About the Practice
Yoga OM in Huntersville, NC
Yoga OM is a welcoming and intimate, membership-based yoga sanctuary in Huntersville, North Carolina, devoted to mind–body integration, spiritual well-being, and consistent practice.
Here, yoga is approached as a living practice—one that supports holistic health, nervous-system regulation, and inner clarity. Yoga OM offers a grounded space where students are invited to slow down, show up regularly, and cultivate presence through traditional teachings.
Where body and breath meet the wisdom of nature,
each practice sparks vitality and awakens the heart.
Yoga as a Practice
Yoga is the path toward freedom from suffering, illusion, and the limitations of the ego, leading to self-realization and union with universal consciousness. This is cultivated through disciplined mind–body practice, steady breath, and awareness.
At Yoga OM, yoga is not treated as a workout alone, but as a transformational practice that unfolds over time through consistency and care.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Yoga OM is rooted in the tradition of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, a dynamic and meditative system taught in the lineage of
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, who learned directly from his teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya.
Ashtanga synchronizes breath with movement (vinyasa), creating heat, circulation, and purification of the body, mind, and nervous system. Through regular practice, students develop strength, flexibility, stamina, and mental clarity, alongside a deep sense of well-being.
Traditionally, students memorize a set sequence and practice independently within a shared space. Later in Guruji Jois’s life, teacher-led (Led) classes were introduced and are now practiced alongside Mysore-style sessions.
The Ashtanga Method
The practice begins with Surya Namaskara A & B, followed by a standing sequence and one of the six traditional series, ending with a closing sequence.
The Six Ashtanga Series
Primary Series – Yoga Chikitsa (Yoga Therapy)
Intermediate Series – Nadi Shodhana (Nerve Purification)
Advanced Series – Sthira Bhaga (Centered Strength)
Advanced A (Third Series)
Advanced B (Fourth Series)
Advanced C (Fifth Series)
Advanced D (Sixth Series)
99% Practice · 1% Theory
Progress is built through lived experience on the mat, guided by breath and repetition rather than intellectual effort alone.
Postures are taught sequentially, allowing each student to progress at a pace appropriate to their body, history, and capacity—making Ashtanga suitable for beginners, experienced practitioners, and those with specific physical or health considerations.
About Mysore Style Practice
Mysore style is the traditional method of practicing Ashtanga Yoga.
Students move through a fixed sequence of postures at their own pace, guided by breath, while receiving individual instruction, adjustments, and support from the teacher. Each practice is given over time, honoring the student’s readiness and growth.
Beginners start with a shorter sequence, and as strength, stamina, flexibility, and focus develop, additional postures are introduced. In this way, the practice becomes deeply personal, sustainable, and rooted in trust between teacher and student.
Practice & Membership
Ashtanga Yoga is a powerful tool for self-transformation and is accessible to all ages, body types, and levels of experience. The greatest benefits arise through regular, committed practice, which is why Yoga OM operates as a membership-based practice space.
Students are invited to explore the practice through designated entry points and then deepen their journey through membership within the Yoga OM community.
For additional information on the Ashtanga lineage, visit kpjayi.org.
Studying & Working with Joy McLeod | Jyotirmayī Devī
33+ years of yoga practice.20+ years teaching. 18+ years in holistic arts.
International yoga instructor, Olympian DanceSport athlete, and founder of transformative movement and meditation programs.
Guiding students worldwide with light, presence, and embodied wisdom.
Joy (spiritually known as Jyotirmayī) was born beneath a full moon, a moment steeped in meaning and quiet grace. Her beginnings unfolded in a northern, high-altitude peninsula of Southwest Asia, where wide skies and ancient rhythms shaped her early sense of presence and devotion. Raised within a family of global service, with a father in Her Majesty’s Diplomatic Services of the United Kingdom, Joy grew up attuned to discipline, purpose, and refinement.
Immersed from childhood in ritual and mindful living, Joy experienced yoga not as practice, but as a way of life. Her journey deepened through yogic teachings and later through Dancing Yoga, where movement became prayer and the body a vessel of expression. This fusion naturally expanded into Olympian DanceSport, refining precision, strength, rhythm, and embodied awareness.
Guided by lineage at home—her mother as her first yoga teacher and her father as her guide in pranayama—Joy also trained under the rigorous tutelage of esteemed yogis. What began as family ritual evolved into a lifelong path bridging ancient yogic wisdom and elite movement discipline.
Today, Joy’s work honors the body as sacred, expressive, and wise—offering a living bridge between tradition and modern life.
Yoga a way of life …
Joy began teaching therapeutic yoga in 2006 in Rome, Italy. Traveling internationally to study and serve—including work with US service members—she deepened her practice, developing an integral training approach that empowers students to cultivate personal transformation while learning its methodology and technicalities. Joy studied and received certification under esteemed masters and continues to maintain a disciplined, lifelong practice, embodying the balance of wisdom, movement, and presence.
Olga Karmansky
is a contortionist and movement educator specializing in flexibility training, handstands, and contortion technique. She teaches online flexibility and contortion classes to students worldwide, working closely with yoga practitioners who want to expand their practice by building strength at end ranges, improving joint organization, and developing confidence in deeper or more demanding shapes.
Her teaching integrates contortion training, strength-based flexibility, and rhythmic gymnastics flexibility methods, offering clear, sustainable approaches to backbending, shoulder mobility, hip opening, and inversions. These methods are designed to partner with yoga practice, supporting long-term joint health, control, and confidence.
A U.S. Champion and two-time Pan American Champion in Rhythmic Gymnastics, Olga was the Official Olympic Alternate for Athens, Greece. She brings high-level technical experience into accessible online teaching for yogis, dancers, athletes, and dedicated movers.
Olga splits her time between Utica, NY, Fort Myers, FL, and New York City, and travels internationally to teach yoga-adjacent flexibility workshops and retreats. Her online classes make consistent, high-quality instruction available regardless of location.
She holds a B.S. in Applied Psychology from New York University and approaches movement education with care, clarity, and respect for individual bodies and nervous systems.