How did you get into yoga?
I found yoga through my mother, who was an excellent, nurturing nurse. She set the bar high in our family to be active and healthy, and did yoga back when it wasn’t so cool…. no studios, no mala beads for sale in coffee shops, no mats. I loved watching her, and it stuck, but did not show up in my own routine until my 30’s, when I was too cheap to join a gym. I threw my mat down in my own family room with a 8-track of Rodnee Yee. Eventually, I found a teacher, and then became a teacher.
How does your quality of life compare now compared to pre-yoga?
I believe yoga has taught me how to listen better…. to people, to the signals of my body (which is way smarter than me), to those nudges that lead us, to emotions, to my inner voice. Things seen clearer, and I recognize when things align. My family knows that my mantra for life has melded into ‘if you see things align, step forward, and if you have to force, walk the other way’. I have yoga to thank for that huge lesson.
What parts of the yoga practice have benefited you most?
Aside from making me feel better, stronger, calmer, able to breathe better…. all of those things that the practice delivers, I think we receive what we as individuals need. For me, that was the ability to recognize that emotions do not define us, but pass through us. That we have a powerful mind, and we sometimes turn small and let our thoughts control us. And that we have more freedoms than we realize.
What might your life be like if you had not found yoga?
I might be less active, definitely ‘older’ in body and mind, too reactive, not as social (I have many great students intertwined in my week), less of a mother, wife and friend. Yoga gets me past the small stuff, and keeps me in the bigger picture so that I don’t get caught up in the details. And yoga has helped me balance my time better so that now I read, paint, garden, hike…. finding time to play and not just work.
Why do you believe it is important, as a yoga teacher, to be a plant-based vegan?
Long ago, my first teacher ‘warned’ me that the practice would make it’s way to my dinner plate. I thought she was crazy. And then I met a student who would, unknown to me, lead not only me, but also my entire family to a more compassionate way to eat. First vegetarian, and then fully plant based, when I realized I was allergic to dairy. I can’t tell you how this has changed my life! It mostly aligns me with what I have always believed, and is easy and nurturing and for me, the best choice. Even my mom, while in her 80’s, joined us…. guess we are reaching together up to her bar! Feeling this way, and realizing that the cornerstone of yoga is ahimsa, or non-violence (I like to use kindness), how could I not set an example for my students, with compassion, knowing that we all have choices.
Why did you decide to do yoga teacher training and eventually a yoga teacher?
I had it all backwards, and became a teacher with many years of my own practice, and an immersion of 108 hours. That was scary, but was shortly followed by an Anusara teacher training, many, many hours with my teachers, and my own participation into as many workshops that I could get myself to. Learning never stops, and my best teachers are my students. Then I did the advanced teacher training at World Peace Yoga to keep my ‘student’ hat on. I am currently taking weekly classes as a student, and reading and teaching others to be teachers. It’s like a big web of connection that feels very valuable and supportive. We all inspire and teach…. together.
