I specialize in movement based in yoga and pilates to tone and strengthen, along with balance poses and meditation to focus the mind. I customize yoga/pilates/personal training sessions according to learners' physical and psychological needs. I promote balance of the body and mind through effective teaching and demonstrations. I prepare class content and format appropriate for student level and style or type of yoga/pilates practice or personal training. I demonstrate techniques and methods of exercise and meditation. I conduct an intake session with each student prior to our first session to co-create a practice that is individualized. I am skilled at adapting our practice with a variety of accommodations for physical and neurological differences and making the practice engaging and accessible to the age group that I instruct. I am an independent yoga teacher, not associated with a yoga studio or a health club. What sets me apart from other instructors is that I bring the yoga to you – at your home, in your office or organization, or at your gym – and provide a practice customized to you.
Relevant Professional Work Experience & Training
I started a small personal training business when I moved to the Pacific North West in 2014 and have trained over 30 adult clients in one-on-one and small group settings. These clients represent a diverse range of ages and abilities. I recently completed my second year volunteering for Living Yoga, a non-profit organization that brings the study and practice of trauma-informed yoga to kids, youth and adults in correctional facilities, drug treatment centers, and behavioral/mental health facilities. Currently I teach yoga for students and staff at Beacon College in Leesburg. Beacon College exclusively serves students who learn differently with neurological differences such as autism, dyslexia and ADHD. Using a down-regulating practice, sessions can assist students with the management of disruptive emotions and impulses. This practice also emphasizes increasing the confidence of participants through affirmations and intention setting.
I completed Level 1 YogaFit teacher training in 2011 at the University of Florida. I completed Living Yoga teacher training in 2015. I have seventeen years of yoga and group exercise practice, five years of yoga/pilates/personal training work experience and three years of volunteer work as a yoga teacher (volunteer work primarily with differently abled adults). A strong guiding principle of my teaching is to practice WITH students and design our practice with attention to health conditions, abilities and an emphasis on the achievement of personalized or group fitness goals and fun!
During the summer of 2015 and 2016 I designed yoga based movement activities for children aged 3-12 at The International School’s Language Immersion Summer Camp (Portland, OR). These activities were designed to be engaging and fun while also developing a culture of movement and enhancing mindfulness.
In my position at Trilogy School for Learning Alternatives (Gainesville, FL) during 2013/14 academic school year, I taught P.E. and yoga to groups of middle and high school age students. This practice emphasized a moving meditation in an effort to decrease anxiety and depression.
In the 2002/03 academic school year, as a teacher and mentor at a state-wide juvenile delinquency prevention program, PACE Center for Girls (Tallahassee, FL), I instructed courses in Life Management Skills. This curriculum included decision-making and nutrition. I also facilitated aerobic fitness classes for all students enrolled in the program at the facility.
Education
I studied the following:
* Educational Leadership, Ed.D. (Doctorate of Education), April 2013 -- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
* Educational Leadership, Ed.S, (Specialist Degree in Education), August 2009 -- University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
* English Education, Master of Science, April 2005 -- Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
* English Education, Bachelor of Science, April 2002 -- Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
My journey to PiYo by Primack:
I began teaching yoga/pilates and doing personal training because I had friends who wanted to get healthier through the practice of yoga and pilates and have fun working out but they were intimidated to go to a yoga studio and didn't enjoy the gym. So I offered to show them some things and then set up a “class.” I taught five of my friends in my living room and then when I moved to the Pacific Northwest I started my own business. I just wanted my friends to feel good about themselves and about working out. It was through that intention to help my friends accomplish what they wanted to accomplish that I became a yoga/pilates instructor and personal trainer. I consider my clients to be some of my closest friends, we sweat and share and have fun while getting fit.
