Arielle | Erin | Kristen | Debbie | Meaghan | Mollie
Remembering Sheila
ARIELLE ECKHAUS WELCH, Studio Owner & Yoga Teacher
Arielle Eckhaus Welch is a yoga teacher, studio owner, and lifelong movement educator helping students build strength, ease, and a deeper connection to themselves.
Arielle has been teaching yoga since 2004 and opened Nahar Yoga in 2009, creating a long‑standing sanctuary where students feel safe to explore movement without judgment. With over 450 hours of professional training across Vinyasa, Prenatal Yoga, Rasamaya®, Baptiste Power Vinyasa, and Barre Above®, she blends alignment, breath, and embodied awareness into classes that are grounding, intuitive, and deeply supportive.
Her teaching is shaped by decades of experience in movement education and by her belief that yoga offers practical tools for healing, resilience, and presence. Arielle teaches to help others experience the magic she finds on her mat — the slowing down, the tuning in, the spark of aliveness that comes from feeling what’s happening in the body. She believes that awareness creates possibility, and that yoga gives us the ability to support and heal ourselves.
At Nahar Yoga, students are invited to let go of self‑judgment, practice compassion, and reconnect with themselves in a community that many describe as a “lifeline.” Arielle holds space with warmth and intention, guiding students through flows that often feel uncannily “just right.” She doesn’t script her classes; she channels what’s needed in the moment — a practice she considers both a calling and a gift.
Inspired by her mother’s belief in leaving every space better than you found it, Arielle brings that same care to her teaching, her studio, and her community.
Join her on the mat and discover what’s possible in your body and your life.
Erin Spencer brings a lifelong love of movement to her teaching. She began dancing at age three and trained in a wide range of disciplines, eventually performing with the studio company at Cathy’s Studio (later En Mass and The Studio) in Melrose, MA. She spent several years teaching dance to students of all ages, sharing her passion for expression through movement.
Erin found Nahar Yoga in 2014 and immediately connected with the studio’s warmth, community, and mindful approach to movement. In 2019, she became a certified Barre Above® instructor and later collaborated with Arielle to create Barre@Nahar—a class that blends the foundations of Barre Above with the unique backgrounds and intuition of its instructors.
Erin is grateful to offer a class that strengthens the body, uplifts the spirit, and reflects the supportive community she has come to love at Nahar Yoga.
KRISTEN WILSON, Bellydancing Teacher
Coming soon….
DEBBIE SHIELDS, RN & Yoga Teacher
Debbie Shields is a registered nurse and yoga teacher who brings a deep commitment to wellness, prevention, and compassionate care to her teaching. She completed her 400‑hour yoga certification in 2023 through Breathe For Change, a research‑based program that integrates mindfulness, yoga, and community well‑being.
Debbie met Arielle in the summer of 2024 while working together at a camp, where they quickly discovered their shared passion for yoga and holistic health. After relocating to the Derry area, Debbie felt immediately at home within the Nahar community and is grateful for the opportunity to share her practice with others. Her daughters are equally delighted that she has found a nurturing space to continue her journey.
Throughout her career as an RN/NP, Debbie has been drawn to the wellness side of healthcare—supporting the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of healing. Yoga has become one of her essential practices for staying balanced, authentic, and connected.
Debbie believes yoga mirrors life: each day offering something new to navigate, appreciate, or celebrate. She invites students to explore their own path toward steadiness and self‑connection, one breath at a time.
MEAGHAN CHESNULEVICH, Yoga Teacher
Movement has always been part of Meaghan Chesnulevich’s life. She first stepped onto a yoga mat during a college break, taking a class with her mother to maintain flexibility after years of dancing. What began as a way to move her body soon became a meaningful practice of grounding, connection, and coming home to herself.
After moving to Derry, Meaghan discovered Nahar Yoga and immediately felt at ease. She was drawn to Arielle’s thoughtful teaching, the emphasis on honoring the body, and the genuine sense of community. Over the years, Nahar became her sanctuary—a place to reconnect, reset, and breathe. She practiced throughout her pregnancy and beyond, even sharing family yoga with her daughter.
