
I look forward to sharing my passion for yoga, with the community that surrounds me. My intention for each practice is to fulfill a space with positive energy, challenging and modified movements that will create a lot of sweat and even more fun!
Kaylee, Teacher
Hi I’m Kaylee!
I am a 200 hr E-RYT yoga instructor and meditation teacher. I have been practicing yoga for 7 years and teaching for 5 years! Outside of yoga, you’ll find me obsessing over my perfect dog, spending as much time in the sunshine as possible, or sipping drinks on a patio somewhere.
My intention in every class is to hold space for students to meet their body where it is in that moment with movement that is approachable but challenging. I guide with compassion, gratitude, and patience and hope my students can find the beauty in the journey of this practice. I can’t wait to meet you all. And there will always be bumpin’ playlists on deck ya’ll!
Dan, Teacher
Dan is a full-time mover and teacher at heart. His approach blends movement principles with applied anatomy for joint health. Dan is committed to cultivating a whole-life movement paradigm that inspires others to adopt an individualized, diverse, and pain-free practice.
As a teacher, he is committed to truthfully and effectively sharing the yoga tradition in a safe and inclusive way. On this path, his aim is to guide students to be responsible for cultivating their own personal practice, joint & bone health, and the cultivation & preservation of their energetic voltage.
Dan is 500-hr RYT with the Yoga Alliance and Co-Founder of Samani Yoga + Wellness.
Cristina, Teacher
A native to Mexico City and a newbie to Boise, Cristina strives to infuse soulfulness into every facet of life. Her teaching is known for its precision, loving space, and challenge, all while leaving students empowered and taken care of.
In addition to co-founding Samani Yoga + Wellness, Cristina is the founder of her own wellness coaching brand. She is wildly passionate about empowering women to transform how they related to themselves, their careers, their relationships, and their “why.” When she’s not teaching or working with clients you can catch her in the kitchen, on the trails, or binging the latest series.
Alexis, Teacher
Hi! My name is Alexis and I am a 200-hr YTT. I found yoga a couple of years ago on a healing quest and will be eternally grateful for the shifts it has made in my life. I learned the importance of listening and trusting your body no matter what the external factors are saying. All of the answers to the questions we seek can be found internally, we just need to give ourselves the space to connect and listen. Through my teaching, I strive to create a sacred space for my students to do just that. To listen to their bodies, their intuition, and become more familiar with themselves. Our bodies are extremely incredible with no limits, whatever we focus thought on will come to fruition. We create our own realty, so let’s create a beautiful, abundant, love filled reality together.
Jenn, Teacher
I’ve been hooked on yoga ever since I took my first class 8 years ago. Since then I have been able to hone my practice and fall even more in love with it, completing my 200hr YTT in Costa Rica during the summer of 2019.
So many life lessons I’ve learned on the yoga mat and been able to carry them with me throughout my daily life. Yoga has taught me that it takes strength to surrender, that when you are in control of your breath you can quiet your mind and that your physical body is capable of things you never thought possible.
I can’t wait to see you on the mat!
Carolyn, Teacher
Carolyn has been teaching yoga since 2016, and loves to teach vinyasa, prenatal yoga, restorative yoga and meditation.
Her classes incorporate movement, breath, music and, most importantly, fun! She aims to leave students feeling better about themselves and their bodies. Carolyn truly believes yoga is for every body and embodies the idea that “where your intention goes, the energy flows.
Kendra, Teacher
Born and raised in Boise, Kendra is a spunky yogi who loves her practice, her community, books, music, and nature. With classes centering around gratitude and all eight branches of yoga, she infuses her classes with breath work, meditation, and the teachings provided to her in her yoga adventures on and off of the mat. She is very passionate about yoga as a journey of the self, through the self, to the self and enjoys infusing classes with all the ways we can practice yoga in every aspect of our lives. Currently in her 500RYT, Kendra is fascinated with all the knowledge yoga has to offer. No matter what stage in life you are at, she believes yoga can be transformative for anyone and loves to share the practice that revolutionized her life.
Taryn, Teacher
Hi! My name is Taryn and I am a 200 HR-RYT. I am 28 and have been practicing yoga off and on since I was 15. I started my yoga journey with more of a fitness mindset at our local YMCA. I quickly fell in love with it and decided then, during my weekly Wednesday night yoga class, that I wanted to be a teacher. I deepened my practice by starting to go to hot classes a year later and then finally enrolled in a teacher training program when I lived in Oxford, MS. I was trained in Baptiste yoga and truly found how yoga can be so much more than a workout. When I’m not teaching yoga I am a full time MRI technologist and LOVE anatomy. Being in the imaging field and seeing the muscles and tendons in your body, and then learning how they work together to create a strong, unified, collective being, and then learning to incorporate your mind and spirit helped me in ways nothing else quite has. I have been teaching now for 3 years and love the community I’ve joined and the uplifting people I’ve met. Whether you’re on your mat for a workout, some ‘you’ time, mental clarity or to help better yourself, I want to provide the space and community to help you get there.
Lila, Teacher
Lila has dedicated herself to the practice of yoga since discovering its joys and personal benefits ten years ago while instructing rhythmic gymnastics and dance.
