OUR COMMUNITY
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Founder
Nadeya Ward
Originally from Roanoke, VA, Nadeya studied acting at NYU TISCH before spending 11 years in Los Angeles, where she completed her 200-hour and 300-hour yoga trainings with Tamal Dodge. In 2020, she opened 3S Yoga in Richmond, VA, and also runs The Meditation Ward, working with clients on meditation and wellness. A meditation coach, certified Health and Wellness Coach, and Reiki Master, Nadeya is passionate about helping others on their wellness journeys. She brings a sense of play to everything she does, from yoga and coaching to comedy and music. At 3S, her philosophy is captured by the words on the wall: "The Spirit Plays."

Teacher
Liza Sweitzer
Liza Sweitzer is a passionate, creative yogi who loves building relationships in her community. She is a RYT-200 who has practiced yoga for 15+ years and received her training at The Nexus Institute in Costa Rica. She is a creative leader skilled in guiding groups from Ecuador to the US through movement, growth, and reflection using mindfulness-based practices. Since ditching corporate for downward dog, Liza has focused on creating inclusive, accessible classes and workshops that integrate breath work, emotional intelligence, and embodied awareness to support holistic wellbeing with humor. When she’s not on her mat, Liza loves dancing, pilates, and adventuring with her golden doodle.

Teacher
Ally LaForest
Ally began her teaching journey in Atlanta in 2019, rooted in a deep appreciation for restorative yoga and its powerful impact on the nervous system. That foundation quickly expanded into power vinyasa, where she discovered the balance of strength and intensity brings its own kind of grounding and resilience. Her personal practice in kundalini yoga influences her teaching with a focus on creative endurance and inner awareness. Expect classes that are dynamic, mindful, and just challenging enough to help you tap into your strength and leave feeling empowered.

Teacher
AD
AD is a Nashville native and experienced ERYT-200 yoga teacher with a diverse background in health and fitness. With certifications across multiple modalities and a specialty in myofascial release stretch therapy, AD brings a well-rounded, body-informed approach to every class.
After spending several years in Miami, AD taught both in-studio and at high-energy events and brand activations, collaborating with names like ALO, Nike, LeBron James’ UNKNWN, Lemon Perfect, and Miami Swim Week.
AD’s teaching style blends athletic power vinyasa, dynamic flow, and grounding yin, all set to a signature hip-hop and R&B vibe. Each class is designed to both challenge and restore, creating an experience that strengthens the body, clears the mind, and leaves students feeling deeply connected. All levels are welcome.

Teacher
Samantha Hoppen
Samantha is a former dancer, 400-hour certified yoga teacher, and wellness coach. Yoga became the bridge back to herself, a practice that builds not just physical strength, but deep mental and emotional resilience.
As a teacher, Samantha blends yogic wisdom, somatic awareness, and nervous system support to guide you into a more connected, intentional practice. Her classes create space to explore, refine, and grow, with thoughtful feedback to help you advance your postures while strengthening both body and mind.

Teacher
Lainey LeMasters
From the very first time she stepped on her mat in 2013, Lainey instantly fell in love with the practice of yoga. She distinctly remembers her first yoga class as being the first time in her life that she checked in on herself and inquired how she was feeling. Throughout the years as challenges would come and go, her yoga mat became a safe space to come home to - a space that allowed her to find strength, softness, forgivenesses, and healing. With passion for spreading the self-awareness and self-love she found through her yoga practice with others, she completed her 200hr YTT with Mandy Gita Delashmitt at Shoshoni Yoga Ashram in Rollinsville, CO in 2017. After completing her first training, Lainey moved to Chicago,IL where she taught and trained under Hilaire Lockwood for 4 years at Hilltop Yoga Chicago. Lainey moved to Nashville in July of 2021 and continued training at Hot Yoga of East Nashville, completing her 500hr certificate. During the day, Lainey works in sales for a technology consulting firm and she likes to spend her free time outdoors, reading, gardening and loving on her dog Ringo. Lainey’s favorite class to teach is Vinyasa and her teaching style is intuitive, physically challenging, and deeply rooted in satya (truthfulness) and ahimsa (kindness) towards self.

Teacher
Alex Barnes
Alex completed their 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2025 at Govardhan Ecovillage, studying under Cindy Lunsford and Lori Pagliaroni. Deeply grateful for the guidance of their teachers, Alex brings both reverence and fresh enthusiasm to the practice.
At 3S Yoga, Alex creates a warm, encouraging environment where students feel supported to explore, challenge themselves, and grow. Their teaching is rooted in connection, curiosity, and the belief that yoga is a lifelong, evolving practice.

Teacher
Casey LaVres
Casey is a 200hr certified vinyasa yoga teacher with a background in contemporary dance. While dancing professionally in NYC, she began her yoga journey as a student but was eventually drawn to teach yoga. She completed her 200hr training at Yoga Vida NYC in 2019 and followed it up with a 75hr mentorship. She is now in the process of completing her 300hr certification. Casey’s style is a breath-led flow blending fluid transitions with grounded strength to help you reconnect, move with intention, and feel at home in your body.

