Why I Love Yoga
Yoga has saved me during the most difficult times of my life. I connected deeply to yoga in 2012 when my mother passed away. It was the only place I found great relief from the heavy grief. I was so inspired that I signed up for a 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training immediately. I wanted to share the magic with others. Along this yoga path, something awakened in me.. a quest to learn more about myself, a desire to heal, and a yearning to share what I learn to help others.
I continued my exploration and received a Shamanic Reiki Master Teacher certification with Shamanic Reiki Worldwide, a 100 hour Meditation Teacher Training certification from The Center of Health and Healing and a 100 hour Therapeutic Restorative Yoga certification with Jillian Pransky. I absolutely fell in love with Jillian's teachings. They resonate so deeply with me and save me over and over again. They have inspired me to become a Yoga Therapist. Each modality allowed me to access different parts within myself that required awareness and healing. I realized that I was extremely judgmental of myself and pushed myself too hard trying to be “perfect.” I actually injured myself numerous times in yoga poses forcing them to the extremes. Along this healing journey, I learned that I had significant trauma that needed to be addressed. I personally experienced gun violence when I was in college and witnessed my friend pass away. This trauma lives in my nervous system. It can literally be real in the moment or our minds can create it with our thoughts. The nervous system does not know the difference. The good news is we can learn to relax our muscles on purpose in order to create feelings of safety in the body so our nervous system can down regulate. We feel the ground beneath us. We use the breath to quiet our minds. All we have is the present moment. We can feel the support of each other. We all endure pain. We can remember to feel gratitude and joy. To breathe and make space for all our feelings, not to push them away. We can develop a compassion for ourselves and for each other ..to spread peace on the planet. Slow Flow Yoga and Restorative Yoga provide me a place to practice slowing down, to breathe, and to be more compassionate towards myself. With the use of these mindfulness tools, I am able to connect more deeply to myself, my own self care, and to others in a way that I never could before. I am extremely passionate about Yoga Therapy. It has been a great joy to complete many trainings led by international renowned teachers: Ayurveda with Mas Vidal, Yoga of Recovery with Durga Leela, Healing Chakras and Secret Power of Yoga with Nischala Joy Devi, Life Force Yoga with Rose Kress, Yoga for Anxiety and Depression with Amy Weintraub, Breathing for Life and I-Rest Level 1 with Richard Miller, Anatomy and Virtual Cadaver Training with Leslie Kaminoff/ Laurie Nemetz and Trauma with Hala Khouri to name a few.
Yoga has changed my life. It boosts overall well-being and helps me to feel calm and connected in a world where we often feel ungrounded. It releases layers of tension, balances body, mind, and spirit and leaves me feeling more grounded, clear, and spacious. Yoga provides tools to settle my body and mind. It allows me to practice compassionate self care, which increases the ability to manage stress, as well as creates more room for the nervous system to find coherence and flow both on and off the yoga mat. I am extremely grateful to yoga, meditation, and shamanic reiki as they provide access to deep healing and integrative wholeness. It is my greatest passion and life's mission to share the healing powers of yoga that have helped me so much with other's. It is an honor to pass along the wisdom and teachings from so many of my incredible teachers.