MovingPotential brings trauma-informed yoga to people impacted by incarceration and addiction in the Hudson Valley
Sondra Loring, Founder & Director, MovingPotential
I began practicing and teaching yoga while dancing professionally in NYC. Teaching yoga changed me. I thought I was teaching poses, but I was really learning how to heal trauma through the body. My students taught me about love.
In 2017, I entered the prison system as a volunteer at the Hudson Correctional Facility for Juveniles. Witnessing both dignity and despair within a broken system, I knew I had to do more.
My dream was to create an organization that supported teachers and offered yoga and meditation to those inside — free or at low cost to the institutions. That dream became MovingPotential.
After teaching yoga and dance to men in prison for over two years, I began collaborating with artists on the outside. Together, we created Witness, a poetic performance integrating art and incarceration. The project has been invited by Skidmore College to be filmed and will premiere as a finished documentary in the spring of 2026.
Sustaining the People Who Sustain the Work
We enter rooms that hold grief and resilience.
We ask our teachers to witness without turning away.
We believe the nervous system matters.
We believe sustainability is an ethical practice.
Secondary trauma is human.
Isolation is optional.
Care is collective.
We gather in circle.
We breathe together.
We reflect.
We reset.
We tend to those who hold space
so the work can continue —
with clarity, courage, and longevity.
We carry it together.
Meet the Team
Teachers
Lea
Lea has extensive experience teaching yoga in recovery centers and jails, including a year at Rikers Island, working with students facing serious physical and mental challenges. She helps students use yoga to build energy, strength, and spaciousness in body, mind, and spirit.Elisabeth
Elisabeth teaches school-based yoga and mindfulness in NYC and the Hudson Valley. Formerly a Nutrition Educator with Harlem Children’s Zone, she inspired Healthy Hudson at Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood. She holds degrees in Psychology and Education, Art History, and Languages and Linguistics.
Karen
Karen, a NY State licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist, has practiced yoga for decades, benefiting her physical and emotional health. She is passionate about sharing yoga and the mind-body connection with those who have limited access to its practice.
Zoe
Zoe, a devoted yogi and longtime Sadhana Center student, completed 200-hour teacher training at Sondra Loring’s Untraining/Reframing in 2022. A domestic violence attorney and mother, she brings love of Buddhist teachings, poetry, and song to teaching women at Columbia County Jail.
Mela
Mela has taught yoga for over 15 years and is an Integrative Nutrition Coach, Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Quantum Coaching Lifestyle Coach, Reiki practitioner, and writer. She teaches twice weekly at Samaritan Day Top Village’s Meadow Run women’s recovery facility.
Ashni
Ashni, daughter of Cynthia and Allan, is a farmer at Mumbet’s Freedom Farm, facilitator and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner from Brooklyn, with over 20 years of experience rooted in movement and meditation. She is focused on cultivating deeper listening, liberation, and love.
Kristen
Kristen (she/her, 500-hour CYT) lives on Mohican, Munsee Lenape, and Schagticoke ancestral land. She offers free weekly yoga, subs for MovingPotential at Meadow Run, manages Red Sand Project, volunteers as an end-of-life doula, and enjoys nature, gardening, music, and film.
Heidi
Heidi, a retired psychologist with over forty years experience supporting children, caregivers, and teachers, began integrating mindfulness in 2009. Trained at the Interdependence Project and Sadhana Center, she now teaches mindfulness at Riverside Recovery Residence for Women and ReEntry/Columbia.
Angela
Angela supports women and men at Columbia County Jail and ReEntry/Columbia through trauma-informed yoga. Trained in Bali with Hatha and Vinyasa certifications, she is shaped by Sadhana Center and Sivananda Ashram studies and holds a Positive Psychology certificate from Kripalu.Ngonda
Based in Hudson, NY, Ngonda—known as Lady Moon—is a multidisciplinary artist and educator with two decades of experience. Currently the Music Teacher and Assistant Earth Steward Guide at Catskill Montessori School, her “present-time” pedagogy focuses on immediate creative action, asking students, “What can we do now?”
Huw
Huw, with thirty years in corporate life, used meditation and yoga to maintain balance across continents. He teaches traditional Hatha Yoga influenced by Qi Gong and meditation, emphasizing breath-led movements for deeper mind-body connection and longer, more immersive poses.
Chloe
Chloe (she/her) is a forever student and evolving yoga teacher. Certified in 2017, she was recently transformed by Sondra Loring’s Untraining/Reframing at Sadhana Center. Her post-lineage, sensory-rich classes combine self-inquiry, exploratory asanas, and yogic teachings, inspired by Earth and the Divine web of life.
Chris
Chris, based in Hudson, completed his 200-hour Untraining/Retraining yoga certification at Sadhana Center. He enjoys teaching beginners and students with varied mobility, emphasizing yoga and breath work for mental health. He currently teaches at Red Door Residence and previously at Columbia County Jail.
Board of Directors
Jim Kelly, President
Born and raised in Albany, Jim is a former modern dancer and lawyer-banker, and has studied and taught yoga in Hudson and New York City. He has served on various boards. Jim and his wife have three grown children and enjoy life in the Hudson Valley.Betsy Jacobs, Vice President
Betsy has lived in Columbia County for 25 years and owns a business in Hudson, NY. She has two children and two grandchildren, and is passionate about yoga and mindfulness as pathways to equanimity in our modern world.
Susan Manly Pelosi, Secretary
Susan is a social worker and therapist in private practice with an interest in social justice and the impact of trauma. She is a longtime yoga practitioner and strong believer in the transformative effects of meditative practices.
Elizabeth Levine, Treasurer
Liz began yoga in college after her mother opened a Long Island studio in the 1980s. Raised to be a caregiver, yoga taught her self-care. She now practices Hospital Medicine at Northern Dutchess Hospital and is passionate about wellbeing for staff.
Bonnie Schweppe, Chair of Special Committees
Bonnie has lived in the Hudson Valley for 25 years, raising 4 children and rescuing many animals. She served on two boards prior to MP and brings corporate experience in sales and marketing to the team.
Advisory Board
Sarah Zar, President Emeritus
Sarah is an interdisciplinary artist and polymath. She’s taught in universities, created educational programs, exhibited, performed, and published books internationally. A strategic consultant to Universities and thought leaders, Sarah inspires perspectives that help people embody their moving potential.
Leah Gooch
Leah facilitates transformational classes that integrate yoga, meditation, and creative writing to alleviate frustration and transmute anger and sadness into creative expression. Whether working with incarcerated individuals, celebrities or seniors, she empowers others to reconnect with their innate wisdom.Adolfo Lopez
Adolfo is Assistant Director at Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood. He grew up between Brooklyn and Catskill, NY. After serving time as a youth, he discovered the power of education and healthy living. He now helps adolescents and the community, and finds this work deeply meaningful and transformative.
Karen Cecere, LAc, LMT
Karen, a NY State licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist, has practiced yoga for decades, benefiting her physical and emotional health. She is passionate about sharing yoga and the mind-body connection with those who have limited access to its practice.Researchers
Mel Valero-Brust
Mel (she/her, 500hr CYT, trained at Sadhana) has 30 years in psychology and mental health, 20+ years in business, and 10 years teaching yoga. An advocate for wellness, she’s passionate about personal growth, healing, and supporting fostering growth in others.
Anna Hauser
Anna Hauser (200HR, Yogamaya NYC, 2025) is a book publishing professional from Bethlehem, PA. Raised in a Quaker activist community, she loves rock climbing, handstands, and farmers market cooking. She lives in NYC with her boyfriend and their cat.
