Our Story
Longview Yoga Wellness grew from the roots of a deeply established community of yogis. Formerly Longview Yoga Studio, it was established in 2006 and is the longest running yoga studio in East TX. Although ownership has been passed on, the community stays strong.
Community is just a piece of what we offer at LYW. We strive to bring the teachings of a 5000 year old practice into our modern times and make them relevant and applicable to the wide range of students who are seeking out yoga as a way to enhance their WELLNESS.
Rachel Workman
Owner of LYW & Yoga Instructor
Our love of the practice and all of its gifts are what bonds us.
Meet Our Team
Rachel Workman
Owner of LYW & Yoga Instructor
Rachel Workman enjoys sharing her unique insight and experience of the yoga practice. She says, “It’s a blend of western modern day therapeutics and eastern ancient wisdom.”
Rachel began a consistent yoga practice in 2010 and joined Longview Yoga Studio in 2011. She started her teacher training journey later that year. She has completed a 500hr RYT with Yoga Medicine and is working toward a 1000hr RYT. Her years of study have included modules on orthopedics (spine, shoulder, and hip), the nervous system, mental health, yin and meditation, myofascial release, women’s health, therapeutic sequencing, and subtle body energies. Under the guidance of a master dissector and her teacher she has also participated in an untreated cadaver dissection to help her further understand the human body.
She is a Registered Therapeutic Specialist with Yoga Medicine. As the research into the health benefits of yoga so too does Rachel’s curiosity.
“I have a special interest in how yoga positively impacts our mental health and strive to share practices that help students learn to apply these ancient teachings to navigate their modern lives.”
Blair McCain
Yoga Instructor
Blair began taking yoga in 2018. She was looking for new ways to cope with the anxiety she had experienced from an early age. She was drawn to the healing and gentle nature of yoga for both the mind and body.
Stepping into her first class was hard but she realized that yoga was a practice that allowed her to be free from performance anxiety. Blair was able to let go of the distractions and feel rooted in her own body without the thought of what others might think. She could release herself to the breath; fully embracing the escape from every day scattered thoughts. Yoga allowed her to be present. Yoga helped her feel grounded.
Blair completed her 200hr-RYT and is certified through Purple Lotus.
“It is my goal and most sincere pleasure to help guide those who attend my classes into the present moment. Just as we are.“
Jane Henry
Yoga Instructor
Jane began practicing yoga in 2003. Originally it was an addition to her exercise routine that included weight training, spinning and other aerobic workouts. Before long, she came to appreciate the overwhelming benefits of a consistent yoga practice and yoga became her primary source of exercise.
She has been a student at the studio since it’s opening in 2006 where she began practicing Ashtanga Yoga with Karen Higgins.
Years later, Jane was introduced to Yin Yoga and its many benefits. She has studied the works of Paul Grilley, Sarah Powers, and Bernie Clark and has completed Paul Grilley’s course, “Yin Yoga: The Functional Approach” and recently completed a 3-day YIN Immersion with Rhia Robinson.
Jane is a Certified Restorative Yoga Teacher through Aura Wellness Center.
She has a passion for Yin and enjoys sharing this mindful practice with her students.
Mark Wisdom
Yoga Instructor
Mark Wisdom has had many careers before he settled on teaching yoga and administering Thai Massage. He has been a personal trainer, university strength coach, and a teacher. He even spent a summer training Olympic athletes at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs.
Locally, he has been serving Longview's community since 1992. For the past 12 years he worked to develop the senior programs at the Institute for Healthy Living while simultaneously founding his Thai Massage business, Integrative Bodyworks of Longview.
He has a Master of Science in Sports Psychology, B.S. in exercise science, and a B.S. in psychology, as well as a Masters in Arts in Religion.
He was introduced to yoga from Paula Stanton who encouraged him to become a yoga teacher. He went on to earn a 200hr RYT certification from YogaFit and a 500hr RYT certification from Integrative Yoga Therapy.
Mark was drawn to the more therapeutic and spiritual teachings that his therapeutic training offered and enjoys teaching a more restorative and mindfulness-based style of yoga practice.
