I was featured in an article for Canvas Rebel after being referred to them by a friend and colleague. The magazine highlights local creatives. They asked me a few really good questions and I wanted to share them with you here.
Krista, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the story behind how you got your first job in field that you currently practice in.
When my two children were young and I was finally ready to spend some time outside of the home and get myself back into shape, I decided to join a gym. After a few months of participating in the group classes, one of the instructors pulled me aside to tell me she was leaving. She followed it up by saying she thought I’d make a great fitness instructor and asked if I wanted to take over her classes. I was like, “Wait. What? Me?”.
It wasn’t really anything I had consciously thought about before but at the same time I knew she was right. There was a part of me that knew in my heart I would make a great instructor. Since I was young, I thought about being a teacher. I just didn’t know what. So, looking back this made perfect sense. Of course, I said yes. I got all the necessary training and certifications and jumped right in. I loved it from my very first class. Little did I know then that decision would change the trajectory for the rest of my life.
Over time, I got my personal training certification to start working one on one with students. Then, I got a nutrition certification. And finally, I took a weekend yoga course and found my passion. I proceeded to get my 200-hour yoga certification and eventually my E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher) through Yoga Alliance.
When I was in high school, my mom signed me up for a meditation course through TM (Transcendental Meditation) and my dad was always practicing meditation and yoga throughout my school age years. At the time, this all seemed a little out there. I didn’t fully understand or appreciate what they were exposing me to. But clearly, it is the perfect fit. I feel as though I was destined to teach yoga and meditation. It is truly what I love to do and how I believe I can change the world – one yoga class at a time.
What do you want people to most know about yoga and what you offer?
I believe the most important benefit that yoga offers is the practice of mindfulness. Most people discover yoga because they are looking to feel better physically. They want to be stronger and more flexible. They see the pictures in magazines of thin, young women and men in these incredible poses. And they want to feel the way those pictures look: graceful, grounded, and peaceful.
But yoga has so much more to offer. Yes, yoga is incredible for the physical body. Not only do we get stronger and more flexible, but yoga improves the systems of the body by relaxing our nervous system and improving our digestive system. It also helps us release tension and cleanse the body of toxins stored in the body.
What you discover once you embark on a yoga journey is that yoga also creates a consciousness and a well-being that is so much more important than the physical benefits. Yoga above everything else is a practice in awareness and being in the present moment. We use the body and the breath as the focus of awareness creating a moving meditation. And it’s that practice of meditation that happens on our mat that enables us to function better off our mat. It’s the mindfulness that reduces the stress and offers the peace and calm.
When students come to my class, I want them to slow down, relax and practice being still. The stillness in yoga is just as important as the vinyasa flows done on the mat. Coming to the mat is like entering a laboratory where you can explore, try on new ways of being, and get to know every part of yourself. I want my students to practice being kind and compassionate to themselves. I encourage my students to let everything else go, to just focus on the sensations of their body and their breath. It’s this practice that trains the mind to respond rather than to react.
There are so many things that can happen in life that are out of our control. But we can control how we respond to that chaos. And the practice of yoga and meditation teaches us to keep things in perspective, to breathe, and to be conscious of how we deal with the chaos.
This is why yoga can be practiced by everyone. It’s not for the young or already flexible. It’s for the willing. My classes are slow and gentle, with lots of modifications to make it accessible regardless of where you might be physically. It’s a mindfulness practice that everyone can benefit from. And it’s a practice that can be done in any stage of life.
For me personally, when I teach, I’m also in a state of meditation. I am tuned into the energy of the room, and I teach based on what I feel in that moment. When I teach, I actually feel as though I am being guided. It’s as if I’m channeling something greater than myself. It’s a spiritual experience for me.
I used to say that I wasn’t a creative person because I can’t draw or paint. I can barely color in the lines. But I’ve since realized that my yoga classes are how I create. They are my form of expression. What unfolds is what comes from within me, guided by spirit, to be shared with every other person in the room. And as a result, each class is unique, and students leave feeling better then when they started on their mat.
