Peach Friedman, E-RYT 500, has been studying the system of yoga since 1997, and began teaching yoga + other movement practices from her family’s studio in 2001.
Also the author of the internationally acclaimed memoir, Diary of an Exercise Addict, Peach has worked for over a decade helping women recover from eating disorders, both in the clinical setting, as well as through special retreats, workshops, and other offerings.
A poet and a deep seeker, Peach earned her BA in Writing from Naropa University in 2001 with a minor in Traditional Eastern Arts, and her MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts in 2006, where her thesis, a book of poems entitled The Body Does Not Rise, examined her relationship between the physical body and the written word.
Exposed to yoga from a young age, Peach’s practice developed seriously at the age of seventeen when she was first introduced to Integral Yoga as taught by students of Swami Satchidananda. When she was twenty-one, grief and unexpressed fears married with Peach’s fascination of her body’s boundaries, and she developed anorexia, from which she recovered with an increased curiosity to both understand, and better care for, her body.
For several years Peach studied closely with Cori Martinez, under whose direct guidance she developed her teacher training school. Peach is passionate about her own yoga education, and furthering the education of others. She has studied with a number of talented teachers over the years, including Gina Minyard, Cherie Healey, and Sianna Sherman. After spending two years studying Applied Psychology for Yogis with Livia Cohen-Shapiro, Peach is honored to now be a TA and guest faculty for Livia’s online school. Peach considers herself a forever-student, and presently continues her study with her primary teacher, Noah Mazé.
Peach’s classes emphasize skillful alignment, with freedom for individual expression. Her teaching style is clear and direct, with equal parts space for serious introversion and playful experimentation. Peach’s classes build strength, increase awareness, hone inner-listening skills, and refine the relationship between the pose and the person. You will never hear diet-culture language in her classes, or references to weight loss, detoxing, firming and toning, or burning calories. Peach begins every class with a lineage acknowledgement, paying respects to the teachers who came before her, and the birthplace of this practice, which is India.
In addition to teaching public classes, Peach has been leading 200 and 300 hour teacher training programs since 2012, and continues to pursue this part of her work with zeal.
A former studio owner, Peach now resides in Blacksburg VA.
She has two kids, a cute husband, lots of books, and a love of good chocolate.