FACULTY

Brett Sculthorp
Brett Sculthorp LCSW, LCAS, CSACP is a clinician in private practice in Asheville, NC. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), a Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist (LCAS) and a Certified Substance Abuse Prevention Consultant (CSAPC); and he has been a yoga and meditation practitioner for the past 30 years. His expertise includes working clinically with individuals and working towards social scale systems change. He is trained in Subtle® Yoga, Trauma Release Exercises (TRE), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (SP), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Brain Spotting. He includes these as well as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Internal Family Systems, and Transpersonal Psychotherapy in his work. Brett’s clinical areas of focus include trauma and addictions, anxiety, depression, loss and grief, and chronic pain. He works with Individual adults and teens, couples, and groups. Brett is the western North Carolina prevention specialist representative for the NC State Commission for Mental Health Substance Abuse and Developmental Disabilities. He has a passion for integrating ethics, education, economy, and health into systems change strategies at the community scale. His articles have appeared in Yoga Therapy Today and the Journal of Futures Studies.

Ashley Lester
Ashley Lester, LISW-CP, eRYT200 has been practicing clinical social work since graduating with a master’s degree in social work from the University of Denver in 1996. She is the assistant director of the Subtle Yoga Training for Behavioral Health Professionals through the Mountain Area health Education Center. Her practice has evolved around working with traumatized individuals and families in Boston, Asheville and the Upstate of SC in both English and Spanish. She has been a yoga practitioner for 15 years and received her 200 hour yoga certification at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in 2005. She currently integrates yoga through the Employee Assistance Program and Hospice for the Greenville Health System.

Marek Sawicki
Marek Sawicki BA. CAyu. LMBT (NC #7858) eRYT500 is currently co – director of Living Alchemy Healthcare. He is a graduate of the Ayurvedic Institute and has completed a two year clinical internship in Pancha karma and internal medicine under Dr. Alekananda Devi. Marek’s 18 years of combined yoga therapy, bodywork, and Ayurvedic medical experience invoke deeply transformational workshops that touch the true heart of healing and inspire students to carry on the living art of Ayurveda in their daily lives. He is currently the Director and Lead Instructor of Therapeutic Massage at AB-TECH (Asheville campus) for the Associate degree program, and has taught many weekend workshops in Viniyoga therapy and is currently a lead instructor of Therapeutic Yoga Training for Subtle Yoga.

Eric Seiler
Eric Seiler is a teacher for the 500 hour Subtle® Yoga Therapeutic Certification Program. He teaches weekly classes, personal yoga training, and basic and advanced-level yoga teacher-training programs and workshops in and around Asheville, North Carolina. Eric Seiler began practicing yoga in 1995. Coming from the “meditation in motion” style of Kripalu yoga, Eric began teaching yoga in 2001. In 2005, Eric went to The Guild for Structural Integration in Boulder, Colorado to study the pioneering original bodywork method of Dr. Ida P. Rolf.

Charles Staubs
Charles Staubs, D.O., is the science adviser for Subtle Yoga. He graduated from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – School of Osteopathic Medicine in 1988. He completed a Residency in Family Medicine at Beaver Medical Center in Beaver, Pennsylvania in 1991, and practiced family medicine for 22 years in Virginia, Maryland, and Wisconsin. In 2013 he became disabled by chronic migraines. Dr. Staubs started practicing yoga in 2011 to cope with his migraine pain, and has found it to be vital to the management of this chronic condition. He believes that a complete yoga practice, which includes postures, breathing, meditation, and philosophy, is an essential self-care toolbox. He has extensively examined the scientific literature which supports this concept, showing that yoga works on multiple body systems to optimize health, increase resilience, reduce stress, and decrease suffering from chronic pain and illness. Dr. Staubs completed the Viniyoga 500 hour Foundations Program for Yoga Therapy led by Gary Kraftsow in 2015. He practices yoga daily.