Battling with low back pain for many years, she attended first yoga class at age 16. “My mom took me to my first yoga class in high school, and I was hooked. It was here that I began to understand how my body worked. Yoga provided me the tools to be able to begin to fix my body and deal with my pain. I am so grateful to have been introduced to yoga at such a young age, as it has paved this path of life I am walking, it has has taught me the importance of kindness to all, and helped me to find equanimity in my life.”
Straight out of high school, in 2004 Brandi attended The Southeastern School of Neuromuscular and Massage Therapy in Jacksonville, FL. She has since been a licensed massage therapist for over 14 years. The anatomy and knowledge of the human body that she learned in massage school greatly increased the depth of knowledge of her body in her own yoga practice. This in-depth training has led her desire to continue to teach alignment-based classes, helping people to understand their own bodies on a deeper, more specific level.
In 2007 Brandi completed an Ashtanga based 100-hour teacher training in Kauai, HI with Bhavani Maki. In 2009 she completed a 200-hour Yoga Works teacher training with Tzahi Moskovitz, in Gainesville, Florida. This alignment-based practice complemented her knowledge of the human anatomy and helped her to see the human body as a more dynamic, thoroughly connected being. Brandi has been teaching a wide variety of classes since 2009, including Flow, Strengthen & Stabilize, Ashtanga, Yin, and Alignment Based Flow.
Since 2013, she has been teaching and managing a free, weekly yoga class at the Tom Petty Park, in Gainesville. In 2017. Brandi started co-teaching an annual 200-hour yoga teacher training with Kira Ben-Hamo and Makara Yoga, where she teaches anatomy, arm balance, and inversion workshops.
In July 2018 Brandi traveled to the Sacred Valley of Peru to complete her 300 hr teacher training through the School Yoga Institute (SYI), where she studied with Anita Sundaram & Maha Devi. After falling in love with SYI and Peru, Brandi traveled back to Peru in February 2019 to teach anatomy and shadow a 200 hour training with SYI. Brandi is now scheduled to teach other teacher trainings with SYI in other sacred locations around the world.
In August 2019 Brandi opened Wildflowers Yoga Studio in her hometown Gainesville, FL, where she will hold 300 hour advanced yoga teacher trainings.
“I teach yoga because I want to be able to share my understanding of the body with others. My massage therapy background has shaped my yoga practice and teaching, allowing me to see the ways that our bodies compensate, move and restrict movement when dealing with injuries and misalignments. I want to share this understanding of the body through movement and asana to help others learn how to look differently at their own issues and ailments, I enjoy teaching to teachers, helping them to see their students with a more detailed and fine-tuned eye.”
Giving back to the community, holding space for people to grow, and being able to share her love of yoga people of all abilities is what defines teaching for Brandi.