The short version. I am a yoga student and teacher, mom to a human and a dog, married to an Italian. I love hiking, the beach as well as snow, I wish I was a better gardener, I love to read and I love eating brown rice and chips but not together, although maybe.
The long version. Yoga seemed weird to me when I first tried it on a whim. However, I kept returning, sensing a shift taking place INSIDE me whenever I took class. It was as if something both immense and subtle was beginning to awaken.
Eventually I started practicing Ashtanga yoga with a friend and classmate during my time in graduate school. This practice, coupled with a good therapist became my saving grace. Both helped me with my fears, anxiety, and despair, especially during challenging moments that almost led me to quit school. It helped heal me (slowly) when I tore my Achilles tendon. When I was on my mat, the world got quiet, it was a haven from the chaos around me. It gave me faith, in myself and in something bigger and more powerful than myself. On my mat nobody scrutinized me for to being too big, too loud, too wrong, or not fitting the mold.
Yoga has been my constant companion for many years, seeing me through many life changes, good and bad, ups and downs. It is the one thing I unfailingly return to. It is always new, yet familiar and welcoming. Yoga’s gift is its ability to compel me into the present moment, to question whether I can truly extend compassion to myself and others. Yoga has the power to remove my layers and brings me face to face with myself and allows me to face the wider world.
I have studied over the years with many teachers for various periods of time. I have learned something from all of them. In no particular order - Eddie and Jocelyne Stern, Noah Williams, Kimberly Flynn, Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Jodi Blumstein, Jeanne Heileman and my first teachers at Integral Yoga.
I have a degree in Anthropology from Barnard College and an MFA from Yale School of Drama.