The Crewe
Held by teachers who have walked it.
Four resident instructors plus a circle of guest teachers, each with decades of practice and a deep specialty. They are Painted Lotus.
Founder · Lead Instructor
Clarissa Boggess.
A dedicated student of yoga since the mid-90s, Clarissa has 25+ years of personal practice and 17+ years of teaching. Her work blends vinyasa flow, somatics, nervous-system regulation, and esoteric wisdom traditions — informed by trauma-informed practice, accessible yoga, and energy work.
She came to teaching the long way: through her own healing, through the lineages she's apprenticed under, and through years of meeting students wherever they showed up. She is a founding member of PFLAG Tuscaloosa and a fierce advocate for children within Tuscaloosa City Schools. She offers privates, workshops, speaking, and event facilitation.
Training & certifications
- E-RYT 200 · 2008Yoga Bliss Studio
- E-RYT 500 · 2016Rolf Gates 300hr Advanced Vinyasa
- Restorative Yoga · 2013Skyla Ramirez
- Hanna Somatics · 2018Akasha Ellis
- Yoga for All · 2018Dianne Bondy
- Accessible Yoga · 2020Jivana Heyman & Amber Karnes
- RCYT (Trauma-informed kids/teens) · 2021YogaEd.
- Yin Yoga · 2024Yoga Renew
Tai Chi & Qigong
Rebecca Brooks.
Becca grew up in East Tennessee, an audiologist and educator at the University of Alabama. She started Tai Chi and Qigong in 2015 through the Tai Chi for Health Institute — originally to manage chronic back pain. The practice gave her something more.
She describes her teaching as "movement in stillness" — slow, attentive, energy-cultivating. Her classes welcome anyone who's tired of pushing.
LMT · ERYT500 · Reiki Master Teacher
Lynda Kees.
Lynda is a pioneer in the Tuscaloosa yoga scene — she opened the city's first yoga studio more than 20 years ago, when the practice was still a curiosity here. She brings deep functional-movement knowledge, alignment expertise, and yogic philosophy to every class.
She's been practicing massage therapy in Tuscaloosa since 1997. Her bodywork practice, Lynda Kees Massage Therapy, shares the Painted Lotus space — bookings at lyndakees.com.
Hatha & Vinyasa
Juli Mostillo.
Juli is a 200-hour-certified Hatha and Vinyasa instructor with a soft spot for yogalates and full-body flows. She loves finding creative ways to move the body — and finding language that lets new students feel at home in it.
A graduate student in speech and language pathology at the University of Alabama, she brings the patience of a clinician and the warmth of a long-time friend to every class.
Guest Teacher · C-IAYT
Gail Portrey.
Gail brings 40+ years of practice and a yoga-therapy lens to her workshops at Painted Lotus. Certified through the International Association of Yoga Therapists, she's trained in Therapeutic Yoga, Gentle Yoga, Yin, Yoga Tune-Up, Chair Yoga, Hatha, Vinyasa Flow, Yoga Nidra, and Pranayama.
She has studied at Yoga Blend (LA), Kripalu, the White Lotus Foundation in Santa Barbara, completed a 100-hour at Loyola Marymount with Srivatsa Ramaswami (a direct student of Krishnamacharya), and trained 5+ years in pranayama and asana with Lisa Walford. Her meditation lineage includes Deepak Chopra, Tara Brach, and Marv Treiger.
Gail's own studio is at gracefullyagingyoga.com. She joins us periodically for workshops, including Yoga for Osteoporosis.
Take Class
Find them on the schedule.
Live class schedule, instructor by instructor, week by week.
View the Schedule