Yup, Yoga’s how I’m keepin’ it Real.
I’m here to heal the body with the body.
I’ve been dancing and practicing yoga since a very young age. I’ve been trained by my wisdom teachers, dance teachers, writing teachers, yoga teachers and a life-long love of travel because of what new places and people do for opening my heart and broadening my perspective on my own world-view.
Aim:
I am a student first, and an educator second. My aim to live based on what I know. My purpose for teaching and practicing yoga is to get clear within myself so that my all relationships benefit from tending to the Heart-Hearth-Fire. I aim to do no harm.
Method:
I teach what I am practicing. I teach through auditory, sensory, and experiential education. I teach in the vein of what my teachers have taught me in the way I have learned it from them, this is called “lineage” or paramparā in Sanskrit. The tradition of yoga is an oral tradition, śravaṇa, meaning “mouth to hear” or “by heart.” I teach to learn. And I continue to sit with my teachers and learn from them in-person.
Inspiration:
I’m inspired by true stories. I’m inspired by nature and the unauthorized history of the world. I am inspired by intergenerational collaboration and art making through the yoga classroom, the dance classroom and through writing as a practice.
I grew up living in community which fostered in me a love of people and a deep appreciation for human connection. Living in community taught me to recognize the worth of many different perspectives. I learned how to do life from many people, not just my nuclear family.
Being raised in community, by many different people from varied backgrounds and individuals who were masters of their own crafts, exposed me to art, music, theater, dance, and yoga from around the world. Growing up in community allowed me to find my center and grow from that place of rootedness.
I grew up learning healing herbs of the Southwest. I was given an education from homeschool to charter school, from public high school to a private college where I took on my own learning and dove deeply into a full-spectrum education where I focused of dance, writing and yoga. I learned (and continue to learn) that Yoga is relationship. I teach and study yoga as a way of learning about myself and the world in which I live.
I believe yoga has the capacity to teach us how heal on many levels. I am challenging myself to teach classes that both encourage my students to reach their personal goals of strength, flexibility and balance yet also to provide a larger context for yoga as a way of living one’s life, not as a separate activity from every day activities.
I took my first yoga class when I was a teenager in high school. I was in awe of how strong I felt when I went back the next week.
In my formative years I studied ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, contemporary, and Flamenco. In college I immersed myself in a deep experiential education of poetry writing, anthropology (traveling to India and France), the study of West African dance, contact improvisation and an inter-generational performance art collaboration titled “Letters to Self.” This included my Prescott College class working with Skyview Middle School students and elders from the wider Prescott community in co-creating choreographed dances, poems, letters, and improvisations that revolved around the theme of communicating with oneself at another age.
For me, yoga and dance go hand-in-hand. Dance taught me about spatial awareness. Yoga is teaching me about situational awareness. Dance taught me to make friends with the floor and how to move through spaces. Yoga is teaching me how to grow my capacity for love and connection with deeper parts of myself. Dance has trained me to listen with my body and respond to the rhythm of the music. Yoga is teaching me to listen with my heart and respond to life from a place of consistent integration.
Yoga is teaching me a language to talk about matters of the spirit and my heart.
My teachers taught me that “Yoga is a living art and science.” I see yoga as an education for the whole human. I enjoy the hard work necessary for learning, and having real conversations.
I teach to learn.
These are my teachers. They taught me how to learn, how to grow and continue to teach me even though some of them are no longer living. Clockwise from top right: Christina Sell, Lee Lozowick, with his guru and Davaki Ma, Darren Rhodes, Rachel Peters, Ragina Sara Ryan and Bhāvani Maki (top left).
My teachers, not pictured, who were (and are) an integral part in my own unfolding are: Red Hawk, Stephen Jenkinson, Manorama, Martín Prechtel, Delisa Myles, Jaynee Lee, Elizabeth Majors, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Liz Lerman, Isadora Duncan, Ruth St. Denis, Martha Graham, and Emilie Conrad.
My teachers, living and dead, are influencing the way I see the world with a wider, and deeper view. They are teaching me about ecology in body, nature, storytelling, being human, being humble and that all of life is movement. With great reverence I bow.
I hold that a useful teacher is someone who encourages their students to stand on their own two feet and meet themselves face-to-face. This is what my teachers have done for me. Their life-long work is a result of their studentship and openness to their teachers. I learn by their example.
I didn’t set out to become a yoga instructor. I took my first yoga teacher training course in 2012 to learn about myself. What I learned from my initial formal training in Anusara Yoga is that I love yoga because (among other things) it gives me a way to talk about real things with real people.
My first yoga teacher, Christina Sell, taught me about the importance of self-love and self-compassion. She helped me learn to enjoy doing hard yoga poses because of the self-confidence and physical strength that type of discipline afforded me. Through her empowering yoga classes, I learned to feel at home in my skin, less shy and more self-reliant.
I believe in using the power of the body to heal the body. One of my teachers, Bhavani, calls us “yoga coaches.” As a “yoga coach” I aim to provide space for people to learn about themselves, grow, explore new ways of moving in the body, cultivate discipline, and build a sustainable practice for the rest of their lives, no matter their age.
In 2015, I co-authored a book with Regina Sara Ryan. “Women Challenge The Lie: 8 Radical Moves to Get Beyond Never Good Enough” GET A COPY OF THE BOOK HERE.
___
I live with my husband in the high desert of Arizona. I enjoy practicing dancing, yoga, writing, reading, cooking, hiking and gardening. I’m a fan of tea and dark chocolate. We like to travel together.
P.O. Box. 4272, Prescott, AZ 86302
Mobile: 928-420-3335