I use all of yoga’s many tools to help students feel safer, braver, and stronger. I guide students back to their best self, a centered and expansive self in touch with their needs and gifts. I believe that moving well helps us shed old patterns, lingering compensation patterns, and old stories. Moving well includes how you breathe and how you react to your thoughts and emotions. My approach is collaborative: together we will discover how your body needs you to show up for it to no longer live with pain. I have a deep toolbox of techniques, each customizable to your genetic inheritance, accumulated injuries and chronic conditions. There is literally no point you could start from that is too far gone. If you are still breathing, I will help you find your way. With over twenty years of experience practicing yoga and more than two decades of professional study in human movement, my approach blends the most effective techniques from therapeutic yoga, physical therapy, and both Eastern and Western mindful movement practices. My deep understanding of anatomy informs every aspect of my teaching. Learning your basic anatomy, where certain bones or joints are and how and what certain muscles do empowers you in several ways. Firstly, it’s your body, you should know a little bit about how it works. Secondly, exercises are more meaningful if you understand why and how they are helpful. Most importantly, the anatomy deepens your presence so you can communicate with all the professionals in your life with more clarity and authority. In our sessions you will learn how to assess your posture and movement using simple bony landmarks. Tracking when your landmarks are off is an early warning system letting you know that you need to do your home exercises or come in for a session. You will practice good form and learn how to describe the movement or postural changes you need to make in order to avoid pain. These basic skills give you the power to help yourself. I specialize in spinal conditions and postural issues, including scoliosis, neck and back pain, hyper-lordosis, hyper-kyphosis, sacroiliac dysfunction and the nerve pain and referral patterns that often accompany them. I tend to see clients with very complex cases, multiple issues and competing concerns (you would like to get fitter but your knees hurt, or you love golf but you have scoliosis and twisting hurts your back). And I am deft at listening to the hurt, disappointment and fear that accompanies loss of function. Navigating the emotional terrain is part of managing pain. I can help you find your way through all of it. As a person that lives with a chronic condition, Systemic Mastocytosis, I understand living with pain, performing despite loss of function, and how aging and genetic inheritances like hypermobility or anxiety compound one’s ability to simply cope. Yoga is a strong enough container for all of it. Yoga’s long wisdom tradition, the breathwork, the poses and the mindfulness practices, all point the way to peace. I will help you pick up the pieces and assemble some humble practices that have the power to transform your life. When you need to make sense of medical reports and communicate with (or gather) your team, I’m committed to helping you. I regularly collaborate with other healthcare professionals, such as physical therapists, bodyworkers and personal trainers. I continuously deepen my expertise by studying Advanced Yoga Therapeutics with internationally recognized master teachers like Doug Keller and Dr. Loren Fishman. Every year I attend multiple trainings and seminars across movement disciplines in order to stay up-to-date with the latest research and techniques in exercise science.