Welcome...I think you belong here.
Yoga is more than a series of postures we practice for an hour on a mat. I believe it is a spiritually-based mindset from which one lives their life. Yoga is the way to remembering who, what, we truly are — "spiritual beings having a human experience." Through the practice of yoga we can experience life as gift and learn to live more openly, authentically, and passionately. ​Yoga gives us the tools to navigate life with grit and grace. It is both the means and the end.
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If you’re considering becoming a yoga teacher, expanding and deepening your personal physical, mental, and spiritual practice, and transforming you and your life—you belong here.
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When I teach a yoga class, I aim to create an experience—an opportunity to slow down the fast pace of life and step fully into the present moment: aware, awake, and embodied. When I teach yoga teacher trainings, I guide people in learning how to create that same sense of presence for themselves and others, moment by moment, on and off the mat.
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I teach to honor, serve, guide, and inspire—to help people slow down, go deeper, and reconnect with what truly matters. In a society driven by achievement and success, what if we could rediscover the spaciousness of simply being?
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Yes, it might sound a little “woo-woo.” But when I’m teaching yoga, I am most alive—and my best self.
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And if you’re wondering whether I live in the “real world”—I do.
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I am a career-driven executive and leader with 35 years of experience in community planning, environmental consulting, and water resource management. I am a solopreneur and I’ve been a yoga studio and wellness business owner, a manager and shareholder in an engineering and architecture firm, and I currently serve as the Butte County Director of Water and Resource Conservation.
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I’ve spent my life walking with one foot in two worlds: the grounded, structured path of leadership, responsibility, and professional achievement—and the soulful, meaning-seeking path of yoga, inner growth, and personal transformation. For me, neither path is whole without the other.
I believe that when you live, love, and work from a place of intention—when you know your why—life opens with more grace, kindness, laughter, and joy.
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Whether you want to teach yoga or simply deepen your own practice, if you’re ready to learn, grow, reconnect with who you are, and shine even brighter, I’d be honored to walk with you.
More About Me
My Story
In 2008, I developed the Integrative Dynamic Yoga - IDY Method and registered the Northern California Yoga Institute with Yoga Alliance. In February 2009, I launched the first 200-hour yoga teacher trainings in Chico and Sacramento, CA. Yes, I taught two trainings every other weekend for nine months, while working full-time. Normally I would say "overachiever" but being in the mindful seat of the teacher for 20 hours over a weekend, well, it's transformative.... Today, I still serve as the lead trainer for all IDY Yoga Teacher Trainings. I began teaching yoga in 2000 and, honestly, it took five years of owning a yoga studio and teaching 20 classes a week, and thousands of hours of teaching before I felt barely qualified to train teachers. Now, 25 years into teaching, I’m honored to be called a “teacher’s teacher” — and I still learn from every student and every class. Through ongoing consistent study, I teach what I learn so that I can embody the best version of myself, and inspire others to do the same.
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Originally my pursuit of yoga was physical, after all, my love for fitness began early — six years of soccer, playing center half (I realize I'm dating myself, center midfielder), waking up at 6:00 a.m. to do Joanie Greggains’ “Morning Stretch” with my mom and Tues/Thurs nights sweating through high-impact gym aerobics at the gym, and Jane Fonda videos in college. In the mid-90s, I eventually discovered yoga (thank you Nancy Wiegman) and meditation, altering the trajectory of my life. These experiences are the foundation of the IDY Method.
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In 2000, I took the leap into full-time yoga and wellness. I quit my job, completed a 21-day residential teacher training with Integrative Yoga Therapy (IYT), and opened Santosha Yoga Studio — Chico’s first standalone yoga studio (outside of the fitness clubs). (Would I recommend doing it that way? Probably not.) I expanded my training with Anusara Yoga and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction/MBSR (thank you Steve Flowers), became a Certified Massage Practitioner, and trained in Thai Massage to deepen my anatomical knowledge. I also became a doula (Sierra Childbirth Institute), offered prenatal yoga and Yoga with Baby classes, and childbirth education through my Joyful Birth program. And, on the side, I did part-time community planning consulting — taking on projects that I felt would actually make a difference and benefit small rural communities.
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After five transformative years, I sold Santosha in 2005 to study and teach abroad after a major life shift (aka: divorce). I trekked through the Himalayas and studied Tibetan Buddhism at the Kopan Monastery in Nepal and taught yoga to Westerners in support of a nonprofit organization while living in Cusco, Peru. When I returned to Chico a year later in 2006 — I eventually remarried and became a mom and worked part-time in environmental consulting. Yet, I still returned to yoga; I became Yoga Program Supervisor at In Motion Fitness and a Savvy F.I.T. Academy Instructor (providing functional movement recovery for clients with serious soft tissue and musculoskeletal injuries).
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All of this led to the development of Integrative Dynamic Yoga - IDY in 2008. Over the years of trainings, I’ve built IDY Teacher Trainings into the most comprehensive, transformational programs available. This is why the trainings are in-person and occur over the course of nine months — the true practice of yoga, its integration into one's life and resulting transformation, well, it takes time and is forever evolving. Yoga is the process of becoming and is the essence of being.
Whether I’m leading a training, a class, or a workshop, my approach is always to honor, serve, guide, and inspire. I work with students to greet their edge, expand their limits, and connect to their inner wisdom, strength, and joy. My mission is to help practitioners and aspiring teachers to find their voice, embody their truth, and shine from the inside out.
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Oh, and life coaching too...
In 2018, I earned my coaching certification through the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC) — an International Coaching Federation (ICF) accredited program. Initially I did this to improve my leadership skills in my roles as a department manager and shareholder of an engineering and architecture firm. True to form, I didn’t stop there. I continued with certifications in OOLA Life Coaching, Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Coaching, and Jay Shetty’s Life Coaching program. Why? Because each training allowed me greater understanding about my life that I wanted to then bring the coaching skillset to trainings — and, again, because personal growth and development, what I call, the path to becoming is the the essence of being one's full and completely expressed self. I also believe in walking my talk.
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Now, I integrate all of this training and experience into yoga classes, workshops, and teacher trainings to help people grow, expand, and show up as their whole, empowered, authentic selves.
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Join me. Come learn, grow, and be who you are.
