My Story

I have been an Occupational Therapist since 1991. I started out working in neuro rehab - brain injury rehabilitation, and loved it. I’ve always been a person who is constantly seeking out more education, especially when you find that you aren’t able to help people enough, with what you know. So I studied and became certified in NDT, or Neuro Developmental Treatment early in my career. As I moved into other areas of rehab, I took trainings in Myofascial Release, Hand Therapy, Craniosacral Therapy, and Manual Lymph Drainage. I kept looking for “that thing” that resonated with me. While I learned a lot with these courses and they brought more understanding and different techniques to use, none of them were “it” for me. And they didn’t teach people how to help themselves. It was another technique to do “to” them.

I have been a physically active person all my life – played sports in high school, began running in college and into adulthood, played volleyball for years, hiked, biked, you name it. As I entered my 40’s, I started having difficulty doing some of these things, which were a large part of my life. I had pains that wouldn’t go away, stiffness, was losing motion in my neck from a previous accident, and was having joint pain so bad I sometimes didn’t WANT to do anything. Then came trigger thumbs, where my thumbs would lock and to move them was excruciating at times. (If you ever wondered if you used your thumbs a lot, try having trigger thumbs!) I literally was becoming a different person and I felt like I had no control over it. I also saw clients in my OT job going through surgery after surgery, and not really feeling better. I thought I’d try yoga, did power/hot yoga for a while, and it felt good! However, I was still hurting myself and didn’t know how to continue to do active things WITHOUT hurting myself. I don’t remember how I found Sandy Eimers at Balance Yoga Lounge, but I saw her program that is the starting point for becoming a Yoga Therapist, and had a therapeutic focus, and thought that it was worth looking into. I completed her 200 hour Therapeutic Yoga program in 2016, and loved it but still wasn’t sure where I was headed from there.

After looking at many programs to continue my training in Therapeutic Yoga, I spoke with Yoga North in Duluth, MN. It felt like the perfect fit, with their program focusing on all the elements of Therapeutic Yoga, with an emphasis in the neuromuscular retraining pf Somatics. After the first weekend in St. Paul (the first of 9) I felt like my world had turned upside down and at the same time, I felt like I found THAT THING for me. I felt I had found my direction. My dharma.

Where am I now?

In September of 2020, I completed the Level 2 Yoga Therapy, 1000 hour program, with Yoga North International SomaYoga Institute to earn the title of Certified Yoga Therapist, or C-IAYT. I have an office for private sessions and also do small, therapeutic classes and workshops inside the space at Core Physical Therapy in West Des Moines. I also do workplace wellness workshops and custom groups for those wanting to plan their own wellness workshops for co-workers, employees, or friends and family. I am a mentor in the Level I and Level II programs, with Yoga North, and am also on the teaching faculty of Yoga North. One of my goals is to have more people trained as Yoga Therapists in the SomaYoga methodology in Des Moines, in Iowa, and elsewhere! There have been 2 - 200 hour trainings in Des Moines, with graduates in 2022 and 2023, and the 500 hour training in 2024.

I’m passionate about spreading the SomaYoga methodology and teaching others the tools of Yoga Therapy, and empower them to find more balance in their lives so that they can live their life to the fullest! I have always felt that life should be full of adventure……. whatever that means for you. My mission is to help you find ways to live your best, most adventurous, happiest life.

Core Physical Therapy, where I am located, is a group of Physical Therapists who specialize in advanced techniques such as Myofascial Release and Cranialsacral Therapy, which are great adjuncts to SomaYoga Therapy!