This is why I teach yoga.
I love it! Yoga offers an incredible path for growth and ultimately allows us to love our lives, not by turning away from what is scary or difficult but by finding the courage to live fully. I love sharing yoga to help others experience healing in whatever way they seek it, and to grow a life that they love. Through times of joy and times of great pain, yoga has always been a comfort and a sanctuary for me, so this name was given to the studio I co-founded and which I owned and directed for 21 years: Yoga Sanctuary.
When I first discovered yoga I was 17 years old. I was hurting emotionally and didn’t know what I needed to feel better. Simply learning to breathe more deeply helped me access a new, bigger part of myself, and yoga practice supported me to gradually inhabit my body after years of disconnection due to a history of complex trauma. Yoga led me to therapy which I believe to be a key component of healing, and ultimately both yoga and therapy helped me to create to a life that I cherish and am nourished by. Teaching yoga has been a calling for me, a place I can dwell in the practice that I love by sharing it with others also looking to heal, grow, and become more of themselves. Teaching has been a natural outpouring of all I have synthesized and received from the practice, and I have now taught yoga for 31 years.
My teaching is a reflection of my own deepest values: compassion, courage and creativity.
My greatest joy in teaching yoga is supporting and witnessing my students’ transformation. It's amazing how trying something new in our body that is potentially scary can become an experience that is empowering. There is a joy to realizing how much we are capable of that translates off the mat. That's courage.
We all need practices to keep us grounded, centered and connected. Yoga can help us fall in love with our bodies and selves and to truly care for ourselves. This lays the foundation for healthy relationships and the joy of true intimacy. Compassion starts with ourselves.
The more connected and empowered we are, the more we are in touch with our primal creative energy. We are all artists, creating who we are in the face of all of the gifts and challenges we meet along the way. We don't have choices about everything in life, but we always have an ultimate choice about how to respond. We can always grow ourselves, expand who we are, leave behind old definitions of ourselves and create a flourishing life of beauty and meaning.
As a dedicated teacher I have always been a student first and forever. I completed many teacher trainings for over a decade (see below) before becoming a teacher of teachers myself. Although I have been blessed to travel and teach, and love offering occasional retreats, my favorite journey has been the long-term relationships I have had with students here in my home community. And with a beautiful family of my own, home is where I want to be.
I was the founding owner and director of Yoga Sanctuary in Northampton Massachusetts from January 1999 to August 2020, when I sold my studio to the wonderful and capable Lindsay Pope and her husband Jonathan Gregory. I have taught thousands of students and been inspired by the open hearts and courage of each one. My programs include in-depth immersions into yoga, alignment and philosophy and Teacher Trainings for those ready to take the next step. My current favorite programs to teach are weekly series combining yoga practice, contemplation, writing and conversation, all guided with mythic themes woven throughout.
I also love teaching children and was inspired by my two daughters and all the children I have taught to create “Yoga Monkey Camp”, a magical summer program where children learn that the “superheroes” of Indian Mythology can teach us that we all have power and greatness inside.
When you come to my classes, you will be guided through clear alignment instructions to experience your body in a safe and empowering way. I bring a trauma sensitive approach, and aim to create a space where BIPOC, LBGTQ and all great beings who have been marginalized in our society are welcome. Classes are playful and fun, with a foundation of safety and true physical alignment which allows us to be like a finely tuned instrument. Through our practice we can access all that we hold in our hearts, and express our self authentically in the world. The garland that holds each class -however strong, flowing or gentle - is the awareness I invite you to experience: that home is here, inside you, right now.
Yoga Trainings and Certifications:
Yoga Alliance 500 Hour Experienced/Registered Teacher (E-RYT 500)
Yoga Alliance Certified Lead Teacher Trainer/Registered Yoga School/Yoga Sanctuary
1992: Certified in Kripalu Yoga
1999-2000: Completed 2 year Iyengar Teacher Training with Patricia Walden
2000-2012: Dedicated Certified Anusara Teacher (Certified in 2002)
Owner of Yoga Sanctuary in Northampton MA 1999-2020
I have also been certified in Reiki (Master Level), completed many yoga therapy trainings, and continuing Anatomy studies with Martin Kirk.
I have played with many yoga styles and after 31 years of teaching, have synthesized my own style which blends precise bio-mechanical alignment woven with breath, vinyasa and inspired philosophy for a heart-centered, playful, and deeply life-affirming practice.