I started in my yoga career when I lived in Palo Alto, California, in 1972. As a hairdresser for Yosh, I developed a reverse cervical curve in my neck from repetitive posturing. I have a deaf ear, and wanting to intently listen to my 20 or so daily clients over very loud "rock and roll" music, I set myself up for major problems thereafter.

Muscle forms bone. By holding my head forward and to the side, the muscles of my neck were holding up at least 15 lbs of weight. Strained as the muscles were, I was not listening to them through the signs of the daily pain. My only intelligence in my 20's was in my work, and how to do the best and the most. This would prove itself almost fatal.

Once out and about in nature, I rolled playfully onto my neck and a snapping noise in c- 5 and c-6 told me I was about to be in horrible pain. This did not stop me from working daily for years with this pain. (What would it take for me to see that habitual patterning was leading me to destruction of the only vehicle I have for getting around?).

I found yoga though a client's recommendation and found Judith Lasater, P.T., PhD., who was going to be my teacher and good friend for years to come. I learned how to take care, move and most of all to be patient with myself from her. I took the Iyengar teacher's training and went to India to spend time with BKS Iyengar in 1986.

I was sure I was going to retire, sold my studio on Sacramento Street in San Francisco and went to SF Art institute for one year. Opened another hair cutting business and started all over again. Still in pain, I sought out acupuncture, and through those channels I found The Feldenkrais Method®. Here I learned to slow down my movements, and became more precise in every move I make. The inflammation in my neck, the posturing, and the way I would view my world all became easier and back to better than normal.

In 1985, I met my spiritual teacher Swami Veda Bharati (formerly Pandit Usharbud Arya, D. Litt. ) through Judith, and in 2003 I began training with him in India. Life as I once knew it, with its struggles, was to change. My point of view became more relaxed, not to say, ignored, by any means, but I recognized my personal meaning to life and why I want to live. It was a new love. A purpose to live. Not that I ever wanted to die, but why was I REALLY here was always a question.

My neck is something I regularly maintain with vigilance, through Yoga , chiropractic, Feldenkrais, acupuncture, Cranio-sacral manipulation, and Meditation in the Himalayan tradition.

The journey over 40 years of discovery of what inner beauty is, is deepening for me, and I have a passion to share the depth of my practice, and the endless depth of my teacher. I love teaching, it keeps me practicing, and hopefully others will feel the reason I teach.