My first yoga lesson was given to me by my mother when I was about 8 years old. I walked past a bedroom in our ghetto brownstone and did a doubletake because she was in a shoulder stand. She told me to give it a try. That was one of the neatest things I ever did with my mom – occasional weekend afternoons putting my legs into full lotus or trying to balance in tree pose.

Decades later I began my power yoga practice in the heat of Dallas, Texas. My first class was on a 103-degree day. It was 108 in the studio and when I stepped outside it felt like cool air! I knew I had to learn more about this amazing practice that could transform heat to liberating air. I maintained a once-, maybe twice-a-week practice after moving to Lansing and finding Hilltop Yoga in Haslett. I stumbled in my practice upon the loss of my mother – the weight of grief pressed down and I couldn’t find a way to lift myself. But Hilltop came to me. Once the Old Town studio opened – my own personal extension of my Old Town loft – my weekly practice grew to a daily one. This daily practice helped me heal through this mourning and find light and life in every cycle of our being.

My yoga practice is fully integrated into my life practice now – as a Tibetan Buddhist and Taiji practitioner – all three wonderfully complement and support one another. Yoga is the union, the yoke, for all the spiritual aspects of my life to create a way of living, not just separate moments on a mat, in a form or in seated meditation. It is the great integrator. I hope to share this gift with you some time.