This was how I felt five years into teaching.

I'd followed all the rules and they weren't working anymore. I was in pain and it wasn't just physical. I no longer enjoyed teaching. Rather than feeling inspired to create, I felt responsible to correct. I was teaching students what I thought was "safe" alignment, rather than helping them learn to move better. I was helping them perform yoga, rather than creating the conditions to experience it. I was bored out of my skull parroting cues I'd learned from my teachers. I knew I wanted to change, but I didn't know another way.

As a result, I did something uncomfortable.

I learned to break the rules. This meant studying modalities outside of yoga. I was tired of feeling weak and in pain, so I hired a strength coach to teach me to lift. Ironically, this showed me just how weak I was. But I kept at it. And while uncomfortable, I preferred the muscle and ego soreness of challenging my body and brain in new ways to the physical pain I had from only practicing what I knew.

With patience and persistence, my muscle soreness turned into legitimate strength. It started with feeling stronger in simple ways like standing, squatting, and walking. But soon this feeling went beyond the physical. I felt empowered.

Around this time, I also started practicing somatic movement. These practices reminded me that movement and alignment are not the same. I learned that alignment can be like that caked on makeup I wore in college. Both helped me hide how I felt on the inside in favor of how I "should look" on the outside.

In many ways, striving for a particular alignment was striving for a particular aesthetic ideal-the one that would win my teacher's approval. Alignment, like any tool, is not inherently bad. But, when it's presented as though there's one universally "good" alignment (and then a lot of other bad alignment) it can create an environment in which everyone's trying to externalize and perform. This can interfere with what's beneficial about moving in the first place, which is in offering an opportunity to internalize and learn. Somatic practices helped me ditch aesthetic goals, and instead move in a way that explored feeling better.

Once my work became driven by ideas rather than dogma, my years studying body science played a more positive role in my teaching.

Rather than using anatomy to defend alignment rules, I used scientific principles to craft educational experiences. I stopped teaching my students to move in a limited number of "correct" ways and inspired them to consider the unlimited potential their bodies held for learning, healing, and growth.

Things shifted quickly for me as a teacher, around this time. Simply put, I started to lead rather than follow. My classes filled up and my workshops sold out. I started teaching online. If I trace it back to a single catalyst, it's this: I stopped clinging to what I learned was "right" and tapped into what I sensed was possible.

Once my work became driven by ideas rather than dogma, my years studying body science played a more positive role in my teaching.

Rather than using anatomy to defend alignment rules, I used scientific principles to craft educational experiences. I stopped teaching my students to move in a limited number of "correct" ways and inspired them to consider the unlimited potential their bodies held for learning, healing, and growth.

My "cookie cutter" yoga classes became something...different. And while there was definitely a period of growing pains, eventually something else interesting happened. Teachers started sending their students with pain or injuries to my classes and seeking me out for advice about their own issues. Looking back, I realize that in trying to find a solution to my distress, I created a niche for myself. My career as a yoga teacher expanded beyond what I ever imagined.

Now, I help other teachers expand their careers using the same tools and processes I did. Rather than prescribing a set of rules, though, I help teachers understand and integrate other movement modalities and scientific concepts. Ultimately, I help teachers create classes that lead their students toward greater strength and resilience.
If there's anything I've learned on my journey as a teacher, it's that replacing an old dogma with a new one doesn't work. For this reason, I don't teach a series of poses or adhere to a method of movement. Rather, I design my teaching around ideas, so you leave with a toolbox of exercises and strategies to better meet the needs of your students and feel confident in the classes that you teach.

What I've learned about the path to inspired teaching is that it's a path of inquiry; one that leads us to better questions rather than definitive answers. This cycle of inquiry is the most compelling way to study human movement and the human experience, not because it guides us to unwavering certainty, but because it's never boring.

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The "official" bio

Well hey there! I'm a CSCS, YACEP, E-RYT 500, international yoga educator, certified kettlebell specialist, strength coach and the creator of Yoga with Resistance Bands teacher training. I'm also a mom and a New York City transplant living in Huntsville, Alabama. I co-create movement therapy tutorials with physical therapist, Sarah Court, to help teachers help their Movement Logic and help their students bridge the rehabilitation process to get back to the activities that give their lives meaning. For my online membership I create weekly classes to help folks get stronger, move with less pain, and learn new skills. My big reason for doing what I do is to help people feel better and live better in their bodies using the combined tools of yoga, strength & conditioning, and evidenced-based body science. You can find my articles online for Yoga Journal, Shut Up & Yoga, and the Tune Up Fitness blog, as well as my own personal blog, as well. When I'm not taking care of my daughter or teaching, you can find me on long walks in the forested foothills of the Appalachian mountains.