Living with painful headaches and joint instability, Cynthia began studying yoga and strength training to improve her own well being in 2003. Wanting to share this same sense of freedom and make yoga accessible to as many people as possible, she received her 200-RYT certification from Feel Your Best (FYB) whose philosophy is the “Person not the Pose.” Upon graduating in 2005, she began teaching a gentle, benefits-oriented teaching style that incorporates Iyengar (alignment), Ashtanga (power), Viniyoga (therapeutic) yoga. Over the last 10+ years, she’s lead alignment-based, accessible yoga classes that balance effort with ease. She encourages conversation, individual discovery as well as ways to personalize the yoga practice. Cynthia’s worked with clients of all fitness levels, abilities, and ages.

Ever inquisitive, she continues her yoga education through personal study, workshops and conferences. She’s certified in Chair Yoga with Stacie Dooreck’s SunLight Yoga and certified in Core Functional Fitness with Hope Zvara. As a certified ACE Personal Trainer, she brings functional movements, postural strength, and healthy range of motion to her yoga classes. As a certified NETA Wellness Coach, she shares ways to add healthy habits and reduce stress in everyday life. She’s also a member of Yoga Alliance.

Cynthia holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Graphic Design from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. Prior to teaching, coaching and consulting full time, she worked in corporate marketing and communication departments in several industries for 23 years.

To give back to the yoga community, for the past 10 years she has donated her service and talents at Yoga Journal Conferences around the USA.

Q&A with Cynthia Akey

Q. How long have you been a yoga teacher?
A. I have been teaching yoga since 2005 and practicing since 2003. But I found my first yoga book when I was 13 and started practicing some of the asanas. It opened a whole new world.

Q. What areas do you specialize in?
A. I specialize in alignment-based practice and have experience teaching gentle, therapeutic, restorative, chair, yin, vinyasa, corporate, yoga for runners/athletes and yoga for beginners.

Q. What brought you to your current style of practice?
A. I came from a place of pain – migraines and joint instability. Being hypermobile, I sought structure and strength and was drawn to Iyengar yoga and its use of props to make it accessible. I am fascinated with intentional energy and breathwork incorporating these into each pose. As I age, my practice continues to evolve to better suit my daily needs.

Q. What can a new student expect?
A. A student can expect to approach each practice with a beginner’s mind and awaken personal “a-ha” moments. I specialize in uncovering the subtleties of asana, pranayama and meditation. In each class, I encourage discussion and offer moments for individual discovery so that each student may make the practice their own. To ensure classes are accessible, we’ll use props – wall, chairs, bolsters, blocks and straps. Mindful modifications and hands-on adjustments will be provided.

Q. What recent industry trends have you found noteworthy?
A. I’ve seen a shift from a practice of personal development and self-reflection to one of action and activism. While yogis are here to inspire health and wellness, we can awaken and transform our hearts, minds and community.

Q. What are your current wellness goals and how are you addressing them?
A. Balancing work and life. Too often we overextend ourselves to do more. Currently, I’m focused on mantra, meditation, pranayama, making time for reflection and some quality sleep.

Q. What is your favorite beautiful spot in Milwaukee?
A. I spent the last few years living in a land-locked city in northern California. I really missed Bradford Beach and Lake Michigan. I love to watch the waves and walk on the sand. It’s a great place to meditate and renew my spirit. I missed the seasons too – so it’s great watching the trees leaves change colors.

Q. What is your favorite place to eat in Milwaukee?
A. So much has changed in the past few years while I have been away. It’s been fun to rediscover the Milwaukee area. I really enjoy Blue’s Egg because breakfast is my favorite meal.

Q. What are your top three favorite things to do/hobbies?
A. I love to travel with my husband, spend time with my cat who behaves like a dog, and learn anything. I also enjoy being creative – with food, jewelry, graphic design, and event planning.

Q. What do you do to de-stress?
A. To reduce stress, I visit my “beach” – in person or just visualize it. I like to get some exercise – walking in nature, riding my spin bike, or practicing yoga and pranayama. I’m a fan of old movies and musicals. So a cup of tea and “Hello, Dolly” help me laugh and smile.

Katie is an ACSM Personal Trainer and TRX Level II Trainer. With each client, she has learned that a quality fitness routine carves the path to everything people want in life. More joy? Begin with fitness. More energy? Begin with fitness. Less pain? Begin with fitness. Focus at work? You get the idea! Her philosophy is that improving total wellness will open each client’s life to new opportunities and unimagined successes.

Katie’s energetic, thoughtful and creative approach to designing individual programs comes from an understanding of what it’s like to feel unhealthy. While taking care of others comes naturally, taking care of herself used to settle low on the priority list. Over time, her weight increased as her mind to body connection decreased. It was group fitness classes, yoga and massage that reconnected her to energy, strength and joy! In the five years Katie has been training, her knowledge and connection to fitness has allowed her to move clients toward goals in a way that is specific to their needs.

Katie works with each client to determine individual goals, abilities, experience, available time, budget and desires. She’ll provide positive, creative, focused sessions and integrate ideas for complete wellness into individual training programs. Start today and get to know the joy that movement brings into your life!

Q&A with Katie Hunt
Q. How long have you been a personal trainer?
A. Five incredible years.