She draws inspiration from enjoying time outdoors, hiking, running and stand up paddle boarding.
She inspires students to connect mind, body, and heart in the present moment. Lila’s kind and gentle manner is good for leading students of all levels. Her hope is to encourage peace on and off the mat.
Claire, Teacher
Hi! My name is Claire and I love people, fitness, nature, and adventures. I have been teaching a HIIT-style class for almost two years, and recently received my 200 YTT. Yoga has been a very important part of my life for nearly a decade so to teach is a dream come true. I am excited to create a space that is filled with inclusion, love, music, movement, and fun. I look forward to guiding my students through their yoga practice. Namaste.
Jamie, Teacher
A 200-hour certified yoga teacher, studying Vinyasa and Hatha yoga, Jamie loves to be on her mat! She is also a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC, NCC, RYT200). Jamie has a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling as well as a Master’s degree in Communication and Gender. She brings Buddhist philosophy into her therapy and her yoga teaching, wherein the mind, body, and spirit are the source of healing and connecting. She believes, how we move our bodies, talk to our bodies, recover with our bodies, have fun with our bodies can and will heal each other and the world. Please join her to begin the journey. She is also the co-founder of Yoga For Good; a fundraising organization for the community and yoga healing. We highlight local non-profits making a difference in Idaho and invite folks for donation yoga class and a small presentation by the chosen agency.
D’Arcy, Teacher
D’Arcy Valverde is a 500 RYT. She received her 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) certification in 2017 from Sampoorna Yoga in Goa, India, and her 300 hr YTT certification in 2022 from Sage Yoga & Wellness in Boise, ID. D’Arcy’s passion for yoga began in 2010 with a hot vinyasa flow practice, bikram, and an ashtanga- inspired practice; jivamukti. Each practice had a strong focus on the physical components of yoga which she loved, and still loves to this day. Since then, D’Arcy has practiced yoga around the globe, and landed in her beloved home of Boise, ID. Over time her practice has evolved to encompass many yoga varieties including vinyasa flow, yin, yoga nidra, meditation, chanting, and somatic experiencing, to name a few. Yoga has become much more than a movement practice for D’Arcy; it is has evolved into a daily life practice. D’Arcy’s vinyasa classes are breath-focused flows – accessible to all levels!, and include grounding, time for meditation, and self-reflection. Her yin nidra classes are similar with a focus on slowing down and connecting to source. The goal of all of D’Arcy’s classes is to create a safe space and time for people to connect with their bodies, their mats, and themselves; their truest teachers!
Sarah S, Teacher
Sarah Spodeck has practiced all over the world and completed her 200 hour yoga teacher training in Wellington, New Zealand. Sarah teaches various types of yoga with focus on form, strength, concentration, and breath. She enjoys meeting her students and celebrating their progress on and off the mat. Sarah is a member of Yoga Alliance.
Jennifer P, Teacher
Jenn’s studied Ashtanga Yoga and Iyengar Yoga for two decades and is graduate of several internationally recognized yoga programs. She’s had the great privilege of training with master teachers Maty Ezraty (YogaWorks Founder) and Annie Carpenter (SmartFLOW®). Jenn has researched all 8 Limbs of Yoga with many great teachers and has received additional certifications in all of the following: Ayurveda, Yin Yoga, Aerial Yoga, Yoga for Athletes, Yoga for Kids, Restorative Yoga, Yoga Philosophy, Sanskrit, Pranayama & Vipassana Meditation.“Namaste Yogis! My intention is to share the techniques that have inspired and changed my own life- mind, body and soul. I believe that each practitioner requires a personal approach that involves curiosity, investigation, determination, practical application and a positive attitude. I love using props of all kinds to support each individual on their own personal journey. I look forward to breathing and moving with you on the mat!” ~Jenn
Tauras, Teacher
Tauras completed his 200 hour yoga teacher training at Studio Lotus Yoga after falling in love with yoga only a couple years into practice. He is a natural teacher with a true passion for everything that yoga is, on and off the mat. His favorite style to teach is Power yoga, with an emphasis on balance. Tauras finds his balance off the mat with a love for Chemistry, his current major at Boise State University.
Bryce, Teacher
Originally from New Jersey, Bryce started yoga when he moved to California in the early ‘90s. A yoga teacher friend lovingly badgered him into trying out a class, and another friend gave him a copy of The Sivananda Companion to Yoga. He couldn’t even touch his knees in a forward bend—forget about feet!—when he began practicing. Thirty years later, his forward bend has changed, but his love of the practice hasn’t.
Along the way, he has studied with many teachers in many styles. He took teachers’ training with Richard Freeman at the Yoga Workshop in Boulder, CO, in the early 2000s, and his style remains heavily indebted to both the Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa methods. In 2005, he met Dr. Shankaranarayana Jois, and has studied Jivana Yoga with him and his main U.S.-based teacher Kristin Laak since.
While his yoga studies might be “serious,” his teaching style is decidedly not. So, check out his fun and fundamentals-based class to learn more about your downward “dawg.”
