Heather's knowledge and insight of anatomy (in addition to the requests of the students attending studies) allows her to focus on different parts of the body and in turn create classes that employ a variety of movements that focus on these specific body parts. All of this helps my mind and body stay stimulated and flexible.

- M. Kubetz

Certifications

E-RYT 500

• RYT 300 with Sarahjoy Marsh (yogajoy)

• RYT 200 with Beth Williams (Svadharma School of Yoga)

• RYT 200 with Yogacharya Lalit (Himalaya Yoga Valley Centre)

• 55 hour Yin and Meditation with Tiffany Cruikshank and Rashmi Bismark MD, MPH

• 55 hour Myofascial Release Training with Tiffany Cruikshank

• 55 hour Mental Health and Wellness with Valerie Knopik PhD., Diane Malaspina PhD., and Tiffany Cruikshank

• 51 hour Foundations of Ayurveda Part 1 with Dr. Claudia Welch and Dr. Robert Svoboda

• 40 hour ParaYoga Nidra: Enlightened Sleep with Rod Stryker

• 20 hour Restorative Yoga Training with Jen Mitchell and Janell Hartman

• 20 hour Therapeutics of Yoga with Doug Keller

• 18 hour Practical Yoga Anatomy with Todd Jackson

• 12 hour Yoga Deconstructed Creative Sequencing With Somatics with Trina Altman

ABOUT

I first turned to yoga in 2013, as a path to healing from physical injury while living in Vietnam. Like a seed taking root, what started as a simple fifteen-minute home practice began to grow, and I ultimately found myself in India, where I graduated from my first teacher training in 2015. Since then, I have continued on this yogic path, both as a dedicated student and as a teacher. In 2017, I completed an additional 200-hr teaching certification in the biomechanics of anatomy and alignment, and in 2019 I completed a 300-hr teaching certification in yoga therapy.

Fast forward to 2024, and I find myself continuing on my path as an experienced trauma-informed yoga teacher with a penchant for sharing the therapeutic aspects of a yoga practice. I firmly believe that ‘life is practice, and practice is life’, and I like to weave both yoga philosophy and Buddhist psychology into my classes as well as into my own practice of daily living.

I believe that it’s our willingness and our efforts to show up – both to our mats and to our lives – that is the simple yet profound embodiment of a yoga practice. Ayurveda teaches us that what is within is without, and what is without is within. To put that in other words, our external environment has huge impacts and implications for our internal environments. Navigating a world that is increasingly out of balance, is leaving many of us with an ever-increasing sense of fatigue, overwhelm, and fragmentation. This chronic stress and fatigue not only makes it hard to show up, it taxes our endocrine systems, dis-regulates our nervous systems, and disrupts our immune systems, posing a biological imperative for each one of us to be proactively engaged in the utilization of tools that can support us in our journey back to balance and homeostasis. My aim is to share these tools with you, in the hopes that each one of us can continue to show up - for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for our communities (both human and non-human) - from the micro to the macro.

I weave breathwork, somatics, and elements of modern movement practices into yoga sessions that connect us back to the present moment, creating the space necessary for us to soothe our nervous systems and begin the process of collecting our fragmented parts, ultimately bringing us back to a place of cohesion and coherence. My classes are designed to be accessible and welcoming for all levels, and seek to leave you feeling grounded, embodied, empowered, and centered, so that we may continue show up, and to grow into ‘the change we wish [and need] to see in the world’.

Lokah Samastah Sukinho Bhavantu: May all beings everywhere be happy and free. And may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for ALL.

- Heather