Our Teachers
Kim Gargiulo RYT
Kim is a managing partner at Kure Beach Yoga, where her passion for yoga and community shines through every class she leads. With nearly two decades of teaching experience—including many transformative years guiding sessions on the sands of Kure Beach—Kim has cultivated a unique and welcoming approach to the practice.
Her classes focus on the art of vinyasa yoga, where each pose seamlessly transitions into the next, harmonizing breath with movement. By holding postures, she helps students build both strength and flexibility, ensuring that every individual can progress at their own pace. Kim’s teaching style is inclusive and energizing, designed to leave students feeling relaxed, centered, and rejuvenated—making her classes an ideal fit for both beginners and seasoned practitioners.
To Kim, yoga is a holistic journey: a union of body, mind, and spirit. She is a Registered Yoga Teacher with Yoga Alliance, holds certification with Kidding Around Yoga, and has received specialized training in trauma-based yoga, Ayurveda, and prenatal yoga. Since 2022, Kim has also traveled with Fitness Pro Travel, sharing her love of yoga with guests from around the globe.
Whether on the beach or in the studio, Kim invites everyone to experience the transformative power of yoga in a space that fosters growth, connection, and inner peace.
Marla Jenkins RYT 200
Marla is a managing partner of Kure Beach Yoga. Yoga has been part of Marla’s life for almost 20 years now and there are many reasons why she continues to practice. Marla says that “aside of the many health benefits, practicing yoga allows me to deepen the connection to my true self and be present not only on my mat, but to myself and others. With the chaos that finds its way into each day, I find that each yoga class slows me down and reconnects me to what is important.” Marla completed her certification to teach Samdhaana yoga in 2020 and is Registered with Yoga Alliance (RYT 200). She has also received her Reiki Masters Certification crediting her yoga practice for introducing her to the body’s 7 main energy centers or “chakras” which led her to the healing practice of Reiki or “Universal Life-Force Energy“. Marla’s classes are laid back, soulful and offer the student a chance to set aside ego and just be.
Carla Ann Drummond RYT 500, YACEP
Carla Ann is the owner and founder of Lake Lure Yoga. She feels passionately about making yoga accessible to all. Her first yoga venture was to create a community space in Kure Beach, offering yoga for all levels of practice and always with the option to ‘pay what you can’ . Having moved to the Lake Lure area in 2021, she is bringing the breath of the sea to the heart of the mountains in this lovely new (retrofitted) space for the community to gather and practice yoga together. Carla Ann is registered with Yoga Alliance, holding ERYT200, RYT 500, YACEP and yoga for trauma certifications. With over 25 years of yoga experience, she encourages personal expression with energetic connection and creative movement. With the vision of co-creating sister studios in Kure Beach and Lake Lure, she is deeply grateful to see this connection of Mountains and Sea come together in 2021.
Megan Pryor RYT 200
Paula Huffman BS, RN, ERYT, CCE, Mindfulness Instructor
Megan has been practicing the many styles of yoga for over 13 years. She believes it is an essential tool in building physical strength and mental awareness. Yoga fosters this connection of mind, body and spirit, connecting us to our own truths and assists with continuing our life’s path.
Megan says “My hope in teaching is to offer a comfortable and safe space where you can let go of expectation, get into the body, create space and mobility and reconnect to the essence of you! I want you to feel energized, achieve your potential and just feel good!” Megan completed her Samdhanna Yoga teacher training and is registered with Yoga Alliance (RYT 200). Her classes are purposeful, peaceful and introspective.
Paula Huffman BS, RN, ERYT, CCE, Mindfulness Instructor
Paula Huffman BS, RN, ERYT, CCE, Mindfulness Instructor
Paula Huffman BS, RN, ERYT, CCE, Mindfulness Instructor
Paula started practicing yoga in the mid 70’s and has been an instructor of yoga for
about 25 years. The combination of her training as a Registered Nurse and
Certified Mindfulness Instructor continues to inform both her personal practice
and her teaching. Her classes provide opportunities for stretching, strengthening
and restoring with a focus on alignment for safety purposes while encouraging a
gentle, reflective and laid-back approach to the experience. She holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment with UNC Chapel Hill teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Pain Management Courses with the UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine’s Program on Integrative Medicine after completing two
Mindfulness facilitator trainings with the Center for Mindfulness at the UMASS
Hospitals, led by Jon Kabat Zinn. She received her 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training
with the NC School of Yoga in 2001. She also holds specialty certifications in
Restorative Yoga, Yin Yoga, Perinatal Fitness, Mindful Yoga, Yoga Warriors with
PTSD, and Level I Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy.