I’ve been teaching yoga, mindfulness, and wellness practices to groups and individuals since 2018, and my goal is to teach my students and clients how to incorporate the techniques into their sports and fitness routines in ways that make a difference for their physical bodies and states of mind both on and off the mat 

My teaching methods include:

• Traditional Yoga Asana: Active postures held for a period of time that build strength, lengthen, and release tension in muscles that support the core to increase joint range of motion and support a healthy spine

• Yin Yoga: Passive stretches for pain-free myofascial self-release without use of rollers or other uncomfortable tools

• Mindfulness Concentration Techniques: Mental focusing methods that help practitioners stay in the present moment, increase reaction time, and remain calm

• Wellness Coaching Best-Practices: A blend of goal-setting and self-discovery tools that help you find your internal motivations, create a plan you can see yourself doing, and adjust as needed to support forward progress

My background:

I’ve had a passion for studying movement and athletic technique since growing up in Akron, Ohio,  where I played a lot of team and individual sports, including skiing, tennis, golf, volleyball, and swimming. I started teaching the biomechanics of movement as a volleyball coach and PSIA Certified Ski Instructor during high school, and during college, I worked as an aerobics instructor & personal trainer. I completed my Bachelor’s in Exercise Science at the Ohio State University in 1996 with a focus in Cardiac Rehabilitation, and became an NASM certified personal trainer in 1997.

I took my first Ashtanga yoga class in 2004 as a way to relieve jaw pain brought on by stress working as a consumer products brand manager post-MBA. I was blown away by how effective the practice was for my body as well as my mind. The practice shined a light on the fact that I needed to do something to counter the effects of running 5 miles and lifting weights each day, after sitting at a computer when I was at the office. I was so gripped, I had no idea how tight my body was from the ways I was using it throughout the day, without a method to rebalance it. 

My yoga practice began to shift into a career after I began using yoga asana to heal my body from a traumatic skiing accident at Mammoth Mountain in 2016. At the time, I was in my early 40’s, working as a marketing consultant, and living a wonderful athletic outdoor lifestyle in Ventura, CA. But, My body was showing the effects of regular surfing, rock-climbing, hiking, running, plus driving a desk. My shoulders were so tight, they were rounding visibly forward, I always felt like I had tennis elbow, and I had a mild rotation in my spine. I’m certain my postural imbalances contributed to my fall. 

My fall resulted in a spiral fracture to my right leg, a lot of hardware being placed in and around my bones, and 4 months on crutches. The lack of physical activity meant a lack of endorphins, and I was starting to getting depressed. So, I asked my orthopedic surgeon if I could do some yoga, if I could find a way to do it without negatively impacting the broken bones. Thankfully, after 2.5 months on crutches, he said if I could get safely to the floor, I could practice yoga, and so I did, and it turned my physical and mental state around. 

Despite a very weak right leg, I managed to maintain the strength of my torso and shoulders, and was able to paddle out into waves once I could walk. The strength of my right foot, leg and hip has almost returned, and I’m still successfully making progress with the mobility of the hip, as well as letting go of physical holding patterns in the opposite side of my body from the trauma of the injury and being on crutches so long.

After that experience, I decided I wanted to learn as much as I could about the postures and sequencing, and enrolled in yoga teacher training. Today, I’m still using the postures, passive stretches, and mindfulness as a comprehensive full-body method of self-administered therapeutic bodywork to bring my physical body back into balance, and let go of the mental effects of the traumatic accident.

My Yoga Teacher Training Journey:

My Yoga Teacher Certification was completed at YogaWorks, based in Santa Monica, and founded by some of the most influential yoga teachers in the US. I selected the program because of it’s strong anatomically-based curriculum, passion for teaching with clear cues and strategic use of props, and culture that believes strongly in pre-class preparation & progressive, purposeful sequencing. 

The YogaWorks program trained me how to structure each posture from the ground up, where stabilization is required in order to safely mobilize another part of the body, and how to use props as a training tool to help my students and clients feel the physical work as well as benefits of the postures. 

I completed my 500-hours of YogaWorks training and apprenticed under Master Teacher Jennifer Elliott, and during this time was able to study under many distinguished teachers in the LA area, including my current teacher and mentor, Joan Hyman. Joan completed her teacher training with Maty Ezraty and Lisa Walford in 2002, and spent time learning with Annie Carpenter, who is known for her SmartFlow® system of highly intelligent sequencing. Joan specializes in teaching yoga teachers, and I’ve had the fortune of being able to practice with her interactively live 1-2 times per week since the start of COVID in 2020. Under Joan’s teaching and guidance, along with my own dedicated practice and continuous studies, my knowledge of the therapeutic application of the postures as well as teaching advanced asana has expanded substantially. 

Today, the goals of my clients and needs of my students inform my work. My hope is to help people go beyond stretching for temporary pain relief, and towards a more permanent shift in postural and muscular patterns that can restore the structural integrity of their body and keep them forever active.