classes, trainings & self care sessions
ask to book a yoga, reiki, sound healer or aerial session here or off site
leapingwatersyoga@gmail.com
Read more about our practitioners and their services below!
leaping waters team
Robin Ivy Payton, Curator/Creator
HI, I’m Robin, the owner and curator of Leaping Waters. Every teacher, practitioner, training, workshop, and class held here is thoughtfully and intuitively chosen. Each of them is in some way special to me and I want to share their talents and gifts with you. Together, we make up an Aerial & Yoga Spa & Reiki center for South Portland and the surrounding area, with lots of out of state visitors and our local community.
My earlier careers were in radio broadcasting, public education, and the intuitive arts. I began teaching yoga in 2013 and very quickly expanded into training yoga teachers. I lead 200 hour YTT, Aerial, Restorative, Chair Yoga, Yoga Nidra and Sound trainings and workshops.
I am a Reiki Master, Sound practitioner E-RYT 500 with Yoga Alliance.
I’ve offered tarot & astrology for clients since 1995, & in 1999 started Robin’s Zodiac Zone, which I now broadcast weekly on WMPG FM here in Portland, Maine.
Since 2014 I’ve offered Sound as a form of energy work, using tuning forks, chimes, crystal and tibetan bowls to shift vibrations in and around us. I collect crystals and use those for energy work as well. Join me for energy balancing sessions with sound and reiki, private yoga, aerial yoga & prenatal yoga. Email to request a session.
I truly hope you enjoy your time in the studio. It’s infused with lots of good energy and is a very welcoming and friendly place. For any info, connect at leapingwatersyoga@gmail.com. See my training dates below for YTT or Continuing Education credits with Yoga Alliance.
Restorative Yoga Teacher Training January 25/26th, 2025 Registering now
JARED PAYTON, aerial & yin
Jared earned his 200 Hour Yoga Certification with Boston School of Yoga in 2016 and studied with Muse School of Yoga for Yin Yoga and Trauma Sensitive/All Bodies trainings in 2017 and 2018. After teaching vinyasa and yin for a few years and taking a break during the pandemic, Jared re-started his yoga practice with a return to aerial in 2021, began assisting classes and completed his Aerial teacher training here at Leaping Waters in 2022. Jared also completed Level 1 Sound Training & plays sound instruments including tongue drum and crystal bowls.
In 2023, Jared complete his second Yin Yoga training with Andrea Gleason/Southern Maine Yoga School.
Contact Jared for aerial sessions for beginners, for guys, and for athletes looking for balance in their bodies and minds. Jared’s Yin Yoga for Men series will return in September 2023.
Jared earned an Aikido black belt in 2015 after years of focused training. He lives in South Portland with Robin and their two precious pups.
callie rogers, massage, reiki, cupping
Callie Rogers is a student at Therapeutic Bodywork Learning Center and will complete her 500 hour massage therapy program in October, 2023. In addition to massage therapy, Callie practices cupping therapy, is Reiki II attuned, and is certified in the AromaTouch essential oil treatment. She chose to pursue massage and bodywork as a way to help people connect with their bodies and find peace of mind as they work toward their health and wellness goals. Her overall mission as a licensed massage therapist is to create a welcoming space where people with diverse bodies, backgrounds, and needs can safely experience the benefits of therapeutic touch.
In her free time, Callie enjoys reading, writing, yoga, and spending time in nature. Some of her favorite outdoor activities include hiking, fishing, skiing, and snowshoeing. Callie also loves to explore new places and has volunteered with AmeriCorps and WorkAway while traveling the U.S. and beyond. Callie is a Taurus and practices in the Lunar Room.
Contact Callie to book www.goldenhourbodywork.com
Massage Swedish, Therapeutic & Hot Stone, Cupping & Reiki
KRISTINE KEEGAN, yin, reiki, thai bodywork
Kristine Keegan is an RYT 500 and REIKI Master Practitioner attuned in the Traditional Usui Lineage. Her grandmother also practiced Reiki and Kristine continues the tradition. She offers Reiki I, II, and Master attunements and Reiki sessions for energy clearing and balancing.
