Having experienced the transformative power of yoga and mindfulness, Kay Alton was inspired to empower individuals in challenging situations with tools that would help them experience a sense of community, improve mental health and safety, and offer equity in physical activity opportunities. Kay holds a Masters of Education in Youth Developmental Leadership at the University of Minnesota, a Masters of Social Work at California State University, and has completed her 500 hour yoga training in Cambodia through Zuna Yoga. She and the other yoga teachers are trained and experienced practitioners able to communicate effectively and welcome individual diversities of culture, physical needs, and emotional states.

Shannon O’Brien is a trauma informed yoga teacher who uses the knowledge of neuroscience, mindfulness techniques and meditation practices to support her students. She started practicing yoga in 2011 and often explains her definition of yoga as a safe place that you can always turn to. Her passion of offering yoga to EVERYONE lead her to pursue a Yoga and Social Justice 200 RYT Teacher Training Certificate and Trauma Informed Brain Sensitive Yoga Teacher Training from the Daya foundation in Portland. Her training has supported her work teaching yoga and mindfulness to people who have experienced adversity, marginalization, oppression, trauma, prejudice, and mental health challenges. Shannon has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Social work at Humboldt State California. She is interested in offering yoga as an alternative modality for healing, and teaching yoga in different environments such as schools, jails/prisons, hospitals and office spaces.

Yoga found Shannon in 2003 and quickly began to change her life from the inside out. In 2004 she embarked on her first Teacher Training journey and she continues to add to her kit of experience and knowledge so that she may share yoga with all ages and abilities. She is honored to be part of the Bending The Bars Program and looks forward to her weekly visits to teach women and youth classes at NORCOR Jail. The gift of mindfulness and yoga that she brings is given back tenfold by stories of value and life change by her participants.

At the age of 15, The YMCA director gave Paul and his friends an opportunity to go on a rafting trip down the Klamath River in California. This river experience and follow up youth guide training changed Paul's life, giving him unanticipated skills and confidence to explore local rivers. Paul found his passion for sharing river experiences with others after spending highschool summers raft guiding on the Klamath River. At Humboldt State University he studied Ecological Restoration with an emphasis in River Restoration as he continued to raft guide and teach kayaking for the university outdoor program. After graduating, Paul worked as an ACA Kayak Instructor and teacher for National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). Paul realizes the inequity within the outdoor recreation industry and sees his experience on the river as a youth unique and a major privilege - one which he sharing with others through Rivers For All.