teachers
michelle
Michelle Cooper, owner of CDA Power Yoga, is a 200 Hour Certified Baptiste Yoga Teacher. As a combat veteran and former teacher, she immediately fell in love with the physical and mental challenge of yoga. Shortly after beginning to take classes herself, she knew she wanted to become a teacher and share the transformative and powerful practice she’d experienced. The Baptiste Methodology has taught Michelle to live with freedom, let go of fear, and never give up. She feels energized, full of possibility and inspired by community each time she steps on the mat.
In addition to attending Level 1, Level 2 and Art of Assisting with the Baptiste Institute, Michelle completed Expand Your Power Teacher Training at Willamette Valley Power Yoga in Oregon. She has also attended the Crisis and Trauma training with the Veterans Yoga Project and is currently working to deepen her understanding of the practice, techniques, and leadership skills through WVPY’s 300 Hour Advanced Teacher Training. Michelle will soon receive her 500 RYT certificate through Yoga Alliance.
Michelle believes strongly in the connection between practice on the mat and practice off the mat outside of the studio. She is committed to sharing the practice of yoga and creating a community based on health, wellness, and healing, teaching yoga as a lifestyle and a tool to enable people to live their best life. Her classes are challenging, yet accessible for all levels- plus they’re fun! She encourages her students to stretch beyond their comfort zones and into new possibility. Alongside her husband, Michelle appreciates the hard work of first responders and works with veterans as well as CDA Power Yoga’s community of first responders and military members.
When Michelle is not in the studio, she homeschools her 3 incredible kids, rides motorcycles with her husband, and loves traveling, dining out, and enjoying a good beer with family & friends.
ASHLEY
Ashley began practicing Yoga with Vicki Yost at the University of Utah while earning her sociology degree. She immediately fell in love with the physical and mental benefits of Yoga along with the philosophy and spiritual teachings of the practice. She got her first certification to teach in 2005 and began teaching at the spa where she practiced massage therapy in Park City and at the University of Utah.
Wanting her abilities as a teacher to grow, she completed a 500 hour training with D’ana Baptiste in 2010. For the next 10 years, she taught Yoga in the Bay Area, Australia and New Orleans in-between having children and supporting her husband’s education. She credits her Yoga practice for being able to thrive through those busy, hard years.
She came into CDA Power Yoga in December 2020 after being invited by a friend and immediately wanted to contribute to the amazing community. She signed up for the teacher training and developed a new way of teaching. She used to have a hard time waking people up at the end of her yoga classes, but now they walk out of class with a powerful momentum to go into the world and do good.
Her classes are full of heart. She takes time creating each class to foster the growth of practitioners. She loves the sense of community that is cultivated in yoga, and it brings her an enormous amount of joy to see students work hard, feel strong and have fun. She is forever a student of Yoga and also loves reading, running, hiking the trails in CDA and spending time with her husband and 4 kids.
kyle
CDA Power Yoga resident "do-it-all-man" Kyle Cooper was first introduced to yoga in 2014 when he went to a couples class at Willamette Valley Power Yoga in Oregon with his wife, Michelle. He was surprised at the difficulty of the practice and immediately saw the value and power Baptiste Yoga offers. Because every pose can be modified to accommodate his various knee injuries, it is possible for Kyle to maintain intensity and challenge on his mat, giving him a thorough workout, both physically and mentally.
As prior military and law enforcement, Kyle understands and appreciates the hard work of first responders and continues to passionately serve by working with veterans around the northwest. In the coming months, you’ll find him volunteering, spearheading and encouraging the CDA Power Yoga community of first responders and military members by organizing, scheduling, and promoting our weekly free classes offered specifically to this invaluable and worthy group.
Along with supporting his wife at the studio and being a full-time dad to 3 amazing kids, Kyle is the Vice President of Veterans Back 40 Adventure, a nonprofit helping veterans connect and get outdoors. You’ll also see him on his motorcycle, on the water, or fixing just about anything. Kyle has completed the 200-hour Be Bold Teaching Training right here at CDA Power Yoga. He teaches and leads his classes with the clear direction, motivation, and inspiration that could be expected of someone of his experience and expertise. He is both challenging and fun. And he guarantees you’ll leave his classes feeling sweaty, accomplished, and strong.
KIM
Yoga Kim has over 30 years of experience in the health industry including personal trainer of professional athletes, public speaker on such topics as wellness and nutrition, and yoga teacher at retreats, workshops, classes, and privates. Her education includes Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science with an Exercise Physiology emphasis, a Masters in International Management, and RYT 200. Kim’s style is upbeat and fun loving as her anatomical focus emphasizes foundation and alignment to safely find strength through range of motion. Her modality of choice is power vinyasa as it unites breath and movement and gives her the freedom to incorporate arm balances and inversions within the flow. Kim enjoys the community energy of a class and also embraces teaching privates to focus on specific needs from challenging injuries, how to correctly transition through the basics, and teaching new poses such as crow pose and handstands.
Kim discovered early in her practice that the movement through poses not only made her feel better physically but also calmed her busy mind and brought additional ease to her life. She still considers savasana her hardest pose. When not practicing or teaching you may see Kim paddle boarding, hiking, and simply enjoying our beautiful lake community with her family and friends. You may even find her handstanding around town. Feel free to say Hi and maybe even join her in some handstand play or acro yoga.
Jared
Jared Prevost was introduced to CDA Power Yoga by a close friend in 2019. Struggling with weight, stress, and a multitude of everyday life issues, he first walked into the studio not knowing what to expect. It was at his very first chaturanga, he started to wonder what he had gotten himself into. Three classes later he was signed up for the Sgt. Dan Nevans Master Class and it was there he found his love for Baptiste Yoga.
It is the countless hours and unwavering dedication of CDA Power Yoga owners Michelle and Kyle Cooper, towards their members and community, which inspired Jared to enroll in the 200 Hour Be Bold Teacher Training program. He graduated in August of 2020 and began teaching at CDA Power Yoga in early 2021.
“Come from you are ready now” is one of the Three Themes of Baptiste Yoga. By shifting your mind from thoughts of past and future and acknowledging that “right now is all I’ve got”, you will find that possibilities are limitless. Jared aspires to teach his students from this mindset, believing presence or the “now” is where the mind and body connection are as one. His classes are challenging, fun, and full of heart. His passion for the practice is evident with his intentional sequencing and music. Jared offered options for all levels, while teaching to the highest level in the class, as he loves getting upside down every chance he gets.
You’ll often see him dripping sweat, working hard on his handstand practice, high-fiving everyone in the studio, and always helping wherever possible. When Jared isn’t on his mat, you’ll find him spending time with his three amazing kiddos, hiking, camping, cooking and/or even enjoying weekly polar dips in the lake in the winter months.