Our Faculty

Susan Hamadock, LCSW-C, E-RYT500
Founder and Director
Silver Lotus Training Institute & Center for Healing Arts

Susan is the founder and director of Silver Lotus Yoga Institute. Her educational credentials include a B.S. in Dance, an M.A. in Human Sexuality and a Master of Social Work. She is an LCSW-C, a Registered, Certified Yoga Teacher, a Certified Yoga Therapist, a Reiki Master, and a certified Tai Chi Instructor. She has practiced and lived yoga for more than twenty-five years incorporating studies in Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Kripalu styles. She has extensive study in anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, and labanotation. She is a former professional ballet dancer and teacher of professional and college level classical ballet and modern dance. She combines these skills in teaching Yoga and training Yoga teachers.

Susan has been training Yoga teachers since 1994. Her style of yoga, Svadhyaya™ Yoga emerged from her extensive experience in psychotherapy, her deep love of the healing aspects of Classical Yoga and her interest in contemporary Body/Mind psychology. Silver Lotus was one of the first schools to be registered with the Yoga Alliance. Prior to moving to Rehoboth Beach, Susan founded and managed Silver Spring Yoga in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Jan Brunory, RYT(pending)

Jan Brunory is a native Pittsburgher who worked in the legal profession as a paralegal for over 20 years. She retired to the beach in 2000 where she and two friends founded their own company, Pane In The Glass Studio, LLC. Jan looked to Silver Lotus Yoga in the spring of 2007 to reduce stress, quiet her mind and enhance flexibility and strength. Jan has just completed the 200 hour teacher training course and is looking forward to teaching.

Kate Fitzgerald, LMT

Kate Fitzgerald is a nationally licensed massage therapist whose practice ranges from treating acute injuries to deeper work that allows her clients to focus on their embodied self awareness. Her motivation is to educate and assist her clients in the self-healing process.

Lindsay Fitzgerald

Lindsay's bio is coming soon!

Loretta Higgins, MSN, CRNP, RYT(pending)

Loretta is completing the 200 hour Svadhyaya yoga teacher training at Silver Lotus Loretta has been practicing yoga for the past 2 years. She has a Master’s Degree in Nursing and has been working as a Nurse Practitioner since 1992. She would like to combine her love of nursing with her love of yoga. Loretta lives in Lewes with her partner of 19 years and two beautiful daughters.

Kim Klabe, RYT

Kim has been studying and teaching yoga for 11 years, beginning her training in New York City with Mariann Fox. She has received certifications from the Yoga Institute in Houston Texas and Silver Lotus Yoga. She has studied many different types of yoga but preferes to concentrate on Svadhyaya with influences from other styles sprinkled in. Kim particular enjoys watching a beginner move from skeptic to believer as they find their love for yoga.

Stephanie Manos, RYT500

Stephanie is a Registered Yoga Teacher who lives in Bethany Beach with her husband Reber who is also an RYT. She is currently teaching in several locations in coastal Delaware. She works with people who are affected by cancer, is a Mentor with the 200 hour level teacher training program and is completing her 500 hour level training.

Marie Nye, RN, RYT

Marie Nye has a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and practiced from 1969 to 2000. She has been a student of yoga since 1994 and received her certification as a registered Svadhyaya teacher with the Yoga Alliance in 2005. She is a substitute teacher in the Bethany Beach area and has recently started a neighborhood class of "gentle yoga for beginners."." She is a mentor for the 200 hour Svadhyaya teacher training and is working on her 500 hour certification with the Yoga Alliance.

April Powers, RN, RYT

April Powers, a Registered Svadhyaya Yoga teacher, offers classes in the Washington, DC area, including a workplace yoga relaxation class. She is a registered nurse and has worked with people with cancer and HIV. She is currently a nurse consultant in the area of clinical trials ethics review. She has a degree in music education and has an interest in combining sound and music with yoga. April incorporates her experience in Buddhist meditation into yoga by emphasizing compassion and awareness.

Janet Silva, RYT

Janet Silva teaches yoga in the Silver Spring area. Janet completed her yoga training with Susan Hamadock in 1998, and has been registered with the Yoga Alliance at the 200 hour level since 2002. Janet is currently teaching yoga students "of a certain age" with "Manage On My Own" - a company that specializes in providing services to an older yogi population; let's say the students are generally 50 and over. Classes focus on breath, mobility of the spine and joints and building on each student's gifts of balance, agility, muscle strength, awareness and inner serenity. In just about every class there is a touch of physical challenge which brings laughter and a sense of satisfaction. Janet also teaches private lessons and one-time classes at special events.

Barbara Spears, RYT

Barbara has explored and enjoyed yoga since 1995. She teaches with enthusiasm and her classes have a compassionate and nurturing feel. She incorporates the heart qualities, such as joy and kindness from her Anusara Yoga education and the healing aspects from Classical and Svadhyaya Yoga study. Relaxation, breath awareness, building physical stamina and focusing the mind are all explored. Her classes are relaxing, fun and tailored to each individual's needs. "Yoga is the harmony of bringing the inner peace we feel on the mat into our daily lives."

Cyndee Trower, RYT500, RMT

Cyndee is approved by the Yoga Alliance as a 500-hour teacher. Her interests are teaching to special populations, and her yogic path is jnana and karma. She lives in Ocean View, Delaware, with her 3 Cornish Rex cats and has a large garden, including a meditation garden.

Marianne Walch, Ph.D., E-RYT

Marianne is a Registered Svadhyaya Yoga Teacher, as well as a certified tai chi instructor who has studied under Dr. Paul Lam. A research biologist by day, she is a senior faculty member at the Institute and an instructor in the Yoga Teacher Training Program. Marianne also teaches classes for people affected by cancer through the Wellness Community of Delaware. Her special interests include using yoga and tai chi practices for maintaining health and wellness and in recovery from emotional and physical illnesses and injury. Known affectionately at the Institute as "The Prop Queen," Marianne is especially adept at adapting yoga poses to individual bodies and needs.

Gloria Weissman, RYT

Gloria Weissman received her teacher training and certification from Silver Lotus Yoga in 1994 and has been teaching yoga since that time. She is a registered teacher with the Yoga Alliance. Gloria’s teaching methods are designed to quiet the mind, reduce stress, and steady the inner being, while simultaneously enhancing strength and flexibility. Her goal is to help students tune into the wisdom of their own bodies and minds and learn how to use breathing, asanas, and meditation to increase their well being. The yoga in Gloria’s classes is sometimes gentle, sometimes challenging, but always centered on the students’ needs in any particular class on any particular day. Special attention is given to developing strength and flexibility in the spine, abdominals, and hips and to learning easy techniques that can be drawn upon in everyday life. Gloria enjoys working with a range of students, including—but definitely not limited to--“older individuals,” adolescents, individuals with physical limitations and chronic illnesses, individuals in recovery, and pregnant women. Several of her students have gone on to become yoga teachers themselves.

Reber Whitner, RYT

Reber is a Registered Yoga Teacher who lives in bethany Beach. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Physical Education from West Chester University in Pennsylvania. He is a cancer survivor and also enjoys teaching yoga for beginners and sharing his knowledge about living a healthy lifestyle. Reber teaches "Yoga for Stiff Men" at Silver Lotus.