MY STORY

PROFESSIONAL DANCER

Movement and being joyfully embodied have always been core to my well-being. A dancer since age 6, I began my professional career in college, and it carried me to England as a Fulbright Scholar and then to Philadelphia to earn my MFA in Dance. For ten years I performed, choreographed, taught and worked with dance companies on the East and West Coasts. 

However, my dance career was cut short by a knee injury, which limited my ability to walk, dance and participate in social events. I felt isolated, angry and lost, and knew I had to find new purpose in my life.

YOGA PRACTITIONER AND TEACHER

Physical therapy restored my ability to walk and practice yoga. Although I had been practicing for years, after the injury my yoga acquired new meaning. For the first time since my dance career ended, I felt at home in my body: energized, spacious, joyous and vital. I found great fulfillment by sharing my love of yoga and meditation through teaching others. My interest in the complex and fascinating human body grew deeper.   

 PHYSICAL THERAPIST

I began studying to become a physical therapist, but I was experiencing trouble with my yoga practice. As a hypermobile, naturally “bendy” person, it was too easy for me to move into the more extreme poses, and I sustained repeated injuries to my hamstrings, wrists and shoulders. 

Fortunately, my physical therapy training began to inform my yoga practice. The rehabilitation science I studied taught me to stop pushing and striving - as I used to do with life in general as well as yoga - and instead to control my range of motion. It taught me to listen to my body and honor what it needs.

COMPASSIONATE CONNECTION

I understand from my own experience how illness or injury can change a life. I’ve watched a loved one grow weak from malignancy. I’ve seen how one family member’s disability can impact the rest of the household as they take on the stress of caregiving. This inspired me to work in a skilled nursing facility and to celebrate even the smallest steps towards independence. That work increased my compassion, understanding and motivation to help clients regain their quality of life. 

INDEPENDENCE FROM THE SYSTEM

Although I have had great joy in supporting patients in outpatient orthopedic and inpatient subacute settings, I have acutely felt the limitations of the insurance system, which does not allow for the extent of care they needed. To help them achieve comprehensive healing and well-being, I need longer appointment times and the freedom to choose treatments based on the client’s needs. I want the flexibility to incorporate all of my skills, knowledge, and resources to treat the whole person, not just the symptom that brought them in.

WHOLENESS

My extensive background and formal training in dance, yoga, rehabilitative science, lifestyle medicine, patient care and mind-body practices gives me unique expertise as a practitioner to teach and apply yoga therapeutically. 

Having helped so many people at vulnerable times in their lives, I am honored to serve in this integrative way, and to expand the reach of a holistic, bio/psycho/social approach to health and wellness.

EDUCATION

I earned my Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Puget Sound in 2013, which I attended as a Physical Therapy Department Fellow. I received an MFA in Dance from Temple University in 2002 as a University Fellow, and subsequently taught as Adjunct Faculty in the Dance Department. In 1998 I was granted a Fulbright Graduate Award for Dance Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, England. I graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Davis in 1996 with a BA in Anthropology. 

I am a Professional Yoga Therapist, credentialed through the Living Well Institute. I began teaching yoga in 1998 and received my yoga teacher certification through  Yoga Arts in 2006. I am also a Certified Somatic Educator through the Moving On Center.