Become a Sunny Get Up Ambassador!
Are you active on social media? Do you love Sunny Get Up?
Sunny Get Up Ambassadors get 30% off!
Fill out the application and tell us a little bit about yourself! What’s your story? What causes are you passionate about? What gets you up and out of bed in the morning? What work are you doing (paid or volunteer) to make a difference in the world? How does your yoga practice (or any other physical activity where you wear Sunny Get Up activewear) help activate your activism?
If you’re selected as a Sunny Get Up Ambassador you’ll receive a discount code to save 30% off any order. All that we ask is that you help get the word out about Sunny Get Up! And no headstands, please. A regular social media presence is required for this program. Please tag @sunnygetup on Instagram in posts where you wear our clothes, and we’ll also share your posts!
We recognize and embrace human diversity, and are committed to equity and inclusivity. We want the Sunny Get Up ambassador program to highlight a diverse range of voices and lived experiences. All human beings deserve kindness and should not be marginalized because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. We also welcome all ages, all body sizes, and differing athletic abilities.
Anna Sunderland Engels, Ph.D., E-RYT500, YACEP
Sunny Get Up is the creation of Dr. Anna Sunderland Engels. Nicknamed “Sunny”, Anna is a photographer, yoga teacher, clinical psychologist, co-founder of Yoga Lab Studio in State College PA. She loves spending time in nature, hiking, and traveling the world, capturing moments of beauty with her camera. Her yoga teaching focuses on mindfulness, interconnectedness, sustainability, alignment and functional movement, and compassionate action, on and off the mat. She also has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, and her clinical interests and academic research focus on stress, anxiety, depression, and their associated patterns of brain activity. In 2013 she shifted her career from brain imaging research to focus on yoga full-time, following her interest in experiential approaches to improving health and wellness. She created all of the Sunny Get Up designs from her photography of the great outdoors to raise money for environmental charities. She hopes these joyful pants will inspire people to get up, get moving, and get involved in causes they care about.
Let’s Practice Together
The creator of Sunny Get Up, Anna S. Engels, is also co-founder of Yoga Lab Studio in State College PA. Join Anna and other amazing teachers for classes at Yoga Lab! We offer in-person classes at our studio space, live virtual classes via zoom that you can join from anywhere, outdoor classes as weather allows, and on-demand classes that you can access anytime, from anywhere. Come and get up, get moving, and get started now!
Inspiring Yogis On & Off the Mat
Anna is very thankful for several amazing inspiring yogis in her life who modeled yoga pants for Sunny Get Up to help her get started. They are not just models - these are dear friends and real yoga teachers making a difference in the world through their teaching.
Kristen Boccumini Thwing, M.S. E-RYT500, YACEP
Kristen started Yoga for Unity and Yoga On The Mountain to support local and global humanitarian work. Through these efforts she has raised over $26,000 for charity. Kristen is a co-founder of Yoga Lab Studio in State College, PA. She teaches to help people connect to their bodies and release tension through fun creative yoga flows in a positive atmosphere. Kristen cares about helping you move in biomechanically healthy ways to support physical longevity. She believes body awareness leads to self awareness to improve the quality of your life and your influence in the world. Kristen is also a holistic life coach and certified in yoga for pregnancy and postpartum, with 3 of her own kids (teachers) at home.
Ariel Xu, E-RYT200, LMT
Ariel wears many hats. She is a business woman. She is a Yoga, Mindfulness, and Meditation teacher. She is a Licensed Massage Therapist in PA. She is a co-founder of Yoga Lab Studio, PA. And most importantly, she is a mother of her animal kids and a baby girl. Ariel is passionate about protecting our earth and striving to live a sustainable lifestyle. She is an advocate for animal rights and social justice. Ariel and her husband both believing in sharing resources with people in need, donating part of their yoga teaching incomes to various charities.
Laura Van Velsor, E-RYT500
Laura wants to make the world a better place for her fierce and compassionate daughter. Laura started Happy Dog Yoga in January 2015 as a way to help animal rescues while engaging the yoga community, and has raised over $10,000 for local charities just by doing yoga. Laura’s intention is to provide a sustainable yoga practice for humans while raising funds for animal rescues. Loving-kindness for all animals is something that inspires her everyday. She holds special events where animal co-teachers may be present and 100% of the funds raised go to the animal rescue. Yoga Lab Studio in State College, PA is thrilled to have Laura as a teacher and to host her Happy Dog Yoga events.
Lara Heimann, M.S., PT, E-RYT500, YACEP
Lara Heimann, a world-renowned yoga instructor and certified physical therapist, created Movement by Lara and the LYT™ Method to unify the traditional teachings of yoga with a more modern understanding of the human body by emphasizing intelligent sequencing and proper body alignment, while re-educating compensatory movement strategies that place unnecessary strain on the body.
Lara’s mission is to create a more compassionate world that values all beings, which is why she is creating a foundation in partnership with Movement by Lara to support vegan causes close to heart. Lara also created Coast to Coast for Compassion for her family’s self-funded charity treks, raising $25,000 Parkinson’s Disease research, over $45,000 for the Institute for Humane Education, and $16,000 for Farm Sanctuary. Lara and 25 other LYT teachers from around the world also came together to support the Black Lives Matter movement, raising $16,400 for various causes committed to supporting and empowering the Black community and actualizing change.
Katie Travis, RYT200
As an actor, Katie has performed in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway and in over 700 performances as Christine Daae in the North American Tour, and she currently sings with symphonies and regional theaters across the country. Katie is an MFA candidate in Musical Theater Vocal Pedagogy at Penn State. She is a recent graduate of the Yoga Lab 200hr Teacher Training program and is excited to join the Yoga Lab team. Katie worked to connect her years of breath work as a singer into her yoga practice and teaching, and her yoga classes are rooted in curiosity and the desire to learn. She recently taught a “Yoga for a Cause” class series at Yoga Lab to raise funds for Black Visions Collective in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In 2017, Katie made the decision to have preventative double mastectomy. She is passionate about sharing knowledge and information about Breast and Ovarian Cancer risks. She is a marathon runner, a level 2 certified Reiki practitioner, and has taught abroad in both Ghana and Kenya. She has hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro and is dreaming of her next adventure.
“It is through our interactions with others that we come to know the truth of oneness.”