Contact Us
For all inquiries, use the form here, or email yogaofthevalley@gmail.com
Yoga of the Valley
140 Pine Street, #10
Florence MA 01062
yogaofthevalley@gmail.com 617.828.9653
Lora Ksieniewicz
Owner/Director
Lora was born and raised in Northampton, as generations of her family were before her. She loves the Valley and is so honored to offer this practice from the former elementary school she grew up by. The old school (literally) chalkboards and wide plank wood bean floors are some of her favorite parts of the studio aside from the view out the huge windows of the treetops changing through the seasons.
Lora has been teaching yoga since 2006, with a focus on functional training that keeps the body safe, strong, and healthy. Her classes focus on functional movement to keep our bodies safe, strong and healthy, using the poses as a way to access our minds and emotions for release, healing and greater ease in the present moment.
Lora holds a degree in Holistic Health at The University of Massachusetts Amherst, with a focus on the Kinesiology of Yoga. She has studied the history and philosophy of Buddhism and Hinduism at Boston University, through Antioch University, and at Mount Holyoke College. She spent several months at the Burmese Monastery in Bodh Gaya India, studying the history of Buddhism and it's various traditions from both an academic standpoint and as a practitioner. She is honored to have studied vipassana meditation with the venerable Munindra-ji, and was able to test his patience with her many, many silly questions. Some of Lora's yoga teachers include Claire Este Mcdonald and Gregor Singleton, Sarah Powers, Shiva Rea and Baron Baptiste. She has trained within the Sivananda Yoga tradition in the U.S, the Bahamas, and in Kerala India.
Lora was the Director of Flexibility and Recovery for National Championship Amherst College Men's Soccer and Puma Peak Performance Camps, having worked with the team since 2010. She has developed a specific sequence of therapeutic yoga postures for athletes that helps maintain pliability, reducing non-contact injuries, and improving both performance and recovery time. In addition to men and women's soccer at the college, high school, and youth level, Lora trains college athletes in football, lacrosse, field hockey, baseball, and hockey at Amherst College and UMass Amherst.Lora earned her degree in Holistic Health from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, specializing in Kinesiology. She served as the Director of Flexibility and Recovery for the national championship–winning Amherst College Men’s Soccer team, and for over 15 years has coached professional, collegiate, and youth athletes and sports teams. She is also a certified Functional Range Conditioning provider.
For more than a decade, Lora has led retreats and teacher training programs across the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, Mexico, and South America, bringing her passion for movement, education, and holistic wellness to students worldwide. She is the owner and director of Yoga on the Vine (Edgartown MA), Yoga of the Valley (Florence MA), Aligned Pilates Martha’s Vineyard, Aligned Pilates Pioneer Valley, and Yoga San Kalpa Teaching School.