The story of Texas Yoga Retreat begins in 1998, when Charles MacInerney and Sharon Moon co-founded the Free Day of Yoga in Austin. When Sharon moved on, Donna Belk and Ellen B. Smith joined Charles in growing the tradition, expanding it from Austin throughout Texas and eventually to Los Angeles and Sacramento. That early spirit of collaboration and community service ran deep — together, Charles, Ellen, and Donna went on to co-found the Living Yoga Program LLC, a thriving 200-hour yoga teacher training school, and in 2000 they founded the Texas Yoga Retreat itself. Though Donna and Ellen have since moved on to other paths, Charles MacInerney continues to serve as Managing Director, carrying that original founding spirit of generosity and inclusion forward into every gathering.
Our vision is simple and enduring: Building a Caring and Inclusive Yoga Community. Everything we do flows from that intention.
- Welcoming every body, every level, every tradition — We create a warm and inclusive space where beginners and seasoned practitioners alike feel at home, with programming that honors the full spectrum of yoga styles, abilities, and backgrounds.
- Exceptional teaching from exceptional teachers — Each year we bring together an inspired roster of presenters from diverse lineages and traditions, offering participants a rare opportunity to study broadly and go deeply in a single retreat setting.
- Fostering meaningful connection — The Retreat is as much about the relationships formed around the edges of class — over meals, on walks, in conversation — as it is about what happens on the mat. We design every gathering to strengthen old friendships and invite new ones.
- Honoring a 25-year legacy of service — From the Austin Free Day of Yoga to the Retreat itself, we have spent over two decades showing up for the Texas yoga community and beyond. That history of service is woven into everything we do.
- Supported by an extraordinary community — Texas Yoga Retreat thrives because of the generosity and dedication of our participants, presenters, volunteers, studios, and sponsors. This is not just an event — it is a community that shows up for itself year after year.
- Sending ripples outward — Through the Living Yoga Program, Charles and Ellen trained, mentored, and certified hundreds of yoga teachers who now teach in 45 states and 15 countries. The community we have built here in Texas continues to touch lives around the world.
If you know someone who might resonate with what we have created — whether they are new to yoga or have been practicing for decades — please invite them to join us. The more voices, bodies, and hearts in the room, the richer the experience for everyone.
Continue reading below to meet some of the many behind-the-scenes faces who are part of our Texas Yoga Retreat Team.
Texas Yoga Retreat Founders
Donna Belk (co-founder of Texas Yoga) left the program in Charles’ and Ellen’s capable hands at the beginning of 2009 and has been greatly missed. Donna studied hatha yoga and meditation for more than 25 years. She began teaching after becoming certified from Barbara Germenhausen of Yoga House in Austin, Texas, where she also assisted with yoga teacher training there.
Ellen B. Smith, M.A., E-RYT. Ellen has overseen the comprehensive operations of the Texas Yoga Retreat for close to two decades. She is a certified Ananda™ Meditation Teacher and certified and registered Hatha, Vinyasa, and Restorative Flow yoga instructor. With a Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology and background as a diversity facilitator, she has worked for decades as a mentor to people of all walks of life. Her passions are teaching hatha yoga and Intuitive Mentoring, a name she coined to describe the unique coaching work she does. Ellen uses her own blend of deep listening, intuition, genuine praise, and quality resources to help others recognize and utilize their innately positive qualities. She has a passion for learning, and integrates information about yoga, qigong, health, longevity, disease intervention, nutrition, meditation, and psychology into sessions. She offers compassionate instruction with a touch of humor, honoring each student’s abilities. Ellen is Co-Founder, Director, and faculty member of two Austin, Texas businesses: the Living Yoga Teacher Training Program, a 200-hour Yoga-Alliance and Yoga-Register approved yoga teacher training program and the Texas Yoga Retreat. She lives in Austin, Texas. Contact: email.
Meet our Team for the 2026 Retreat
Charles F. MacInerney, E-RYT-500, C-IAYT-1000, is the co-founder and Director of the Texas Yoga Retreat. He has been a full time teacher of yoga, meditation and mind/body skills since 1989. He teaches ongoing yoga classes in Austin, Texas, offers yoga workshops at studios around the country, and leads Yoga & Meditation Retreats as well as Yoga & Writing Retreats throughout the US, Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala. He is founder of Expanding Paradigms through which he regularly presents at National and International Conferences, and offers training for businesses, hospitals, education and government. He has written articles for numerous magazines including the Yoga Journal.
