About Us

A Saint is a Sinner Who Never Gave Up - Paramahansa Yogananda 

I grew up in a very conventional, somewhat dysfunctional family that accepted the unhealthy norms of media & institutional indoctrination.  My lifestyle shift, conscious awakening (I dislike these overused, new agey terms, but I guess that's what to call it) began about two years after I graduated from college.   I was full of self hatred, very depressed & confused, living an unhealthy, destructive & unbalanced life.  To make a long story short -  you could call it a breakdown or spiritual emergence.  I felt lost, empty & extremely unhappy.  I was disconnecting and dissatisfied with life as I knew it.  I had hit a pretty low place, was very withdrawn and was receiving therapy.  I lost interest in the world around me and I was having some inner experiences that I really didn't have a context for at that time.   My sense of self and outlook on life was changing.  During that time, my mother gave me a metaphysical book to read that was very comforting & awe inspiring.  It gave me a different perspective on reality and confirmed the deep yearning I was experiencing.  On a whim, by a suggestion from my aunt, I decided to move to California from the east coast to attend massage therapy school somewhere in the San Francisco Bay area.  This was 1994 - before the human potential movement, healing arts, yoga & spirituality became well known & mainstream worldwide via the internet explosion (email was a novel thing then) & social media.  

Being surrounded with diversity, culture and everything health & spiritually related - exposed me to a new way of being and elicited my yearning for a deeper understanding of myself and led me to explore the wellness, metaphysical & yogic arts for healing and spiritual connection.  

My eagerness for self improvement and seeking the mystical aspects of life was quite magical at first.  However, the reality of  facing ourselves & letting go of unhealthy patterns can be very unpleasant, grueling & challenging at times with lots of ups and downs.  I like to stay away from cliches, often sensationalized claims common in the wellness and spiritual world - about how this or that transformed my life and can transform yours.   It's ongoing process and never just one thing, it's an entire shift & unfoldment of many things.  Nothing is a quick fix.  It takes time, patience, and a holistic view of our lives - cultivating self-discipline, self-compassion & faith, establishing personal sustainable practices, making diet & lifestyle changes & following a wisdom tradition to live by - as well as surrounding ourselves with the right atmosphere and community.   And as far as spirituality goes, any experience that comes on too quickly or easily is usually transient and not reproduceable.   

 Studying, practicing & offering wellness or indigenous movement & meditative arts is an honor and requires a life long journey of dedication, discipline and continual learning. 

I offer bodywork, wellness, lifestyle guidance & yogic self-development practices in an honest, practical, down to earth manner emphasizing self-empowerment.    No one is going to do it for us and no one is going to save us – we can only save ourselves.

We can't heal/change the world  - even the Masters don't proclaim that! - we can only heal/change ourselves.  It's a lifelong journey of self-maintenance and growth.   

   A confused and dejected person cannot take a rational step. When a person knows this and approaches an authentic teacher with faith to seek guidance, that person's mind settles in truth - Paramahamsa Hariharananda

I believe in being very transparent about my studies and emphasize how important deep inquiry into someone's background is as well as using discernment when one is navigating through the modern supermarket of commodified, misrepresented and exoticized practices.  My credentials mainly come from discipline daily practices, ongoing studies and in depth learning from authentic lineages and adepts of undiluted, sanskrit based teachings.  I have participated in yoga certifications and teacher trainings in modern formats, but I do not see those as preparing one to be a qualified teacher.  Any discipline takes many years of study before one would be ready to teach - and one does not delve into an art for the sake of teaching, but for the sake of mastering ones potential and living the art.  I had no intention of teaching yoga when I started as it was a part of my personal development as well as an insatiable thirst and yearning for the Divine.  Through my own personal experience, it's hard to relate to modern yoga where anyone can receive credentials without years of deep self-inquiry and other yogic methods & wisdom bestowed by a bona-fide lineage.  The Vedic arts and sciences are comprehensive and require self-discipline and years of study and training in the philosophy and practices with tutelage under a guru and lineage - otherwise the true essence is lost.  Teaching for me has been an ongoing evolution of refining my unique voice and involved unlearning certain modern influences.  I've taught at yoga studios, health clubs, senior centers, retirement homes, schools, local businesses, government staff, retreats, events & private gatherings.  Presently I mainly teach in my own space outside of the modern studio model through a comprehensive, specialized system of practices that build upon one another - in relationship to the larger body of vedic wisdom and it's complimentary lifestyle practices.

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Massage School was my intro into the wellness world.  I loved the ambiance of the relaxed learning & healing atmosphere with loving support and community.  I was exposed to many new things which felt very natural to me and organically paved the way for pursuing other wellness and spiritual disciplines that were abundant in the new world around me.  My foundation into massage therapy & energywork began at Alive and Well Institute of Conscious Bodywork in 1995 in beautiful & majestic Marin County for my bodywork education.  Over the years, I received additional massage training at Lifestream Massage School, World School of Massage and Thai Healing Massage Academy.  I received my Reiki Master training with Suzanne Louise and I studied wellness coaching through Wellcoaches.  

