About Stephanie
Stephanie Congo is a yoga therapist, energy practitioner and mindfulness consultant based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. She is an expert in the mind body connection and shares her passion for yoga movement, mindfulness tools and energy medicine as an insightful instructor and healer. She loves bringing diverse groups together and building community. Stephanie is also a national presenter on topics ranging from health and wellbeing to environmental water quality to strategic leadership skills.
Stephanie first began Pilates, Bikram and Vinyasa yoga classes over 20 years ago in Vermont to complement her civil and environmental engineering career and mountain climbing adventures. After in-depth studies in the yoga and
healing arts fields, she established a private practice. Her
first 200 hour yoga teacher training was with Jaguar Vinyasa Yoga in Massachusetts, culminating today with over 3000 hours of advanced yoga and subtle energy body training. Her professional practice guides and supports people to wellbeing with a therapeutic and gentle approach.
From experiencing various traumas in her life, she has a deeper understanding of healing by direct experience and by observation. In 2017, her world was literally turned upside down from a fall on her head. As part of her traumatic brain injury (TBI) healing, she completed a 500 hour training in yoga therapy, specialty trainings with Love Your Brain (LYB) and began teaching yoga to underserved populations. In 2022, she was awarded an International Yoga Alliance Foundation Grant to expand her therapeutic yoga classes to the TBI support groups across the state of Tennessee. She was also nominated by the Governor of Tennessee in 2022 to be on the State TBI Advisory Council.
Stephanie now develops and leads virtual and in-person workplace and retreat programs, mind-body sessions for sports teams, yoga & energy blended movement, sound journey meditations, couples yoga, kids yoga, trauma sensitive yoga and chair yoga courses. She offers small and large group, private yoga classes and energy sessions. She also provides staff training for greater balance in the workplace. Stephanie's mission is to share her love of embodying yoga, sound, nature, mindfulness and other healthy ways of living through individualized attention, specialized and ongoing group programs.
Credentials:
BS Civil & Environmental Engineering, German Minor, E-RYT200, RYT500, CYT, EEM-CLP
Photo Credit: Ziggy Mack
Stephanie's yoga path started with Pilates and Power Yoga classes, with a love for active movement and exercise activities. She loved being able to jump off the couch and run 3 miles, swim, hike a mountain, lift weights, rock climb, canoe and bike. Her life was more balanced when she was fit and strong. Yet, her depression and anxiety ebbed and flowed. She soon found the more she practiced yoga, the more she couldn't live without it. Yoga cleared her mind and balanced her depression and anxiety. With yoga, she could live life with more ease and confidence. The itch to become a Yoga Teacher grew. Fast forward to Shamanic Yoga Teacher Training in 2011 with Jaguar Path Vinyasa Yoga in Massachusetts. Her quest for seeking out specialty teachers around the world has continued to give her the ability to blend unique yoga styles, ultimately teaching her own: "Steph Yoga". Stephanie's expertise is cultivated with well over 20 Internationally known Yoga teachers, with over 3000 hours of Healing Arts Training.
Her passion for healing expanded exponentially during her Peruvian Shamanic studies in 2011, instantly wanting to know more about the Chinese Meridians and how to work with them. She then continued studies in Eden Energy Medicine, Integrated Positional Therapy Alignment, Advanced ThetaHealing, Advanced Shamanic Studies, Yoga Therapy, as well as different meditation styles and spiritual paths such as Edgar Cayce and Taoism.
Stephanie specializes in pain and stress relief, trauma, autoimmune & thyroid issues, chronic fatigue syndrome, hormonal imbalances, fertility and postural alignment. She also works with a broad range of health conditions and those wishing to work with a spiritual coach on wellness, mindset growth and change. Stephanie relocated her Yoga, Meditation & Energy Medicine practice from Montpelier, Vermont to Memphis, Tennessee in 2015.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I do yoga?
Yoga clears my mind. Yoga clears the cobwebs. Yoga hits the reset button for me.
What sports, yoga, and movement styles have you experienced?
My interest in moving the body began playing T-ball on a boys team in elementary school as the first baseman. Below is a continued list of the primary types of movement and yoga styles that I have explored and trained in on my journey. Note I have taken thousands of movement classes from many teachers across the globe in more types listed than this.
1989 - 1993 Middle school softball, basketball, soccer
1993 - 1997 High school soccer, tennis, cross-country running
1997 - today Outdoor sports, weight lifting, stretching, running, biking, canoeing & kayaking, swimming, cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, rock climbing, ice climbing, hiking (the last two are my favorites!)
2002 - 2004 Pilates
2005 - 2011 Bikram Yoga
2010 - today Jaguar Path, Vinyasa, Anusara, Kundalini Yoga and Meditation
2011 - today Yoga Therapy
2020 - today Qi Gong & Iyengar Yoga
2023 - today Ballet, Pilates
