My journey with hatha yoga began 34 years ago. I launched a meditation practice soon after. To this day yoga and meditation are a daily events  in my life. In 1980 I had the amazing opportunity of spending a month in India where I deepened my hatha yoga and meditation practice through the help of a 'Maharishi' (great teacher) and by meditating daily with 4000 others.

 

Yoga and meditation are so woven into my life that I cannot reflect on it without passing thoughts through the lenses they create.  

 

In the summer of 2003 I fulfilled a dream that began with my first yoga experience; I trained to become a yoga teacher at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in MA. Three days after completing the training, I taught my first class. I have been teaching yoga to a variety of age groups and ability levels ever since. With almost five years of teaching experience, I've stretched and enhanced my abilities by encountering diverse situations and individuals; each year has added to my love of teaching and to my 'bag of tricks'. A short course in Yoga for MS and various classes with different teachers rounds out the offering I bring to each class.

 

In the seven years before becoming a yoga teacher, I lived in a spiritual community in the mid-west where a group of between 500 – 1000 meditated together twice daily. This experience deepened my appreciation for the silent underpinnings of life and leaves a deep mark on my appreciation of everything, especially the value of disciplines that give us a break from the mundane. I left the nurturing environment of the meditation group to care for my mother and her husband (who died during the first year of my stay with them).

 

I have three grown children, two of whom have developed a yoga practice. Recently I became the lucky grandmother of twin boys. My BA is in psychology and I am certified in the Work of Byron Katie (this process can be found online under www.thework.com).   Recreationally, I dabble in art and craft activities, as well as reading, hiking and biking. 

 

My childhood was spent in Connecticut but during most of my adult life Ontario, Canada was my home. For two of the 25 years spent outside the U.S., I lived in England. Living outside my birth country gives me both an outsider and an insider's view of the American culture – a very heart-opening perspective! I've been back for 10 years and in Seattle just over two. I love living in the Pacific NW and intend to make it my permanent home.

 

I believe when people adopt a hatha yoga practice, they give themselves an immeasurable gift: a gift of greater health, a tool to relax and to deepen their experience of life, and the additional benefit of an increased capacity to ride life's ups and downs. I consider it a great privilege to teach yoga. As a yoga teacher, my primary goals are to create a space for fun, opening – physically, emotionally and spiritually – and deep relaxation. And there are always the side-benefits of become more fit and flexible!