What brought you to yoga?

I think that I was drawn to yoga without consciously knowing the reason. But I think that, after turning away from over-competitive sports in high school, I was unconsciously looking for something that allowed my mind and body to work and play together.

What inspired you to teach?

I did a 200-hour teacher training program initially as a way to deepen my personal practice and to learn more about the philosophy and anatomy behind the yoga. We had to do a lot of practice teaching, I was drawn to that, and it grew from there until I found myself retiring from my day job and just teaching yoga and meditation.

What three things do you specialize in as a teacher?

1) Building an understanding of the anatomy and physiology behind classic yoga alignment.

2) Encouraging an aware, meditative practice—and no, those things aren’t mutually exclusive!

3) Using those tools to build a self-compassionate practice informed by the wisdom of both the mind and the body, so that students can build a safe, self-informed practice that’s sustainable throughout their lifetime.

Describe the environment of your class:

Meditative but active, frustrating but rewarding; and hopefully through all of that, peaceful.