I am not one of those people who gets to say yoga has been a part of their whole life, instead I’m one of those people who gets to day yoga helped me fall in love with my body. I have always been active, swimming, martial arts and I’ve always been round and fat. I love water so swimming has always been natural to me. Martial arts helped me to find unknown strength within. Both helped me to feel comfortable in my skin. I enjoyed being a mother, learning about childbirth becoming a doula and lactation consultant. Human bodies are amazing.

I lost that trust with myself when I found out I had cancer in May of 2000. After chemotherapy and surgery, I found myself not trusting my body. I found no wonder, joy or awe with in my own skin. I had lost that joy of being amazed at humans and our bodies. When that became too much, I found a yoga class at the local YMCA and started taking classes. Yoga helped me to find myself again, to make peace with my body. It was two or three years of classes before I started really seeing the benefits of yoga. Not so much physically – those came but later. The most prominent benefits were emotional and mental.

It took me almost 10 years of just doing yoga here and there before one of my instructors strongly encouraged me to seek out being coming a yoga teacher. I had lots of excuses why not – I don’t have a “yoga body”, I’m too old, I’m not that flexible there are just poses I can’t do, I never stand on my head or who’d want to learn from me. She didn’t let up and with her strong encouragement I started my teacher training.

Teacher Training helped to reveal the depth of yoga that I was craving. The moving beyond the asana and pranayama work into the deeper spirituality and philosophy. Finding Curvy yoga and mindfulness, the quiet inward reflection that comes from yin yoga have helped me to embrace myself as I am as well as the courage to move forward into my next goal of 500-hour certification. Traveling around the country has given me the gift of being able to share yoga with people from all over the country and even the world.

“Yoga helped me feel at home again in my own skin. I wanted to help others rediscover themselves through yoga, to use yoga as a way for others to be comfortable in their own body, mind and spirit.”