MEET OUR INSTRUCTORS

Honoring our individuality and authentic selves is a priority at River Yoga.
Learn more below about our unique instructors and their own journeys with yoga.

KELLY SILBERNAGEL

I obtained my RYT at Yess Yoga in Minneapolis, as well as a certification with Veteran's Yoga Project.

As the founder and owner of River Yoga, I opened our studio in an effort to bring community and healing to Anoka and beyond. My main focus of yoga guidance are Yin and Restorative as tools to restore strength to our central nervous systems, as well as mental and immunity health. From extreme athletes, to pregnant, blind, young, and old practitioners, I have seen astounding results in all kinds of people who have encountered yoga.

I hope you are able to join us in movement and connection. As I always say: "Can’t wait to see you on the mat!"

AMY BIZAL

I am a busy mom to three and a wife to one of the most supportive men I know. My life can be a little hectic sometimes, but I have found that embracing the chaos makes things go a lot smoother.I have always had a passion for health and wellness, and practicing yoga is something that consistently brings me joy.

It wasn’t until I went through this transition of motherhood where I experienced how much yoga could play a big part in a happy and healthy pregnancy and delivery. I knew I needed to pay this passion forward to help prepare women for pregnancy, birth, and recovery.I am passionate about everything, pregnancy, parenthood, and beyond. I love teaching our youth ways to acknowledge their feelings and offering tools to help them manage them. Yoga offers me the opportunity to do all of those things.

NATALIE CARLSON

I found yoga over a decade ago when I initially stepped onto the mat looking for a physical practice. What I discovered, however, went far deeper than flexibility or strength. Yoga became my sanctuary and a profound catalyst for healing my own nervous system from the inside out.

Through mindful movement, breathwork, and deep somatic awareness, I learned how to move out of chronic stress and back into a state of balance, resilience, and ease. When I'm not on the mat, you can usually find me outside. I have a deep love for the outdoors and find that connecting with nature is one of the most powerful ways to ground myself and complement my practice.

My mission as a teacher is to create a safe, supportive space where students can connect with their body, soothe their nervous system, and discover their own innate capacity for healing. I am a firm believer in holistic balance, which for me means pairing a deeply restorative yoga practice with the occasional non-negotiable trip to Culver's for a ButterBurger!

KAITLIN CRAVEN

As a lifelong dancer, I stumbled into yoga at a young age and left my first class (amidst high school finals and Nutcracker season... oof!) feeling like I was in a whole new body. What started as a grounding practice to balance my dance training quickly became a way of life. I earned my 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training in 2016 through The Yoga Connection while studying Dance and Communications at the University of Iowa, and I've been sharing movement ever since.

Since relocating to Minnesota in 2019, I have taught at studios throughout the Twin Cities and currently lead Saturday AM Flow and Monday Hatha at River Yoga. In my classes, you can expect a nourishing blend of vinyasa and restorative flow with a focus on feeling rather than performing. I will encourage you to move intuitively, explore your edges, and let go of what you might look like. My hope is that you leave feeling more connected to your breath, your body, and your sense of play.

JILL DAHLER

My yoga journey started in 2007 when I wandered into a class that completely changed my life. It wasn't the poses that hooked me, it was the feeling. The teacher created a space where everyone belonged, exactly as they were. I remember feeling seen, welcomed, and completely at ease. We're still friends today, and the way she held space continues to inspire the way I teach and who I am.

Years later, I took the leap and opened my own yoga studio, which I owned for four amazing years. Those years taught me that the real magic of yoga happens far beyond the mat. Sure, we'll move, breathe, stretch, maybe wobble a little, and hopefully laugh...but what we're really practicing is coming back to ourselves.

If you've taken one of my classes before, you know there's a decent chance I'll walk in to sub a class and ask, "So... what are we teaching today?" I'm only half kidding. While I always come prepared, I believe the best classes happen when I listen to the people in the room instead of sticking to a perfectly planned sequence. Every group has its own energy, and I love letting the practice unfold from there.

My goal is simple: create a space where you feel safe enough to breathe a little deeper, move in a way that feels good for your body, and leave more connected than when you walked in. No yoga experience required. No perfect poses expected. Just show up as you are, and we'll take it from there.

ABBY HAMMES

My love affair with yoga started when I began to see it not just as an approach to physical health, but as a tool for mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. I realized that I always left a yoga class feeling stronger, lighter, more connected, more forgiving, and more capable. I strive to share that healing power with others, which is why I left my career in the legal world and became a yoga instructor!

Most of my classes have a strong connection with breath and occasionally weave somatics, mudra, mantra, and Himalayan Kundalini Kriya into a physical practice that is accessible to all. My 200 hr teaching certification was obtained at Sattva Yoga Academy in Rishikesh, India, and I am currently working toward a 500 hr certification at Yess Yoga in Minneapolis.

DAWN PERRA

My yoga practice began 20 years ago when other forms of physical activity left me feeling bored, uninspired, and sore with few positive results. Yoga quickly became a constant in my life, and I completed my first 200 hr yoga teacher certification in 2020.

Since then, I have become a 500 hr registered yoga teacher with additional certifications in Reiki (Level II), mat Pilates, senior adaptive yoga, trauma-informed yoga, and meditation. I am currently pursuing an additional certification in breathwork. My favorite classes to teach are Gentle Flow, Yin, Hatha, and Meditation.

DENISE MARTINEAU

I am a 500 hour certified yoga teacher and completed my training at home during the Covid lockdown with allllllll that extra free time. As an elementary music teacher with more than 30 years in the classroom, I am passionate about sharing the power of yoga to help relieve teacher burnout.

My husband and I enjoy being empty-nesters, traveling abroad and to the U.S. National Parks (I have mastered the art of economical packing and bring a yoga mat with everywhere!) My favorite hobbies include kayaking, knitting and crocheting, reading, writing, playing accordion and ukulele, and walking my very spoiled dogs.

RACHEL TODD

I came to yoga for physical exercise, but have stayed for the connection and spiritual growth that it fosters. One of my favorite concepts from yoga philosophy is svadhyaya, which means self-study. I believe that the work of meeting ourselves is lifelong. This work is what brings me back to my mat time and time again and is what led me to pursue teaching. My hope is to guide you in connecting not only with your body and breath, but with your whole Self.

I completed my 200 hr teacher training from CorePower Yoga in 2017. I also work as a mental health therapist, and I love using elements of yoga in my clinical work as well as integrating some of my clinical knowledge into my yoga classes.

CRISTINA WILLS

I started my yoga journey with my wonderful mother-in-law in a beginner's class, and we were hooked. At the time, I was working as a teacher and stressed out of my mind. Yoga was the only thing that kept me from going into a complete breakdown. Taking a leap of faith, I left the districts and began my 500 hour yoga teacher training at Devanadi.

Since then I have done other trainings including Yoga Nidra (50 hr), Mindfulness, Thai Yoga Bodywork (300 hr), Thai on Table Certification, Cupping, Gua Sha, Herbal Compress Certification, Sound Therapy, Bodywork for Trauma (50 hr), and Ayurveda & Traditional massage (50 hr). At River Yoga, I typically teach Vinyasa and Gentle and Restorative Flows focusing on breath, body awareness and strength. I guide students by setting breath and intention; this allows the breath to move the body, instead of the body moving the breath. I hope each of my students take away the ability to build awareness and connection with themselves in order to bring out their inner healer.