River Flow Yoga and Wellness

By the summer of 2011, I completed my 200-hour RYT certification from the White Lotus Foundation, where studied under Ganga White, Tracy Rich, Kent Bond and Sven Holcomb. Currently, I am E-RYT 200 RYT from the Asheville Yoga Center and working towards my RYT 500 certification.

My teaching style and personal practice is very fluid. I have a deep connection with the water element, and, like water, my asana practice lends itself to attuning with our natural desire for flow and movement. Also, my daughter, Willow, continually inspires me to celebrate each moment and live fully in the present moment, which I share with my students.

I fell in love with yoga in my very first savasana. I was 16 and dancing ballet everyday, so yoga seemed like such a natural complement. What I didn’t know is how it changed something deep within me. There was a shift. Ever since then, I've turned to yoga and meditation to feel whole, even while dancing and later on training in running and triathlons.

In early 2017 I decided to quit my desk job and completed my 200-hour YTT from YogaWorks in beautiful and magical Agadir, Morocco. The training was as much a healing process as it was learning yoga. I knew that this knowledge must be shared.

In my classes you can expect to see influence from my dancing background and perhaps a kick in the booty from running and triathlon training! More importantly there will always be a deep respect to the individual. Meeting everyone right where they are. To have compassion, love, and mercy for oneself, so that we can move off of the mat and into the day with complete Self (capital S!) love and awareness!

My first experience with yoga was in my home. My mother who had discovered yoga in her twenties
kept yoga books around the house and I remember flipping through the pages and seeing a yogi with his
chest proud, jaw open wide, tongue sticking out, eyes rolled back in his head (doing Lion’s Breath) and I
thought to myself ‘Hm, that’s weird.’

It wasn’t until my 20’s that I really began my own yoga practice by coming to Riverflow when I was home
from college as well as visiting different studios as I traveled around different parts of the world. When I
arrived in Istanbul in 2014, I not only found a place that I wanted to call home for a while, I found an
amazing yoga studio that helped me hone my asana practice and awaken the spiritual practice as well.
Once you start walking a path, the subsequent footsteps come more naturally. In 2017 I completed my
200 RYT at Yogafly in Auburn, AL. It was during teacher training and also in coping with the devastating
loss of someone very dear to me when I discovered Yoga Therapy. I knew I not only wanted to teach
yoga, but also be able to use it as a healing modality for others who are suffering. Currently, I am
attending the Kripalu School of Integrative Yoga Therapy with an amazing faulty of teachers. I believe
that yoga therapy offers a holistic approach to health, wellness and healing by combining yoga’s most
powerful tools—asana, pranayama, mudra, yoga nidra, and meditation.

In my classes I focus on striking a balance between strength and flexibility, effort and release. I strive to
cultivate a positive, safe, and joyful space. My hope is that you will feel more empowered on your own
path of self-discovery and knowledge.

I began practicing yoga ten years ago finding classes here and there as there were limited opportunities to take yoga in Columbus.  When RiverFlow opened I was thrilled to have found a “home.”  I began adding classes to my busy life as an attorney and mother and found that I never regretted making the time to get to the mat.  Yoga became essential to my life balance.  I found myself at RiverFlow four or five times a week and the studio community became my second family.  When Alee offered her first teacher training retreat in the summer of 2018 I knew that it was time to expand my practice and knowledge never intending to become an instructor – the goal was to just personally grow and transform.  However, the experience made me realize that I needed to share the power of yoga with others so they can become their best selves.  My hope is that those who take my classes will learn they have the power to transform their minds, bodies and spirits in order to live their best life.