Originally receiving her 200 hour yoga certifcation with Sacred Seeds School/Jacqui Bonwell in 2014, Kristine then trained to lead Yoga Nidra with Robin Ivy Payton and also certified to teach Restorative and Yin. She combines these practices in magical ways, including Sound vibration and reiki in many of her workshops and classes. Kristine took her Level 1 Sound Training at Leaping Waters with Kimber Lucier in 2022 and especially feels drawn to using the Sonic Slider tuning fork with clients. Kristine is a Pisces and embodies the empathy and kindness of this Sun sign.
Kristine is offering Yin Yoga with Reiki weekly (lucky us!) and booking private Reiki & Thai Massage sessions, often including sound tools to enhance your session. To book a session at Leaping Waters with Kristine, email yoga.with.kristine2@gmail.com
REIKI LEVEL 1 NOV 9/10, 2024 & LEVEL 2 JANUARY 2025
amy pearl, RN, restorative yoga
Amy Pearl is a Lifestyle and Wellness Coordinator and RN with Falmouth Integrative Medicine. She has an MA in Health and Wellness Coaching and has worked in a variety of medical environments. She completed her Restorative Yoga teacher training here at Leaping Waters to complement the services she provides to oncology patients and others seeking recovery and optimum well being.
Amy is passionate about helping people feel well through a blend of western medicine and alternative therapies, including breathwork to balance the nervous system. She’s sharing restorative yoga monthly, at a sliding scale rate, here at Leaping Waters beginning Sept 8th.
alicia jeffords, aerial yoga
Alicia found yoga through Aerial. She was instantly hooked on how amazing Aerial yoga made her feel mentally and physically. Her urge to empower others and provide the same love of movement lead her Aerial Yoga Teacher Training at Leaping Waters Yoga. Alicia completed her aerial yoga teacher training in the spring of 2023, one year after her first aerial class & started teaching Aerial Yoga once a week.
Alicia’s love for yoga and desire to learn more and provide more to her students led her to Southern Maine School of Yoga here at Leaping Waters, where she completes her 200 YTT in April of 2024. Alicia will be teaching with the very people who inspired and empowered her at Leaping Waters!
Alicia’s background is in athletics and coaching, specifically Football. Alicia has played, coached, officiated and Managed Women’s football for 17 years. She is a 12 time All American and has coached athletes in the sport for over 10 years. Her experience as an athlete and coach has set the foundation for her to be an amazing yoga teacher. Football was Alicia’s Yang. Her Yin is now Yoga which has balanced her life beautifully. Her heart and passion to guide people through movement shines forth as she brings an energy that inspires people to move.
Join Alicia Thursday evenings for Aerial Decompression &
Beginner Series Oct 3rd-24th, 2024 rsvp on the schedule
MEG HALL, aerial yoga
After years of enjoying aerial practice, Meg completed her Aerial Yoga Teacher Training here in 2022 and her 200 Hour Yoga teaching certification with Maine Yogafest School of Yoga in the spring of 2023. Meg was a hip hop dancer dance instructor and brings years of teaching experience to her aerial classes. She is also an LCSW in private practice here in South Portland. Her life experience includes living and working abroad, service in the Peace Corps, and many years as social worker in a healthcare environment.
Meg’s workshops and classes reflect her vibrant, bright, outgoing style and Virgo attention to detail. Meg welcomes all levels & is available for private sessions. She teaches Vinyasa flow & Aerial Yoga & is offering Aerial class 7:30-8:30 am on Thursdays starting September 5th.
caren welker, aerial yoga
Caren has been practicing vinyasa and power yoga regularly since 2016, and started aerial yoga weekly in 2021 while living in Alexandria, Virginia. When moving to Maine in 2022, an aerial yoga studio was more important to locate than the Trader Joes. She was so excited to find Leaping Waters and immediately joined the community as a regular. A year later, she took the opportunity to complete aerial teaching training with Robin and grow her experience further.
Yoga has taught Caren so much about her own body, how it moves (and doesn't move) and what it's capable of. Aerial takes this to new levels, literally, and adds an extra layer of fun as well. Caren's favorite things to do in aerial are climbs and core work - but on harder days, there's nothing like being gently held in the fabric and letting go of that muscle tension. Caren fosters a safe environment of playfulness and small challenges that get you out of your day-to-day headspace to leave you feeling both strong and refreshed.
Caren currently teaches on Mondays at 5:30 pm & specializes in our themed classes, beginner series & intermediate aerial.
