I came to yoga after a long career as a competitive horseback rider. My body was in pain all the time and I was held captive by ongoing childhood trauma. I suffered from migraine headaches, digestive dysfunction, severe joint instability, spinal injuries, and early onset osteoporosis. I could barely hold myself up in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog). I have always been interested in health and anatomy, but I wondered if yoga would give me the same mental clarity and focus I had experienced as a competitive horseback rider. I dabbled in a few different “alignment-based” styles, went through two different teacher trainings, and although I loved teaching, as I had when I was a horseback riding instructor, I was still physically in pain and suffering. 

It wasn’t until I started working with a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher, Peentz Dubble in Boston, that I began to completely heal and transform my entire being. I had finally found a practice that addressed my physical pain and left me with a sense of deep inner calm and the experience of true relaxation. The intelligence and precision of Iyengar Yoga and the classical teachings of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras unlocked something inside of me and made possible what I never could have imagined. As BKS Iyengar famously wrote in Light on Life, “Yoga does not change the way we see things, it transforms the person who sees.”

Although I had been practicing yoga at that point for about six years, I began again at level 1. I relearned everything, trying to reorganize and repattern my body and nervous system. After five years of preparation and apprenticeship I passed the Iyengar Yoga assessment to become a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher. I hold additional certifications in prenatal yoga and am working toward a trauma sensitive yoga training from the Trauma Center in Brookline, MA. 

In 2013 I opened River Valley Yoga Center in Florence, MA with the vision of creating a sanctuary for all people. Prior to 2020, I was running River Valley Yoga Center full time and teaching at Smith College. At Smith I taught both accredited undergraduate yoga courses in the Department of Exercise Science & Studies, as well as Trauma Sensitive Yoga groups in the Smith College Counseling Center.

After over a decade of teaching, I found myself wanting to expand my skillset and work with people in an even more integrated way. When the pandemic began in 2020 I decided to take a leap of faith and began a 3-year Masters of Social Work program.

As a lifelong student first, I continue to deepen my practice by taking classes with Abhijata Iyengar and Prashant Iyengar, as well as studying multiple times per week with my primary teacher Senior CIYT Jessica Becker. I am abundantly grateful to her and for her mentorship, and to the Iyengar Family for their profound dedication and wisdom. It is one of the great honors of my life to be a part of this lineage and to continue to share it with my students.

In my off time, I love music, hiking, traveling, and spending time with my two dogs and four chickens. I am a National Parks lover and when not in Western Massachusetts spend most of my time on the beach in my hometown on the Outer Cape, Martha’s Vineyard, and/or Costa Rica.