My initial experience with yoga was around 1995 where I began with some books, videos and general classes.  I had a deep spiritual yearning so I was soaking up many spiritual and new agey books, dabbling in this and that, and started reading books on eastern thought.  I was taking various yoga and dance classes and also began studies with Magaña and Walt Baptiste, as well as their daughter Devi in yoga and middle eastern dance.  Magaña became one of my dear mentors, embodying the devotional & spiritual elements of yoga and dance.  The San Francisco Baptiste Center was a magical haven in my spiritual journey.  I was a member of Magaña's San Francisco Royal Acadamy of Belly Dance Troupe and received certifications in the Baptiste Method of Yoga & Magaña Baptiste Method of Danse Orientale in 1998.  I studied with Magaña through the early 2000's and would drive down from Sonoma County occasionally for classes after my daughter was born in 2005.

My deepest influence has been as a devotee, student and initiate of living saint, His Holiness Swami Vidyadhishananda, a highly realized Himalayan Vedic/Siddha monk, Sanskrit scholar and Meditation Master from the combined heritage of Rishi Sages and Nath Yogis.  His Holiness presides over vedic schools and other sanskrit institutions in India and founded the nonprofit Self Enquiry Life Fellowship (Hansavedas) in the west, which is overseen by a monastic council of ordained erudite vedic monks - to preserve and disseminate indigenous Sanskrit wisdom.  I've been under the guidance and transmission of His Holiness since 2012 in a holistic curriculum of Vedic Philosophy and Himalayan Siddha Yoga with initiation into an esoteric siddha practice of advanced hatha kriya pranayama and surya kriya meditation practices within the Himalayan Nath Kriya System of Meditation. My studies include Sanskrit Wisdom Teachings, Yoga/Sankhya/Vedanta philosophy in the Shruti method, Ayurvedic Wellness and High Pranic living based on the soli-lunar calendar, Mindfulness, Nyasa, Yoga Vinyasa Krama, Himalayan Pranayama, & Meditation.  The teachings have clarified much of the confusion and contradictions in our current yoga culture.  The teachings are so clear and profound.

Prior to my studies in Himalayan Yoga & Meditation with His Holiness, my introduction to Kriya Yoga Meditation (distinct from Patanjali Kriya Yoga & other traditions that use the term Kriya Yoga) was through "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda which ignited my yearning to learn and seek out a living guru for the teachings.  After returning from a trip to India, which rekindled my desire to learn Kriya Yoga, I began the Self Realization Fellowship's preparatory home study lessons.  After about a year or so I received my first initiation in 2000 under another branch of  Kriya Yoga with Swami Sarveshwarananda, a disciple of Paramahamsa Hariharananda.  Soon after, I met Himalayan Master Yogiraj Siddhanath and studied with him for twelve years.  I was initiated into Kundalini Kriya Yoga, Surya Yoga, and Hamsa Yoga meditation, yogic healing practices and was authorized by Yogiraj to teach.  Kriya Yoga, a system of esoteric advanced pranayama and yogic techniques, known as the lightening path for spiritual evolution, was the foundation of establishing my structured daily higher meditation practice.  
My first spiritual teacher was Sai Baba, who I  immediately felt drawn to after a casual mention of him from a friend who's father was a devotee.  Soon after, I came across an article about him and started to have some inner experiences and dreams with him.... I immersed into reading books about him, devotee's stories, and studying his teachings focused on dharmic living, bhakti yoga & seva.  I attended Bhajans and study groups at San Francisco and other bay area Sai Baba Centers.  I traveled to India in 1998 for three and a half months to mainly see him and do a little travelling. I resided in his ashrams in Puttaparthi and Whitefield for 2 months.  I practiced Ayurvedic Yoga with Dr. Rao's Yoga and Ayurvedic Center while in Puttaparthi.  I also stayed at the Anand Ashram founded by Papa Swami Ramsdas in Kerala with Swami Satchidananda practicing Nama Sadhana and spent some time travelling.  The trip was such an amazing experience - hard to put into words - the whole experience was profound and felt like Divine Providence.  India feels like home and my future plans are to spend a significant time there for holy pilgrimage and study.

Sometime between 1996 or 1997 I worked with a counselor weekly that specialized in "medicine journeys".   I participated in a few psychedelic therapy sessions which were a notable part of my inner work.   I had another session that was quite profound a few months or so after I returned from India, but didn't feel a desire to continue.  Although I feel this work is heart opening and helpful, one needs sustainable daily practices that can release our samskaras, negative patterns, permanently grip us & gradually unfold our inner wisdom.   Sanatana Dharma

provides wisdom to live by, understand ourselves and sustainable practices for our health & spiritual cultivation.  

