I found yoga while attending college at Illinois State University and it was the first time that the idea of self love really started to settle in. Yoga provided me a platform to really feel the impacts of life on my body, mind and spirit and it was due to that platform that the choices in my life led to this amazing moment, right here.
A move to San Diego introduced me to my amazing life partner, Marcus who embraced my dreams as his own. A move to Denver solidified my love for a man and a state that I never knew and opened an opportunity to start over in the health & wellness industry that meant so much to me. It was here in Denver, that I finally took the leap into yoga fully, receiving my 200 hour yoga teacher training certificate from CorePower Yoga in 2005. Then followed a decade of leading hundreds of yoga classes, workshops and teacher trainings along with an engagement, a marriage and finally the birth of my two beautiful beloved children. The youngest of a generation, I never really had any exposure to children until my own and then TRULY a whole new world opened. My world got ROCKED.
I've always felt young at heart... and it was until my first baby that I knew that to be true. There is a great joy in play... and I simply want more of it.
It was at that time that my close friend Suzanne Dastin approached with the idea to revolutionize our lives through the creation of a kids yoga company that we named Young Yokes in 2016. Young Yokes is a Registered Children's Yoga School and trains adults to teach kids yoga while also teaching a variety of kids classes. It's still going strong today and I could be more prouder of the work that we have done.
Sadly, I had an acute spine injury in 2018 led to a microdiscectomy by the end of the same year. It was this injury that lead me to the next step in my journey which also, crazy enough... included a move to the PNW. My next steps include health coaching, yoga coaching adults, and yoga coaching kids... and spending way too much time outside - in the rain.
I am excited to work with ANYONE wiling... but most excited about working with students of all levels, including youth in middle and high school. It's these ages that the stress and tension can be super great. I struggled so much with acceptance of self. My health struggled. It was a challenging time and I know that yoga would have supported me in leading a healthy life and making healthier choices. In truly embracing my personal power.
So that's the goal... here in Bellevue, WA - starting over again doesn't help... but the blank slate sure does. I still practice yoga today but it looks way different than it did back in 2005. I have a nice easy home practice and get to the studio once a week for a sweat my face off hot yoga class. I see yoga in everything. No, really - I do. And for that, I'm incredibly grateful for my 20 years now on my yoga mat... what a blessing. It's also the reason I can't and won't stop ever. Namaste!
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