Melora gregory, Yoga & Yamuna ball rolling
Melora Gregory has enjoyed passionately teaching alignment based Yoga since 1993 and is registered with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 500. Melora co-created a 2 credit course at USM, which she taught for 5 years, entitled Yoga and Feminism. She is a member of Sea Change Yoga, a non-profit bringing yoga to underserved populations. Melora taught Yoga and Yamuna Body Rolling® for 8 years at a designated Trauma Informed Yoga Studio in Maine and at Portland Yoga Studio for 20 years, owning the studio for 4 of them. Melora has been teaching yoga and mindfulness practices to Seniors at Woodfords Church in Portland since 2015.
Practicing Yamuna Body Rolling® since 2003, Melora certified to teach YBR® in 2009, and was impressed with the therapeutic benefits of the deep tissue release and creation of space in the joints. Inspired to further train in the YBR® method she completed the Foot Fitness Certification in 2011, and the Advanced Ball Certification in 2012. Every second year she certifies in various areas including Pelvic Floor, Organ Systems and Deeper Hip Work and is continually amazed at the pain relief experienced by her clients with this body work.
Melora currently teaches both Yoga and Yamuna Body Rolling® classes online, privately, and in person at Leaping Waters in South Portland.
Melora offers a skillful yoga class for all levels on Tuesday mornings.
RACHEL RIVERA, SOUND & REIKI
Rachel is an intuitive sound healer & her voice is her primary instrument. She earned her BA in Opera Performance and is currently working on her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing.
In June 2019, Rachel attended a weekend-long sound healing class conducted by Rich Goodhart, where she was able to connect to the intentions of different people and allow her voice to flow the way it needed to for the particular person's healing. This weekend in particular, inspired her interest in the true healing power of her voice.
Rachel Rivera is Reiki I, Reiki II, and Reiki III certified through Brenda Colfer, she also holds a level I certificate from the Sound Healing Academy. She has taken the Awaken the Illuminating Heart class, audited Heart-Centered Therapy Class 1, took a weekend sound healing medicine expansive class with Rich Goodhart at the Omega Institute, an intro to craniosacral therapy and energy work with Kimberly Ann Egberts, intro to mediumship with Richard Schoeller at Lily Dale, dowsing for spirit class at Lily Dale, and classes one and two of awakening your intuitive and mediumship gifts classes with Kimberly Ann Egberts. She is also an elementary school music teacher.
Rachel offers Sound Baths with her beautiful vocals and other instruments and is available for private sessions here. Learn to Play Crystal Bowls and practice Intuitive Singing & Instrumentation with Rachel this fall.
(Sept 15th, Oct 6th dates)
Heather zachau, aerial & yin yoga, sound, reiki
Heather was introduced to yoga at an early age by her mother. She rediscovered yoga in 2010 and completed her 200 hour teacher training with Boston School of Yoga in 2016. Her intention is to share yoga with students, both young and older, to impart the interconnectedness of mind, body and soul.
Along with her 200 Hour certification, Heather completed a 95 hour course with Childlight Yoga, 500 hour training with The Yin Yoga School, Yoga for Athletes with Sage Roundtree, Restorative Yoga training Aerial Yoga Teacher training, Reiki 1 & 2, Crystal Bowl andLevel 1 Sound training here at Leaping Waters. She teaches Aerial Yoga here and at LL Bean in the employee fitness program and offers yoga to teen athletes.
Heather is a Gemini, an avid biker, hiker, skier, traveler & outdoor enthusiast! She leads Aerial Decompression and is available for private & group aerial or yoga for athlete sessions. Email leapingwatersyoga.com to book with Heather.
jess devine, polarity, massage, reiki
Jess has always appreciated how receiving body work leaves her feeling centered, calm, and refreshed. She fell in love with energy work through Reiki, which led her to explore Polarity Therapy. Jess believes that through regular body work, energy work, and self-care, we can achieve optimal health in mind, body, and spirit.
Jess grew up in a neighborhood close by and is raising her family here too. She graduated of Spa Tech Institute and completed the 600-hour Holistic Massage program with a specialty in Polarity Therapy. She completed an additional 35 hours of Polarity Therapy education to qualify for the designation of APP (Associate in Polarity Principles) through the American Polarity Therapy Association. Jess is Usui Reiki II attuned and is pursuing her Reiki Master attunement with Kristine Keegan. She’s been an aerial student here and was drawn to offer her services in this community. How nice to now have evening/weekend massage and polarity sessions!
Book sessions at www.devinework.massagetherapy.com.
