Meet Your Melt Guides

Big Island Guides

Kelly Callender

yoga teacher · founder · yin inspired lifestyle guide · love bug

I am a Mom.
I am a Wife

I am a Friend.
I am a Yogini.
I am a Buddhist.
I am a Love Warrior. 

I am the founder of MELT—A Yin inspired life. 

Each of these paths I have walked, and the roles I embody, have created the woman I am today. Through my life experiences, my career within yoga and health, and working with students and clients, I have arrived at MELT. I work with people that crave pause. I teach people to find serenity in the chaos and how to nourish a yin-inspired life. 

I am a native Californian. After attending college in Oregon (proud duck! Quack!) I spent the early part of my career on the East Coast. Out of college I entered the corporate world and worked in the advertising and lobbyist realm. In the midst of my time in these business communities I attended my first Yoga Teacher Training in 2003 at Bikram’s Yoga College of India.

It wasn’t until 2008 that I found my way back to California and embarked on my path of yoga, health, and wellness in both my personal and professional life. Since that time I have been an entrepreneur,  holistic health counselor, yoga teacher, yoga studio owner, yoga teacher trainer, and business consultant. I hold the strong belief that a good teacher continues to learn. I enjoy retreating and feel nourished by participating in mentor and disciple relationships and I continue to attend trainings for my personal growth. 

Through the years I have found I gravitate toward Yang choices and in many ways live a Yang life. I balance my world with Yin practices. Yin choices benefit me every time and choosing them naturally is becoming more instinctual. It is no surprise that those whom gravitate toward me, find the same. There is a profound impact of Yin practices in enhancing our Yang-driven lives. Yin is yielding, allowing and nourishing. Instead of fighting back when confrontation arises, a yin-inspired life embraces it. Wraps its arms around daily challenges and gives you a big ol’ hug.

Ultimately, I show people how to dance within the chaos. I inspire them to get unstuck, unfreeze, and let go. I inspire them to melt into their true nature

Whether we see each other or meet in a yoga class, online setting, coffee shop, out on a neighborhood walk, or an exquisite retreat—you’ll find me with those who stay calm in the storm. Those are my people. 

My cause of choice is Moms Demand Action—a grassroots movement fighting to protect people from gun violence that is committed to doing what it takes to keep families safe. 

I have settled and built a home-base on the Central Coast of California, Shell Beach, with my family. You can find me on IG and FB @kellyacallender.

 

Dawn Hoppe

Dawn is a lifelong seeker, a teacher of yoga, a maker of adornments, and a believer in both ritual and self-reflection as powerful tools to empower, evolve, and live more mindfully.

She has always been drawn to jewels and adornments. From the friendship bracelets of childhood to the heirlooms passed down from my grandmothers, she has always known there is magic within them. 

She believes more than mere decoration, adornment is a sacred act. Since the beginning of time, people have adorned themselves as a form of expression, deeply personal, cultural, spiritual. She believes in the power of the stones and crystals and sacred woods. More than that, she believes in the magic we all have inside us.

She feels called to help others find their own magic through intentional jewelry and magic beads and the sacred act of adornment. Used as touchstones and prayer aids, her hope is that her pieces support you as you live into your own unique magic.

Whitney Demorest

With over 25 years of experience in the field of personal transformation, including a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology, Whitney works as a resilience coach. Her approach bridges spiritual principles with practical therapeutic strategies to connect her clients to their deep wisdom and inner resilience. As a highly sensitive person and empath, she utilizes intuitive guidance and energy work to help people identify and release emotional and limiting belief blocks so they can experience more freedom and connection.

Whitney has experienced the power of daily dedication to meditation, yoga, and breathwork practices; and supports clients in finding their path to create ways to regulate their nervous and feel grounded no matter the circumstance they face. Originally from Hawaii, she now lives in California with her husband of 30 years, two hilarious and sparkly young adult daughters, and 1 fluffy ball of love.

