Melissa Hanna Yoga

“Like many yogis, I found yoga during a difficult phase of life. It soothed me, helped me heal, gave me hope, taught me to shift my perspective, taught me to let go, and most importantly, taught me to love myself. Over the years my mat has become my heart’s home. It absorbs my sweat, my tears, bears witness to my struggles, my accomplishments, and growth. There is no ceiling to hit in yoga, the lessons are endless.”

-Melissa

A Bay Area native, Melissa’s yoga path began when she the joined the Just Be Yoga community as a student in 2012.  As she deepened her practice and her ties to the community grew, her path led her to Just Be Yoga’s 200 hour teacher certification program, which she completed in December 2014.  In 2019, she completed Jessica Micheletti’s 300 hour teacher certification program, The Path to Joy.  Melissa also completed Dragonfly Wellness’ Yin certification program in 2019 with Suzanna Spring.  Melissa is now a Yoga Alliance registered E-RYT® 500, YACEP®. Melissa is also a certified  ThetaHealer®, having completed her ThetaHealing® certification program in Basic DNA.

In 2022, Just Be Yoga sadly closed its doors. Melissa was invited into Joya Yoga’s community and has been teaching at Joya in Pleasanton and Livermore since January 2023. She created and led the assisting program at Joya, facilitates modules for their 200 hour training, and co-created a 300 Hour Teacher Training for Joya. Look for details soon!

Melissa has a special love and intuition for providing healing, hands-on assists in class. Whether it is to help a student find a pose, deepen a pose, or just spread some love, assisting brings her as much joy as practicing and teaching.

Trusting the Process

It’s easy to have faith when everything is going great.  It’s easy to recognize your manifestations and dreams coming to fruition when it’s all positive.  But when things get a little dark, do you lose hope?  Do you start to doubt yourself in times of trouble?

I have felt like I was walking fast on a people mover for the last several years.  You know, the kind you see at the airport.  Some people choose not to get on them at all.  Others get on them and stand, moving even slower than the people who are walking.  But, if you get on them and walk, you get to where you are going much faster.  Who is to say which option is better, but I’m definitely one of the people who walks on them.  I digress.

In the last several years I have experienced many of my deepest dreams and desires coming true.  I met an amazing man who I travelled to foreign countries with, where he pulled out a ring and asked me to marry him.  We married, found the home of our dreams and bought it (all in the same month).  I started following my passion by teaching more and more and working in the office less and less.  I attended workshops, retreats, sacred circles.  I felt I had a handle on it all.  Life was blissful and I deserved it.  Earned it, even.

And then life handed me a challenge.   The challenge contained seeds.  The seeds were those of doubt, negativity, scarcity, jealousy, and insecurity.  And while I did my best to hold the seeds in my hand, like sand, a few fell into the soil of my subconscious and sprouted.  And, I, in turn, proceeded to water them.  I began to doubt everything I knew to be true in my heart, just weeks prior.  I began to doubt all I had learned on my journey, everything I considered sacred.

My first instinct was to retreat, to hide, so no one would discover what a fraud I was.  Exhausted, I dragged myself to a yoga class at Just Be Yoga, where a few years before, I had completed my teacher training.  It was one of those classes where, at the end, you can’t recall exactly what happened, but whatever happened was magical.

I remembered something my teacher and friend Jenni once told me, “We must face the light and leave the shadows behind.”  Simple, yet profound.  From that moment, on, I decided to face the light again and EVERYTHING shifted.

Looking back, I can see the seeds I had been handed were watered by my wavering faith.  But my path was progressing exactly the way it was meant to.  And that doesn’t always look the way we think it will or think we want it to.  So, I take a deep breath and trust.