Life’s twists briefly pulled her away from yoga, but she eventually found her way back through hot power yoga, rediscovering strength and community in new ways. And in the fall of 2023, after years of feeling the quiet pull toward teaching—and hearing Arielle’s voice in the back of her brain—she finally committed to Yoga Teacher Training. She completed her certification through Power Yoga University under the instruction of Jean Donnelly.
Meaghan now shares her devotion to yoga with warmth and authenticity, guiding students to reconnect with themselves and find steadiness on and off the mat. She looks forward to meeting you on your mat.
Movement has always been a source of expression and joy for Mollie Gromyko. After growing up dancing, she discovered yoga and quickly realized it offered something deeper—a way to connect mind, body, and spirit. This connection inspired her to complete her 200‑hour teacher training in Isla Mujeres in 2023, where she immersed herself in mindful movement, meditation, and embodied awareness.
Mollie is passionate about supporting others on their wellness journeys. She weaves breathwork, mindfulness, and meditation into her classes, creating a space where students can explore, heal, and grow at their own pace. She has also led prenatal workshops, helping expecting mothers find strength, ease, and confidence through movement and breath.
Yoga has been a meaningful part of Mollie’s own path toward balance and well‑being. She is committed to offering classes that feel accessible, empowering, and deeply supportive—inviting students to reconnect with themselves both on and off the mat.
REMEMBERING Beloved Yoga Teacher SHEILA ALLICON… from Arielle
Sheila joined us at Nahar Yoga in the summer of 2013 after having practiced yoga and meditation for over 7 years. She received her 200 hour Yoga Certification at the Yandara Yoga Institute in Baja Mexico, where she was completely immersed in the yogic lifestyle. She began teaching Yoga in July of 2011, creating her own unique program which fused breath work, meditation, vinyasa flow yoga that often included qigong, spontaneous movement and kirtan. She taught corporate and private classes and a very beginner program for those who want to try yoga. She had been teaching gentle yoga and Qigong in the community for over 6 years when she joined our Nahar Yoga family.
Off the mat, Sheila was also a professional Life Coach. She created and taught many workshops and classes, facilitated success groups, did one on one coaching as well as group coaching. She worked in human services with individuals with physical and developmental disabilities in a day program that is community based and individual centered. She taught a yoga program for special needs. Sheila believed every body is the perfect body for yoga and encouraged her students to listen to the wisdom of their own body.
Sheila said, “The greatest payoff of yoga is not a deeper forward bend or the perfect tree pose. The greatest payoff of yoga is the newly born self that every day steps off the yoga mat and back into life,” and she found an intrinsic relationship between who she was and what she offered others through her work.
In the summer of 2014, Sheila’s health began to decline and in the fall she was diagnosed with ALS. She left Nahar Yoga to focus on her health, but practiced at home as much as she was able. On January 9, 2015, I held an offsite yoga event at Bien Soigne’s Salt Cave. When I scheduled it, I did not realize it was her birthday! She invited some of her closest friends to participate with her and it was indeed a special evening. I did not realize how little time we had left. Though speaking was difficult for her at the time, she was radiantly peaceful on her yoga mat as we practiced both vinyasa and restorative yoga. She gave me that sweet smile as I tucked her blanket around her for the final savasana.
When she resigned from her work at LifeShare Management Group, the president & CEO, Josh Boynton, established the “Annual Sheila Allicon LifeCoach Award” in her honor. He said it will be given to a LifeCoach who exemplifed what she did. True community, equality and harmony for all. In his letter to her he wrote, “I remember when we first met, your resume of past work said “LifeCoach” and because of that our vision and decision came about for changing from “direct care staff” to “LifeCoach” was born.”
Sheila changed me forever. She opened my heart and mind. She challenged me in good ways. She invited me to hug her before we even really knew each other. She was my friend. I was happy to see her joy when I visited her in November with my toddling daughter, then 20 months. Though I was leading the Salt Cave yoga event, I felt honored and blessed to be able share in her birthday celebration. I plan to offer a yoga benefit class each January to honor her memory; donations will go to ALS research and patient support.
May her spirit rest in peace and dance with fervor. We love you, Sheila!