I first started practicing yoga on something of a whim when I was in Moscow, Russia for a summer in 2011. I came home that year to a family crisis, and realized how critical the practice had become to my ability to maintain a sense of equanimity when it felt like everything was falling apart. 

I looked around for a studio close to my home and found Inner Fire Yoga! I have been practicing at Inner Fire Yoga ever since, taking different classes but returning again and again to the original hot sequence. The focused and disciplined practice of Hot Yoga – 26 asanas and 2 breathing exercises in a hot room – has had a profound impact on my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. I continue to learn and to grow through the practice in community with the other yogis at Inner Fire Yoga. And when I’m not in Madison, at other studios. (I try to visit yoga studios when I travel – so far, I’ve practiced in 14 states, I think, and in Kazakhstan, Latvia, and Russia.)

The greatest pride in my life and a source of tremendous joy are my two adult children, Jackson and Katie. When I’m not at Inner Fire Yoga, you can find me at UW-Madison, where I direct the Language Institute, or at Heartland Farm Sanctuary, where I volunteer doing chores around the barn and helping to care for rescued farm animals.