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Welcome to The Studio at A Step To Health!
You’re invited to our new studio space at A Step To Health! The Studio offers dynamic movement classes, wellness workshops, and special class series led by welcoming instructors who are committed to helping you feel better. 
Classes Please use the link above to sign up online and save your spot in class, and to receive an email notification in case of weather cancellation or other important changes. New Students Location Prices If you live in the local area, your first class at The Studio is free! Instructors Emily Burrows (Yoga) I offer self care coaching, private yoga lessons, retreats, and workshops throughout the Triangle and online. Visit www.emilyburrows.com.
Kathleen Lezama (Pilates for Your Core)
Sandy Brady (MELT Foam Rolling) Larissa Parson (Restorative Movement)
Robin DeMent (Yoga, Meditation and Functional Movement)
AnnMarie Mello Morris (Yoga)
Denise DeForest Pastoor (Meditation, Yoga, Ebb & Flow) As a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, Healing Touch instructor, and integrative health educator, I affirm “We all have an amazing capacity for self-healing by tuning in…listening to our body, choosing positive thoughts, being heart-centered, grounding in presence.” With my yoga training E-RYT-200 (Integral Yoga, LifeForce Yoga, Aqua Yoga, Aerial Yoga,) and body-based somatic education (NIA, Somatic Experiencing, Qigong), I founded Ebb & Flow™, a sensory movement curriculum blending meditation, yoga, expressive movement, to teach the simplicity and beauty of meditation and movement to create wholeness. As a neuroscience and research geek, I share pearls of biofield energy therapies, mindfulness, meditation, and movement to anyone curious, as well as at national conferences, universities, and corporations.
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I took my first yoga class in college while I was recovering from a knee injury, and in my nearly 2 decades of practice, yoga has helped me make peace with my body and my whole self in deep and lasting ways. I teach body positive, mindful yoga, with a focus on self compassion and trusting yourself. You're encouraged to let go of being “good” at yoga and instead get curious about how your practice feels. My classes include space for questions and self-guided movement. You’re invited to laugh at yourself, close your eyes, and forget the notion that you have to be young, thin, and bend like a pretzel to practice yoga. Yoga is for your unique body!
I am a Pilates Method Alliance® Certified Pilates Teacher and have been teaching mat classes since 2002. I originally started out in the fitness world teaching various forms of aerobics and resistance classes, but after discovering pilates, I fell in love with the method. Several years after earning a beginner and intermediate mat certification, I became pilates equipment certified. I am fortunate enough to be able to do what I love by teaching/training at the Duke Center for Living at Fearrington, and also in my home studio. I have 3 grown children and a soccer playing husband who is slowly warming up to the idea of pilates to help stay injury free…progress!
I ran across a description of a MELT class in 2014 when I was going through a difficult time; I was preparing to send a child to college while also serving as caretaker for a dying parent. So of course I was totally neglecting my own self-care. Intrigued by the idea of “hands-off bodywork” and captivated by the promise of “reducing chronic pain”, I signed up. The MELT techniques had a profound effect – not only by making me feel better physically, but also by improving my overall sense of well-being. After experiencing the changes in my own body, I felt compelled to learn to teach MELT so I could share it with others. I am a licensed massage therapist, so I am a firm believer in the efficacy of bodywork, but I am even more passionate about teaching people to do their own bodywork. The principles of MELT are grounded in the latest scientific understanding of how the human body works. So while I love to have fun in class, you’ll also find me working in explanations about the science of why and how MELT works. Learn more about 
I found yoga in my senior year of high school, and it was a critical part of my life for the next 20 years, through college, grad school, and a career as a high school English teacher. In 2014, shortly after I moved to Durham from Oakland, CA, I found myself injured and out of touch with my body. I found Katy Bowman's Restorative Exercise and dove in headlong. Becoming a Nutritious Movement™ certified Restorative Exercise Specialist and Certified Restore Your Core teacher led me back to my body. As a mother of very active twins, moving more and moving better helps me keep up with my boys and provides me with many opportunities for everyday joy. I am constantly on the lookout for new ways to play with movement, and love sharing what I discover with my students. Any given week in class, we might explore movements of the shoulder, hip strength and mobility, or all the many ways your feet can move. No matter what the focus of the class is, I strive to keep the atmosphere friendly, and the movements exploratory. I teach classes, workshops, and private lessons in Durham and Hillsborough. Stop by 
Robin discovered yoga later in life after suffering years of debilitating back pain that exercise and western medicine could not ease. With 25 years of study in human physiology, technology, genetics, and neuroscience under her belt, she embarked on a 2-year journey to heal herself through daily rituals of yoga, insight meditation and mindfulness practices. Robin is now a healed, committed student of yoga and concentrates her research and teaching on the valuable intersection where eastern and western practices combine to promote individual inner and outer health, as well as holistic peace and community well-being. Robin is an RYT-200 certified instructor and relishes all opportunities to share her personal experiences, research and insights to inspire others to find their own unique healing power through yoga. She provides a safe, supportive space for students to challenge themselves without judgment and allow their own practice to unfold without force to meet their unique needs and intentions.
I believe yoga found me in 1997. Back then I was a Group Fitness Director developing a class schedule that included the latest in fitness trends. At that time it was Cardio Kickboxing, Stability Ball Training, Functional Fitness…and Yoga. The company sent me and a few other instructors for yoga training and then I started teaching yoga, what we consider power yoga today. Since then my study of yoga has expanded into many different types of yoga practices from gentle, yin, restorative, meditation and more. I have gone on to complete the 200hr E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) yoga study with Ashley Ludman in Wilmington, NC and the 500hr RYT with the Asheville Yoga Center. I am also a certified Yoga Therapist through International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). In addition, I am a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant and hold a B.S. in Health Studies from UNC-G. Recently, I completed Reiki training at Duke Integrative Medicine as a tool for my own self-care as well as adding to my yoga therapy services. My yoga path has connected my diverse interests in physical rehabilitation and health promotion to the use of yoga as a modality for healing. Yoga has impacted my life over the last 20 years in the most positive and life fulfilling way. I hope to share my passion and experience with yoga through classes, workshops and private sessions. For more information, contact me at 
I swirl in bubbling energy and an effusive passion for integrative health. “Empowering people in self-healing…shift from DOING TO BEING” is a mantra for my holistic private practice, SunStone Wellness, LLC. Whether I’m inviting people into stillness in meditation, balancing energy in Healing Touch, centering through mindfulness, embracing body awareness in yoga, dancing in Ebb & Flow ™or igniting insight through psychotherapy, I ENGAGE, ENERGIZE, and EMPOWER.