Yogaha
Intersection is my word.
For the past twenty years, I have provided intersectional offerings around literacy education, secondary literacy acquisition, yoga instruction, yoga excursion, life-coaching, healing breathwork, nature-based healing excursions, and yogic healing. In many ways, these concepts seem so far from each other, and yet, they continue to nourish my work in public education, pre-service teacher education, private yoga facilitation, and public yoga service for everyday folk, including the incarcerated men and women with whom I practice yoga, weekly.
In 1993, I experienced my "yogaha," as a sixteen year-old girl, in the high mountains of northern Idaho. I was sent away at this age to an emotional growth boarding school, where I learned I was still grieving the death of my father. He took his own life when I was a young girl, and I had perfected the art of hiding and redirecting my grief into other pastimes that no longer were serving my own extension of life. In this nature sanctuary, Jane was one of my influential teachers. Jane was old, yet spry. She wore slouchy, light-grey sweatpants, L.L. Bean purple turtlenecks, and her straw-blonde hair was habitually pulled back into an easy pony tail. Her body had a softness to it, so that when she gave you a hug, it held you in its warmth.
Jane a was a real human, who was honest with us about her own "yogaha" moment decades before, and the great gift that her practice had offered her throughout her lifetime. Jane opened the magical yogic door--and from that moment, I began to seek my path with a heightened awareness.
Of course, the teachers showed up for me along the way.
Since that moment, almost 25 years ago, I have dedicated my life to reciprocity between teaching and learning.
From that moment in my young life, the universe has created intentional moments, people, and landscapes as the teachers on my path.
What have I learned and what do I continue to resurrect from my own knowing?
We heal together. And we heal alone, held in the hands of nature and people.
The way is through, my dear ones.
Intersection means being the student and teacher, the receiver and sharer of wisdom, and the container where they all dance together.
My intersectional mantra(s)remain:
In what areas of my life do I feel called to become masterful?
In all areas of my life, how can I practice a beginner's mind?
What are the nuts and bolts of my qualifications?
I am the recipient of a YA 200-Hour certified yoga teaching credential from my beloved Darling Yoga in Overland Park, Kansas, along with the proud owner of an undergraduate degree in English Literature from UMKC, and a graduate degree in curriculum, instruction, and assessment in public education from Rockhurst University. I've been a literacy teacher for fifteen years, and a yoga teacher for nine of those years. More importantly, I am a mother, which has been the most impactful and reciprocal job of learning and teaching that I have ever had.
Always and lastly, I am a student of the people--I make it a daily habit to study, learn, and listen to those who cross my path.
I have spent so many years teaching teenagers, old folks, and everyone in between how to get clear, how to heal, and how to dig deeply into the rich landscape of their inner lives.
I consider this my greatest work, and it is a privilege to serve the world in this way.
We are born makers and teaching radical self care is my revolutionary joy.
Won't you join me?