Mark is also a Registered Thai Therapist and has completed many training hours with 14 different teachers and has traveled to Thailand twice for training. He has earned his Registered Thai Therapist and Instructor status by completing over 5000 hours of Thai massage sessions.
"I now have the pleasure to do what I want, and that Longview Yoga Wellness is a wonderful place to finally decide what I want to do when I grow up."
Terri Smith-Chavira
Yoga Instructor
I am a teacher. From my earliest memories, I was the neighborhood teacher. Ironically, I became a public educator and later a regional educator. During those 25 years, I discovered the practice of Yoga. I was blest with a wonderful teacher, Sally Delgado-Francis. Her teaching harvested in me a sanctuary which to this day is a place whether on or off the mat that I can practice balancing my emotional, spiritual, physical and mental life tossing the rocks in my pocket aside so I fulfill my true purpose on this earth.
Upon retirement, Sally encouraged me to become a yoga teacher. In 2017, I attended and completed my 200RYT with The Living Yoga Program held at the Ancient Yoga Center at Radha Madhav Dham, ashram center, Austin, Texas. Once again, I was blest by the tutelage of Charles F. MacInerney, Ellen B. Smith and several others who assisted with the training. As a retiree, I am a teacher.
Kate Day
Yoga Instructor
"We live in a world that teaches us to clutch." ―Madeleine L'Engle
Kate Day teaches accessible yoga that explores the art of letting go. She first encountered yoga after college but fell into a dedicated practice in her 30s and completed her RYT-200 certification through Purple Lotus Yoga in 2020.
As an instructor, she shares tools to help experience the truths she continually encounters herself: that time on the mat helps calm mental chaos and connect with self & spirit; that regularly linking breath with mindful movement results in a more intentional, spacious, peaceful life; and that showing up just as you are is a beautiful act of self love & care.
Kate is a Longview native and is especially interested in the ways yoga helps humans embrace acceptance and find resilience in grief & recovery. She has a day job in marketing at a local university where she also moonlights as an adjunct marketing instructor.
Ashley Shaw
Yoga Instructor
Ashley started practicing yoga at a gym in a small town named Colstrip Montana in 2007 as a welcome addition to her fitness routine. Her practice became more consistent in 2013 when she started practicing at a dedicated yoga studio.
She fell in love with the peace and tranquility that a yoga studio could provide and loved having a variety of styles of yoga to choose from.
Although Ashley had not initially sought out yoga to help balance the symptoms of her ADHD she realized that her consistent practice was improving her focus and concentration both on and off the mat. It was because of this that she decided in 2021 she would take an immersive 21-day yoga teacher training in Spain. She knew that living and breathing yoga every day for 21 days in a row would help her get deeper into the learning experience. She earned her 200-RYT from Green Yoga India in late 2021.
Ashley’s goal as a teacher is to share alignment and flow-based practices that help students strengthen their focus and attention, improve their overall mindfulness and leave them feeling rejuvenated and relaxed.
Rachel Workman
Owner of LYW & Yoga Instructor
Rachel Workman enjoys sharing her unique insight and experience of the yoga practice. She says, “It’s a blend of western modern day therapeutics and eastern ancient wisdom.”
Rachel began a consistent yoga practice in 2010 and joined Longview Yoga Studio in 2011. She started her teacher training journey later that year. She has completed a 500hr RYT with Yoga Medicine and is working toward a 1000hr RYT. Her years of study have included modules on orthopedics (spine, shoulder, and hip), the nervous system, mental health, yin and meditation, myofascial release, women’s health, therapeutic sequencing, and subtle body energies. Under the guidance of a master dissector and her teacher she has also participated in an untreated cadaver dissection to help her further understand the human body.
She is a Registered Therapeutic Specialist with Yoga Medicine. As the research into the health benefits of yoga so too does Rachel’s curiosity.
“I have a special interest in how yoga positively impacts our mental health and strive to share practices that help students learn to apply these ancient teachings to navigate their modern lives.”
Blair McCain
Yoga Instructor
Blair began taking yoga in 2018. She was looking for new ways to cope with the anxiety she had experienced from an early age. She was drawn to the healing and gentle nature of yoga for both the mind and body.
