1. Please share what you do:

I teach yoga and also specifically chair yoga so everyone can practice. I bring yoga to companies, medical offices, and assisted-living homes. I also wrote a few books on these subjects to help more people.

2. Why do you do what you do?

I found so many physical, mental, and spiritual benefits from yoga. It helps to increase peace and health, so I feel compelled to share it with others. Thanks to the influence of my father and the yogic philosophies, I’m also a lifelong vegetarian, now vegan, so this is part of what I share to promote compassion as well as physical health.

3. What are you currently fascinated by in your work?

I’m forever fascinated by how helping others can bring so much joy and peace. True yoga includes service, and this is perfectly summarized by Swami Sivananda: “Serve. Love. Give. Purify. Meditate. Realize.”

4. How did you come to your path? Any aha moments or key teachers?

I was born into a vegetarian family who took me to ashrams, which started me on my path.
When I had neck pain and anxiety in high school I began my Hatha Yoga practice. I remember once in the New York City Sivananda center during college I had a emotional release, crying during a forward bending pose. I realized then how powerful and healing even a simple practice can be.
Yoga continues to give me deep relaxation, good sleep, vital health, and a lot of energy to help teach others.

5. What book(s) did you like reading this year?

I read How to Live to 100 by Swami Sivananda, which I got as a gift from one of the Chair Yoga Teacher Training students during our most recent training in the Bahamas.

And ...

6. If you’ve taught at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat before, what is one surprising thing about the experience for you?

It’s been more than nine years that I’ve been teaching Chair Yoga programs in the Bahamas ashram, and I also grew up going to this beautiful Yoga Retreat with my father. What still amazes me is the natural beauty of the beaches, the energy of the ashram, and that the staff and community are always incredible … each and every time!