Why did you choose to join in on Bio-K+ Kultural Evolution? What I love most about Bio-K+’s mission is the integrity behind their brand – they don’t make claims without the evidence to back it up and I totally resonate with that. They are one of the only probiotic brand with proven studies of the amazing effects of their probiotics on the health of our gut. There is a lot of false advertising out there regarding the caliber and strength of other products, but Bio-K+ has the years of experience, studies and results to show its quality. In today’s heavily saturated yoga and wellness market, you’ll see a lot of the same – but it’s the teachers with years of education, experience and a pure intention that stand above the rest. These days, yoga seems to be everywhere and in so many different variations. Do you think the modernization of yoga has made it more accessible for us Westerners? I do. Yoga’s popularity has grown tremendously over the last few years, which has led to more people practicing then ever before. Although I do think there is great value in following tradition, sometimes the classical rituals and practices can feel outdated or extremely foreign or too strict and dogmatic for new students to follow. I think the modernization of yoga has made yoga accessible and applicable to our cultural norms and daily living routines – which opens the door to a much broader audience than ever before – which means that more people are taking on a yoga practice and getting in touch with themselves than ever before. How would you describe your personal approach to teaching yoga? I teach yoga as the messenger. I like to curate and creatively design the classes I teach according to the current social climate and energy of the students in my room. The yoga practice is a very powerful tool for self-inquiry and transformation, and I act as simply the messenger who leads the student into an experience, which ideally opens the door for that. I like to try to meet my students where they are at and allow them to discover (for themselves) the innate peaceful joy, intuition and wisdom that is and always has been inside of themselves. Taking any spirituality aside, what would you say are the greatest physical benefits of a regular practice? There are definitely some physical perks from a consistent yoga practice – calm and even breathing starts to regulate the nervous system, which has a major effect on the regulation of your hormones. When your hormones are in balance, your mood tends to even out as well, and feeling in good spirits is a major component to our psychical wellbeing as well. Also in yoga, there is an internal detoxification effect since we do a lot of light, healthy compression of the internal organs to bring fresh circulation to the tissues as well as lots of inverting, which circulates fresh blood flow throughout the body. Similar to our yoga practice, when introducing new healthy bacteria into our digestive systems – it eventually outnumbers the bad, balancing and invigorating our body from the inside out. Do you add anything in your daily life to your practice to improve your defenses? While studying several different eastern healing modalities, I’ve learned that most different forms of medicine believe that the state of your health depends on your digestion. Since I’m a vegetarian, there are a few things that I supplement in on a daily basis to keep up my digestion and energy levels. Everyday I supplement some form of plant protein into my diet, as well as probiotics. I find that when I’m taking probiotics on a daily basis, my energy levels feel great and I always feel lighter when I practice. For the workingwomen out there, are there some yoga poses they can integrate into their daily lives when they cannot make the time to go to the studio? Yes, one of my favorite poses ever is legs up the wall and it does wonders for the body’s natural repair system, the parasympathetic system. It’s simple to do and the best part is you can do it right before bed and it helps to ease you into relaxation mode. Once the body has slipped into para-sympathetic mode, it gives the body space to naturally repair and heal itself internally, in turn boosting the immune system.