Wednesday & Thursday evenings from 6pm-9pm
First and third Saturdays from 10am-3pm.
Jess is thrilled to be bringing Polarity Therapy to Leaping Waters and we are equally psyched to have her here!
SRI DEVI MELISSA UREY, sound baths, mantra
Sri Devi Melissa has forever been drawn to the union of mind and body in the present moment and the learning that can take place there. Coming from a background in theater and dance, she began sharing this as an important life skill with children of all ages through those mediums.
Finding yoga while in recovery from surgery, she realized that everything she loved most about teaching theater, she could share even more deeply through yoga. She completed her 200HR YTT with Aiyana Athenian and Krishna Perry at the ShivaShakti School of Yoga in 2016 and her 500HR YTT in 2018. She has done specialty trainings in Yoga Nidra, Pranayama and Meditation and Children’s Yoga with ShivaShakti and Restorative Yoga training with Margo Rosingana. A great lover of Sanskrit, yogic philosophy, and mantra she currently studies with Sri Vidya Ramananthan (Samskrita Bharati), Shantala Sriramaiah (Veda Studies) and Prem Sadasivananda from whom she received her spiritual name Sri Devi in 2017.
Sri is also a Reiki Master and Sound Healer and loves integrating elements of these healing modalities into her classes whenever possible. When off the mat, she enjoys writing, walking in the forest, birdwatching and putting her feet in really cold water.
Sri (shree) guides yoga nidra and offers other special events such as sound baths and reiki here at Leaping Waters. She will guide Sound Healing Practitioner Level training this October. Learn to guide 1:1 sessions with sound. And Save the Date December 21st for our Annual Solstice Sound Bath, Aerial & mat choices, with Sri.
christina guzzardi, reiki
Christina is a level II Reiki practitioner, career nanny, and cat mom. She discovered Leaping Waters in the summer of 2023 and immediately fell in love with the energy here. She began taking Kristine Keegan's Yin/Yoga Spa classes with reiki and chose to pursue her own reiki training. She is preparing for her master attunement and offering individual sessions on Mondays and in classes such as prenatal yoga. Christina is a nurturing presence and a wonderful, gentle person who can introduce you to reiki as a form of self care. Her time spent with babies and children informs her practice.
In her personal life, Christina spends time reading, embroidering, drinking tea, being around trees, and enjoying time with her husband and their two cats.
Book Monday sessions or request an alternate time with Christina by emailing
christinagreiki@gmail.com
Instagram.com/christina_g_reiki
bryson hopkins, aerial yoga
After years of exploring various yoga styles, Bryson discovered heated Vinyasa Yoga in 2009 and committed to regular yoga practice. Initially drawn to the physical benefits and the cleansing heat, she was soon grateful for how the Vinyasa flow helped calm the mind. Her spirit yearned to learn more of the yoga teachings, and with the support of masterful teachers like Richard Lanza, Stephanie Brown-Ford and Jacqui Bonwell, she came to appreciate the true and deeper powers of yoga.
A 2010 graduate of the Open Doors Power Yoga Teaching Training (200 hours) and 2011 graduate of The Sacred Seed Yoga School (200 hours), Bryson went on to take Restorative Yoga and Aerial Yoga Teacher Trainings here at Leaping Waters in 2021 and 2022. Appreciating that we are all just beginners of this magical practice, Bryson teaches an approachable class with a focus on light heartedness. She’s sure to offer you a unique aerial experience with options and postures for both beginners and those who like to try something new. Bryson’s Capricorn Sun gives her a direct, yet caring and compassionate style.
TARA MOULTON, restorative & skin care
Tara is a multifaceted healer, Reiki Master, Sound practitioner, Restorative Yoga teacher, and Esthetician. Tara is based in Kennebunk and calls Leaping Waters her yoga home.
Tara Moulton, Balance by Tara, offers a unique facial incorporating reiki and sound healing by appointment, evenings and Sundays 207-432-6845
Tara’s personal journey began with restorative yoga & yoga nidra. She changed careers and focus during a few years of private yoga with Robin. It’s only natural that Tara completed her Restorative Yoga teacher training here and leads 1:1 or small group restorative sessions customized for you. She has experienced major life changes during her journey and can help guide you through yours.
Join Tara for Custom Facials, Sound Baths or 1:1 sessions here at Leaping Waters on monthly Sundays.