Melissa teaches a warm and breath centered practice that aims to cultivate the inner teacher, offering space for students to find it by listening with meaningful presence to their physical and emotional bodies.  Throughout practice, she uses the breath as a tool to anchor the mind and facilitate deep listening.

She finds her yoga practice a grounding part of her commitment to self-study, a lifelong journey of svadhyaya that brings her home to herself.  With athletic roots, she relishes working with her physical body to develop balance between strength and flexibility, sthira and sukha, effort and ease. Drawing on the elements of earth, water, air, and fire, she uses her observations in the natural world, within the context of her studies in yoga anatomy, to guide the mind in encouraging the body to find this balance. She finds inspiration from her adventures in the woods and on the waters of the Outer Cape.

She completed 200-hour training with Joe Miller and Muriel Murphy in 2014, and Yoga for 12-Step Recovery Leadership training in 2020.  Along the way, she has studied with many teachers, including Shiva Rea, Elena Brower, and Tias Little.