It all started one Pennsylvania summer when I was six…

 I was in the backyard on my swing set, everything green around me, sun setting, thousands of crickets chirping, and out of nowhere a firefly flew into my mouth and I accidentally ate it. 

(I tried to throw it back up, it tasted horrible, but apparently the universe had other plans.) 

That’s how I got my superpower: helping people find their light.

OK, I’m not exactly sure that’s true, because I spent most of my childhood feeling miserable. Being an adopted only child might sound like a dream for some, but I spent a lot of time being homeless in my heart. I didn’t know how to play well with others, I fantasized about self-harm, and thought my worth was tied up into being in relationship. By the time I graduated high school, anxiety and depression were my oldest and dearest friends. I was high functioning, and by my sophomore year of college, I’d had enough. Aside from counseling, my bio mom gave me her old yoga VHS tape featuring some lady in a green unitard. I did the routine daily, sometimes twice a day. I started to feel better, and decided yoga wasn’t as lame as I originally thought.

That summer I went to a festival, and saw people having way more fun than me with big hula hoops. 

I thought they were ridiculous, yet beautiful, and that was strangely appealing to me. Rather than try it there (yep, I was insecure AF), I waited until I got home to DIY a big heavy bruiser of a hoop to practice in my basement by myself. I did it for exercise at first, and when I learned a few tricks I started dancing with the hoop. I became festival girl with hoop, and the best part was that it kept the creepers at a distance so I didn’t have to learn how to have boundaries!

Is this the part where I tell you that hooping changed my life? Yeah, that didn’t happen… 

But it was the first step towards really embracing my weirdness.

And so I kept going. 

By the time I was done with college, I felt more passionate about hooping and yoga than I did about having an art degree in drawing. I considered Yoga Teacher training, but decided I wanted to do something different, so I trained to be a Hoop Mentor with Anah aka Hoopalicious. People thought I was ridiculous, which hurt a little until I realized I thought it was ridiculous at first too (I was still learning how to not take other people’s opinions so seriously).

On the final evening of hoop training, we had a fire circle… 

I had the opportunity to try a fire hoop. I was humbled by the intensity of the flames, and immediately forgot everything I knew about hooping. What you can’t hear in this picture is me shrieking in fear and delight. I was scared shitless, but I kept going until the flames died, and I was ALIVE. The obsession to tame the flame was born.

A month later, I had the privilege of joining a Yoga Teacher Training. Deepening my understanding and practice of yoga brought me closer to feeling at home in my body and at peace in my mind, and it was then that I got bitten by the training bug.

Today, my practice is an unusual blend of bodywork, yoga, and circus with one bold, audacious, slightly hairy goal:

To help people come alive, reconnect with their senses, and feel damn good in their own skin.

Maybe you’re the person who likes to see credentials:

Certified Hoop Mentor – Hoop Revolution 2010

200 Hour Kripalu Yoga Instructor – Discovery Yoga Center 2010

300 Hour Advanced Yoga Instructor – ShivaShakti School of Yoga 2017

Yin Yoga – Yoga Nidra – Pranayama & Meditation – Children’s Yoga – Trauma Informed Yoga – Thai Yoga Massage – Aerial Yoga – Yoga for Recovery

Maine Licensed Massage Therapist/Polarity Therapist – Spa Tech Institute 2013

New Hampshire Licensed Fire Producer 2018

I’m currently in school studying Advanced Yoga Therapy with Breathing Deeply

I also have a BS in Drawing and Permaculture Design Certificate from Plymouth State University

My largest achievement to date is (and will probably always be) my daughter. We are unschoolers, meaning we are collaborators in her learning experience. She’s my greatest teacher, and her presence keeps me on the path and in check.