My yoga adventure


Q: What is the antithesis of sitting at a desk in a cubicle looking at a computer screen all day long while wearing a headset and talking to team members that you have never met?
A: Teaching yoga!

After retiring from IBM, I decided to embark on a totally different career, began yoga teacher training with Yoga Legacy the very next week, and received my RYT200 certification in 2014. I also began working with You Call This Yoga, a wonderful non-profit organization that brings the benefits of yoga to under-served populations. My personal belief is that yoga is not just for skinny, young, white women in trendy clothing who can bend themselves into pretzels; it is for everybody and every body.

I also believe in Seva yoga, which loosely means yoga of service, but it can mean any act or way that you serve others without a desire for recognition. With this thought in mind, I teach weekly yoga classes by donation and also use my technical skills to build websites for friends, family, and non-profit organizations at no charge. I like to build or improve a website and then teach others how to maintain it. I built and then managed my yoga teachers’ website for three years before passing it on to a family member and I managed You Call This Yoga’s website for nine years. I continue to help this org in other ways, like working their booth at Health Fairs or Pride Events.

To spread the word, I have been writing an occasional blog post and teaching around the Triangle area.

Read my yoga blog or find me at one of these locations.

CURRENT CLASSES

Stay-at-Home Yoga

Teaching yoga at homeDuring the COVID pandemic, I put my in-person classes “on pause”.  I started and continue to teach a FREE class, one morning a week, from my home using Zoom.  My second bedroom is now known as my Butterfly Studio.

Let me know if you’d like to join, and I’ll send you the link.

CLASSES ON PAUSE

Donation-based Yoga at the Lindy Lab

Mat-based class: Wednesday mornings @ 9:45-11:00
Chair class: Wednesday mornings @ 11:15-noon

It’s a dance studio at night but on Wednesday mornings it magically transforms into a yoga retreat when my neighbors join me for a gentle class that incorporates basic principles, breathing, and alignment — with variations and options for people of all abilities.

It is perfect for those who are new to yoga, haven’t done it in a while, or think they are too old or not flexible enough. The cost is by donation. Pay what you can afford. Students are always free!

Duke’s Live for Life program

For several years, I’ve led mat-based yoga classes as part of Live for Life, Duke University’s employee wellness program. These classes for Duke employees and are held on the university and hospital campuses. The range of ages, yoga experience, and abilities is wide. I try to make it simple, accessible, and fun so that everyone leaves class feeling good. The emphasis is not on how far a person can twist, flex, or bend, but on mindful breathing and finding a personal expression in each pose.  I’ve mostly taught in conference rooms, with opportunities to lead special sessions at the Nasher Museum and a break room adjacent to a Duke Hospital ER.

PAST EXPERIENCE

Chair Yoga at Spring Arbor in Durham

Two Thursdays a month, I led a chair yoga class at the Spring Arbor assisted-living facility in Durham. The participants all used canes, walkers, or wheelchairs. My challenge was to bring yoga concepts down to the most basic level so that everyone could get some benefit. We focused on mindful breathing, proper alignment, and gentle stretching. Many of these lovely people did not hear well but they followed my every move and imitated it as closely as they could. I made up “friendly” more accessible names for several of the movements. After two-years, I passed this class to another qualified instructor. I learned a lot from these intrepid yogis and yoginis.

Senior/Chair Teacher Training

I have taught and assisted the Senior/Chair Yoga module as one of the electives in Yoga Legacy’s teacher training program.