Charles has created and run two Cardiac Yoga programs, for Seton Hospital and for the Austin Heart Hospital, and been keynote speaker for two Cardiac conferences sponsored by Seton Hospital, along with numerous other conferences around the country, including the International Association of Yoga Therapy conference in 2015 and 2023. Charles is Co-Founder of the Free Day of Yoga, Living Yoga Teacher Training Program, and the Texas Yoga Retreat. In addition to serving as director of Texas Yoga, Charles is also the director of the Austin Free Day of Yoga, and continues to offer his own yoga classes, workshops and retreats. Please visit his primary website at www.yogateacher.com, or contact him by email or text.
Megan Sela, our onsite Retreat Registrar, is an Austin-based artist, designer, and collector of strange ideas.
Part ceramic sculptor, part visual storyteller, she creates things that linger. Influenced by her studies in Florence, Italy, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, her work blends classical technique with a love of the eerie, the elegant, and the beautifully unsettling.
Whether she’s shaping clay or building brands, she turns ideas into objects, images, and stories people remember. In the studio, clay becomes artifacts from places that never existed. In design, complex concepts become sharp, compelling visuals.
When she’s not making things, you’ll find her on horseback, wandering mountain trails, or raising two delightfully weird daughters who keep life interesting
Jesse (at Sites for All Eyes) is our amazing webmaster. We do not have enough words to express our gratitude.
Meet some of our 2024 Ambassadors who greeted and assisted registrants during the retreat.
Monica Bonugli Hello! My name is Monica, and I’m from Spring Branch, TX. I’m an outgoing introvert who loves yoga, creativity, and bringing ideas to life. That’s what led me to help out with the Texas Yoga Retreat! I’m a consultant, coordinator, and enthusiastic participant, ready to lend a hand wherever needed. I’ve been teaching yoga in the hill country for 11 years, along with my best friend Winnie the Poodle, and we run a studio called Hand Craft Yoga. We offer classes, coaching, and retreats! I also work at OroBianco Italian Creamery, selling handcrafted gelato and cheese made from water buffalo milk. You can find me on Instagram at @handcraftyogastudio.
Christina Cohee Hi y’all! I am an Austin-based yoga therapist (C-IAYT) helping folks feel at home in their bodies and thrive—especially those navigating burnout, trauma, chronic illness, or mystery symptoms. I currently teach public classes, am a yoga therapy faculty member, see private clients, and mentor teachers and yoga therapists. With a warm, down-to-earth approach and tools rooted in nervous system science, somatic healing, and breathwork, I support students and clients in creating lasting ease, resilience, and transformation from a place of lived experience. I’ve been practicing yoga for decades, and feel immense gratitude at the opportunity to bring my gifts of organization, serving, and hospitality to the Texas Yoga Retreat. If you see me, please say hello! I look forward to sharing the full retreat experience with you, from nerding out to sipping a cup of tea. 🤗
Joanna Heart (MSW, LCSW-S, LADC) is a registered yoga teacher, hospital program director, and postgraduate mental health clinician specializing in trauma and addiction for close to 2 decades. She incorporates mindful movements and somatic work in her daily practice and with patients she treats for trauma, depression, and anxiety and weaves EMDR, CPT, ACT, Positive Psychology (amongst other modalities) alongside. Her journey towards yoga began personally at age 25 after a serious car accident left her with substantial injuries, and a friend lent her a few yoga DVDs to help. Through her practice, she learned how yoga cultivates awareness and inner peace along with healing her body and mind. As a yoga teacher, she found her true passion, sharing this journey with others and interweaving somatic awareness, breath, mindfulness and evidence based mental health modalities. Joanna fell in love with the Texas Yoga Retreat a handful of years ago and finds purpose in supporting this retreat and its participants.
Sherri Jares I took my first yoga class in 2010 and was instantly intrigued with how great I felt after. From electronics engineering to special education, I found my passion being in service to the yoga community at PURE Yoga + Fitness in Austin. I completed my fitness Inferno Hot Pilates training in 2019 and my yoga 500 hour training in 2023. I love the PURE and yoga community and look forward to participating in the retreat this year as a first timer!
