I figured I should preface these Youtube sessions with information about my background and why I offer videos to begin with.

My yoga journey probably began the first summer I spent any time away--alone--from my family. I was embarking on the freedoms that came with teenage years, and I found myself sharing a beach cottage with a bunch of girlfriends. One of the girl’s fathers had the discipline to not only awaken at sunrise daily, but also take his yoga mat with him to the beach to witness said sunrise.

I believe I didn't buy my first yoga mat, though, until I was in college. It was a $10 rubbery, bright blue mat I probably got from a Kmart. As a religious studies minor soaking up new knowledge from around the world, I bought some Rodney Yee VHSes with a Hawaiian backdrop and practiced in my apartment living room with my cats. It didn't last long. I still craved the discipline that my friend's father had somehow possessed all those years ago, but I wasn’t quite personally mature enough to get there. I let a friend borrow my videos.

After college graduation and 9/11, I ended up moving out of state and while trying to muster up a career, I turned to inner healing and spiritual exploration. This brought me back to Rodney Yee again, and Colleen Saidman and the whole Gaiam company at large. My old mat had been lost during all of my various moves, so I purchased an eco-friendly kit with a matching strap and block.

With my jute and rubber mat, I started to do yoga semi-regularly. It wasn’t until I was offsetting running with cross-training, though, that I really became invested. This time, it was Jennifer Kries with her Pilates/yoga mash-ups on DVD. I was hooked. I wanted to do yoga training, but found myself becoming interested in other energy work instead. At some pointed I even teamed up with Yoga Journal sponsored videos. But it was Kries' gentle guidance that steadily became my go-to. A friend lured me to public classes, but for whatever reason, it didn’t stick.

My life turned topsy-turvy and I ended up going to massage school and doing yoga on occasion. Soon after I found myself pregnant, and not only did I purchase prenatal DVDs, I also rated them and wrote a published article about them. After my son was born, my mat was used intermittently. I’d go through phases of practicing, and then not practicing. I purchased cards and books to try and keep up a regular practice.

In the winter of 2017, a friend recommended Yoga with Adriene, and I’m not sure what happened, but my yoga practice finally became the more disciplined, mostly regular practice I had always wanted it to become. (Thus the word JOURNEY -- it's not that yoga didn't stick, it DID stick -- it's just evolved over the years.)

Fast forward to 2022. I take breaks from time to time, sometimes maybe even a full month, but there are long periods of time where I practice daily. I usually don’t do more than 30 minutes at a time at night, after my son is in his bedroom for the evening. I always do Adriene's January challenges, and I while I tend to stick to her sessions, I will venture to other YouTube yoga classes as well. Commune has offered a lot of fun ones, and I'm currently enthralled with Schuyler Grant.

In 2020, I finally signed up for yoga training. I was excited to be in person, to have people critique my form and engage in learning more about the asanas and beyond. I was taking in-person hot yoga classes every weekend and loving it. I was exploring YouTube videos and loving it. I learned a lot—and then Covid hit.

I was reminded, rather cruelly and ironically, that yoga is within. I’ve never needed the in-person classes to prove that to me. It’s always been easier to just do it at home, on my own, with the guidance from someone on my TV, or phone, or led by myself.

I am not a deep yogic scholar, yoga master, or bodily-flexible person. I’m none of these things. I’m learning more every day about the body, the breath and the mind. I’m still a novice. There’s nothing different or special about me, compared to you, or anyone else. You might be more skilled than me, more full of knowledge, perhaps much more flexible.

Because of this, I'm literally just another yogi(ni).

But one reason I'm posting videos is simply because I want to! I’ve been doing Zoom classes off and on for a couple of years now. I’ve had some friends take the classes, but mainly my mother, god bless her soul! I’ve led a couple of in-person classes to a couple of people at a time. I'm a Certified Yomassage Practitioner as well, so I've offered those classes, too. But honestly, I’m not sure where, or if, my in-person teaching will ever become a thing.

And so it makes sense to me, and this is reason number two, to make videos—even if they’re roughly edited and not with some amazing backdrop. Because, just maybe, not everyone is meant to take classes in person. Don’t get me wrong—in person offers something totally different that at-home sessions. And in-person classes can be wonderful, and often are.

But if you’re genuinely interested in yoga, and/or meditation, you don’t need anything other than access to your own potential to do it. You don’t need a studio. You don’t even need me. But if you want me, I’m here. And I will support you in any way that I can. We are on this journey together. This is Yoga for Anyone, and I'm just another yogi. <3