Thank you for wanting to learn more about me.
I'm Melissa, and I'm a registered 500-hour yoga teacher and mindfulness educator based in Washington DC. From my very first class almost twenty years ago, I was in love with yoga -- the sweaty, vigorous, leave-it-all-on-the-mat kind -- because it made me feel bold and alive. The journey that began in that class led me down an entirely new path. I was already trained as a teacher, but not one who paid any attention to our bodies.
What yoga has taught me:
Bodies matter tremendously. They cannot and should not be ignored. Yet in our fast-paced, intellectually-driven world -- especially here in DC -- we may exercise to stay in shape, but we live our lives mostly from the neck up. Yoga woke the rest of me up.
Yoga has also led me to know that authenticity and connection are the building blocks of life to make it a life well-lived. And practicing yoga has truly helped me make sustainable changes in my life, take on positions of leadership, be generous, open-hearted and adventurous. I look forward to sharing my passion with you.
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Read more about what yoga has taught me in my Yoga Stories blog.
My yoga philosophy:
I am a Certified Baptiste Yoga Educator. I did my initial training at Down Dog Yoga in Washington DC and my teaching is inspired by Baron Baptiste, Rolf Gates, and my teacher Patty Ivey. I see yoga as a method of healing and helping people live into their fullest selves. I teach group classes and private sessions to practitioners of all ages and backgrounds, and I am devoted to sharing yoga to impact lives and build connections. I am especially committed to teaching yoga and mindfulness to women in local underserved communities.
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More on mindfulness:
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I create and lead programs for individual and collective wellbeing that center around mindfulness. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and academic institutions. My mission is to make mindfulness more accessible to all, and to share its benefits in a wide array of environments.
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More about me:
I am also devoted to being a mom. I drive an SUV to carpool and a vespa to yoga. I am an educator by training and hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Stanford, which means that once upon a time, I taught courses that worked your mind and ignored your body. I now strive to integrate both. I spent ten years as an adjunct professor at Georgetown, where I created popular seminars in traditional topics in literature and culture. My pedagogic training and teaching experience underpin my workshops and I am a nationally-recognized speaker at academic conferences on the role of mindfulness in the university classroom.