Sacred Yoga

I've been practicing yoga and meditation for over 40 years now. When I started as a teen in the 1970's yoga was more of a spiritual practice. There weren't really any yoga classes at the time, unless a Yogi flew to the States from India.

So, I first learned about the spirituality of meditation and poses from a paperback book! Needless to say, it changed my life! Years of daily solo meditations while incorporating poses were a way for me to connect with my inner self and with Source. Yoga became my prayer and has continued to be sacred for me my whole life.

My beautiful sacred Yoga! It has always been a practice that I needed to do alone and in solitude in order to for me to get into that individual flow of body, mind, spirit energy that is unique only to me.

The primary point of yoga has never been to focus on the physical part alone, it has always been a state of mind, a uniting of mind, body and spirit. That is why meditation is such and important part of Yoga. I'm sure you've heard of "Mindfulness" meditation? Well, I personally think it should be called "Mindless" meditation. You see, in meditation one is trying to rid the mind of the busy chatter, the ego mind, the calculating mind, a mind that is constantly seeking outside of itself, distracted, always looking towards the future, goal setting, instead of being in the beautiful present moment, the "be here now" moment where you quiet the mind and go within.

Unfortunately, as Yoga became more accepted in western culture, I saw something that I held so very sacred becoming commercialized and monetized, and essentially losing the essence of what I found to be so sacred. In observing this, I decided to become a certified yoga teacher to bring back the ancient original teachings of yoga that I really and truly feel only can be found when practicing alone. The problem was, how was I going to teach this in class? A class where basically we ARE in the "calculating" mind anticipating the next pose in a sequence AND in a class where the student IS looking outside of self to a teacher to learn?

I understood that the "mindless state of being" that I so wanted my students to experience, could only be done on their own, without distractions, in a place where they could go deep within, feeling empowered without any attachment to ego. It could only be done in a place of no judgements from others, towards others, or towards self. It could only be done in a place where there is no competition or hierarchy, no need to seek outside of themselves for answers or validation. No need to worry about the beads or brands of yoga one wears. No need to burn incense or travel to Costa Rica or Bali and brag that you spent your life savings at a fancy retreat to get a "Certification in Enlightenment." No need to PROVE ANYTHING to anyone, because its just YOU, just you and your connection to self/source! THAT is what Yoga is about!

I want to stress that Yoga has nothing to do with ego. In fact, you could say its the opposite! You don't need anyone to teach you what you already know and my goal as a teacher is not so much to lead you, but to remind you of what your instinctively already know! As a teacher I can give you tools, but its your job to take them and make them your own, creating your own sacred practice that is unique to only you!

I know, I know, in doing this I may put my yoga business out of practice, but to me yoga was never a business and it's definitely NOT why I got into teaching. My Dharma has always been to empower others, whether through Yoga, my Health Coaching, Life Coaching, Medical Practice, etc. Truly, my deepest hope is that my classes help you feel empowered to create your own "sacred prayer." Then my job will be done!