I’m not much of a believer in past lives, but I’m not sure how else to explain my connection to yoga. I took my first class in June of 2010, when I was 35 years old, and while I don’t remember everything we did, I remember it all feeling strangely familiar. It wasn’t just the physical practice, though; it was the journey inward. I felt like I’d
rediscovered a path I’d been traveling a long time ago that I’d somehow gotten lost from. More than anything else I’d ever done or anywhere else I’d ever been, yoga felt like where I belonged – so much so that a couple weeks later, after taking two or three more
classes, I decided I should become a teacher.
In October of that same year I went to Bali and completed a 300-hour teacher training with Radiantly Alive, and less than six months after taking my first class I began teaching. Some people accused me of “rushing it” and said I didn’t have enough experience. In truth, I understood their concerns, even felt they were reasonable, but what could I say? I knew I needed to be teaching yoga, and it seems the Universe agreed,
because even with my lack of experience I somehow convinced several studios to put me on their sub list, and within a few months I was teaching regular classes at all of them.
None of this is to say it was all a big joy ride. Teaching and practicing yoga has been incredibly rewarding, and it is by far the most liberating experience I’ve ever had, it has not been without its challenges. There’s been a full spectrum of ups and downs, feelings
of exhilaration and exhaustion, inspiration and disappointment, success and failure. More than anything though, yoga has revealed itself to me as a tool for dealing with life. It’s like an invisible super edition Swiss Army Knife with infinite widgets to help you handle
any situation – physical, mental, emotional and spiritual – and that’s what I try to share when I teach. I truly believe every person on Earth can benefit by practicing some form
of yoga.
As for my life before yoga, I was born in Cincinnati, OH, grew up mostly in Miami,FL, played a lot of football and basketball in high school, went to Dartmouth College, graduated in 1998 with a degree in Spanish literature, partly because I really like
speaking Spanish, but mostly because it was a good excuse to travel to places like Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Argentina. After I graduated I joined the Peace Corps and taught English in Mozambique, which was an eye-opening and intensely humbling experience that I hope to write a book about someday. From there I moved to San Francisco and worked mostly in radio sales before catching the writing bug, which
carried me to Los Angeles, where I began writing screenplays and working, in no
particular order, as a production assistant, a driver on the movie “Stick It”, an assistant to a literary agent and a writers’ assistant on the TV show “Dirt”. I even had two movies
made, one of which won the “Cinema for Peace” award at the Berlin Film Festival. I learned a lot, met some excellent people and had many good times, but through it all I had a lingering feeling that something was missing. It wasn’t until I took that first yoga class that that feeling began to go away.
I’m extremely honored to be a lululemon ambassador, and I’m deeply grateful to the many outstanding teachers I’ve learned from and continue to learn from every day, without whom I would not be where I am today.
