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.
I live in north central Phoenix with my partner, Donny, near the mountain preserve. My son is in Flagstaff, studying geology at NAU. Outside the studio, you'll find me outdoors, listening to music, or on the water.
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.
Giving back has always been part of this community — through donation drives, Earth Day tree-planting, and Summer Solstice fundraisers that have raised over $24,000 for local nonprofits fighting homelessness.
I still have so much I want to share about this practice, and I hope you'll study with me.