Julie P.

Studio Director/Instructor

Escape to Yoga

Julie Popma, E-RYT500, YACEP, ABYSFor the past 20 years my primary role has been managing and caring for my family of 5.  My husband and I have 3 kids and 2 dogs and live a very active life.  in 2004 when a serious knee injury forced me to give up high impact exercise and sports, I turned to yoga to help me heal and build strength.Yoga transformed my life so much that I wanted to share it with others and in 2015 I received my RYT200 in the Vinyasa style of yoga. I quickly realized vinyasa yoga was not accessible for many of my students, so in 2016, in an effort to help my students and to understand injury prevention,  I embarked on a journey into alignment/Iyengar style yoga.I was so delighted by how much alignment yoga enhanced my vinyasa teaching and my personal practice, that I decided to study more and in 2020 received my RYT500 & ABYS(Alignment Based Yoga Specialist) from the Lundberg School of Yoga.  My teachers were seasoned physical therapists and certified Iyengar teachers and I am so grateful to them for all that they have taught me about the depth of what yoga has to offer physically, mentally and spiritually.  To this day I continue to study with them on a weekly basis to help hone my practice and teaching skills.When I first stepped into Escape to Yoga in 2020 I knew that I found my yoga home. I had been teaching classes at a variety of yoga studios and fitness facilities since 2015, but Escape to Yoga was the first studio where I felt total non-judgement, peace and serenity.  At Escape I love to teach a variety of classes and I believe that walking into the sactuary of Escape to Yoga is like a warm embrace that allows my students to heal and discover the transformative benefits of yoga. You can practice with me in a variety of styles from Gentle Care Hatha, Grow Strong Hatha to Strong Flow Vinyasa.