How I found my pause.... 

 This is my Story

I know what it’s like to walk circles around your car just to breathe.

Kids strapped in their car seats. Engine running. And there I was - doing laps around my minivan in the driveway, trying to steal just ONE moment of peace before the day swallowed me whole.

That was me as a young mom. The woman who’d left her advertising career, moved to the suburbs, and completely lost herself in the process. I was capable. I was managing. I was keeping all the plates spinning.

But I had disappeared.

This wasn’t supposed to be my story.

As a teenager, I discovered yoga because of scoliosis. It helped quiet my anxious mind and ease the physical pain. My mom took me to classes, and something just… clicked.

In my early 20s, when depression and anxiety hit hard, I didn’t just take a yoga class here and there. I deep-dived. I went on my first retreat during graduate school. I traveled to India to learn from real masters. These practices became my lifeline - the tools that helped me navigate the hardest parts of my life.

Even in advertising - a world that wasn’t always the best fit for me - I held onto these practices like a rope pulling me through. I’d get up at 5:30am in New York City, take a taxi through Times Square to my yoga studio, practice Ashtanga, and THEN start my workday. That morning practice? It was how I survived the stress, the long hours, the feeling of being out of place.

And then I had children.

Everything fell apart. I couldn’t get to that studio anymore. We’d moved out of the city. My carefully constructed routine - the thing that kept me grounded - was gone.

I felt lost. Anxious. Like I didn’t know who I was anymore. And I kept it all to myself because I didn’t want anyone to see how much I was struggling.

So I found tiny moments. Like those circles around the car. A deep breath. A pause. Small practices that grounded me when everything else felt chaotic.

Then something shifted.

When my kids were in preschool, I started realizing other moms were going through this too. They were disappearing beneath the weight of capability. They needed what I had found - not some perfect wellness routine, but REAL tools for finding yourself again in the chaos.

I started a drop-in yoga class at my son’s preschool. Just for the moms. It became more than movement - it became connection, community, a place where we could admit we were struggling and support each other through it.

When COVID hit, I knew this was what I was meant to do.

But I also knew I wanted to help women who were navigating even deeper challenges.

Four years ago, I walked into my local hospital’s integrative health center and asked if they needed yoga teachers. They had an opening to work with cancer recovery patients.

I said yes immediately.

Working with women in cancer recovery showed me something profound: so much of healing is mental and emotional, not just physical. It’s about self-compassion. Rest. Community. Understanding that everything has changed - your body, your energy, your priorities - and that the people around you might not fully understand that shift.

I understood that feeling. I’d lived it as a young mom who’d lost herself. And now I could help other women navigate their own versions of that transformation.

My approach is both ancient and evidence-based.

I’ve completed over 500 hours of yoga teacher training with top-quality teachers across the US, UK, and India. But I didn’t stop there - because I wanted to understand not just the practices, but WHY they work.

That’s why I also trained in neuroscience-based meditation and mindfulness facilitation.

When I teach, I weave in the science behind the practices. You’re not just doing a breathing exercise - you’re understanding how it regulates your nervous system. You’re not just moving through poses - you’re learning how they create space for emotional release and mental clarity.

This combination of ancient wisdom and modern research creates something powerful: practices that feel grounded in tradition AND backed by science. You understand what you’re doing and why it works, which makes it easier to trust the process and stick with it.

Here’s what I know for sure:

That woman who used to laugh easily, who was a bit silly, who didn’t feel guilty about taking time for herself? She’s still in there. Beneath all the doing, all the managing, all the capability.

Whether you’re a woman in your 40s, 50s, or beyond who’s spent years keeping everyone else’s plates spinning… or you’re navigating the anxiety and stress of cancer recovery… or you’re simply carrying more anxiety than you want to admit…

You don’t need another spa day that feels nice for an hour and then fades.

You need ACTUAL tools. Practices you can do in your driveway. In your kitchen. In those stolen moments between everything else. Tools that help you reconnect with who you ARE beneath all the doing.

I’ve been where you are. And I know the way back.

Ready to find your pause? Explore my programs and retreats here and let’s reconnect you with yourself.
 

Some of my certifications and training:

• ICF ACC-certified coach - Optimus 
• Certified Meditation Facilitator – Mindful Schools (1-year certification)
• Mindfulness Self-Compassion with Kristin Neff and Mindful Schools
• Certified Mindfulness Facilitator with a Neuroscience Speciality - Mastermind
• Breathwork 40-Hour training with Jennifer Patterson at Soundstrue
• Mindfulness Fundamentals and Mindfulness for the Classroom with Mindful Schools
• 500-Hour PLUS RYT Yoga Alliance Certified Teacher with Specialties in Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Yoga Therapy, and Restorative Yoga
• Month-long trainings at the Ashtanga Shala in Mysore, India with the Jois family 2005-2008
• Prenatal Yoga Teacher Certification – Prenatal Yoga Center, NYC
• Multiple workshops and classes with esteemed teachers: Susan Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, Kristin Neff, Jon Kabat Zinn, Guta Hedewig, Paul Dallaghan, Pattabi, Saraswathi and Sharath Jois, and many more. 🙏
• MA in Social Anthropology – Edinburgh University
• MS in Multimedia Systems – Trinity College, Dublin