Megan Kelly

My journey as an athlete started with cross country in high school and have been running since, with several 5k races and a 10k race under my belt. I’ve also been an avid weight lifter since my early 20s and have largely pursued these activities solo or in small gym communities. I started teaching yoga classes online at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic from my home in Minneapolis, as I graduated from my RYT 200 program in April 2020. I taught online for about a year before taking a brief hiatus to focus on building my therapy private practice after moving to Warsaw in Summer 2020. I joined CrossFit Haymaker in January 2022 and started teaching yoga classes there in October 2022. I try to blend my training in mental health and my training in yoga to create relaxing, mindfulness-oriented, stress-reducing classes. I married my husband Nate in January 2022, and am step-mom to his son Jason. We’ve got two cats, Hiroki and Tailey-Po. My family is originally from Colorado but we moved to the frozen north of Minnesota when I was 6. My father and his wife live in Panama (the country) and my mother and her husband are in Wisconsin. My brother also lives in Wisconsin with my nephew, where he owns a cheese-themed restaurant. I love cheesy, feel-good sitcoms (New Girl, the Good Place, Schitt’s Creek) and true crime podcasts, and was a huge Lord of the Rings nerd in middle school. I’m constantly losing my keys (and my water bottle, and my favorite sweatshirt…). Also, I have only ever owned and driven stick-shift cars since I was 19 years old. My guilty pleasure food here in Warsaw is the carne asada meal from the Tacos Jalisco food truck. My family has a long history of lifestyle-related diseases, from diabetes and heart disease to cancer and kidney failure. I, myself, have struggled with keeping my fitness levels up during times of high stress, and I’ve seen the effects of that on my body and mind over time. I stay motivated when I think of how much happier and fulfilled I am with my life overall when I’m moving my body, challenging myself, and working toward a goal or milestone—fitness or otherwise. Plus, it just feels good to get in an intense run, CrossFit workout, or yoga class, when you can lay on the floor afterward as you catch your breath and sigh with relief! Teaching yoga has been very rewarding for me. I love seeing how relaxed and rejuvenated people are after a good yoga session, whether that’s one of the slower restorative classes or one of the more energizing vinyasa classes. I’ve also loved hearing how people have seen improvements in sleep, stress, and flexibility after taking some yoga classes. For me, the benefits extend beyond the yoga mat and into many different parts of our day-to-day lives, and I love hearing about those positive changes from other people. I showed up for my first free class at the Haymaker feeling very intimidated and shy before I walked in the door; I was new in town and had heard CrossFit had a reputation for being intense and wasn’t sure if I’d fit in. Within 5 minutes of being inside, I felt excited and ready to get started; the coach walked me through the process, oriented me to the box, and welcomed me into the class. I left that first class knowing I was all in!