Stepping into her first class was hard but she realized that yoga was a practice that allowed her to be free from performance anxiety. Blair was able to let go of the distractions and feel rooted in her own body without the thought of what others might think. She could release herself to the breath; fully embracing the escape from every day scattered thoughts. Yoga allowed her to be present. Yoga helped her feel grounded.
Blair completed her 200hr-RYT and is certified through Purple Lotus.
“It is my goal and most sincere pleasure to help guide those who attend my classes into the present moment. Just as we are.“
Jane Henry
Yoga Instructor
Jane began practicing yoga in 2003. Originally it was an addition to her exercise routine that included weight training, spinning and other aerobic workouts. Before long, she came to appreciate the overwhelming benefits of a consistent yoga practice and yoga became her primary source of exercise.
She has been a student at the studio since it’s opening in 2006 where she began practicing Ashtanga Yoga with Karen Higgins.
Years later, Jane was introduced to Yin Yoga and its many benefits. She has studied the works of Paul Grilley, Sarah Powers, and Bernie Clark and has completed Paul Grilley’s course, “Yin Yoga: The Functional Approach” and recently completed a 3-day YIN Immersion with Rhia Robinson.
Jane is a Certified Restorative Yoga Teacher through Aura Wellness Center.
She has a passion for Yin and enjoys sharing this mindful practice with her students.
Mark Wisdom
Yoga Instructor
Mark Wisdom has had many careers before he settled on teaching yoga and administering Thai Massage. He has been a personal trainer, university strength coach, and a teacher. He even spent a summer training Olympic athletes at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs.
Locally, he has been serving Longview's community since 1992. For the past 12 years he worked to develop the senior programs at the Institute for Healthy Living while simultaneously founding his Thai Massage business, Integrative Bodyworks of Longview.
He has a Master of Science in Sports Psychology, B.S. in exercise science, and a B.S. in psychology, as well as a Masters in Arts in Religion.
He was introduced to yoga from Paula Stanton who encouraged him to become a yoga teacher. He went on to earn a 200hr RYT certification from YogaFit and a 500hr RYT certification from Integrative Yoga Therapy.
Mark was drawn to the more therapeutic and spiritual teachings that his therapeutic training offered and enjoys teaching a more restorative and mindfulness-based style of yoga practice.
Mark is also a Registered Thai Therapist and has completed many training hours with 14 different teachers and has traveled to Thailand twice for training. He has earned his Registered Thai Therapist and Instructor status by completing over 5000 hours of Thai massage sessions.
"I now have the pleasure to do what I want, and that Longview Yoga Wellness is a wonderful place to finally decide what I want to do when I grow up."
Terri Smith-Chavira
Yoga Instructor
I am a teacher. From my earliest memories, I was the neighborhood teacher. Ironically, I became a public educator and later a regional educator. During those 25 years, I discovered the practice of Yoga. I was blest with a wonderful teacher, Sally Delgado-Francis. Her teaching harvested in me a sanctuary which to this day is a place whether on or off the mat that I can practice balancing my emotional, spiritual, physical and mental life tossing the rocks in my pocket aside so I fulfill my true purpose on this earth.
Upon retirement, Sally encouraged me to become a yoga teacher. In 2017, I attended and completed my 200RYT with The Living Yoga Program held at the Ancient Yoga Center at Radha Madhav Dham, ashram center, Austin, Texas. Once again, I was blest by the tutelage of Charles F. MacInerney, Ellen B. Smith and several others who assisted with the training. As a retiree, I am a teacher.
Kate Day
Yoga Instructor
Kate Day teaches accessible yoga that explores the art of letting go. She first encountered yoga after college but fell into a dedicated practice in her 30s and completed her RYT-200 certification through Purple Lotus Yoga in 2020.
As an instructor, she shares tools to help experience the truths she continually encounters herself: that time on the mat helps calm mental chaos and connect with self & spirit; that regularly linking breath with mindful movement results in a more intentional, spacious, peaceful life; and that showing up just as you are is a beautiful act of self love & care.
Kate is a Longview native and is especially interested in the ways yoga helps humans embrace acceptance and find resilience in grief & recovery. She has a day job in marketing at a local university where she also moonlights as an adjunct marketing instructor.
"We live in a world that teaches us to clutch." ―Madeleine L'Engle