My yoga “story”
In 1975, I was in West Lafayette, Indiana, and my new husband had just headed off to basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. It was a very stressful time. I’m not sure whether I’d ever heard of yoga before, but some friends encouraged me to come along with them to a class. That class — especially the guided meditation as we relaxed at the end — profoundly eased my heart and mind. From that point on, yoga was a constant in my life. While I never set off for an ashram, and my practice was definitely on-and-off over the years, I always kept my yoga close by. It has proven to be my very best go-to for repairing, refreshing, and restoring not just my heart and mind, but my body and soul. I return to it whenever I need to find my center, to return to balance…physically or otherwise.
Now, as I navigate my own journey through the senior years, I find the tools and techniques of yoga more helpful than ever.
Even though I had been practicing for some 40 years, it was only a few years ago that i began to think about teaching yoga. A friend/colleague where I worked had begun offering a lunchtime yoga class in our office. Seeing the effect on my colleagues, other aging, desk-bound baby boomers, sparked the desire to share the benefits of yoga — not just as a form of “exercise” but as a way to help heal physical injury and illness, help slow and manage the effects of aging, help manage pain, stress, anxiety and depression, and help recover from trauma or trauma exposure.
And so, in the summer of 2015, I embarked on a journey to learn all I could about how and why yoga has such profound and therapeutic effects — and how I could best share it, particularly with people who, for whatever reason, might not be comfortable coming to a “regular” yoga class.
My training – as a yoga teacher, as a yoga therapist
In September of 2015, I began yoga teacher training at Mind the Mat in Alexandria, VA. While at Mind the Mat, I did a mentoring program with Marianne Meyers, C-IAYT, and was able to observe her Therapeutic Yoga classes. I knew immediately that I wanted to learn more about yoga as therapy. After completing the training at Mind the Mat, and at Marianne’s suggestion, I attended a therapeutic yoga workshop series led by Jenny Otto at Body Balance in Annapolis MD.
In the fall of 2016, I began the Svastha Yoga Therapy program led by Ganesh Mohan, MD. In addition to his western medical training, Dr. Mohan is trained in Ayurveda and has spent a lifetime immersed in the study and practice of Yoga (his father, AG Mohan, was a long-time student of Krishnamacharya, generally considered to be the father of modern yoga). Dr. Mohan brings together ancient tradition and modern science, and he does so with wit and generosity. Because the program is offered in modules held all over the world, I had the opportunity to study not only near home, but also in Bali and in Melbourne, once in a lifetime experiences! I completed the program in November of 2019 with the session in Melbourne.
In Bali, Ganesh has us enthralled ~ and ready to rest after!
While studying with the Svastha program, I also trained at Beloved Yoga in Reston, VA, in a 300-hour program that included certifications in Trauma Informed Yoga and Yin Yoga.
In January of 2017, I completed the Yoga for All online course offered by Diane Bondy and Amber Karnes. Diane and Amber are both advocates, teachers, and role models for making yoga accessible and welcoming for people in larger bodies or with limited mobility.
In the spring of 2017, I enrolled in the Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT) program founded by Joseph LePage . (The program has since been incorporated as a program of The Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Stockbridge MA. (Yes, Stockbridge, MA, of Alice’s Restaurant fame!). I have completed the IYT 300-hour Advanced Teacher of Yoga Therapy program and the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy (KSIYT) 800-Hour Professional Yoga Therapist program and received my Professional Yoga Therapist certification from International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT).
I am a member of Yoga Alliance (500-hour level) and of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, however, please note that the Yoga Therapy components of my instruction are based on my training with Body Balance Yoga, Svastha Yoga Therapy, and IYT/KSIYT, and my IAYT certification; they are not derived from my status as an RYT 500 with Yoga Alliance.
I am also a level 2 Reiki practitioner.
Yoga teaching experience
I began teaching yoga at The Yoga Place in Accokeek MD as soon as I graduated from the program at Mind the Mat. My very first class was a chair yoga class for people with special conditions, including hip replacements, breathing restrictions, diabetes, cancer and Parkinsons Disease. The students were inspiring and amazing — and I knew I had found my calling. In addition to the chair class, I taught a number of other classes at The Yoga Place, including Yin and Yoga Nidra. But the humble chair became a fixture in all my teaching, to give students a tool for continuing their practice during and following an injury, illness, or surgery.
I have also taught yoga classes (including aqua yoga) at an adult community center and just finished leading a therapeutic yoga series for the staff at a local park.
In October of 2018, I opened a small home studio offering private sessions and small group classes with a therapeutic focus. I wound down my home studio in 2019 as I made plans to embark on this new journey. The winter of 2019-2020 was spent re-envisioning how I would offer my yoga services…and those plans were put on hold while we worked out how we’d hunker down safely through the pandemic.