Gary Kanaby As a CEO in the corporate world, I endured a lot of stress and practiced yoga asanas for years which helped me with some relief. I decided to attend the Texas Yoga Retreat not really knowing what to expect. It changed my life, bringing to me a new meaning of yoga. After retiring, I went for my 200hr yoga teacher training at the Living Yoga Program. Soon after, I began teaching in Salado where I now teach chair, beginner and intermediate yoga classes weekly. Last year I went to Bali to further my education with an additional 300 hrs of training. After my first time at the TYR, I became a volunteer. I love to meet new people and introduce them to the retreat or give them a hand if needed. I would like to meet you there. I enjoy gardening and continue as an avid endurance cyclist. I am fortunate to have been married to a wonderful lady for 49 years.
Renee Keeney I’m not sure when I took my first yoga class. Sometime in the late 70s. It was transformative! My practice became a way to find some peace outside the corporate world. It soon became a way of life (thank you Charles MacInerney!) At this time I practice a Bikram style yoga (Thank you Pure Yoga Texas for being epic!) It’s not for everyone (yes it’s HOT) but it calms my mind as soon as I step into the studio. I’ll be doing some type of yoga until I take my last breath. I am lucky enough to be retired so I can spend my time gardening, painting, going to the gym,enjoying my granddaughters and of course YOGA! There are not enough words to describe being a part of this retreat. I feel fortunate that I have been able to work with Charles and Ellen (and all the other amazing yogis). It’s good for the heart, the soul and the mind.
Mitchell Kelley I am a Texas native currently residing in Austin. I have been growing in my practice of yoga over the past few years with a longtime interest in meditation. This is my first year attending the TYR as an ambassador. I have been an aspiring musician and am looking to shift my focus to studying music therapy and sound healing very soon!
Erika Leak Hello! I am excited to volunteer at the Texas Yoga Retreat and look forward to meeting many of you! I have been practicing yoga for over twenty years and am also interested in nervous system regulation techniques and somatic movement. I live in Austin and love reading and exploring places near and far.
Trisha Leslie I have been an Esthetician specializing in naturally corrective skincare for the last 20 years. I have a diploma in organic skincare formulation and my own CBDA skincare line, Yelō Botanicals. I love seeing the results in and out of the treatment room and working with businesses to create products for them. I offer workshops where I teach people how to make their own products, like perfume and bath bombs. It’s such a fun way to connect with friends and get to know people more intimately.
I have been volunteering at the Texas Yoga Retreat since 2015, as part of my yoga teacher training. This wonderful group has been such an anchor for me. No matter what is going on in my life, every year this event is just what the doctor ordered physically and mentally. I look forward to sharing this experience with you, and answering any skincare and retreat related questions you might have! You can find me on socials @yelobotanicals, yelobotanicals.com or email me at hello@yelobotanicals.com.
Thea Luong What I love about yoga – to slow down and feel my breath, to tune in to the present moment – fully focus, at ease and relax, to cultivate strengths and flexibility, to open and soften the heart that may be closed and tight, to live and respond with presence rather than react out of fear, and habitual patterns. I love connecting with people, the outdoors and yoga. A perfect day would include doing yoga outdoors with a community and that is what Texas Yoga Retreat is all about. When I am not hiking, gardening, reading, and learning to play the guitar, I work as an architect, a project manager at Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Dixie Metz I’m Dixie, the owner of Your Yoga Studio here in Austin Texas. It’s my first time volunteering at the Texas Yoga Retreat and I excited to meet new people, have new experiences, and learn new skills.
Brenda Moore Hi all – my name is Brenda Moore and I live about 30 minutes north of College Station, Texas. I came to the practice of yoga in my mid-50’s and I remember the moment in a yoga class when I thought “this thing that is happening right now is for me.” While in a flow class I truly heard the powerfully rhythmic ujjayi breath, mine and the others around me. This warrior breath had been described to me by my teachers over and over but on this day, I suddenly felt the breath and with it a cocoon of peace and power – effortlessly swimming in still waters. This was my “ah ha”. I believe we all have our story and if you want to tell yours I would be honored to listen. It is a true honor to again be a part of the Ambassador program of the Texas Yoga Retreat. – Thank you! You will find me either behind the scenes (I am a data person) or on the periphery of the gathering (I am also an introvert ). See you soon!