STERLING YOGA & WELLNESS CENTER
STERLING
Experienced instructor Sterling Painton is the owner of Sterling Yoga and Wellness Center. With years of dedicated study, Sterling brings expertise in adapting yoga to support balance, mobility, and overall wellness for all skill levels, all ages, and all bodies. Sterling offers a compassionate and tailored approach to yoga.
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Sterling is a Registered Teacher (500 YTT) and Educator (200 & 300 YTT) with Yoga Alliance. Also, she is a ERYT (200 & 300) with IAYT under Yoga Bloom.
She has worked intensively with Senior Iyengar teacher Manouso Manos, is a Certified Relax & Renew and Experiential Anatomy Teacher with Judith Lasater, is a certified Yoga Bloom Advanced instructor under Cora Wen, and Advanced Studies under Deborah Wolk, Elise Browning-Miller, Doug Keller and Rita Lewis Manos.
Sterling serves on the International Health Committee for the GBS/CIDP Foundation and is a regular presenter at the bi-annual Symposiums across the country.
In 2002, Sterling began teaching people with Parkinson's Disease and has been recognized as Volunteer of the Year and a frequent presenter for their Symposiums and various local chapter meetings throughout Pittsburgh.
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Initially trained at the Himalayan Institute, Sterling has continued an extensive and intensive path of study in traditional Yoga and healing arts. Learning how to heal her own body, Sterling continues to learn and share information to help others.
Whether you’re working through recovery from an injury, pain management, or are seeking a gentle practice to enhance your journey, Sterling provides a safe, accessible space for improving strength, flexibility, and mindfulness. Join Sterling for a nurturing practice that meets you where you are and empowers you every step of the way.
Frank
Frank is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-500) with Yoga Alliance in the Hatha tradition with a strong Iyengar influence. Frank's classes highlight alignment, focused movement, and creating an introspective space for students to learn. His approachable style makes his classes suitable for all levels, from beginners to advanced practitioners.
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Frank completed his 500-hour training with Yoga Bloom, Advanced Studies with Bekir Algan and Doug Keller with an emphasis on therapeutic yoga and meditative techniques. Frank has over 20 years of teaching/training experience in Powerlifting, Bodybuilding, Yoga and Meditation. Whether clients are looking to relieve stress, improve flexibility, or find balance in the body, Frank is dedicated to guiding them on their journey toward better health and wellness.
Brynn
Brynn is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) with Yoga Alliance. Brynn found yoga as a teenager in 2007, attending her first class at the Jewish Community Center in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. It is there she connected with Sterling Painton, owner of Sterling Yoga and Wellness Center and her teacher/mentor of nearly eighteen years. While she came to yoga seeking to manage her depression, it has also been instrumental in helping her manage chronic back pain from Scoliosis and to deepen her spirituality.
In 2018, she completed a 200-hour Mindful Yoga teacher training with Joni Staaf Stamford (Insight with Joni), which enriched and supported her understanding of pranayama, meditation, and yoga philosophy. She has continues Advanced studies with Deborah Wolk and Elise Browning-Miller through Samamkaya Backcare and Scoliosis Collective in New York, NY .
Brynn practices and teaches yoga that is driven by the style and teachings of B.K.S Iyengar, but is also informed by other movement modalities. As someone with scoliosis + hypermobility, the precise alignments and therapeutic approach of Iyengar yoga have been essential to her physical and emotional well-being. She specializes in teaching those with back-related issues, with a focus on scoliosis. In her classes, expect to use a wide variety of props for both accessibility and tactile feedback.
Tracy
Tracy is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) with Yoga Alliance and has been practicing yoga for over 20 years. She first incorporated yoga into her fitness routine for strength and flexibility, but in 2020, her practice became a source of grounding, clarity, and healing. That deeper connection led her to complete her yoga teacher training with Joni Staaf Stamford (Insight with Joni) in 2023, fulfilling a long-time dream of sharing yoga with others.
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Tracy's Energy-Infused yoga classes blend mindful movement, breath awareness, and subtle energy work, incorporating Reiki and crystals to support deep relaxation and renewal. She believes yoga is more than just physical movement - it's a powerful tool for balance and transformation.
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You can catch Tracy at the studio, where she shares her passion for yoga with the community. Follow her at @joyfulsoulpgh on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to stay connected.
Sarah R.