Ricardo Rodríguez

Ricardo Rodríguez is a passionate vegan chef with extensive culinary experience. Trained in Culinary Arts in Mexico City and European culinary techniques in Switzerland, he has honed his skills in busy kitchens and yoga retreats across the US and Mexico.

Since 2005, he has cooked exclusively for vegetarian and vegan communities, especially yogis, believing in food’s power to nurture emotional, mental, and physical well-being. As the owner of a small catering service in Mexico City and a Chef Instructor at a culinary university, he loves to share his kitchen secrets and teaching people how to cook delicious, nutritious meals.

Your Grass Valley Guides

Kelly Callender

Kelly’s passion for health and wellness was ignited in 2003 when she attended her first Yoga Teacher Training. As a result she shifted her life focus from the corporate world she was involved with on the East Coast and found her way back to California. She embarked on a path of yoga, health, and wellness in her personal and professional life. She has embraced a whole host of roles as an entrepreneur, holistic health counselor, yoga teacher, yoga studio owner, yoga teacher trainer, and business consultant.

Through the years she has found she gravitates toward Yang choices in our Yang world. She balances her world with Yin practices. Yin choices benefit us every time. There is a profound impact of Yin practices in enhancing our Yang-driven lives. Yin is yielding, allowing and nourishing. Instead of fighting back when confrontation arises, a yin-inspired life embraces it. Wraps its arms around daily challenges and gives you a big ol’ hug.
Ultimately, Kelly shows people how to dance within the chaos. She hopes to inspire them to get unstuck, unfreeze, and let go. She enjoys watching her students and those she loves to melt into their true nature.

In 2022 Kelly and her family moved to Shell Beach, California. She is looking forward to returning to Nevada County in September to connect with those in the foothills and be with some of her most favorite friends and students.

Erin McCarthy

Erin McCarthy finds joy in helping others and seeks to enable people to work towards feeling their best through movement and learning about their bodies. Yoga has been a part of Erin’s life since 2010, and after practicing occasionally at home she found the courage to step into the studio. As a long-distance runner and athlete, Erin was drawn to Yin Yoga to gain balance in activities, quickly noticing the benefits she felt within her body. She decided to jump into a Melt Yin teacher training in April of 2019 and has since enjoyed sharing her love of Yin with others. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness, is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, and Restorative Wellness Practitioner. Erin seeks to enable others to work towards feeling their best through movement, nutrition, deep rest, and learning about their bodies.

@seeknourishment
@thewellnesssacademygv

Lily Jones

Lily’s passion is guiding people to their true heart through Yin Yoga and meditation; helping them create space to find the Yin within.  Yin Yoga feels like coming home, over and over. She has experienced the immense benefits of well-being, wholeness and balance both as a teacher and practitioner. Yin offers space, mobility and restoration to our connective tissues. The power of meditation and Yoga Nidra brings clarity, insight and openness to the mind and heart. These are the experiences Lil strives to bring to others through her teachings. After three years of faithful practice under Kelly Callender (MELT Founder), she took her practice to the next level (MELT Training RYT 200). Yin Yoga was her gateway to her meditation practice. She has additional certifications: Yoga Nidra (Classical Yoga Nidra, California College of the Ayurveda) and Ananda Course in Meditation (Ananda).

She lives an active lifestyle; pursuing a variety of fitness activities. She fell in love with Yin Yoga after her first class in 2016 and never looked back.  She dedicates her Sundays to self care and Yin Yoga slows me down, allowing her to notice the subtleties in life and offering a unique opportunity to cultivate gratitude for her body. Pains that I lived with for years have melted away. She believes the power of Yin Yoga and meditation bridge the gap between self and the universe, sickness and health, and between yin and yang. Cultivating a full spectrum of health for mind, body and spirit. She honors life as a ritual that nourishes and transforms us and the communities we belong to when we weave our intentions into an ongoing, committed practice.

@lilyyinwithin