I started practicing yoga in Los Angeles, California in 2008. Coming from a sports background, it was the asanas that brought me to yoga. So I was initially drawn to Vinyasa, Power, Ashtanga, anything that made me sweat. Yoga was strictly a physical practice, until I was brought to Bhakti Yoga in 2010.
Through chanting, breath-work, meditation, diet, service, & community, Bhakti introduced alternative, more holistic methods of yoga. I began to see this practice was not a glacial mountain peak, but an iceberg. It became clear that Yoga is not a practice to be done, but a lifestyle to be led.
And so began my life as a yoga junkie. What started as a fun way to get high, turned into serious addiction, turned into the reason for my existence. I took classes in every single style I could find— from Bikram, to yoga nidra, to laughter yoga, all I knew was that I wanted MORE.
Somewhere along the way, yoga turned from a physical, to a mental, to an emotional, to a spiritual practice. I became infatuated with spiritual practices of all kinds- from Qi-Gong, to Sufi poetry, to mindfulness, to fasting, it became resoundingly clear that this is a spiritual journey on a physical plane.
In 2012, I completed my 200 hour teacher training at the Bhakti Yoga Shala with Govind Das and started my life as a nomadic teacher. Yoga was always at the forefront, wherever I found myself. What I ate, what I read, how I moved, how I spoke, it was all centered around yoga. If I deemed something to be “unyogic,” I immediately lost interest.
And so I practiced, compulsively and irresponsibly, for many years. After long stints in Thailand, Peru, and New York City, knee injuries sent me on a journey of healing and self-discovery “off the mat.” I spent a year wandering though India, meeting with healers, doctors, and teachers of all kinds; culminating with a 300 Hour TTC in Kundalini Yoga in Rishikesh with Swamiji Samarpan in April of 2018. It was here in India where I retired from practicing yoga, and have been playing yoga ever since.