Donna began exploring yoga as a teenager and runner in the 1970s . Yoga to music following a long run was a way to personal freedom of movement and release. Formal training came later ,in her 20s through the visiting Acharyas of Ananda Marga. Initiated and named Devaki ( mother of Krishna or – divine mother) Donna began teaching yoga and leading kirtans while raising her family of 4 from her home in the late 1980s. In 1991, she was asked to teach yoga at a women’s martial arts retreat which led to 20 years of martial arts training in both Kung Fu and Shudokhan karate. In her 50th year, the years of studying movement, martial arts and yoga brought her to her Maha teacher, Shiva Rea, founder of Prana Vinyasa Yoga with whom the rivers of her trainings blended into an ocean of discovery. She is truly grateful for the teachings of Dr. Charles Scott and yoga and movement mentor, Teri Vierick. Her other influences have been through the works of Maria Garre, Dr, Visant Lad, Duncan Wong, Mukti, Emily Conrad, Gabrielle Roth and Beth Rigby, creator of Yoga Meets Dance (TM).

Currently, she holds a 4th Dan in Shudokhan karate as well as a 1st Dan in Kung fu. She has a 100hr certification in Yoga Meets Dance. Donna completed her 200hr certification to teach Prana Vinyasa Yoga in 2011 and that year, with the help of her business partner , Marsha Munsell, opened Heart Stream Yoga. For the past 4 years, she has taught in her studio, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and throughout the community. In the Summer 2014 she completed SUP Yoga certification training through Lazy Dog Paddle Boards and received certification in water safety ( WPA) and offers paddle board yoga classes for a wide range of individuals. She is also certified to teach Yoga Trance Dance®, an integrative fusion of yoga merging to free flowing dance. Several immersions with both Mukti and Duncan Wong have added the knowledge of Thai massage and deep assists to Donna’s skill set during both yoga classes and in private settings. Always the student, Donna has rece ntly received her 500hr teachers training certification offered through Prana Vinyasa, and has just completed yet another 200 hr certification in Ayuryoga, a practice methodology rooted in the principles of Ayurveda with Maria Garre and Dr. Visant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque NM. Her love of Ayurveda, the science and medicine of yoga also inspired her to complete her certification as an Ayurvedic Lifestyle consultant.

Donna lives in Fairbanks with her beloved, Ron and blended family of five children. She is a lover of 2 small smiling dogs and a loud obnoxious Amazon parrot. She brings to her classes the wisdom of Ayurveda, a solid sense of grounding from which to explore full body movement, humor, opening assists, music and a positive transformational yoga “adventure”.