About Us

Yoga Tree celebrates the body, mind and spirit through the eight limbs of yoga. Asana classes are taught in Iyengar and other traditions. Yoga Tree opened in September 2006. It is owned and operated by Nancy Stechert.

Massage is available at the studio.

Nancy Crum Stechert began practicing yoga in 1976 in San Francisco. She holds a Senior Intermediate Level certificate in the Iyengar method. She made her first trip to India to study with the Iyengars in 1983. She continued to go almost every year until 1990, traveling to India every three years since then. She founded the Colorado School of Yoga in 1987 and the International Yoga Center of Tokyo in 1993. She taught in the Iyengar centers in San Francisco and New York
and served as an assessor for the the Iyengar certification process for many years. She has served as president of IMIYA, a regional Iyengar association, and was Treasurer of the national Iyengar Association in its beginning. Nancy opened the Hotchkiss Yoga Tree in 2006.

 

Joanne Connington has been a yoga teacher since holding her first class in Paonia in 1985. From there she held classes for 25 years in Aspen and Crestone Colorado, and most recently in Tuscany, Italy for 8 years. She has hosted numerous retreats in Mexico and Italy as well as the U.S. Through studies with many Senior Iyengar teachers over the years, Joanne imparts the knowledge of alignment and the use of props in her classes. Her classes are a meditative flow of postures designed to offer a personal internal experience with the guidance of a long term experienced practitioner.

Elise Wages loves helping others experience their human form in new ways by approaching the body with curiosity and reverence, and inspiring a deep awareness and joy in movement. As a licensed massage therapist and yoga teacher, she has a background in Iyengar yoga, therapeutics, yin yoga, acro yoga, thai massage, and phenomenal touch. Her classes are a fusion of yin and yang- active strength building poses and more passive poses. She also offers thai-fusion massage at the Yoga Tree.