My Path to Yoga & Wellness

I’ve traveled many paths, and they all led me to a life of movement, mindfulness, and healing.

I was awarded a writing scholarship, and landed at Spelman College at the age of 16. I was much too immature to take college as seriously as I should have. I was committed to my first love, dance, and did plenty of that all over Atlanta, GA. My second loves, reading (novels, not textbooks) and writing (erotic mysteries) took up most of my remaining time. Not surprisingly, I was expelled following one too many semesters of doing my own thing.

I’m a glass half-full type of person, so I didn’t let getting expelled from college steal my joy. I turned my summer job, teaching pre-school, into a full-time job, and a year later, moved home to the Bay Area and re-enrolled in college. A few years in, I experienced my first panic attack. A devoted ballet dancer, I was also in the midst of an eating disorder that started when I was a college freshman. Ironically, it was my psychopharmacology teacher who introduced me to breathwork and mindfulness techniques. These techniques were very grounding for me, and enabled me to earn a BA and MS in Psychology, start my career as a social worker, and pursue my various “side hustles”.

In 2000, I was a counselor at a residential rehab facility for adolescents and teens. Exploring the connection between mindfulness and trauma, I began using yoga videos for a spirituality group that I created for girls diagnosed with PTSD. A back injury forced me to dive deeper into my personal yoga practice, and I practiced both hot yoga and hatha yoga as a way to gain strength and minimize my pain.

In 2015, I finally realized my long-time dream of enrolling in a 200-hour teacher training program at YogaKula in Berkeley, CA. Under the instruction of studio owner, teacher, and filmmaker Saraswati Clere, and teacher Siri Cavanna, I immersed myself in yoga practice based on the heart-oriented, alignment-focused principles of Anusara Yoga. I continue to be a teacher and a student of yoga, currently working towards my RYT-500, and studying with master teachers such as Carlos Pomeda, Sally Kempton, and Anodea Judith. I use yoga philosophy, breathwork, and various mindfulness techniques with not only my yoga students, but also in DEI trainings, coaching, beauty work, and of course, in my personal life. I feel strongly that no matter what your age, gender, level of fitness, mobility, beliefs, or background, yoga can benefit everyone, and should be accessible to everyone.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me hanging out with my friends and family, singing and dancing, planting and harvesting, cooking and fermenting, reading and writing, or traveling to anyplace with a beach.