The challenge is that stress and trauma dysregulate our nervous systems, making it hard to be at ease. Dysregulation leaves us stuck in fight or flight/sympathetic vagal, or freeze/dorsal vagal. These states help to preserve life but when we are stuck in them our health and happiness deteriorate.

The practices of Yoga aim to calm our nervous systems which helps to improve health, mood, relationships, self-confidence, level of empowerment, ability to create our dreams… In addition to the physical and emotional benefits, Yoga and meditation can be simply lovely, magical experiences, where time is suspended, our worries fade, and our inner-wisdom is more accessible.

My first experience with yoga was at about age 5, I would follow my mother as she practiced on our living room floor. Yoga was one of those things that just kept showing up at every stage of my life. I’m not really sure why I did it when I was younger, but there was some kind of solace in it, even when the classes never spoke of the deeper aspects of the practice.

I experienced Yoga Nidra for the first time while on retreat at the Satchidananda Ashram in Virginia. It was an experience of being somewhere between being awake and asleep, like consciously watching your dreams. It was wildly enjoyable and deeply relaxing. Yoga Nidra is a practice that I believe can be deeply transformational because of it’s relaxing effects on the nervous system, and because it takes no effort - beyond perhaps a little patience in the settling in process.

My goal is to support you on the journey to being relaxed, empowered, self-confidant, and happy. My teaching style focuses on helping you adapt the practices to your unique needs. The practices are not the goal, they are the tools, how we each work to feel well, empowered, and happy needs to be unique.

A little more about my journey:

At 13 I was diagnosed with Scoliosis, which has been a source of physical pain throughout my life. Yoga and meditation have been key in managing my daily pain level, and even reducing the curve of my spine a bit.

At 16 I quit school and began working full time. At 18 I traveled through India and Nepal with my sister, which was one of the most profound events in my life and continues to influence me these many years later.  

In Nepal we studied Buddhism at Kopan Monastery. OK, it was way too rigid of a teaching style for me, and I practically got booted out for not attending every session, none the less I will be eternally grateful for the experience, and the wisdom that was shared with me. 

In my 20’s and 30’s I worked as a Hairdresser in Center City Philadelphia. I loved working with people but it was hard on my body and not financially stable. In my 30’s I went to business school and subsequently experienced extremely unpleasant and stressed out workplaces where I felt completely unempowered. I was unhappy and angry much of the time, lesson - never choose money over happiness.

Upon being laid off, from one of the more enjoyable but stressful jobs, I went on a yoga retreat to unwind and clear my head. Driving home from the retreat an image appeared in my mind of me teaching yoga, something I had never considered before. I thought teacher training would just be something to keep me busy until I found another job, little did I know the impact it would have on me.

In 2013, when my 86 year old father moved in with me, I was working a full time job and teaching yoga part-time. My stress hit an all time high. Dad was declining physically and had vascular dementia.  The time we had together was healing for our relationship and deeply meaningful, but took a serious toll on me mentally and physically.

The damage caused by this period of extreme stress has taken several years to recover from; allergies to food, jewelry, etc. still remain.

Yoga helped me get through the days of care taking, and helped me heal since my father's passing. It has taught me to focus on what is meaningful in my life and do my best to let the rest go.

What I see from all of these experiences is how stress made me ill, angry, and unempowered. I also see how managing stress has helped me to believe in myself and feel more in control of creating my life as I wish it to be.