About Me
When I first heard Lauren Daigle's song Rescue, it took my breath away.
“I hear the whisper underneath your breath. I hear your whisper, you have nothing left."
God can use anything and anyone to help us return, and for me, I was rescued on the yoga mat.
How God Used Yoga in My Story
I started practicing yoga after a spinal surgery when I was just 22. I did not recover quickly, and I endured a dark season of depression and chronic pain.
Perhaps you’ve experienced a time like that in your own life?
I was discouraged. The faith I learned about as a child was failing me.
I felt alone, unseen, fragmented, and not at home in my own body.
I remember putting my head down in child's pose in my first yoga class, wondering if even yoga might fail me?
Then I heard these words from the teacher.
“Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality.” He ended by speaking the Sanskrit word for peace, “Shanthi, Shanthi.” Peace descended in the room and within my heart.
Years later, I've reflected often on that first class.
God heard me in the middle of my darkest night. He saw me as I fought to become whole and vibrant again.
The physical pain in that season was deeply tied to the state of my mind and soul.
With each breath I took, the Spirit slowly led me from my own false perception of being a broken and useless body, to finding my true self—fully embodied in Him.
Through yoga—breath, movement, and meditation— I began to hear the whispers of the One who wanted to deliver me from darkness to light.
In that first class, during final savasana, I was able to begin to surrender.
Releasing my clenched fists, I remembered I wasn't forgotten, hopeless, or broken.
I loved the invitation of resting in the fetal pose before taking my yoga off the mat and into my life. It's a new beginning - "the old is gone, and the new has come.”
A moment to experience God's presence—fully embodied within me.
I experienced shalom, shanthi, peace.
Do you long for peace? True peace that passes all human understanding?
Will you join me in experiencing wholehearted living in Christ - mind, body and soul - on and off the yoga mat?
Why Christian Yoga?
Actually, Christian yoga has never been a term that felt completely authentic to the story of my teaching journey. Most of my 20 years of leading yoga practice have been in secular studios honoring all of the stories and faith traditions of my students. I believe I've been called to be a bridge, sharing the love and light of Christ in me, and I don't think that LOVE always needs an address. Francis of Assisi may have once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.”
I have a deep respect for the hybrid influences of modern postural yoga, and the many yoga lineages I've learned from over the years. When it came to designing a teacher training curriculum for Living Soul, I wanted to bring the fullness of my healing story on the yoga mat - heart, soul, mind and body.
Many of our students have a story like mine. Their own intersections with life have left them fractured and quite literally dis-integrated from themselves. The very translation of yoga is "yoke," and Jesus invites us to join him when he said, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28 We don't have to carry it all. We can learn the unforced rhythms of grace.
Living Soul Institute is a bridge from our disintegrated selves to the wholeness of transformed living in Christ.
We provide trainings, programs and retreats that address the whole person. We empower yoga leaders to teach wholehearted living on the yoga mat and beyond.
Our graduates lead classes in health clubs, churches, for cancer survivors, veterans, women’s retreats, retirement homes, resorts, schools, and more!
It is my greatest honor to walk alongside my students and teacher trainees as we authentically share the impact of yoga in our lives. I believe God has a greater story of hope, restoration and redemption in all living souls.
Will you join me on this journey today?
