What is my approach and philosophy of Yoga? I view yoga as a moving meditation.Yoga is about aligning our energy with Source Energy. It is about bringing our consciousness behind our energy and directing it back to Source. Yoga is a lifestyle, a way of embodying our Higher Self and making choices that support all life systems.

Yoga is an experience of Oneness: Oneness with ourselves, with others, with the planet, with the universe. As we learn to become diligent in our practice we transform our limitations into expanding possibilities. We don't do yoga just for ourselves, we do it for the entire universe. In each moment we experience the only Truth: There is only Love. With this knowing we affect profound change. Like a pebble dropping into a body of water, the ripples of peace and blessings extend far and wide. We offer our practice to all humanity and beyond.

Our physical bodies continually transition and change forms. Our spirit body continues to live on forever. We live in delusion when we focus so much attention to our small self. When we do this we grow attached to our likes and dislikes. We become self-centered through the ego and worry about what is happening in our lives. We often worry about what we are or are not getting. Yoga breaks this delusion. What our mind concentrates on is what we create and manifest in our lives. Yoga reminds us that we will be more content in life if we connect our attention, our focus, and our concentration back to our relationship with the Divine. Then we will finally find the peace we are looking for.

Our relationship to consciousness is equally important, if not more important, than our relationship to the physical. When we move and breathe in our yoga practice we start to acquire more Prana, or Life Force. We feel this when we hug the physical body inwards: We bring our attention in towards our center.

As we cultivate this energy we expand with it and exchange it in relationship to everything. Our body is an amazing vessel and channel for receiving, giving, and cultivating Prana. Our body temple is an amazing conduit for unlimited power. When we make contact with our own life force we simultaneously make contact with Universal Prana. With awareness we realize and embody unlimited power. We can use this power to love deeper, to heal faster, and to direct our infinite potential into every aspect of our lives.

When we fine tune our awareness, we then express our Divine Nature more powerfully. The more pure we become with our body, mind, and spirit the more we shine. Our bodies are radiating out Electricity, Prana, Chi, Life Force… Love! In our Radiance we manifest our unique expression of the Divine.

Yoga helps us to develop our relationship with the invisible. We do this through feeling and tracking our sensations with awareness. We continue to be guided through our "Aha moments". These moments are the inward message of a "yes" to life. These messages are clues to manifesting our greatest joy in this lifetime.

With each asana, or yoga pose, we release negative and stuck energy. When we let go of stress we relax into our Divinity: We come closer to our true essence. We claim our right to exist with ease and grace. We live with courage and power. We live with acceptance and compassion.

True peace, true happiness comes from within. It is through our yoga practice that we elevate our energy, prepare the higher spiritual centers, and redirect our attention to where soul consciously reunites with Source. The Creator, Divine Light, is found inside! With this discovery we then recognize that everything, every person, every element is of the Divine. We move intentionally out of duality and into Unity! Oneness!

Awareness precedes all great healing. True healing is Applied Love! What is Love? Love is a feeling. It is an awareness of a blissful sensation inside and outside the body/mind. It is a vibration of bliss. Love is a feeling of peace and oneness. It is effortless. It shines from within and radiates outwards. It is a feeling that we can expand into. It is infinite. It is where we connect on an embodied level, One with Source.

What is Somatic Yoga?

Over the past several years I have been refining and developing a class called Somatic Exploration. Somatic Exploration is a restorative yoga class with a synergy of movement, breath, and relaxation. Somatic Yoga combines movements from Hanna Somatic Education, restorative yoga poses, pranayama, visualization and meditation. In this class you will be guided through gentle movements into re-patterning the way you use your mind/body. This type of movement has a profound affect by relieving muscular tension and improving range of motion. The overall effect is both relaxing and rejuvenating.

My Training and Certification:

My first exposure to yoga was taking Eleanor Criswell Hanna's Somatic Yoga class at Sonoma State University, California. It was also called the Psychology of Yoga. While studying to earn my Masters Degree, I was invited to teach the class as well as the Psychology of Meditation. During this time I completed an extensive three-year program to become certified as a Hanna Somatic Educator.

I have been invited to teach in various places around the US and Canada, including Kwatlen College in Vancouver, BC.

My first Yoga Alliance approved 200-hour yoga training was at Core Power Yoga in Denver, Colorado. Core Power is vinyasa style yoga practiced in a heated room and has roots in Baron Baptiste Power Yoga and Bikram. Alignment and flow was taught by Alanna Kaivalya, a certified Jivamukti teacher.

Most recently I completed a 200-hour program at The Soul of Yoga with Tom and Trisha Kelly in Encinitas, California. The teaching emphasis was on how to share spiritually inspired messages while being in a vinyasa flow. Alignment and sequence was taught by Anusara inspired teachers Myriam Machado and Dennis Frate.

Other influences on my teaching style have come from taking several ten-day silent Vipassana meditation retreats taught by S.N. Goenka. I was also trained extensively in biofeedback, specifically brainwave training, at SSU. Currently I've been studying with Christopher Beaver who is a Shamanic, Homeopathic and Green Tara Buddhist Practitioner. I learn by listening from within, by my students, and of course by witnessing and participating with the miracle of Life! I am so grateful!

For more information, please see my Bio Page.