Meet Our Teachers
Yoga Bridge teachers offer a unique approach of physical postures, breathwork, and meditation, tailored specifically to the needs of those dealing with cancer's challenges.
Susan Reeves
MA, E-RYT 500
Co-Founder, Teacher
Teaching at Yoga Bridge is truly one of the most meaningful parts of my life. The strength, resilience, and compassion I see in this community inspire me every day. I feel incredibly lucky to be part of it.
I began practicing yoga in 1998 and I've been teaching since 2005. I teach prana flow, gentle, and restorative yoga. My yoga education includes trainings with Lorenzo Cohen at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Judith Lasater Relax and Renew® Certified Restorative Yoga Instructor, and Shiva Rea Prana Vinyasa ® Yoga, Pre/Post Natal Yoga Certified.
Most of us have friends and family who have been affected by cancer. We see what they are going through and often feel helpless to do anything. Hopefully this program can be a support to people who really need it.
Shanna Nasche
RYT 200
Teacher
Shanna attended her first yoga class, a simple hatha practice, one evening in 1998, and became a lifelong fan. She completed 200-hour teacher training in 2009 and Yoga Bridge's certification to teach recovering cancer patients in 2013.
She redefines the phrase just-in-time-training, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer the following year. Through personal trial and error, Shanna learned adaptive ways to modify poses and regain her strength and range of motion after her double mastectomy.
Her goal as a teacher is sharing her love of and knowledge about yoga with her students, whether new or experienced in their practice. Her day job is as a licensed therapist, focuses on mindfulness and psychological flexibility to adapt to life's challenges.
Cindy Atherton Epp
E-RYT 200
Teacher
Cindy began her personal practice of yoga 15 years ago to combat stress and anxiety. She completed 200 hours of training and became certified with Yogafit Instructor Training.
After seeing the effects of cancer in her own family, coupled with the desire to help, the door was open to study and complete training with Yoga Bridge in March 2014.
In class, Cindy encourages students to find strength in the alignment of the body, to use the tool of breath to create health and peace, and to enjoy life in the present moment. It is always her goal to have students not only feel these wonderful benefits on their mat, but as a daily experience in their lives.
Karen Fenton
E-RYT 500
Teacher
I have been practicing yoga for 18 years, since completing teacher training with Inspire Yoga in 2012, and I have been teaching since 2017. Other trainings I've completed are Silver Sneaker Yoga in 2015, and Yoga Bridge - Yoga for Cancer in 2017.
From my first yoga class, I knew I was in love. It gave me such a wonderful, calm and relaxed feeling. I love to help others to create that feeling for themselves.
I attended the Yoga Bridge training because there have been so many of my family and friends touched by cancer. I wanted to get involved in helping others feel better in their bodies. The classes I teach with Yoga Bridge are slow, gentle, and calming.
Paula Hopkins-Favre
E-RYT 200
Teacher
I discovered yoga after moving to Texas from New York state in 2008. It quickly became my passion. Yoga offered the intensity and gratification I craved, but always left me feeling energized and optimistic!
I received my RYT-200 certification from Yoga Tree Plano in 2012, and have been teaching yoga ever since. I got my certification from Yoga Bridge in 2014. I love teaching for Yoga Bridge. As an instructor, there is truly nothing more gratifying than sharing my knowledge of yoga with others, and watching them embrace the inner power that a consistent yoga practice brings to them.
Dee Dee Burington
E-RYT 500, YACEP
Teacher
Dee Dee has been teaching fitness and yoga for over 22 years in Dallas, Texas. She is a passionate people-person and has yet to meet a stranger. She prides herself in being trained by local Dallas talent: Jo Dene Stokes, Toni Farris, and Brook Armstrong.
As a breast cancer survivor, she enjoys teaching at Yoga Bridge. Dee Dee delights in witnessing the miraculous benefits that yoga brings. She looks forward to seeing you on your mat.
Jean DiCarlo-Wagner
MA, E-RYT 500, C-IAYT, Reiki-Certified
Teacher
I’m so excited to get back to my first love: teaching yoga for cancer patients. I am a 22-year survivor of late-stage colon cancer.
I had a twenty-year practice of yoga before I had cancer, but I couldn’t find a class that was gentle enough for me to make my way back to a “new normal”. I felt very alone and frightened. I was very sick with weekly treatments and could do very little physically. “Other cancer patients must have felt like I was feeling,” I thought to myself.
My work includes teaching cancer patients, doing legislative advocacy work for cancer patients, being a certified cancer navigator, and training other yoga teachers to work with cancer patients.
My classes are therapeutic and restorative. I focus on breath stamina; that’s where recovery starts. My classes are beginner-friendly, but advanced students will find that slowing down and being in tune with our bodies is a deep practice of patience and self-love.