Public Class Schedule:

Monday
5:30-7:00 PM: Level 1&2**, Northampton, MA – Yoga Sanctuary

Wednesday
7:15-8:00 PM: Level 1*, Northampton, MA – Yoga Sanctuary

Saturday
8:15-9:30 AM: Level 1*, Northampton, MA – Yoga Sanctuary
(I share this class with Susan Elena Esquivel. This winter I will be teaching: 1/14, 1/28, 2/4, 2/18, 3/3, 3/10, 3/17, 3/31.)
10:00-11:30 AM: Level 1&2**, Northampton, MA – Yoga Sanctuary
(I share this class with Sara Rose. This winter I will be teaching:
1/7, 1/21, 1/28, 2/4, 2/18, 3/3, 3/10, 3/17, 3/24, 3/31)

* Level 1

This class introduces alignment principles and techniques in a clear and concise way through postures, breathing techniques, and life-affirming tantric philosophy. A supportive and fun class for advanced beginners or those wanting a basic class.

** Level 1 & 2

Not intended for beginners, this class will continue teaching alignment principles, refining the shapes of the poses, and will build up to more challenging poses including arm balances, backbends and inversions. A great in-between class offering more refinements and plenty of fun!

*** Teens Yoga – Monday, 7:15-8:30 PM (6-week series: Begins in Spring 2012 – Check back for more information)

A special class just for teens. It is a fun and creative class combining yoga, yogadance, drawing, singing and meditation.

All Northampton classes held at Yoga Sanctuary, 3rd Floor, Thornes Marketplace, 150 Main St., Northampton, MA

All Springfield classes held at 53 Newhall St., Springfield, MA (I am not currently offering any public classes in Springfield, but am available for privates.)

I took my first yoga class in 1998 when I was living and teaching at a high school in Hawai’i. At the time, I was training for marathons and I thought yoga would be a good place for me to stretch. I was both surprised, and truthfully, a bit scared, of how much it asked of me — physically, mentally, and emotionally. I went to a few more yoga classes in my next three and a half years living in the islands, but it wasn’t until I moved to western Massachusetts in 2001 that I began a regular practice. A co-worker and new friend asked me to go with her to a yoga class she found at the gym on Thursday nights. The teacher was warm, light-hearted, playful, and strong. She read poetry at the beginning and end of class, and she created a welcoming, safe atmosphere. It wasn’t long before I was thinking of yoga class as my sanctuary. It was a place and time when I connected with my feelings and where it felt okay to be vulnerable. And at the same time, the class was physically challenging.

In yoga, I discovered an inner quiet that was new to me. While practicing, my racing mind was stilled, and I felt at peace, which was a new feeling for me. My once a week class turned into two and then into three. A year later, my teacher stopped teaching at the gym to pursue a graduate degree. After she left, I stuck with the gym for a while, but it wasn’t the same. I tried other yoga classes here and there over the next couple of years at different studios, tried some yoga videos, and sometimes months would go by between classes. I kept searching for the heart-centeredness and the connection between the practice on the mat and life that I had discovered in the basement of the local gym.

I finally found what I was looking for at Yoga Sanctuary and in Anusara in the summer of 2005. The teachings of Anusara (which in Sanskrit means “flowing with grace”) led me ever deeper into myself. Through my practice, I have continually been asked to open further into a physical pose and to step more fully into my conscious self. My friend and teacher, Sara Rose, frequently says, “you are enough just as you are, and there is always more.” Which, as far as I’m concerned, is just perfect. Yoga has helped me discover my sense of self and my belief in my worth. And it has supported me to continuously expand and grow. I teach yoga to share this with others. I teach the physical alignment, the joy of building strength and going deeper into a pose than you think you can, and I use yoga to offer teachings about life.

I have logged over 500 hours of study in the Anusara style, including an 8-month, Level 1 & 2 Anusara Teacher Training with Sara Rose (Yoga Sanctuary, Northampton, MA), a Level 2 Advanced Anusara Yoga Teacher Training with Amy Ippoliti & Ross Rayburn, an Anusara Teacher Training with Sarah Faircloth, a 5-day Anatomy/Therapy Training with Martin Kirk, and an online Teacher Training with Amy Ippoliti. I am currently enrolled in a 10-month mentoring program with Noah Mazé and Christina Sell to help me raise my teaching to the next level! I teach classes in Northampton, and I am available for private and small group lessons by appointment. I was licensed as an Anusara-Inspired teacher in June 2011 and rescinded my license in February 2012 because I found that I was no longer in alignment with the ethics of the founder nor of the direction of the organization. My classes continue to be inspired by the teachings of Anusara.