Sonya Theriault

Sonya Theriault, LCSW, the founder of Well Within, is a psychotherapist and Yoga instructor . After years of practicing Hatha yoga, she discovered Kundalini Yoga in 2004 at a small studio in Montana while managing an organic vegetable farm. Sonya’s first experience of Kundalini Yoga was so impactful and transformative that she immediately fell in love with this powerful technology and began a daily practice. It wasn’t long until she realized she was healing herself, and she felt compelled to share this practice with others. Sonya began her Kundalini Yoga teacher training in the spring of 2005 and was certified as a Kundalini Yoga Instructor by the Kundalini Research Institute in January of 2006. Teaching yoga has always been a large part of her own personal spiritual practice, and Sonya finds it especially inspiring to see students transforming from the practice and finding their way to fully embodying and accepting themselves.

In 2012, Sonya decided to deepen her commitment to helping others find their way to wholeness and went back to school to become a psychotherapist. She received both her Bachelor’s in Social Work and her Master of Social Work degrees from the University of Southern Maine. She draws deeply from her many years as a yoga instructor and incorporates mindfulness and body-centered practices into her integrative-based approach as a therapist. Sonya has been trained in many therapeutic modalities, including:  Nonviolent Communication, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, and Level II EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). She is also certified in EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques/Tapping). Sonya believes that building self-compassion and acceptance are key components to recovery and wellness, and she works with clients to nurture and build these practices.

***In early 2020, Sonya began to learn that the founder of Kundalini Yoga was abusive to his individual students, to the community in general, and that he may have completely made up some/many of the practices he taught. In addition, she has watched many authority figures in the Kundalini community handle this poorly. Her own practice has moved away from Kundalini, and she has decided to step away from teaching Kundalini Yoga.

She will continue offering weekly online donation yoga classes which will be a culmination of all the systems she has studied over the last two decades - infused with breath, movement, and mantra.***