For decades I ran to relieve stress, but when my knees began to resist, I tried out an Iyengar yoga studio a few blocks from my apartment. I went to weekly classes for two years, learning fundamentals of alignment and breath, which kept me running awhile longer.

In the early fall of 2001, my young family was renovating our first house, I was starting a new teaching job, and all hell broke loose in the world. For the first time, I tried a vinyasa studio. The heat was unbearable, I had nowhere near enough shoulder strength to carry me through a single class, and I left running a low-grade fever. I hardly knew what was happening, but kept going back as often as I could. The fever lasted three weeks, and when it broke, something had shifted: the lifelong patterns of tension in my body were certainly not gone but somehow in play. I could see how they might be worked, managed, understood. That work never ends, but I love learning about it, and how best to share it.

Yoga is a powerful agent of embodiment. So much conspires to take us out of ourselves, from the daily stresses of living in our century, to full blown trauma. Deep rhythmic breathing matched to organic movement of reach and release, strength and surrender, teaches us to feel and regulate our tissues, nervous system, and metabolism. Embodiment is a very potent form of empowerment.

I have been blessed with generous and compassionate teachers, most notably Jill Miller, Coeli Marsh, Blanca Alcaraz, and Jaclyn Kryzak. Since 2013 I have been privileged to teach at Blanca and Jaclyn’s studio, Be In Union, in Union Square, Somerville, Massachusetts, a beautifully welcoming and supportive community. My classes are both athletic and nurturing, designed to build strength, good alignment, joyous flow,  and to facilitate release.

I am RYT-500, Yoga Tune Up ® and Roll Model ® certified, and trauma sensitive. Currently I teach vinyasa Mondays at 4:30 pm and rolling Sundays at 5:30. Check the schedule at www.beinunion.com.