Director of the 200-Hour and 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainings at Nexus Institute. 

 

Janel (Schullo) Usry, Ph.D., E-RYT 500 is an American yoga educator, former Catholic nun, and co-founder and co-director of Nexus Institute Yoga & Wellness in Nosara, Costa Rica. Since 2006, she has guided 200-hour and 500-hour yoga teacher training programs, supporting hundreds of students in deepening their practice, discovering their authentic voice, and developing the confidence and skills to share yoga with others.

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At the heart of Janel's teaching is a commitment to helping students cultivate a meaningful relationship with themselves. She believes that yoga education is most transformative when it empowers people to trust their own experience, listen deeply to their bodies, and embody the wisdom they seek. Whether students arrive intending to teach yoga professionally or simply hoping to grow personally, Janel strives to create a learning environment that is supportive, rigorous, compassionate, and deeply human.

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With more than 25 years of experience in adult education, yoga teacher development, and private instruction, Janel is passionate about helping students bridge traditional yogic teachings with contemporary understanding of embodiment, learning, and personal transformation. Her teaching invites inquiry, self-discovery, and authentic expression, encouraging students to move beyond memorizing information toward living their practice with greater awareness, confidence, and purpose.

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Janel is a 500-hour Kripalu Yoga Teacher, a 1000-hour Nosara Yoga Institute Affiliated Program Director, and a Self-Awakening Yoga Teacher Trainer. She has been a member of Yoga Alliance and the International Association of Yoga Therapists since 2003. She holds a Master's degree in Yoga Studies and a Ph.D. in Educational Studies. Her doctoral dissertation, "Listen To Your Body First and Me Second: Embodied Learning in Yoga Teacher Education," explores yoga education through transformative and embodied learning perspectives, examining how students develop trust in their own experience and cultivate deeper self-awareness through practice.

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Janel is deeply grateful to have trained and worked alongside Don and Amba Stapleton at the Nosara Yoga Institute and is honored to continue their legacy of transformational yoga education in Costa Rica through Nexus Institute. Her greatest joy is witnessing students discover their own inner authority, leaving trainings with practical teaching skills, a deeper understanding of yoga, and a more trusting relationship with themselves.

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Teaching and Leadership

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Remote Adjunct Professor | Endicott College, Beverly MA | 2021-Present

• LST301: Yoga Theory Culture and Practice
 

Presenter | SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, University of London | 2021

• Paper presentation on yoga teacher education, Yoga Studies post-graduate conference.
• Round table participant, Yoga Studies post-graduate conference.

Co-Director | Nexus Institute Yoga & Wellness, Nosara, Costa Rica | 2017 - Present

• 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainer
• 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainer

• 500-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainer
 

Senior Teaching Faculty | Nosara Yoga Institute, Costa Rica | 2008 - 2016

• 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainer
• 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainer

• 500-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainer

• Self-Awakening Yoga Teacher Trainer

• Pranassage Practitioner Trainer

• Inner Quest of the Yoga Educator Facilitator

• Origins of Yoga, Lead Teacher

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Faculty Assistant | Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Lenox, MA | 2006 - 2013

• Kripalu 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training
• Self Awakening Yoga Therapeutics with Dr. Don Stapleton
• Frontiers of Trauma Treatment with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

• Trauma, Body, and the Brain with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

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