"Life is a journey, not a destination.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My yoga story began in college…One day I went to the college counseling center with complaints of disabling anxiety increased by my father’s terminal illness. I was tense all the time, with thoughts racing from one fear to the next. The counselor I saw suggested I begin taking yoga classes. In that time, I thought this suggestion was a rather cliche answer to anxiety management…like yoga could fix it. At the time yoga was sort of mainstream, but there were much fewer studios and fewer students than there are now. Needless to say, I am a Capricorn sun, and so I follow the instructions of those thought to be wiser than me, and I went to a yoga class at the university recreation center at a time that fit with my school schedule. It happened to be a Kundalini Yoga class. I walked in to see a beautiful woman wearing all white, one female student, and about 10 bulky college-aged men all wearing the same football team shirt. My first thought was, these guys are only here because of the hot yoga teacher in white pants. I was starting to question yoga…

I took my place, and the teacher began by saying, “Today we will be doing a kriya that focuses on the liver, because when we hold anger for too long it can make our liver ill.” With my eyes WIDE open, I thought that somehow the counselor had told the yoga teacher about my father’s illness. (As if that was possible, the teacher didn’t even know my name!) In full disclosure, my father may have been the most angry person I knew, and he was dying from liver cancer, so what the teacher said made a whole lot of sense. Given my life-long interest in medicine, this was mind expanding. I became keenly interested by the idea that emotions and illness could be linked. Fascinating!

My journey continued into the study of energy, meditation, yoga, and the breath. All the while, I was in school to be a nurse and so also immersed in the western framework for medicine and illness.

For me, yoga is a tool in my toolbox that I can use to shift my perspective, re-orient myself to center, and continue to trust in the rhythm of the Universe. As I have grown my relationship with my breath, I can partner with it when needing to restore balance, and this has ultimately empowered me to take good care of myself. I really believe that the breath is our most powerful tool…and it is free!

I am a E-RYT 200 with the Yoga Alliance and also a continuing education provider. I believe yoga has a unique way of allowing individuals to perceive their inner landscape and cultivate continued compassion for self. My teaching style blends my knowledge of energy anatomy, human physiology and psychology…sprinkled with humor, and I LOVE to play the Gong.

In addition to yoga, I enjoy infusing astrology into all the things I do. I first became interested in astrology when I was 8-years-old and read an introductory book on astrology and it resonated deeply. I find astrological insights to be incredibly validating. I have been studying it ever since, and began formally offering natal chart readings in 2019.

My Yoga Training:

  • Kundalini Yoga Level 1 Teacher Training (2010)

  • Kundalini Yoga Level 2 Life Cycles (2011), Level 2 Mind & Meditation (2016) and Level 2 Stress & Vitality (2017)

  • Restorative Yoga (2015)

  • Pranayama with Max Strom (2016)

  • 500+hours in therapeutic yoga and yoga sutras through Yoga Well Institute and Chase Bossart (2016- current)

Formal Education Background:

  • Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP) from University of Minnesota Twin Cities (2018)

  • M.A. in Nursing from Augsburg College (2009)

  • B.S. in Nursing from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (2004)

  • Healing Touch Practitioner (certification completed in 2012), www.healingtouchprogram.com

  • Aromatherapy with Dr. Linda Halcon, University of Minnesota (2017)