I have also been dedicated to Sri Krishnamacharya's lineage since 2000 - firstly with Ashtanga Vinyasa, studying in Sonoma County and throughout the bay area, as well as developing a discipline personal practice.  I had the opportunity to practice with Pattabhi Jois for a few days during one of his tours in San Francisco.  I attended workshops with senior teachers including an anatomy training with Iyengar and Ashtanga based trainer, Tias Little.  After dedicated study and establishing a discipline personal Ashtanga practice for three years, I pursued my Ashtanga Vinyasa Teacher Training in 2003 at Greenpath Yoga with Clayton Horton.  As vinyasa has also taken on modern approaches, I did practice and teach modern influenced vinyasa for a bit - but was internally conflicted about it's disconnection to the philosophy and principles of yoga.

In 2012 I was introduced to two similar Vinyasa Krama systems and was completely awed by my first experience - I felt so "lit up" with prana in every cell of my body......it was the first practice of yogasana/vinyasa that felt related to my meditation practices due to the conscious breathing pattern, slow movements & pause,  and subtleties.   I had wondered why vinyasa had not been taught like this and why it was not well known.  It aligned with yoga philosophy and clarified my inner conflicts of how modern vinyasa and yoga in general felt contrary to traditional yoga.  After this experience, I shifted my personal practice and started using it's influences in my classes.  I was initially introduced to VK through Swami Vidyadhishananda and was referred to the Vinyasa Krama teachings that Sri Krishnamacharya taught Srivatsa Ramaswami (who studied one on one with Sri Krishnamacharya for over 33 years) as they are very similar.  I immediately bought all of Ramaswami's books and developed my Vinyasa Krama practice at home and soon began studying and mentoring with Pam Johnson (yoga educator, one of Srivatsa Ramaswami's first American students).  Through my studies I realized how comprehensive the system was embodying a true, traditional hatha method with aspects of raja yoga - so it felt a natural companion to my other practices (most importantly this system is transmitted intelligently through bona-fide lineages).  I felt it was the perfect complement to serious seekers & devotees with discipline meditation & yogic lifestyle practices.  In 2014 Pam authorized me to teach the system and in 2015 I attended a certification program with Srivatsa Ramaswami in Vinyasa Krama and Yoga for the Internal Organs.  I have also taken an advanced teacher training with him, and take his online trainings & workshops in VK and yoga philosophy.    I continue  ongoing study in VK with Ramaswami & Pam & Hansavedas.

As Yoga Vinyasa Krama is part of the Himalayan tradition taught by the Hansavedas curriculum - I have learned it's connection and subtleties to higher practices of the Himalayas.  Although the VK traditions have slight variations they maintain the same emphasis/philosophy and practice. Through my deep study of this vinyasa and pranayama system, a practice that leads to neuromuscular fitness, enhanced concentration and stillness, with heartfelt sincerity, I am dedicated to sharing this rare science to the modern yoga student.

​I received my Yoga Nidra Certification at the SF Sivananda Center with Dr. Marc Halperin (founder of California College of Ayurveda).  Knowing the personal benefits and it's importance in a holistic approach to yoga, I wanted to take a course to feel more comfortable guiding sessions.  Yoga Nidra helps remove disturbances, compliments other practices and is a more accessible way for many to experience a meditative state.  I chose the training from Dr. Halperin as it seemed more traditional as opposed to some western practices.  In my guided sessions I also use the work of Swami Satyananda, a realized yogi and leader in bringing an accessible approach to yoga nidra to the west.

I attended a Trauma Informed Yoga training with Uprising Yoga focused on teaching to the incarcerated, at-risk youth and underserved communities.  I like to point out that teaching specifically to the at risk community needs to be discerned from teaching yoga to other populations.  A traditional approach to teaching yoga is already intuitive and accommodating in general to the majority of us as we all have some kind of trauma.  And "tools" to address trauma even in psychotherapy & clinical settings, etc are actually taken from the yogic and eastern traditions - so yoga itself does not need to be trauma informed.  The modern day brands & styles and the way yoga is often facilitated is unfortunately what has caused an obsession with the whole "trauma informed" concept.  Modern practices are often missing fundamental sanskrit guidelines & practices and are approached through a watered down western lens.  I was disappointed to learn in the training that certain violent and triggering language and practices are commonly used in modern yoga spaces.  The training itself seemed to just add elements of yoga that are often missing in misappropriated, colonized "yogic" practices.  However, it was a very informative background into the at risk, incarcerated communities and justice system.

Ayurveda has also been alongside my personal and formal yoga studies.  In 2004 I had the opportunity to work as a back office assistant to Dr. Helen Thomas (Ayurveda, NAET, Chiropractic), soaking up Dr. Helen's knowledge of Ayurveda and working hands on with herbs - including small batches of handmade herbs from India.  Dr. Helen trained me in Shirodhara and I received my Shirodhara Certification with Dr. Narendra Pendse.  I'm trained in marma therapy through an in-depth program with the Marma Institute of Ayurvedic Acupressure (Dr. Anisha Durve, Dr of Acupuncture & Ayurveda, co-authored a marma book with Dr.Lad).  I am pursuing an Ayurvedic Certification program through the American Institute of Vedic Studies (Dr. David Frawley) and ongoing continuing studies with other traditional renowned ayurvedic teachers and Hansavedas.