I’ve loved movement ever since I can remember. My mother tells me as a baby I would crawl all over the house exploring while my older sister sat in my playpen to escape from me. As a child I danced and dreamt of flying. As a teen, I learned garba, a traditional gujarati folk dance, and felt like I could fly as I spun around in circles in step with other dancers. There is a structure to garba - dancers following the same step and yet there is also a freedom in the way a dancer adds a unique sweep of the hand or dives deeper to dip the hips...each dancer interprets the movement with their own flair, but we are all dancing to the same beat, the same step, the same rhythm. Dancing garba I felt connected to myself and uplifted to a higher plane of being all at the same time. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already practicing yoga. Yoga in Sanskrit translates to “yoke” or “to unite”. In Yoga we explore the union of the body, the mind and the breath. We are connected to a collective consciousness of being- a universal energy or light, we are a spark in the collective light of the universe.
I studied acting in college. I began practicing yoga to free the natural voice and to explore movement organically. During my yoga teacher training, I discovered a love for the study of anatomy. Understanding the biomechanics of movement is endlessly fascinating for me- exploring how the body moves through space, inhabits space and transcends physical space is a lifelong study.
Movement is a joyful way to translate our spark here on earth. Asana is the body’s poetry. Poetry transcends individual words, the same way mindful movement transcends our experience of living in the body. We are uplifted, part of something bigger than the individual words, bigger than the physicality of the pose.
My yoga classes play with both finding structure and freedom in movement. I don’t take myself too seriously. I believe equally in grounded purposeful movement, wobbling, falling and soaring. Compassion, laughter and a lightness of heart guide my instruction. My practice is also rooted in the fundamental principles of yoga. Asana, or poses, are one branch of the yogic system. The word yoga is used first by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras to expand on Krishna’s teachings of yoga. I firmly believe we must honor the roots of these sacred teachings.
Come join me on the mat! For 9 Years I have been teaching every Age and every Body. Yoga can be practiced by anyone at any stage of life or physical ability!
My children’s yoga classes are playful- we use our imagination and weave storytelling into classes to engage the youngest yogis.
In the teen yoga classes, we work with the structure of asana, dive into the guiding principles of yoga and learn to navigate our emotions and thoughts. I also like to encourage my teens to stay playful and explore the joy of movement.
I teach a range of classes for adults at all stages of life. From beginner to advanced classes, prenatal classes and much needed restorative classes to soothe our frazzled nerves, there is a class for everyone.