Q. What areas do you specialize in?
A. I specialize in making fitness fun. My specialties include bodyweight training and TRX suspension training.

Q. What brought you to your current style of practice?
A. I believe in challenging myself to do things I’m afraid of. Believe it or not, it used to be the gym! Thankfully, when I began taking group fitness and yoga classes, I was welcomed, challenged and pushed in a supportive environment where I made countless new friends and built a better life! I’m here to bring that same experience to each person I cross paths with.

Q. What can a new client expect?
A. New clients can expect a carefully crafted session, an introduction to tools they can use for a lifetime and the satisfaction that comes from feeling strong and successful. Clients can also expect me to hold myself to high standards and be a constant source of up-to-date wellness information.

Q.What recent industry trends have you found most noteworthy?
A. It is incredible to see the fitness industry gearing up to teach people the importance of a mind and body experience. While I can teach anyone to squat, it is in connecting the brain to the muscle that makes the magic happen!

Q. What are your current personal wellness goals and how are you addressing them?
A. My top three goals are to balance high intensity workouts with a restorative practice, be able to do a freestanding handstand and spend seven minutes a day in silence. I attend a minimum of one restorative or yin yoga session per week, practice one or more of my handstand progressions daily and simply unplug my devices and set a timer for seven unplugged minutes in the morning. My planner has a chart to track each goal!

Q. What is your favorite beautiful spot in Milwaukee?
A. I love Atwater Park! The view of our lake, the amazing set of stairs, the quiet beach in the morning and the fun playground all make this my go-to spot for outdoor workouts and relaxing.

Q. What is your favorite place to eat in Milwaukee?
A. Beans N Barley is my spot! Variety, local, great people, healthy choices, smart portion sizes and reasonable prices all make this my favorite for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Q. What are your top three favorite things to do/hobbies?
A. Cartwheels, Aerial Yoga and creating simple five ingredient recipes.

Q. What do you do to de-stress?
A. Inversions, reading, acupuncture and thai massage are my top ways to de-stress.

Robert’s fascination with fitness started in the summer before freshman year in high school. That year Robert experienced a rapid growth spurt of six inches. The coaches wanted him to play sports because he was tall but because of his growth spurt he was very uncoordinated. His training started with weight-lifting, running cross country and training with the wrestling team. These activities helped him build movement awareness and increase his size, speed and strength. His training was so successful he went on to be a walk-on player for the University of Illinois football team!

With his degree in Industrial Design, Robert worked for a company designing fitness equipment. He was there for 11 years and came to appreciate that our bodies are the best designed pieces of fitness equipment. He left to attend the National Personal Training Institute. While there, he developed his philosophy, ‘Choose to move well, move often and challenge your body everyday’. His primary training approach uses full body, primal movements with resistance as well as other other unique methods, to help his clients move and feel better.

Q&A with Robert McDonial

Q. How long have you been a personal trainer?
A. I have been a personal trainer/fitness coach for five years. Before becoming a personal trainer, I designed fitness equipment.

Q. What areas do you specialize in?
A. I specialize in body weight and non-machine based training. You can accomplish strength, endurance and hypertrophy goals with your own body weight. I prefer to use kettlebells, sandbags, superbands, the TRX Suspension Trainer and the Rip Trainer when I do use equipment.

Q. What brought you to your current style of practice?
A. Having designed fitness equipment for 10+ years, I saw how people routinely discarded the equipment shortly after buying it. I also so how people became frustrated waiting for occupied gym equipment and being unable to take the equipment with them while traveling. I quickly realized that there was one piece of equipment, that everyone had: their own body. They just did not know how to use it. I began to learn and teach myself various types of body weight training, so I could show others how to use the ultimate training machine, their own body.

Q. What can a new client expect?
A. A new client can expect to receive a full assessment with an explanation of the findings and a road map for the fulfillment of their needs and goals. Clients will also be challenged to safely step out of there comfort zone.

Q.What recent industry trends have you found most noteworthy?
A. I like that primal/natural movement is catching on. If you can control your body, then you can control external loads and reduce your chance of injury. I also like that tools such a as kettlebells and sand bags, are starting to get programmed into training regimens.

Q. What are your current personal wellness goals and how are you addressing them?
A. My current personal wellness goals are to bulletproof my body from injury and to improve my handstands. I practice primal movement patterns to activate my entire body so I can move well and with intention. I also practice my inversions a little bit everyday.

Q. What is your favorite beautiful spot in Milwaukee?
A. I love being in and around water, so any place along the lakefront is perfect for me. If I had to choose one place, then it would be Atwater park in Shorewood. Not only is it a beautiful view of Lake Michigan and the beach below, but the stairs and the walkway are ideal for training.

Q. What is your favorite place to eat in Milwaukee?
A. Having lived in Florida, I love seafood, so I like Screaming Tuna for their sushi. I have heard that the Harbor House has excellent seafood, so I’m going to have to try them out sometime. Occasionally, I will go to Kopps for a burger and custard. You can’t eat perfectly all the time, haha!

Q. What are your top three favorite things to do/hobbies?
A. My three favorite things to do are going to auto shows, visiting unique architecture-both residential and commercial, and watching movies at the theater.

Q. What do you do to de-stress?
To de-stress, I love to listen to music while taking long walks with my dog.