Since I live in the Daytona Beach area, I love taking my classes outdoors to the beach and in my community. I developed an experience called a YogaWalk that combines walking, yoga, the outdoors, and community. There’s no better way to practice being present then when you’re outdoors on the edge of the ocean, listening to the waves and being fully connected to everything else that is. I also offer local yoga and meditation retreats that are accessible and affordable. I offer an annual spring retreat in March in Sebastian, Florida and for the first time this year I’ve added a second fall retreat in October in Winter Park, Florida.
One of my favorite quotes is, “Yoga is not for the flexible. It’s for the willing.” If you are willing, then yoga can offer you all of the benefits from the physical to the mindfulness.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
One of the big pivots in my career was accepting the fact that I was best at teaching gentle, slow, and even chair yoga classes. And that the people who really embrace what I have to offer are seniors, people that are retired, beginners, people that wanted more than a workout.
I suppose when I started out, I wanted to be everything to everyone. I wanted to teach to the young and the old, the fit and the unwell. I wanted to help people stand on their head and also rest in savasana (relaxation pose).
But because I embrace yoga as a meditation practice, as a philosophy, as a way of life, people came to my class to slow down. They came to move better, to prevent injuries, to reduce the stress in their life. They were people who prioritized how they felt over how they looked. No longer were they trying to lose weight. Instead, they were just trying to tie their shoes.
Once I embraced this fact, I was able to celebrate what kind of teacher I really am. If students want to explore the acrobatics of yoga and want to find the perfect pose, they aren’t my students.
My students have lived a long, full life, desiring to age gracefully, and manage the transitions that come with getting older – retirement, moving away from family, losing their loved one. They want to stay active so they can travel and play with their grandchildren. They notice they are slowing down, waking up with aches and pains, and recognize their body doesn’t operate like it used to. My students recognize how precious time is and how important it is to prevent illness and disease when you can and treat those issues that come up holistically – mind, body, and spirit. My students have chosen to make their health and wellness a priority.
My classes are slow and gentle, with lots of modifications. Many of my classes use the chair so that students don’t have to worry about getting down to and back up from the floor. My classes give students a time to breath and to really feel present in their bodies. And now, that’s all I do. That is who I am as a teacher. And once I accepted that, my teaching, my students, and my classes flourished.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The pandemic was a huge test of my resilience. When everything was shutting down in March of 2020, we all thought it would be temporary. I canceled classes and had to postpone a weekend retreat. Like most, I figured I’d start again within a few weeks. And then the weeks dragged into months.
We were all hurting and struggling to understand what was going on. We were all having a variety of emotions, concerns, and fears about our health and the future. And I wanted to do something. While some people were making masks and hand sanitizer, I knew yoga is how I’d be able to help.
Within a month of being shut down, I opened a Zoom account and offered free yoga online. And the response was incredible. People were signing on from all over the country. They were inviting their family and friends to join them, so they’d be able to spend time together doing something healing and meaningful during a seemingly hopeless time. We were all starving for connection, normalcy, meditation, and prayer. And I was able to offer them that through yoga… even online.
Learning to teach online was like starting over as a brand-new teacher and businesswoman. I experimented with ways we could all feel connected even though we weren’t together in person. I looked for ways to keep my students safe while practicing at home. I purchased equipment and invested in systems to make the process effective and accessible to my students. And ya know what? I made it work. And I made it work well.
I think my biggest fear was that I wouldn’t be an effective teacher online. Because my teaching has always been rooted in the energy of the room, I had no idea if I would feel that energy through a computer. I had no idea if what I had to offer as a teacher would translate online. But it did. I made it work. I feel it, my students feel it, and it’s still magical.
Now that the pandemic has passed, I’ve resumed teaching yoga classes in person again and still continue to live stream those classes online to students that are all over the country. Hybrid classes have their own set of challenges but once again, I figured it out and made it work. And made it work well.
We are one community now. I wasn’t about to abandon those students I connected with for all that time during the pandemic. In fact, the majority of my clientele is actually now online. My classes continue to grow and flourish. I’ve proven to myself that I am resilient. This is what I am meant to do. And I will always find a way to teach and share the gift of yoga.