“It is quite comical that I have been called by the Universe to touch people and help them relieve anxiety, tension, physical and emotional pain. Really I have been called to be a channel for healing energy in the world and when I honor that call, I am restored to sanity. Anyone who knows me and my journey would probably have a little giggle at this, as my journey to the healing arts has been through healing my own life, one train wreck at a time. The first symptoms of sickness started with eating disorder behavior in 5th grade followed by alcohol and substance addiction in 8th grade. From the age of 15-20 I was institutionalized 3 times and finally was able to recover completely by becoming abstinent from drugs and alcohol and practicing meditation, prayer and yoga.
Once I became free from chemical addiction, my eating disorder was defeated through simple spiritual tools. It is precisely for this reason that I feel confident to help anyone and everyone. When we are lost in the dark, we need a guide to help us who knows how to see the light in the dark. Looking back at the days when I was young and very sick, I would ask, “Why me?” And now, I don’t ask that. I know that every struggle will someday help someone else and that is my purpose on the planet.
This life is not what I chose as a career, but it found me. One fine day, in 2007, 3 years into sobriety and enjoying a busy schedule of collegiate theatre performances at Arizona State University, I went to a yoga class… and 17 years later, I am still here! I love to practice yoga. Yoga has blessed my life immensely and carried me through great challenges with the gift of the breath. I learned a lot quickly and would often attend 2 classes a day and was asked to teach at Yoga Nirvana in 2008. In 2010 I met David Oliver and began to study the system of Ashtanga Yoga, through the lineage of K. Pattabhi Jois. In this year, I also gained my RYT certification under David and Cheryl Oliver. In 2017 and 2018 devoted 8 months to study and practice with the great Ashtanga yoga teacher Andrew Eppler. I have had the pleasure of practicing and studying with some of the great yoga teachers and thinkers of our time: Shiva Rea, Tias Little, Matthew Hodges, John Salisbury, Desiree Lapre-Grobstien, Govindas, Annie Carpenter, Anton Mackey, Cheryl Oliver, Jen Chiareli, and David Williams just to name a few.
My studies with John Barnes have changed how I see energy and tension in the body. Our nervous system needs time to unwind daily. In my body work practice as well as yoga teaching, I employ all skills from 14 years of studying the moving body, in order to help people find release and freedom of breath. Once the breath is freed, everything else will follow.
It’s not about getting there, it’s about being here. Each day is the greatest gift we will ever receive. These are my ultimate yoga lessons. David Oliver used to say, “We’re good on time.” It would always set my soul at ease because it meant that this moment was perfect. I can just breathe, stop rushing, and enjoy right now, through the breath and the present moment, I can always be in a healing, kind space.
I love to take people to their edges and breathe with them there. It is in this practice of touching our edge that we learn to expand our limits of what we think is possible to unite our hearts intention with our minds eye. It is at our edge that we heal our bodies by making them more supple and strong, and our minds by making them more flexible."
Training
Nebraska Wesleyan University- Stanislavsky- Jack Parkhurst & Joan Korte- 2003
Phoenix College Associates of Art- 2007
Arizona State University- Bachelors of Art- 2008
Kari Margolis- Margolis Method, Physical Theater- 2008
Rachel Bowditch- Le Coq, Rasa Boxes, Viewpoints- 2008
David & Cheryl Oliver- Registered Yoga Teacher- 2010
Upright Citizens Brigade- Improv- 2014
Annie Grindlay- Saxon Trainor- Stella Adler Imagination Work- 2013
Leslie Kahn- Comedy- 2014
Southwest Institue of Healing Arts- Massage- 2015
John Barnes Myofascial Pelvis- 20 hours 1016
John Barnes Myofascial Release I- 20 Hours 2017
Reiki I & II - Laura Butler 2017
300 hr. Ashtanga Advanced Ashtanga Yoga Studies with Andrew Eppler- 2017
Once I became free from chemical addiction, my eating disorder was defeated through simple spiritual tools. It is precisely for this reason that I feel confident to help anyone and everyone. When we are lost in the dark, we need a guide to help us who knows how to see the light in the dark. Looking back at the days when I was young and very sick, I would ask, “Why me?” And now, I don’t ask that. I know that every struggle will someday help someone else and that is my purpose on the planet.
This life is not what I chose as a career, but it found me. One fine day, in 2007, 3 years into sobriety and enjoying a busy schedule of collegiate theatre performances at Arizona State University, I went to a yoga class… and 17 years later, I am still here! I love to practice yoga. Yoga has blessed my life immensely and carried me through great challenges with the gift of the breath. I learned a lot quickly and would often attend 2 classes a day and was asked to teach at Yoga Nirvana in 2008. In 2010 I met David Oliver and began to study the system of Ashtanga Yoga, through the lineage of K. Pattabhi Jois. In this year, I also gained my RYT certification under David and Cheryl Oliver. In 2017 and 2018 devoted 8 months to study and practice with the great Ashtanga yoga teacher Andrew Eppler. I have had the pleasure of practicing and studying with some of the great yoga teachers and thinkers of our time: Shiva Rea, Tias Little, Matthew Hodges, John Salisbury, Desiree Lapre-Grobstien, Govindas, Annie Carpenter, Anton Mackey, Cheryl Oliver, Jen Chiareli, and David Williams just to name a few.
My studies with John Barnes have changed how I see energy and tension in the body. Our nervous system needs time to unwind daily. In my body work practice as well as yoga teaching, I employ all skills from 14 years of studying the moving body, in order to help people find release and freedom of breath. Once the breath is freed, everything else will follow.
It’s not about getting there, it’s about being here. Each day is the greatest gift we will ever receive. These are my ultimate yoga lessons. David Oliver used to say, “We’re good on time.” It would always set my soul at ease because it meant that this moment was perfect. I can just breathe, stop rushing, and enjoy right now, through the breath and the present moment, I can always be in a healing, kind space.
I love to take people to their edges and breathe with them there. It is in this practice of touching our edge that we learn to expand our limits of what we think is possible to unite our hearts intention with our minds eye. It is at our edge that we heal our bodies by making them more supple and strong, and our minds by making them more flexible."
Training
Nebraska Wesleyan University- Stanislavsky- Jack Parkhurst & Joan Korte- 2003
Phoenix College Associates of Art- 2007
Arizona State University- Bachelors of Art- 2008
Kari Margolis- Margolis Method, Physical Theater- 2008
Rachel Bowditch- Le Coq, Rasa Boxes, Viewpoints- 2008
David & Cheryl Oliver- Registered Yoga Teacher- 2010
Upright Citizens Brigade- Improv- 2014
Annie Grindlay- Saxon Trainor- Stella Adler Imagination Work- 2013
Leslie Kahn- Comedy- 2014
Southwest Institue of Healing Arts- Massage- 2015
John Barnes Myofascial Pelvis- 20 hours 1016
John Barnes Myofascial Release I- 20 Hours 2017
Reiki I & II - Laura Butler 2017
300 hr. Ashtanga Advanced Ashtanga Yoga Studies with Andrew Eppler- 2017
