Kristalyn Marie Shefveland, Ph.D., E-RYT 500, is an experienced yoga educator, historian, and co-founder of The Sankalpa Method, a Yoga Alliance–registered teacher training school based at The Yoga Space in Evansville, Indiana. With more than 25 years of personal yoga practice and over a decade of teaching experience, she brings a distinctive blend of traditional yoga, contemporary movement, historical inquiry, and thoughtful mentorship to her teaching.

Kristalyn began teaching yoga in 2013, spending more than 11 years at YOGA 101 before joining The Yoga Space in March 2025. Her teaching draws primarily from the Barkan Method, Hot 26, Ashtanga, and vinyasa traditions, emphasizing intentional sequencing, breath-centered movement, anatomical awareness, and accessibility. She completed her initial 200-hour teacher training at Evansville Yoga Center in 2013 and advanced 300- and 500-hour training through the Barkan Method in 2020. Beyond regular studio classes, she has taught private sessions, workshops, and community programs, including yoga instruction at the University of Southern Indiana.

As a Professor of History and Assistant Dean at the University of Southern Indiana, Kristalyn brings an academic perspective to yoga education. Her interests include the history of yoga, philosophical traditions, spiritual lineage, and the evolution of modern postural practices. She is currently developing a book exploring the history and cultural development of hot yoga.

Through The Sankalpa Method, Kristalyn is passionate about preparing teachers who honor tradition while cultivating their own authentic voices. She believes yoga is a lifelong practice of curiosity, discipline, compassion, and transformation, and that the best teachers remain devoted students themselves.