My Medicine
Movement;
Since I was a kid, movement has been my medicine. I am always looking for ways to move and be in my body especially after many years of disassociating because of childhood trauma. Running was my first form of meditation when I was young, I ran in track and cross country and won many races, I thought I was running away from my problems, but I realized years later that I was actually running home to myself. My first experience with yoga was when I was 13 and going through some major anxiety, my best friends dad led me through a meditation to help calm me and suggested I try yoga, I got a kundalini video and would practice it in my basement and it truly made me feel better. My yoga practice really deepened when I moved to Arizona and was in a major transitional stage in my life, it brought me so much closer to myself after many years of being so disconnected, it is and always will be my church. I am so grateful to have taught at some of the best yoga studios in the valley and to have become a lululemon ambassador within the first few years of teaching. it Is an honor to get to help facilitate teacher training at radi8 Hot Yoga and to get to mentor our students as they go out in the world to also become teachers themselves. One of my biggest passions is getting to combine my love of yoga and travel and lead yoga retreats for radi8 Hot Yoga. Dancing is my favorite way to move, to get lost in the music and within myself it always frees me from any boundaries and brings me home.
Sound;
Music has always played a huge part in my life. My father is a musician, he always had different instruments and music happening in our house In one way or another. Although I tried playing many instruments as a kid I had a hard time finding the patience to sit and learn them, so I sang in choir in high school instead. Going to concerts and festivals has always been my favorite pastime where music and dance merge, it’s a place when I can truly let go and feel free. It wasn’t until recently I started having an obsession with singing and playing instruments again. I started singing Kirtan or just singing at gatherings and remembered how much joy it brings me, I began to find myself singing by myself at home and found true healing in the vibrations. I started to collect instruments after finishing a sound training and would play and sing, either by myself or with friends and found so much joy and peace in the music.
Ceremony;
It has been an honor over the years to travel and lead yoga retreats and experience other cultures and rituals, to learn and get to share, in reverence, to the many people I have the honor of holding space for on retreats, in gatherings, workshops and circles. It is a sacred container that I hold with so much respect for others to do their own healing and to be seen, heard and held.
Community;
The times in my life when I am the most joyful is when I feel I have a community. Humans crave human connection. I have found myself falling into my deepest depressions when I lack a strong community. I am so grateful for the communities I have in my life, whether through my family and chosen family and wolfpack or through different communities I am a part of, and through the communities I have helped create at the studios I teach at or the community of women who attend our sisterhood circles. When you have a string community it gives you the space to truly be seen to go through the challenging moments in life with support of others and to grow together. We are all here on this path together to lift each other up and support each other and we will rise together.
Mother Earth;
I was blessed to be born and raised in the beautiful Pacific NW in Washington state. I was raised to learn and appreciate nature from a very young age, while helping my mom in the garden, playing naked in the mud with my twin sister, spending time at our cabin in Idaho and going on road trips to camp and hike all over for our summer vacations. I then spent 12 years in the stunning state if Oregon and honored the rain for the blessings of abundance that it brought to the lush land. Oregon is where my passion for hiking truly ignited. I was later drawn to the unique landscape of Arizona where I reside now. The medicine of Mama Gaia is felt in my bones and anytime I need to find grounding and find it within her embrace. She holds our ancestors stories in the soil and everything that comes from her and gives us so much with out asking for anything in return and it is our duty to protect and serve her for all of our future ancestors.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Education:
200 E-RYT at Dave’s Ashtanga Authentic Yoga Teacher Training, Scottsdale, Arizona 2014
800 Hour Yoga Therapy at Spirit of Yoga (included Yoga Nidra, Reiki 1 and 2, Yin and Restorative Yoga, Transformational Yoga Therapy, Sound meditation, Thai yoga massage) Tempe, Arizona 2016
Lululemon Ambassador
Sound Practitioner, Sonoran Sound, Scottsdale Arizona 2021
Bhakti and Kirtan training with Ananda Das, Sedona Arizona 2024
