As I venture into a professional transition from Grateful Yoga to Rise + Vibe, I’ve realized it’s time to tell the world a little bit about me; where I came from, how I got here and what’s next. Reflecting on my personal passions; they have always been writing, nature, travel and yoga. There was a time where I did not know being nice to others, speaking/acting honestly and working hard towards your goals are all elements of yogic philosophy. So while I say I’ve been practicing for 7.5 years, I’ve really been practicing yoga my entire life.
I was born in Central Vermont, USA, in 1987. My dad still lives in the house I was brought home to from the hospital. When I was maybe 5, my parents got divorced and I went from 1 home to 2. My older brother and I spent equal time with each parent for the rest of our childhood and I always enjoyed 2 Christmases, 2 birthdays and having 2 bedrooms (one was bubblegum pink and the other a bright lavender). Less enjoyable was the process of understanding my parents new search for new love. They each remarried, and then they each got divorced, again. This is why I call myself a child of 3 divorces, but if you count my extended family that number easily bumps up over a half dozen. Love + marriage never equated in my mind. For this deeper understanding of Love from my family, I am grateful.
Life in VT was great growing up. Snowboarding and horseback riding really kept me in my nature element and grounded me to the earth. School was always fine, I like learning (and writing) and finding ease and straight A’s throughout my high-school career. While I have ALWAYS been a loner, school forced me out of my bubble and into a social life with friends I’m still close with today. Community is the word that sticks out in my mind, especially when your horseback riding instructor comes to your yoga class 15 years later after her retirement. Or when the photographer who sent my brother into national snowboarding competitions and even a sponsor from Red Bull shows up to photograph me in my yoga studio. Growing up in Vermont taught me that we are all together, always.
After high school I took a year off. I have always worked hard since my first jobs as a teen in retail and restaurants, so this was a way to spend my hard-earned cash and follow another passion. I started to travel in high school, visiting Mexico, Nicaragua and the US Virgin Islands on school trips or with family. Naturally, my first pick was a return to the Caribbean. In 2006, I traveled to Maho Bay, St John (with one of my best childhood friends) returning to the USVI as housekeeper at an eco-friendly resort. We lived in screened bungalows in exchange for changing sheets, doing laundry and cleaning everything. I remember floating in the bay at Little Maho on one of my last days thinking, “I’ll be back. The Caribbean feels like home.” I’ll never forget that feeling of true peace and ultimate freedom.
A Euro-trip and many hours of working when I was home between made me question a lot about my future. I had deferred my enrollment to Emerson in Boston for that year after being accepted into their Writing, Literature and Publishing program. Ultimately, I decided to go to UVM because of a more sustainable financial offer. I started at UVM in January 2008 as a Civil Engineering major, because I figured why get a degree that wouldn’t guarantee a job? One semester of engineering school proved that being surrounded largely by mathematical minded men was not the place for me so I switched to a liberal arts major in Classical Civilizations. During the summer of 2009 I really wanted to drop-out. The university scene is a microcosm of the larger systems in place in this society: politics, capitalism, racism, sexism, etc. Seeing other parts of the world had exposed me to different worldviews and lifestyles, again, super grateful!
Instead of dropping out… Here’s a photo of me in San Francisco. I traveled solo by train to get here from Portland, OR. This was the pinnacle of the cross-country adventure!
Instead of dropping out I took another semester off and accompanied a friend driving cross country to Montana. I stayed in Montana for a month and then planned my trip on to the West Coast visiting family in Portland and taking a solo trip to San Francisco. Without a return plan, I somehow ended finding an ad on craigslist asking someone to drive their 1996 Subaru Legacy from Oregon to South Carolina. The owner of the car was a pilot and he was flying across the country in his small plane. Naturally he didn’t want to pay for car transport. Instead, the agreement was that I could take my time to travel the distance (Washington State to South Carolina) and he would cover all gas/car expenses. I still can’t believe my family let me do this…
I survived the duration of my time at UVM and crammed in online classes and summer classes to graduate in December of 2011 (7 semesters rather than your typical 8). Jumping right back into the world of work to spend, consumption, debt, etc., I had a serious boyfriend who had a real job and we lived together in Montpelier, VT. It wasn’t long until I was itching for more; more learning, more travel, who knows? I had been to a few yoga classes and met a few yoga teachers in my life and decided yoga teacher training would be a great way to learn the practice myself. This investment, I thought, would support my health and wellness forever. Check.
In 2012 I started training with Kathy McNames at Yoga Vermont. I fell in love with Kathy, in love with Ashtanga Yoga and for the first time ever, I really started to love myself; body, mind and spirit. I started teaching 1 class a week at a fitness studio in town, which snowballed into many more classes at many more venues. I was teaching kids yoga, yoga with horses, private clients, afterschool programs for teachers… Pretty much anything and everything I could get my eager yogi hands dirty with. This eventually forced me into less and less restaurant working. Late nights bartending simply didn’t match up with my new schedule. I continued training to the 500-hour level with Kathy until my graduation in Spring 2014.
STAY TUNED FOR PART 2…