Sarah is a kind, patient, and grounded yoga teacher at Sterling Yoga and is dedicated to making yoga accessible to everyone. With a deep belief that the right words can help anyone understand, Sarah creates a supportive environment where students feel comfortable and encouraged to explore their bodies and minds. They have a degree in Applied Learning and Development and experience in the Tech world. Sarah is currently working through their 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Sterling & Yoga Bloom, which will be completed by Fall 2025.
Whether you're new to yoga or an experienced practitioner, their classes are designed to be approachable, focusing on clear instruction and mindful movement. Sarah is one half of the teaching team on the schedule known as "Sarah & Aaron".
Aaron R.
Aaron is a dedicated, enthusiastic, & compassionate yoga teacher at Sterling Yoga. As a neurodiverse nerd, they incorporate an appreciation for different ways of thinking & moving into a playful & supportive practice to help fulfill their students’ needs & goals. Aaron is currently working through their 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Sterling & Yoga Bloom, which will be completed by Fall 2025.
After years working in Tech & the Corporate world, with a degree in Electrical Engineering, they found in yoga a refuge for their body & mind, with a complimentary desire to help others find the same. Aaron focuses on making yoga approachable & is one half of the teaching team on the schedule known as "Sarah & Aaron".
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KRISTEN & ZUZU
Kristen studies therapeutic and restorative yoga with Sterling Painton weekly. She has also studied with Manouso Manos, Judith Hanson Lasater, Cora Wen, and Rachel Zinman, and is Reiki Level I attuned.
Kristen is a lifelong learner and educator who spends a lot of her free time studying dog nutrition, homeopathy, food therapy, essential oils, and other plant medicines. She also studies canine conditioning, anatomy, and massage. On the weekends, she is most likely to be found out on a hiking trail with her husband Justin, Zuzu (Teddy Bear Dog), and Barnaby (Australian Cattle Dog), or hanging out in the backyard reading a book and watching their Rhode Island Red chickens forage in the garden, or in Downtown Pittsburgh enjoying a Broadway show, the symphony, or a ballet performance.
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Kristen has CIDP and she is the Walk Chair for the Pittsburgh Walk & Roll for GBS | CIDP. She has assisted her teacher, Sterling Painton, at the GBS | CIDP Foundation's International Symposium in San Diego and Washington D.C., sharing the benefits of yoga for a healthy nervous system with her patient community from all over the world.
Sarah C.
After her time on the mat as a student at Sterling Yoga, Sara knew she wanted to become a teacher. Sarah is currently working through her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training with Sterling & Yoga Bloom, which will be completed by Fall 2025.
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Movement has always been an important part of Sarah's life. After training in Martial Arts for over a decade, she found herself searching for something different, and discovered belly dance and yoga. Sarah initially started as a student in hot yoga and vinyasa flow classes before finding her way to a more alignment-based practice.
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To Sarah, yoga is about the journey, as we are never done learning and changing. Yoga facilitates awareness in our body, mind, and in our everyday life.
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Sarah's classes are a blend of poses to help build strength and balance, while accommodating all body types and abilities. She enjoys breaking down the essence of a pose in various ways to make it accessible for everyone.
abbEy
Abbey began hula hooping in 2007 while in college at the University of Vermont and quickly found herself falling in love with the movement. She learned everything she knows through networking with other hoop dancers online and watching tutorials on YouTube.
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In 2012, she met Sterling and was given the opportunity to teach hoop dance at Sterling Yoga. Her early hoop dance classes were heavily focused on learning how to hoop on-body around the waist, chest, neck, and legs, and off-body hula hooping tricks. Her classes did not have a particular structure until she created her own format, SHOOP, during the pandemic.
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Finding herself alone in her apartment and stir crazy, Abbey wanted to find a fun way to move her body, sweat, and relieve stress. And without much equipment on hand other than her hula hoops, she picked them up and put on some African dance music and created SHOOP! By combining hula hooping with fun dance moves, footwork, and strengthening exercises, SHOOP is a full body workout that is accessible to all levels.
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Rather than being based on tricks, SHOOP is based on waist hooping, so once a student finds their center with waist hooping, they can build on that foundation and begin adding in footwork and arm movements. Abbey's goal was to create a class that was fun, accessible, inclusive, and body positive. It has been one of her greatest joys to achieve this goal through SHOOP and to share her passion for hoop dance with others.