For a decade, I worked as an administrative assistant at PR firms and record labels in Manhattan — until a six-week road trip across the country in 1997 changed everything. I came home and enrolled at the Swedish Institute of Massage, then spent years practicing massage on Long Island.
In 1999 I found Iyengar Yoga with local teacher Jeff Logan, and I was hooked. When I moved to Arizona in 2001, I found Desert Song Healing Arts Center — starting in the massage department, becoming their marketing manager, then completing my Yoga Teacher Training in 2003. I taught there for 19 years, until Desert Song closed its doors in 2021. Meg Byerlein was my teacher for 14 years in the Anusara tradition, and Erich Schiffmann has also deeply shaped my practice. I'm grateful to them both.
My passion is Yoga itself — the study, the practice, the teaching of it. I'm forever a student, and just as thrilled to be an instructor. What I love most is the connection that happens when people practice together.
When Desert Song closed, I taught from a series of temporary spaces until my students crowdfunded — in just 8 days — the $30,000 I needed to open Community Yoga in 2023 (we ended up raising over $35,000). Donny built the space himself. It's been home to my own classes, plus workshops, trainings, and sound healings from teachers around the valley.
This year, I made the hard decision not to renew Community Yoga's lease — the rent increase wasn't sustainable, and I also need to be closer to my aging mother in New York. I'll be moving back east sometime in 2027. The good news: the studio's spirit continues. Jane Mayer is taking over the space as Centered, and I'll keep teaching my own classes and workshops there until I move — then I'll teach virtually, with plans to return to Arizona for workshops a couple times a year.
I live in north central Phoenix with my partner, Donny, near the mountain preserve. My son is in Flagstaff, studying geology at NAU. My interests are writing, being with friends, outdoor adventures, all bodies of water, anatomy and physiology, music, great movies and I’m a sucker for stand up comedy.
Giving back has always been a priority to me. I’ve received a lot of help in my life and I understand the energetic exchange of paying it forward. I’ve used my platform as a yoga teacher to organize many successful fundraisers and donation drives. We’ve raised over $24K for SVdP’s efforts to fight homelessness, we’ve collected hundreds of cases of water and in the winter we received and distributed over 350 jackets. For two consecutive Earth Day celebrations, we supported local non-profit Trees Matter, raising money for tree planting. It’s all Yoga!!!
I remain so inspired by this practice and all the ways we can keep learning, growing and staying connected to one another - in community.