Why Yoga?

I started my fitness journey back in 1999 (YES…you can hum to Prince) teaching group fitness classes beginning with step/floor aerobics (AFAA) then to Body Pump (Les Mills) and discovered along the way I would fall in love with yoga in the early 2000’s, although exposed to yoga in the 90’s as a way to heal from an eating disorder (I thought yoga was weird)!  But when I stepped on my mat, I felt like I was born again into a new body, a clear mind, a calm heart, a connection to not only myself, but also with God. The yoga mat became like a cathedral for my inner Catholic little girl, mountain pose became the steeple, camel became the pew, and child pose became my body prayer.

Why I teach in mindfulness and yoga in schools?

“If you want to find your life’s purpose, then find what breaks your heart and run towards it."

-Glennon Doyle Melton
 

This was my first day of kindergarten.

​

My parents were splitting up and my house was absolute chaos. I was the good girl who

kept quiet because Grandpa said, "children should be seen and not heard." This smiling

girl did not know this first day that school would be a struggle, and she would be placed

in remedial reading. Then labeled as the stupid kid, not by teachers but by peers, AND

mostly by herself. This breaks my heart. But, my childhood experiences gave me compassion to teach kids and a desire to help them see themselves as uniquely gifted and created purposefully. Yoga and mindfulness principles have become my vehicle for sharing this message with children.

When my memory returns to this little girl, I reflect. What I did not know then was that

this little sweet girl who believed she was less than would 36 years later be an award winning  author and sought-out yoga teacher for children and adults.