About Us

Valerie Kiser, Sunrise Yoga Studio

Valerie is the owner and director of Sunrise Yoga Studio and the Sunrise Yoga Teacher Training Programs (200 and 300 hour) as well as co-owner of East Coast Yoga Therapy. She has been teaching yoga since 1999 and became a yoga therapist in 2006 as a natural progression of teaching yoga and the desire to help students on a more personal level. Her love of learning carries her to study with the top teachers across the country.

Valerie’s first teacher training was completed with Cindy Dollar, an Iyengar-certified teacher in Asheville, NC. Valerie is a 500-hour experienced registered yoga teacher (500 E-RYT) and YACEP (Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider) through the Yoga Alliance. Valerie has completed a 1200-hour Advanced Teacher Training and Yoga Therapeutics certification from Sun and Moon Yoga Studios in Fairfax/Arlington, VA with JJ Gormley. She is an IAYT-certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT). Valerie is also a Certified Prenatal Yoga instructor, a Relax and Renew Advanced Trainer ® (Restorative Yoga with Judith Lasater), an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, A Yoga for Healthy Aging certified teacher, an Elise Browning Miller Yoga for Scoliosis Trainer, and an iRest Teacher-in-Training Level II (Yoga Nidra).

Valerie believes that yoga is a practice that allows us to take charge of our own lives through growth, balance, and peace. Yoga is an exploration that leads us to greater awareness in mind, body, and spirit. Yoga brings union, harmony, and joy; it renews our energy and restores our spirit.

Terry Brown, Triad Yoga Institute

Terry Brown, E-RYT 500, co-owner of The Triad Yoga Institute in Greensboro, NC, and director of Triad Yoga’s 200 and 300 Hour Teacher Certification Programs, has been a student of yoga and meditation since 1984. He is a Certified Yoga Therapist, a Certified Purna Yoga Instructor at the 2000 Hour Level, a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider (YACEP) and a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. His own experience with back pain led him on his journey to yoga and then to the profession of Physical Therapy. Terry is also a Level II iRest Yoga Nidra Teacher-in-Training and a Reconnective Healing Foundational Practitioner. Terry has studied with Dave Emerson, author of the book Overcoming Trauma through Yoga, to understand how to help students of yoga with PTSD. He teaches multiple therapeutic classes weekly including classes for students with back pain, neurological conditions, and students living with cancer. His main teacher and influence, Aadil Palkhivala, is the co-founder of Purna Yoga™. Terry has studied extensively with Aadil in his therapeutic trainings and served as one of his assistants. Aadil’s wife, Savitri, is his meditation teacher. Savitri is the founder of Heartfull Meditation™, a practice to help us reconnect with the inner light and love within us and remove the daily toxic effects of stress. Terry’s knowledge and experience as a yoga practitioner, yoga instructor, and Yoga Therapist supports his passion to encourage others on their journey as they experience the therapeutic healing effects of yoga.