I discovered the idea of Bikram Yoga in the spring of 2001. I was living in New York City, training for the San Diego Marathon, and taking Pilates classes when I heard one of the girls talking about this crazy yoga that you did in a super-hot room for 90 minutes and you held the postures for, like, a whole minute! “that’s insane,” I thought. “you’d have to be crazy to want to do that! Hmmm. I want to do that.” After all, anyone crazy enough to want to fly across the country simply to run 26.2 miles all by themselves has got to be crazy enough to want to spend 90 minutes in Bikram’s Torture Chamber, right?

I didn’t get around to actually trying the yoga, though, until after September 11. A voice in my head told me, urgently,to get out out out of New York City before Labor

Day of 2001, so on August 24, I drove home to my parents’ house in Raleigh, North Carolina. Two and a half weeks later, I watched in disbelief as my hometown, the place I had lived for the past 12 years, was altered forever. My best friend and my sister were both evacuated on foot from downtown. In my time in New York, where I had gone to study fashion design and become the “Next Big Thing,” I had spent plenty of time working in high-rise buildings – I had been a designer, and I had also been an administrative assistant, a waitress, a shop clerk, a temp. I had worked in investment banking. And I had been miserable the whole time. As I watched the towers fall, I knew that I did not want to spend any more of my life doing work that did not matter and that did not contribute to the benefit and healing of the planet. I knew that but by grace, I could have been one of those people in the towers – the temps, the artists and massage therapists and writers and actors and musicians, all the people with a dream to find in the big city who were just “workin’ a day job” to pay the bills. In their honor, I knew I had to follow my dream to find Right Livelihood.

The week after September 11, the first Bikram studio in Raleigh opened, and I was one of the first students. As I lay on the mat after my first class, spent, exhausted, sweaty and exhilarated, I knew I had found what I wanted to do when I grew up. I went home and researched teacher training, and poured my heart and soul into my yoga practice. Six months later, I was on another airplane to California, this time to the InterGalactic Headquarters of Bikram’s Yoga College of India! I loved training, and from my very first class, I loved teaching. Since I graduated in June of 2002, I have taught in Raleigh, Richmond VA, and Singapore. I have studied other yoga and taught (and teach) vinyasa and yin classes. One of my students introduced me to Raw Vegan food, and that added another piece to the magic puzzle of right livelihood, and I became a Raw Food Chef and educator. All of the yoga and raw food started pulling creativity back up that had been stuffed down for so long, and some art started coming out as well. Even my passion for fashion found new expression. Bikram Yoga fixed my runner’s knees, straightened my spine, knocked my weight below it’s high school level, introduced me to the best friends I’ve ever had, put my feet on the path to my spiritual truth, and opened doors and vistas that I never would have imagined possible. Teaching is better than practicing, and I have learned more on the podium from my students than I have ever learned in any school.

9/14/07: I've been in Austin and teaching at Yogagroove for 6 months now!  Words cannot express how much I love it here - I love the city, I love the weather (yes, I know this has been the freaky summer, but I love the hot weather too!), I love my neighborhood, I love the people, and mostly I love Yogagroove.  Like so many other people who have wandered into our cozy-funky-groovy lovely little studio, I got here simply because I called Wayne and he called me back, and the blessings in my life have multiplied beyond anything I can count as a result.  Thanks and blessings to Wayne and Lisa and Sara and Susan and Jackie, and thanks and blessings for our wonderful students.  It is because of you that I have finally found a home - here in Austin, here at Yogagroove.  Namaste.

April 7, 2008
Today is my 1-year+1-month anniversary at Yogagroove! I keep thinking that it would be impossible to love a place more than I love this yoga studio, and then something happens, and I love it even more! The past 13 months have been the most wonderful, enriching, and fulfilling 13 months in my memory. Even when the times have been challenging or difficult, Yogagroove has been my retreat and my solace, my safe place and my home away from home, and I hope and pray that my love for this wonderful place comes through to each and every one of our clients and teachers and volunteer staff. The growth and changes I've seen here and been priveleged to be a part of are unprecedented in my teaching experience! Nothing short of miraculous! And just you wait to see what's going to happen in the next 13 months! It is such an honor to serve this community.