ABOUT
About Me
I started practicing yoga “for real” about 15 years ago. What began as a way to try to manage my own stress in 2010 quickly became a non-negotiable part of my life. In 2019, after many years of taking classes, I enrolled in Janati Yoga School’s Deep Dive; a 60-hour course for those who wished to learn how to deepen their practice. This was when I really began to live life “yogically.” From there, I turned the typical yoga training path on its head: taking several 300-hr level courses in yoga philosophy, cakras, mantra, and meditation. In 2024 I finally took the next big step and completed the rest of my 200hr Yoga Teacher Training (YTT), also with Mona Warner at Janati Yoga School.
The atypical path I followed allowed me to apply everything I learned to myself first. Living the Yoga while I studied its application to my own life was nothing short of amazing. I felt myself landing on a foundation that could support me in exactly the ways I needed it to, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually. I believe this immersion in the philosophy and application of yoga allows me to offer my students a view of yoga that is not, perhaps, what is readily available in the current (western) conception of yoga. This view allows for a slow, but steady integration of how yoga works for each individual: instead of folding yourself into a pose as if you are trying to apply yoga to your body, what if you could explore “folding poses into your self,” and see what yoga does for YOU?
As a yoga teacher, I lead with care and compassion. In my classes you will encounter a range of yoga techniques, often based on a theme to explore. Expect breath work and mantra in addition to Hatha postures and some slow flow sequences. My life-long love of learning translates into sharing the meaning behind the constructs and teachings in each class. With a healthy dose of humour, and plenty of curiosity, I work to bring my authentic Self to my students so they, too, can “come as they are” and feel welcomed to explore Yoga.
At Pink Sapphire Yoga, alignment within the heart-mind is the priority. Practicing yoga comes in many forms and styles, and the Pink Sapphire “way” is one of nurturance; increasing capacity for kindness, compassion and love from the inside out.
Why Pink Sapphire?
What does a pink sapphire have to do with yoga? Nothing, really. And, a lot, actually.
I wanted a name for my yoga teaching enterprise that felt like “me.” I had many options, but most of the ones I gravitated toward were already taken in terms of business and website names. After what felt like endless googling of name possibilities, I started to think about things associated with me, and realized: I have always loved my birthstone.
Being a September child, the brilliant blue of a sapphire stone is like a magnet for me. So, I started to sense that Sapphire would feature in the name. And then, one day, the words Pink Sapphire flitted across my mind. ‘Do pink sapphires exist,’ I wondered? Turns out, friends, they do.
Any sapphire is considered a stone of Wisdom. One source I consulted said this: sapphires “honour the higher mind…intuition, clarity and self-mastery…worn for protection, good fortune and spiritual insight, [they] are not only symbols of power and strength, but also of kindness and wise judgment” (crystalvaults.com). Those last two properties are my favourite facets of Yoga: the opportunity to cultivate wisdom and kindness, toward ourselves and others, not just in our physical practices, but in all areas of one’s life. ‘So far, so good,’ I thought. And, sapphires come in a range of colours, including pink. Each colour has its own associations, properties and patterns.
Pink sapphire offers us wisdom from within the softer side of human experience. For example, tapping into the wisdom of vulnerability, pink sapphire leans into Love, and assists with acceptance and letting go. By nurturing the heart (it is said to stimulate the Heart Cakra), and bringing the heart into alignment with the mind, pink sapphire represents our capacity for compassion for all beings.