Susannah Beattie
Susannah Beattie, E-RYT 500, is an adjunct faculty member at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health where she teaches Yoga, facilitates workshops, leads Mindful outdoor programs and mentors in the Kripalu Schools.
She has been practicing yoga for 15 years and teaching yoga since 2012. Susannah's teaching style is soulful with clear guidance that leads the practitioners attention to the deeper layers of self. She is devoted to living and sharing the tools of yoga, meditation and spiritual teachings that empower and allow individuals to intentionally engage with life.
John Farrell
John is a songwriter, author and storyteller who has been working with children and teachers around the world for over 25 years. He is the founder of Bridges of Peace and Hope, and has visited more than 1500 schools in 25 countries. The songs he writes and sings for and with students and teachers promote respect, understanding, and working together. John greatest love is his family. John’s wife, Ann Marie is an elementary teacher and they have five adult children. John often expresses his beliefs in his song lyrics such as “There are common threads that bind us no matter who we are…” and “It’s the little things we do together that make this world a little better…”
Rev. Patty Fox
Patty Fox is the pastor of the West Stockbridge Congregational Church and the Canaan Congregational Church both of which belong to the United Church of Christ. She is married with two adult children (awesome family!), plays a lot of stringed instruments, is a teacher, preacher, social worker, and is quite fond of her three dogs!
Jude Harrigan
Rev. Katharine Houk
Belle Fox-Martin
Belle Fox-Martin lives with her wife and three dogs in Glendale, MA.. She is a United Church of Christ minister, a poet and artist.
Phoebe Williams
Phoebe Williams is a Certified Professional Life Coach and Spiritual Director who works uniquely with each client to develop the skills, understanding and confidence to create a more vibrant and fulfilling life. Her background includes a BA in Classics, an MA in Psychology and Religion from Andover Newton Theological School, teaching certification in Kripalu Yoga and in Co-Counseling, a peer-based self-development program. With her compassionate and perceptive listening, Phoebe helps her clients access and learn to live from what she calls the “place of beginnings,” the birthplace of personal autonomy.
Janet McKinstry
Rev. Janet McKinstry studied theology and the arts as well as getting a Master's of Divinity from Andover Newton Theological Seminary. She believes you cannot separate a person's spirit from their art. Art is spiritual because it is an expression of who we are and what we believe in. In reality everyone is an artist because choosing how we spend our days and how we develop is an art form. Janet paints, sculpts, and sews. Her passion is studying sacred textiles. The most important piece of textiles in the bible is a curtain; the curtain of the temple. This is the curtain that separates the holy from the holy of holies, a curtain that was torn in two when Jesus gave his last breath. It is also referred to as a veil in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Tempe Croke
Tempe Croke is a fiber artist and knitwear designer who loves to share what she has learned with others.Her calm presence and infinite patience make her a great teacher. She finds her favorite mediums of knitting and crochet to be a means not only for creating, but for learning new skills, building self-confidence, calming the mind and connecting with self, others and the Divine.
There is always something new to learn, which keeps her work endlessly fascinating. Tempe is the manager of The Warm Ewe, a yarn shop in Chatham, NY.
Cheryl Hutto
Cheryl Hutto is an accredited coach and grief counselor. She serves care partners and those on the grieving journey both privately and in group settings.
Her passion is to assist others in discovering deep compassion for themselves. She believes that touching our own hearts with tenderness and compassion is the key to living with ease and joy. Cheryl lives in Glendale with her wife and three noisy dogs!
Janice Shields
Janice Shields is an art teacher. She works primarily with differently abled adults.
She believes art is a way to explore our passions and abilities.
Janice has been an artist teacher at CATA for many years and also teaches several private students.
The memory board project is a workshop that she has shared with her CATA students. The results were moving, love filled and sometimes silly!
Our Teachers
Melinda Gardiner
Jude Harrigan is a life-long member of the West Stockbridge Congregational Church. Holding a Master’s Degree in Art Education, she is a retired educator, and taught drawing, painting, design, sculpture, crafts, ceramics, and art history at the high school level for thirty-five years. She currently works out of her home studio in North Egremont and focuses on landscapes inspired by both Berkshire scenery and world travels.
I am Katharine Houk, a mother and grandmother, an interfaith minister, and an artisan, living in Chatham, NY. My spirituality is deeply entwined with the natural world and the marvelous, surprising creativity at the heart of the Universe. It brings me joy to gather with others to explore creativity and spirituality.
Catherine Schane-Lydon
Catherine Shane-Lydon grew up in Canaan, NY and has been a performing musician her entire life. She currently serves the Bethany Reformed Church in Albany and plays and sings in many different styles. She directs choirs, has been music director of dozens of musicals and is the preferred examination pianist for the Cecchetti School of Ballet. She lives in Canaan with her actor husband ,Monk, and two goofy dogs.
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Melinda Gardiner
Melinda Gardiner is a registered nurse and certified music practitioner with nearly 50 years of study, teaching and work in integrative healing and medicine. Melinda was part of an integrative medicine practice at Camp Hill Village, Copake, NY for 20 years. She is a liturgical musician and cantor at Our Lady of Hope Church, Copake Falls, NY since 1984. She's the co-author of two books; Shadows of the Living Light and Five Songs for Therapeutic Musicians. She was an executive board member as well as the executive director for the Music for Healing and Transition Program, Inc. (www.mhtp.org)
Mark Longhurst
Mark Longhurst works for the Center for Action and Contemplation as Managing Editor of Richard Rohr's Daily Meditations. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, worked in Boston-based social justice non-profits for ten years, and pastored churches in the United Church of Christ a decade more.
In his personal life, he is committed to a new monastic "rule of life," enjoys writing occassionally through his Substack newsletter "Ordinary Mystic" and is a passionate fan of contemporary art. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts with his wife Faith and two young boys.
Eric Burch
Eric Burch is a member of the Mid-Hudson Valley Gem and Mineral Society. This year he won first prize at the Columbia County Fair for his jewelry. He has extensive knowledge of semi-precious gemstones and their distinctive qualities.
Lynn Carollo
Lynn Carollo is a health care professional who enjoys doing crafts (felting, painting ceramics, diamond painting, and knitting, etc.) During a camping trip, Lynn found interest and inspiration from nature scenes and “scenes of brightly colored skies with peaceful shadows of earth below.”
Donna Barrett
Donna Barrett has offered classes across the Capital District and at Columbia-Greene Community College. She connects to Spirit through dance. We will focus on our bodies physical creative center, midway between heaven and earth. Through repetitive belly dance motions in spirals, circles, figure eights and waves we will connect to the movement of the universe.
Dawn Collins
Dawn Collins is a certified Expressive Arts Therapist with experience in various group and individual settings in our community. She is also a Certified Music Therapist working in Hospice settings.