Teacher
Alex Novak
Alex first walked into a yoga class in Cleveland, Ohio in 2010 and immediately fell in love. She finally got her 200-hour teacher certification in 2022 and now loves to help others find that same passion. She designs creative, intentional flows that balance challenge, ease, and fun, empowering students to move, breathe, and take up space on and off the mat.

Teacher
Carly Englander Clark
Carly has had a dedicated personal practice since 2015 and is passionate about leading music-driven flows designed to fuel both internal power and restorative rest. She uses functional movement, mobility, and sustainable strength to support stress reduction, body awareness, and long-term physical resilience.

Teacher
Carson Morris
Carson has been fortunate enough to have yoga in her life for the past 20 years, 10 of those teaching in the Nashville area. She completed her 200 hour teacher training in 2016 at Sanctuary for Yoga with Daphne and Tom Larkin, and then completed her 300 hour training in 2020. Her teaching is krama focused, teaching creative sequences that yoke the mind with the body to flow to a peak pose. She weaves themes, sanskrit, pranayama, and intentional cues to offer a moving meditation with each yoga class. When she isn’t on her mat, she is traveling with her musician husband, soaking in the East Nashville culture, and loving on her baby, Hart.

Teacher
Karissa Deiter
Karissa has lived in Nashville for nearly 16 years and cherishes the community she has found in the yoga and wellness space. She received her yoga teacher certification in 2026 with Hola Yoga School in East Nashville where she spent dedicated time studying Hatha and Raja Yoga philosophy, vinyasa sequencing, and inclusive teaching methodologies. Karissa loves to practice yoga because of the internal space it creates for connection and compassion. What she enjoys most about teaching yoga is holding space for students to cultivate kindness, curiosity, and gratitude towards themselves. Outside of yoga, Karissa enjoys exploring the outdoors, gardening, goofing around (annoying) her dog, and dancing to records in her living room.

Teacher
Katie Delaune
Katie is a New Orleans native who’s collected a few states along the way—living in Kentucky, Oregon, Oklahoma, and Texas before landing in Tennessee in 2019. Her yoga practice started as an occasional drop-in and slowly turned into something much more meaningful, becoming a space to move, reset, and reconnect.
She completed her 200-hour teacher training in Louisville, Kentucky in January 2020 and loves creating classes that feel approachable, energizing, and just the right amount of challenging. Expect a mix of mindful movement, good vibes, and encouragement to not take things too seriously.
When she’s not on the mat, Katie works full-time as a copy and content writer, and is usually planning her next trip, trying a new restaurant, or hanging out her pup Gumbo who loves to practice his own down dog.

Teacher
Masa Alkhiyami
Masa has been practicing yoga for over 10 years and became a certified instructor in February 2025. Since then, teaching has become a rewarding part of her life. She loves creating a space where people can move in a way that feels empowering, supportive, and true to their own body.
Her foundation is in power yoga, though she has also taught gentle yoga, kids yoga, and trauma-informed yoga. Expect a strong, intentional flow, a fun playlist, and a short guided meditation or grounding element to help you reconnect with your body at the end. Outside of yoga, Masa loves singing, watching TV, spending time with loved ones, and spoiling her cat, Ollie.

Teacher
NC Fears
NC was first introduced to yoga as a form of hip recovery during high school and quickly found it became an outlet within the intensity of dance training and everyday life. After taking her first class, she felt an immediate connection to the practice and has continued deepening that relationship ever since. NC completed her 200 hour training at Shakti Power Yoga after relocating back to Nashville and now teaches classes rooted in fluid movement, strength, breath, and self awareness.
A huge part of NC’s teaching comes from recognizing how many people walk into wellness spaces and instantly feel unseen or uncomfortable. She cares deeply about creating classes that feel grounded, approachable, and safe for people who may not have always felt represented in traditional yoga environments. NC believes yoga is a powerful tool for reconnecting the mind, body, and soul while helping people feel more at home within themselves.

Teacher
Ella Hunt
Ella found yoga young and never looked back. At 18, a deep love of meditation and Indian classical music cracked something open in her. The ragas led her to the mat, and the mat became her home. She has returned to it ever since, through heartbreak, through transformation, through the moments when life asks everything of her. The path of yoga has saved her life, time and time again. Each time she rolls out her mat or reads the Gita, she knows it is the Divine calling her back to herself.
For the past four years, Ella has worked as a Sound Healing Practitioner, educated at the Globe Institute in Sausalito, CA, and holding a BA in Songwriting from Belmont University. In 2025, she deepened that calling by completing her certification as a Sound Therapist. In 2026, she returned to her first love and completed her yoga teacher training at Hola Yoga, bringing together everything she knows to be true: that sound and movement are not separate paths, but the same river.
Ella believes, wholeheartedly and without reservation, that every person is born with the perfect tools to heal themselves. When given the space to receive true, dedicated support, they can blossom into their unique, empowered blueprint.
In Ella’s classes and sessions, frequency and form meet. The breath becomes music, and the body becomes an instrument for truth.
Interested in teaching for 3S Yoga?
We are always looking for incredible teachers to add to our community. Please send us an email if interested! 3SYogaEastNash@gmail.com
