I’m happiest when I’m practicing yoga every day. And studying it every day, or at least thinking about it. I discovered yoga in college, but for some reason didn’t stay with it. Years later, in 1999, feeling like I needed something, I walked into a class at Pretzels Yoga in San Francisco. I walked out an hour and a half later recharged and relaxed. It felt like every cell in my body was breathing a sigh of contentment. I was totally hooked. Over the next few months, I saw my body transform. That’s the first, most accessible thing to change. The deeper stuff takes more time, and yet it continually unfolds.
I moved to New York’s West Village in 2000, just a ten minute walk from OM Yoga, where I practiced there for the next two years with some great teachers — Cyndi Lee, Amy Ippoliti, Margi Young, Jason Brown, Joe Miller, Susan Orem, Dana Strong. While living in Puerto Rico, I got my first chance to teach. It was one of those scary moments, like getting up to sing in Rock Band for the first time. You aren’t prepared — but of course you are. A teacher friend was a bit late returning from vacation, I had a yoga practice, and so I was tapped to teach at the Ann Wigmore Institute. I taught sunrise yoga off and on there for the next three years.
I loved sharing what I knew, but I realized I needed formal training. I thought about studying at OM, but my friend Bridget Shields invited me to check out Be Yoga, where she taught. I loved the pace, the sequencing, and the emphasis on deeper aspects of the practice beyond the physical. I was fortunate to be in the last certification class Be Yoga held (they were acquired by Yoga Works), studying closely with Alan Finger and mentoring with Jean Koerner. After getting my 200 hour certificate, I wanted more, and participated in Yoga Works’ 500 hour program.
In late 2005 I moved back to Puerto Rico and started Yoga in Paradise, an outdoor studio on the beach in Rincon. We even held a Shiva Rea-sanctioned 40-hour teacher training module with Twee Merrigan on our deck.
In 2006, I started an organic vegetarian restaurant in Rincon with my ex, and kept teaching as long as I could. All good things eventually come to an end. After five years in Puerto Rico, I moved to Utah to cocoon and recover.
Some of my teachers who have inspired me lately:
Dharma Mittra (weekend intensive at Flow Yoga SLC)
Shiva Rea (another weekend intensive at Flow)
Twee Merrigan (Embodying the Flow prana vinyasa flow training)
Tevis Gale (corporate yoga teacher training)
Jillian Pransky (restorative yoga teacher training)
Sarah Tomson
