If you read my bio, you’ll find I’ve been in the health and fitness industry the majority of my life. By Seventeen, I was working at Gold’s Gym, snickering at the folks leaving yoga class with their “nap mats.” Yes, this article will be one of full disclosure. Little did I know of the love affair with yoga awaiting me.
Some years later, I found myself working at Jenny Craig, where I began to witness the struggle folks had with their daily habits and health. It was here that I began to appreciate my healthy relationship with my body.
Weave in a few years here and there and land me in my thirties, looking for a career change. After having overcome a debilitating accident, I needed something that was friendly on my physical body. I yearned for something that would help me change the world, something I’ve always known I was meant to do. We all have the chance to leave this world better than we found it.
Pilates had such an influential role in my recovery, so I started my training there. I was still in a tremendous amount of physical pain, so I was armed with an assortment of jingly janglies in my purse to get through that training. Ahhh, Western Medicine. There, I would meet a lifelong friend and mentor who would guide me and keep me humble.
I spent the next few years collecting fitness certificates to include Zumba, Barre, Yoga, Balletone, and too many others to name. Sometimes I think about wallpapering my studio walls with them.
A few years in, I wandered into my local college, sat down with an advisor and decided it was time to invest in, well, me. I earned my Fitness Instructor degree, and finally finished up my Associates Degree, something I had been slowly chipping away at for over twenty years. I was the oldest person in the room.
After nomad-ing for a few years teaching this and that, I was ready to open a studio space of my own. Life brought me yet another guide, who opened her doors and heart to me. And so, it began.
It wasn’t long before my friends at lululemon invited me to be “Studio of the Month.” To say I was overjoyed was an understatement. When chatting about my training, I was asked how many “hours” I had. Hours? Hours of what? Well, my Pilates training was fifty hours. If you added up all of my random certificates, that would easily be about another fifty. Soooo…..a hundred, maybe? She looked puzzled. I didn’t know that much about Yoga Alliance at the time.
I looked into some trainings and was shocked by how expensive and time consuming it was. That would have to wait…and so it did.
Some time passed and things were rolling at the studio, and I had already been offering private trainings for almost a decade. I liked to teach, and more than that, I loved to teach others how to teach what I know. It is who I am and what I do (at least in this physical body, anyway). After doing some research, I found that Yoga Alliance was the standard for becoming a “school.” So I dusted off my backpack and headed back to school.
I got my 200-hour yoga teacher training and met some lifelong friends. I was generally annoyed by the history portion of the training. I’ve never cared much for history. You’ll find me looking ahead, not behind. Silly girl…I knew so very little.
Once my studio trainings were underway, I went to meet another guide who would show me what it meant to be a yogi and live it, in my 500-hour yoga teacher training. That is when I began to see what yoga was all about. These ancient teachings would fill my toolbox for all I would need in this life experience. The Yamas and Niyamas would become my go to’s when life would present me with challenges. Side note…I don’t have it all figured out. I’m on the path with everyone else. But I’m trying. I’m trying to live mindfully and be present. I am enough.
Today is my two year anniversary from graduating from yoga school. On this day I get to slip an “E” before my string of letters behind my name. The “E” stands for experienced and only time can give it to you. I woke up this morning, ran down the stairs like a kid ready to zealously unwrap her gifts from Santa, and logged into Yoga Alliance to download my newest credential. E-RYT 200, Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher of 200 hours. Alongside it, I sport YACEP, RYT 500, RPYT, ACEGF, PNI and if I added any more you’d probably think I’m making shit up…
I founded Power Edge Yoga Fitness, LLC in 2008 and have offered an assortment of classes over the years. Nowadays, I spend most of my focus on my school, Edge Yoga School. We offer 200-hour, 300-hour, YTT Lead Certification, Prenatal, Pilates, Barre, ACE, Health Coaching and online courses. Edge Yoga School runs trainings locally and internationally. I’m committed to offering affordable yoga training, with flexible schedules, because if I could change anything, it would be that I took this training sooner.
There is absolutely no way I could have built Edge Yoga School without the many souls that weaved in and out of my life over the years. Thank you, thank you so very much for bringing me light and love. I’m beginning to awaken. Join me.
