I took my first yoga class in 1992 as part of a South Asian philosophy course I attended while at Sarah Lawrence College.  However, it was not until the year 2000 that I began to take the practice of yoga more seriously following a bout with viral meningitis that severely limited my spinal mobility.  Later that year I went to India to study yoga and completed my first teacher training course at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram in Neyyar Dam.  There I was introduced to the other facets of yoga, primarily chanting, philosophy and meditation.  Although my initial motivation to practice yoga was purely a physical one, the experience became a springboard for further inquiry into the deeper layers of the art and science of yoga as a means to clarity and balanced states of health and well being.  

In 2006, I returned to India for a second time to study Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga in Mysore, India with R. Sharath Jois, the grandson of Sri. K. Pattabhi Jois.  During this particular journey, I also studied Tibetan Buddhism and meditation in Dharamsala, India, including a month long teaching by H. H. the Dalai Lama.  In December of 2009, I completed a 200 hour teacher training program at the Iyengar Institute of  San Francisco, bringing my total number of training hours to over 1,000.  In 2011, I also completed a year long Yoga philosophy certificate program at the California Institute of Integral Studies where I was fortunate to study with some of the great teachers of yoga philosophy including Carlos Pomeda, Sally Kempton, Gary Kraftsow, Scott Blossom and Kate Holcombe and Chase Bossart of the Healing Yoga Foundation.

My innate sense of curiosity and dedication to yoga has led me to study asana with a variety of teachers including Richard Freeman (who’s teacher training I completed in 2005), Ramanand Patel (with whom I studied for 2+ years), Judith Lasater and Maty Ezraty.  I have been teaching yoga since 2006, and my style is greatly influenced by the Krishnamacharya lineage of both the Ashtanga Vinayasa and Iyengar systems of asana practice, with attention to detail, internal alignment, breath and mindfulness.

In addition to yoga, I received training in permaculture design at Gaia Ecovillage in Navarro, Argentina as well as certification to become a labor and post-partum doula through Doulas of North America.  In 1997 I graduated from Montana State University with a BA in photography.  I am also a certified massage therapist with over 1,000 hours of training from the Boulder College of Massage Therapy, which included a thorough examination of anatomy, physiology and kinesiology.  Currently, I am studying to become a Certified Ayurvedic Specialist through the California College of Ayurveda.  My interest in and teaching of yoga is inspired and influenced by these other facets of my life.   

It is with immense gratitude to all of my teachers that I share my joy of yoga as a means to discover freedom in the authentic self, rooted in the core of the heart as infinite love and compassion.

"Real beauty is my aim."
~ Mahatma Gandhi