© TENTH GATE CENTER FOR YOGA & MEDITATION – 2020
Co-Founder and Director/Tenth Gate
Kundalini Kriya Yoga & Meditation Teacher
Reinette has been a student of various schools of yoga for almost 40 years. In 2003, she walked into her first Kundalini Yoga class. “I really had no knowledge of what Kundalini Yoga was,” Reinette said. “It turned out to be quite different from anything I had done before. What I remember the most is leaving that class with an incredible and unforgettable sense of well-being and peace. I felt lighter and brighter with a calm beautiful energy… I couldn’t wait for my next class. I can honestly say that my experience with Kundalini Yoga has changed my life in ways I never could have imagined.”
Reinette became so passionate about this form of yoga that she soon entered the 200-hour teacher training program at Baba Siri Chand Ashram in Millis, MA., where she became KRI certified. She holds the E-RYT500 and YACEP designation from Yoga Alliance.
In 2008, Reinette and her husband, Tom Speare, opened the Tenth Gate Center for Yoga and Meditation in Portsmouth, RI. She served as its director for 12 years. In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was made to close the doors of Tenth Gate’s brick and mortar and take all classes and programming to Live Stream.
In 2016, Reinette founded the Tenth Gate School for Yoga and Energy Healing. The school has offered 200 hour Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training certification.
In 2017, she spent a month in India for a 200 hour esoteric advanced teacher training–The Making of a Yogi– with master teacher Yogi Amandeep Singh. Her other teachers have included Hari Kaur Khalsa (Co-Founder Hari NYC), Guru Singh (LA), and Gurucharan Singh (Former Director KRI).
As time and the practice evolved, Reinette has added her own unique blend to her classes. Drawing from her experience from many wellness traditions, she now calls the practice that she teaches Kundalini Kriya Yoga. It is a more lighthearted and accessible practice, with proven techniques to keep people physically, emotionally and mentally balanced.
Reinette is also a Reiki Master Teacher and holds an MFA in Painting from the University of Massachusetts/Dartmouth. In addition to teaching kundalini kriya yoga and meditation, she also teaches Reiki Certification courses from First Degree to Master Teacher level. She resides in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island, Maine with her husband, Yogi Tom, who is also a certified Kundalini Yoga teacher and director of Tenth Gate’s Tools for Today and Tomorrow Program.
Co-Founder Tenth Gate Yoga
Director of Corporate Programs &
Director of Tools for Today & Tomorrow
Having been given the nickname “spirit” by his mother at a very early age, Tom took the unconventional route to discovering the true meaning of the word. After exploring many interests and lots of career moves over nearly a half-century, he landed in the yogic realm in the early 2000s. It turned out that all the diverse paths and occupations were actually the building blocks to embracing the spiritual path. At first it was a Hatha practice, and then Kundalini yoga, the place where so much has unfolded over the past 20 years. Slowly but steadily, Tom has embodied a life with spirit at the center of all things.
Tom completed his 200-hour Level 1 Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training program in June of 2007 at the Baba Siri Chand Ashram in Millis, MA. In October of 2008, he and his wife, Reinette Fournier, opened The Tenth Gate Center for Yoga and Meditation, Inc. Since 2008, Tom has been teaching classes, offering workshops and participating in additional trainings offered at Tenth Gate and beyond. He completed a 200-hour Advanced Teacher Training, “The Making of a Yogi,” in Leh, Ladakh, India in 2017 with Master Teacher Yogi Amandeep Singh. His teachers also include Hari Kaur Khalsa (NYC), Mata Mandir Singh (MT) and Guru Singh (CA). In 2016, he completed the five Level II courses, a 300-hour program, and has been designated as an E-RYT500 teacher by Yoga Alliance.
It was during this time of exploring the vast yogic realms that Tom began working with corporate clients to share practices that reduce stress and anxiety. It quickly developed into a program called Tools for Today & Tomorrow that now encompasses a wide client base around the world.
When the pandemic struck in 2020, Tom and Reinette closed their yoga center and shifted to an online presence. The need for stress relief was extraordinary, and thankfully the yoga and stress reducing practices were able to help many people get through those challenging times.
In February of 2022, Tom and Reinette moved to Mt. Desert Island, Maine beginning another chapter in their lives.
Soon after moving to MDI, Tom began to forge relationships with the local school district to offer his Tools program to students and faculty alike. In the fall of 2023, he began working with several of the local school locations, providing over 100 classes during that year. Now in its second year with the MDI schools, the Tools program has grown to include three additional schools, with a noticeable positive impact being felt.
For more information on the Tools for Today & Tomorrow Program, check out our Tools page.
Kundalini Yoga Teacher
Tessy Seward has been a joyful and devoted student of yoga for more than 25 years. She began practicing Kundalini in 2016 and completed the 200 hour teacher training program with Reinette Fournier and Tom Speare at Tenth Gate in 2020. Tessy’s spiritual path is closely connected with her commitment to social justice. She believes in the power of creativity, collaboration and radical love to both foster community and to evolve it. In 2007, just before welcoming her first child, Tessy co-founded Maine Inside Out, a collective of artists leading theater workshops in prisons and jails. She has spent the past fifteen years growing both her family and this fledgling nonprofit organization focused on theater for social change (both have expanded considerably!) Tessy is licensed as a clinical counselor (LCPC) , with a Masters Degree in Counseling from the University of Southern Maine, and a BA in English from Williams College. In addition to her yoga practice, Tessy’s connection to the natural world forms the foundation of her well-being and joy. She considers herself a student of many teachers, including her three children and the animals and plants of the forests, mountains, and waters of her home state, Maine. She is currently studying herbalism. You can find her roaming the woods in all seasons of the year to forage for wild medicinal plants and fungi, and then in the kitchen preparing tinctures, teas and salves to share with family and friends.