Many people have inspired and encouraged me in my path to teach. I value their guidance and support of me as a student and a teacher. It is this same relationship and attitude that I aspires to provide to all students.

The Seed is Planted (Ashram Living)

I began to study yoga in 2001 with Richa Eland while attending Ohio University. Richa encouraged me to further my yoga studies and connected her with the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, Pennsylvania for a residential program. The three months I lived there in 2003 are the seed from which my practice and teaching has grown.

The Roots Support New Growth (200hr Training) 

I completed my first 200-hour teacher training in 2005 with Moksha Yoga Center in Chicago. This training emphasized teaching skills and gave me the opportunity to participate in workshops featuring teachers from all over the world! I took as many workshops as possible and I’m grateful for this unique exposure to so many different perspectives early in my teaching.

The Blossoms Continue to Open (500hr Training & Apprenticeships) 

I met Tias & Surya Little while in teacher training at Moksha Yoga Center in 2005. I’ve studied extensively with Tias & Surya since then and I am a Senior Prajna Yoga Instructor (500hr Certified) with hundreds of hours of practice, training, and apprenticeship in Prajna Yoga. In 2019 I completed a 150hr Certificate in SATYA (Sensory Awareness Training for Yoga Attunement) and thread this gentle practice of inquiry, sliding, and gliding into my classes. I find that honoring the soft and strong brings me a feeling of wholeness that is beneficial to all the layers of my life. I am grateful for Tias' imaginative poetry, clear instruction, and wise insight and Surya’s masterful exploration with yoga props and ways of adapting this practice.

Online tools have opened up the doors to an amazing cohort of teachers/students all over the world lead by Karin Carlson of Return Yoga. Her approach brings so much integrity and wholeness to the practice of yoga by honoring the tradition of yoga while also questioning the things we’ve been taught. Our discussions and practices are informed by the Desikachar Lineage, and this is quite a different approach to breath and movement than my other training. Our study of the Bhagavad Gita is slow and couldn’t be more timely with all that 2020 has brought to the surface in our world.

I’ve had the amazing opportunity to be inspired by and collaborate with Valerie Moselle and Robin Penney at Luma Yoga in Santa Cruz. I love the way that they are constantly inquiring and creating with integrity. Valerie has also been a mentor and guide for me as a teacher, and I am grateful for all the ways that she has generously supported me in expanding my offerings and skills as a teacher.

I began studying with Christina Sell in 2013 with her online webinars and I am constantly inspired by the practices, wisdom, and insight that Christina shares so generously. Christina's teachings have encouraged me to intensify tapas (discipline, burning enthusiasm) in self-practice and start a local teacher's practice group. The support and ideas shared with these Santa Cruz (and Monterey) teachers nourished me and my teaching in many ways.

While in Santa Cruz, I practiced with Iyengar Teacher Maya Lev at Yoga Center Santa Cruz. Maya's careful eye for details and adjustments has helped me come to deeper and more subtle refinement of my practice and asanas.

While living in Chicago, I apprenticed weekly at the Yoga Circle with local Iyengar trained teacher Gabriel Halpern from 2006-2008. During these two years, I helped students with the therapeutic application of yoga for a variety of ailments, conditions, and injuries. I continued this therapeutic study in Santa Cruz during a one-year apprenticeship with the Adaptive Yoga Project lead by Annica Rose in 2012. 

Many Ways to Move

In recent years, I have been looking to other movement traditions and modern research for ways to compliment and deepen my connection to the asana practice. These include functional movements inspired by modern science and the study of fascia, the extra-cellular matrix, the nervous system, and pain-science.

Additional Degrees and Licensure

In 2021 I began a masters degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy and I am working my way toward licensure as a mental health therapist. This change came about as I recognized the important benefits mindfulness and mental health care offered me, especially when approach in a body-centered way. I will graduate from the 2-year program in 2023 and I will continue the path to full licensure by meeting state requirements (the exact state is to be determined).