I’m an advocate of all women becoming the most tapped-in, tuned-in and celebrated person she knows. When a women steps into her spotlight, soaks up her creative juices and recognizes her connectivity, she also supports others stepping into theirs ~ what a beautiful, spiritual and empowering practice that is.

So what will it take for you to arrive at your grandest?

There are a few different modalities that I have used to cultivate ease and renewal; that have allowed me to continue to practice stepping into the highest version of myself daily. The following are a few ways that I work with not only myself, but my clients as well.

Yoga

“Either the goal of yoga is to be free, or the goal of yoga is to get it right. You can’t really have it both ways. Because if you choose freedom, you have to divest yourself of that crazy idea that you have to get it right.” – Leslie Kaminoff

The Yogis Lifestyle

Yoga is more than movement. Just as an artist lives beyond her canvas, creating an internal & external life that supports her dharma, a yogini moves beyond her mat. Yoga is a state of being that ripples self-inquiry into our day to day living. Postures are brush strokes that help paint the life you dream of.

We may first come to yoga to cultivate new habits, to stretch & move the body differently, or to meet ourselves for the first time that day.  Eventually we may experience greater body & breath awareness in challenging moments off the mat, or relaxation in that day’s decision making.  Yoga deepens grooves- creates a new memory in the body, new pathways and self-efficacy.

To live the yogic life is to live the artist way. As each path collects liberation, requires listening and is rooted in the relationship with ourSelf.  Yoga is the art of self-discovery and self-care, and like other artistic mediums, it can influences how we perceive the world around us.

Ayurvedic-Yoga Therapy

Ayurvedic-Yoga Therapy is a personalized practice that integrates strength building exercises and the ancient sciences of Hatha Yoga & Ayurveda.  This yoga practice can address specific health goals or imbalances. Classes and workshops may use a variety of tools including gentle adaptations of the forms, freedom to be creative, befriending the body, mind-body awareness, moving meditations, mantra, visualizations, voice & speech and breathing exercises

“What I say is a yogi without Ayurveda is half a yogi. And an Ayurvedic physician without yoga is half a physician. The Ayurvedic physician must know yoga and yogic person must know Ayurveda because these are two sides of the same coin.” – Dr. Vasant Lad

Trauma-Sensitive Yoga

Trauma-Sensitive Yoga (TSY) is a way to make peace with your body. It is a liberating practice that is trauma-informed and an effective adjunct treatment for trauma survivors. TSY can provide a body-based practice that helps foster a sense of safety, experiencing breath & present moment awareness, making choices, capacity for self-regulation and befriending the body. The traditional idea of the guru in yoga is rejected and invites what scientists call interoception, as participants listen first and foremost to their own bodies. These group classes and workshops do not use props and have no physical assists, all participation is optional and voluntary.

“(Trauma-Sensitive) Yoga is at the frontier of trauma treatment in promoting mind/body healing.” -David Emerson/Elizabeth Hopper, PhD, co-authors and yoga directors at The Trauma Center at JRI, a world-renowned center for the research and treatment of trauma

Artava Yoga

Ayurveda has specific “codes of conduct” for women around her fertility years, and sees conception & pregnancy as the ultimate opportunity for rejuvenation – making the inward call of motherhood that perfect time to care for Ojas (seed of life).

A prenatal practice is one of giving & receiving, and reciprocity. In this series traditional Khalsa Way Prenatal Yoga will be applied, as well as Ayurvedic nutrition & lifestyle guidelines for pre/post-natal women. The Khalsa Way is a gentle yoga specifically for pregnant woman, created by renowned author and mothers-to-be advocate, Gurmukh.

“During those months [of pregnancy] she is required to be in circumstances which are very secure, respectable, and comfortable, and in which she can have a lot of understanding around her. We always know how to raise the rose bush, but we have never tried to study how to raise our children. Our children are actually raised within those nine months of pregnancy and development. Those are very important days of life of the child.” – Yogi Bhajan, “The Ancient Art of Self-Healing”

Ayurveda

“Yoga shows us how to realize the Self.  Ayurveda shows us how to live in such a way that our physical and mental actions do not deviate from it.” – Dr. David Frawley

Ayurveda is known as “the science of living.”  Ayu means “life” and Veda means “knowledge,” providing the knowledge for the full expression of health, happiness, and living a higher quality life.

In Ayurveda, all treatments, yoga and lifestyle recommendations are based on seasonal change and each person’s individual constitution.  Ayurveda defines three “bio-energies” in the body that construct one’s constitution, also known as Doshas: Vata, Pitta and Kapha

Each Dosha is composed of different qualities, that are naturally represented in earth elements:

Vata is the principal of movement, Ether & Air

Pitta is the principal of transformation, Fire & Water

Kapha is the principal of stability, Water & Earth

According to Ayurveda by tending to these inner qualities, we create balance, renewal and “moksha”.  Moksha (mok’sha) is a Sanskrit word meaning to release, liberate – the ability to Let Go of what’s no longer needed.  Aimed at rejuvenating both mind+body, an Ayurvedic lifestyle moves towards a life of “pure awareness, natural creativity, spontaneous delight.”