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Our Board Members

Vibrant Lives of Montana is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit guided by a board of directors who hold our mission and vision close to heart. We gather quarterly to reflect on our offerings, dream together about what's possible, and ensure we're serving our community with intention and care.

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Founder 

Melainya Ryan

Melainya is a licensed clinical professional counselor, a yoga educator, a meditation instructor, and a transformational coach.  She has more than a decade’s experience working in the mental health field and collaborating with community organizations to address the gap in mental health resources in Beaverhead County.  She is passionate about and advocates strongly for the freedom and joy that each of us have access to within ourselves. Her greatest joy is love: the opportunity to love herself and others and believes deeply in the good of humanity. Her soul guides, her heart listens, and her human aligns.

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President

Lou Bleck

Lou is a yogic practitioner, teacher and spiritual guide whose path began early in life, with a formal awakening unfolding in India more than 17 years ago. Traveling there for instruction, Lou returned profoundly changed; carrying an embodied understanding of practice rather than theory alone. Her teacher, Yogirishi Vishva-ji, shared Hindu philosophy through light-hearted devotion and presence, teachings that continue to inform her work and way of being. Lou has completed over 1,600 hours of training and teaching in Kundalini, Kriya, Hatha and Shabd Yoga, alongside extensive continuing education in Reiki, sound healing, Ayurveda and most recently Inner Alignment somatic coaching. She is a Registered Yoga Alliance Teacher, a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, and is listed on the American Yoga Council directory. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University, allowing her to bridge spiritual depth with grounded leadership and structure.

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Secretary 

Sally Cobau

Sally is a writer/teacher/Mom/yoga practitioner/hiker from Dillon, Montana. Originally from Ohio, she’s lived in Chicago, Connecticut, and California. However, she fell in love with Montana when she came here for graduate school. Having received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Montana in Missoula, she's had work published in rattle, Ekphrastic Review, Writing in a Woman's Voice, the Sun, Room, Hole in the Head Review and Oyster River Pages. Surprisingly—to her—she recently got honorable mention for her poem “Airbnb” for a humor contest. She doesn’t really think of her writing as funny. She’s taught writing for many years now, at colleges, at elementary schools, for teens, for tweens, and at all-girls writing workshops. Currently, she teaches at University of Montana Western. Besides writing, she loves hiking and taking pictures on her iPhone.

Want to join our board?

Fill out the request below and we will be in contact!

What capacity are interested in fulfilling?

Qualifications:

Must be committed to your own personal growth

Must practice clear communication or be willing to learn.

Must be willing to practice presence when engaging with Vibrant Lives’ community

Why serve on Vibrant Lives’ Board of Directors:

Support and participate in the healing, growth, and evolution of the human species.

Participate in your own healing, growth, and/or evolution process.

Opportunity to show up authentically and be honored for who you are.

Be apart of a growing community.

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