Active duty and Veteran military counselor

My story included trauma, depression, pain, and anger recovery while still keeping it together on the "outside". I left my first yoga class (Kundalini) like I was walking on clouds. I chased that high into the next yoga class and ever since. I was a twenty-year-old college student studying psychology with goals of graduating and seeing the world. So I joined the military and saw the world. It was not the "Lonely Planet" world that I saw when I studied abroad in college; it was the heart-wrenching gray world that has you crying for better. Yoga never left my side. I did yoga on bases by myself in my CHU or led classes with others on my off time. I used yogic breath before briefing generals or throughout a mission to keep me focused. Yoga kept pulling me up after every dip with grace and balance. I came back to "home" with anger and resentment for others that didn't have to see what I had seen or do what I did. There was not logic or talking these feelings away. I lived with them in my body every day but ignored the call to dance. I was ready to fight all the time. So, my good ole partner yoga stepped in again. It led me to multiple yoga trainings that focused on grounding and releasing until I could not help but be helped.

I am a mental health counselor and my greatest tool in therapy is me because I have experienced trauma and I have experienced healing through yoga. I found a group of people at Lifeworks that have passion and knowledge for using yoga in psychotherapy. I continue to learn and find my own voice within PY (psychotherapeutic yoga) daily.