The reason for this blog is simply a way to stay connected with my students and friends as we walk the path. A way to reflect on classes, teachings and ponderings of the body and soul. To ask and to answer questions and to express my own heart to those I love.
The inspiration though has come from a long process of soul searching, learning, growing and sharing. My teachers especially as a child and then again as a college student have always called me a philosopher, among other things not so sweet. I am a curious spirit and have always been full of questions about the things that know one can be sure of, for this reason my teachers have always taken a special interest in one way or another. I now realize I was asking questions from a very young age that most couldn't or wouldn't answer, it might help to know I went to Catholic schools all of my life.
I am for the first time finding answers that are satisfying and at the same time igniting my curiosities. I realize now that my most significant teachers were the ones who were willing to say "I don't know," this is the answer that always impresses me most and the one I most readily give my children when I really don't know. My first teacher and most significant teacher has always been my own father, not only would he answer I don't know, but he almost always answered my questions with a question, highly irritating at times but also a way of planting the seeds. I now realize that only I can answer these questions for myself and that the question itself is sometimes the answer.
When I found Fletcher Pilates I found my breath and inspiration to help people grow more stable and strong in their own bodies so that they could experience life with a long spine, an open chest and a desire to move from a place of strength and stability. I believe with my whole heart the technique and benefits that Fletcher Pilates has to offer to every BODY. I love standing up straight, tall and proud, knowing my own strength and learning more and more about my own body every day.
When I found Yoga, I found me. When asked how often I've been practicing yoga I almost always answer for as long as I can remember. I didn't have the word Yoga in my vocabulary but I remember finding these ancient poses in my own body as a child, I remember practicing this form of movement just because it felt right. My dad taught me to meditate at a very young age, and I have been exploring different forms of meditation for most of my life.
When I found Anusara Yoga, I found the gateway to my heart and I found my people. I was in the middle of another teacher training for power vinyasa and was required to go to the first weekend of an Anusara Immersion as part of the teacher training. I got on my mat and the first thing I was asked to do was to open to Grace, the first principle of Anusara Yoga. I don't know what happened in that moment expect somehow I knew exactly how to do that, and I opened big, I remember feeling like my body could do anything after opening to Grace. I could not possibly recall the sequence, but I can tell you for sure it didn't matter, and in some ways it never really does, it's the way you feel and the things you discover about yourself and the universe that really matter. After that weekend I knew for sure that I would be teaching Anusara Yoga.
After completing 108 hours of the AY Immersion and then another 100 hours of teacher training with Christina Sell, I packed up and headed off to meet the maker himself at the Anusara Grand Gathering and Yoga Journal Conference. Words can not describe the feeling of the Grand Gathering, once again my heart ripped itself open readily and allowed every bit of Grace in that hall to pour in. I was lucky enough to get in another 3 classes with John Friend while I was in Colorado and they were life changing each and every one of them. I am so blessed to have this yoga and these people in my life, I feel my heart opening and my compassion growing everyday and there is nothing I like to do more than share that with anyone and everyone who will listen. So thank you for listening.
