My love affair with Yoga began March of 1990. Originally from Denmark, I was living in Greece at the time. A former National Team 4-event gymnast, and a modern dancer, I began taking Traditional Hatha Yoga classes in my late 20's. It was shortly after the birth of my first child, and I was eagerly taking classes 1-2 x weekly throughout the next 3-4 years.
Vinyasa Flow, Power Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga followed - these more vigorous kinds of Yoga types spoke to me, due to my love of gymnastics and dance.
My Yoga teaching experience began in 1997. I would give private classes to friends at first, and then to groups as I ventured out from friends to the public.
From late summer 1999 to the end of 2001 I was in charge of the Yoga program at the Nautilus Gym in Glyfada, Greece. I taught mostly group classes of Vinyasa and Power Yoga to beginners and intermediate students, and I added in my own style of YogaDance. I also taught private Yoga classes, which were very specifically tailored to the individual with a focus on emotional release and wholeness.
FYI I have taught MANY more classes than what shows up as hours here on this website under my profile, since I taught in Europe since 1997, and the profile hours only depict classes taught since 2017 which is when I joined Yoga Alliance.
I became formally Yoga Alliance certified in the US as a Vinyasa Flow Yoga Teacher from 08/2000 to 02/2001 with Ganga White and Tracey Rich at White Lotus, Santa Barbara, California. However, I did not enroll as a member of The Yoga Alliance until July of 2015.
As a former Dentist, licensed in Europe - DDS from the Dental College of Copenhagen, Denmark - I ventured into the alternative world, and became a Reiki practitioner, an Upledger CranioSacral Th practitioner, a Yoga Teacher and more.
Finally, I realized that I really wanted to be able to help people in the most profound way possible, so in 2002 I moved to the US with my family in order to study Naturopathy. I graduated as a Naturopathic Medical Doctor, NMD from SCNM (www.scnm.edu) Tempe, AZ in 2007 (19 years after my Dental degree), and became Board Certified and licensed as an NMD in Arizona. I'm now also licensed as a Naturopathic Doctor, ND in California, Puerto Rico and in Oregon.
By the way, I'm fluent in Danish and English, and my conversational Spanish is pretty decent. My Greek is very basic at the moment – haven’t been able to speak it much, after we left Europe in 2002.
Since I began practicing as a Naturopathic Medical Doctor in the spring of 2008, I have been utilizing Yoga in my practice, and incorporating poses and practices for a multitude of health issues has been very beneficial to my patients.
I have taught Yoga in all kinds of settings in several different countries around the globe over the past 21 years, and Yoga never ceases to amaze and fascinate me. My style has naturally and organically changed over time to a more gentle approach, though I still love to teach YogaDance and create Ecstatic Dance events.
Beside incorporating Yoga into my work with patients, I have taught classes at Gilbert Yoga in Gilbert, Arizona, as well as offered Yoga twice a week for cancer patients at the integrative cancer center An Oasis of H-e-a-l-i-n-g in Mesa, Arizona from end 2018 until the summer of 2021.
I returned to Puerto Rico June 2021 in order to supervise medical student care of patients at the Naturopathic Medical School again. I taught a bit of private yoga both in person and online while there.
Since I moved to San Diego June 2022, I have been teaching online yoga the remainder of 2022, but settling into the area and with work at Advanced Functional Medicine have kept me very busy during 2023. From December 2023 I am beginning to teach private in person yoga again; I have really missed it.
I have found that people often believe that you have to be "especially limber, slim and young" in order to "do Yoga" - my mission is to bring the philosophy and practice of Yoga to the people, whatever the level of ability, shape and age.
If you want to know even more about me, please check out my website www.DrSusyMacsay.com
Namaste!