Movement: A Life’s Journey from Ballet to Body Awareness

My love affair with movement began before I can even clearly remember. One of my earliest, most cherished memories is as a five-year-old in ballet class, dressed in tiny ballet clothes, joyfully leaping over plastic pineapples. Even then, music and movement were inseparable companions in my world of expression.

At seven, I discovered gymnastics – running around blocks and wedges with music blasting, laughing with pure joy. This marked the beginning of a structured movement education that would span from age 7 to 16, combining competitive gymnastics with ballet training. These formative years taught me invaluable lessons about body mechanics, performance, posture, and sports conditioning.

My movement education expanded in unexpected ways during high school. As part of the dance company, I learned to quickly master choreography and perform under the pressure of peer observation – a different kind of challenge than competing as a gymnast. These experiences built a foundation of confidence that would serve me throughout my career.

A particularly special chapter in my movement journey began at age 15, practicing yoga with my grandmother. We would follow recorded classes on VHS tapes together – moments I deeply cherish. These sessions offered more than just physical practice; they provided healing during gymnastics injuries and demonstrated how movement could create profound connections between people. It was during this time I first dreamed of becoming a yoga teacher.

This dream materialized in 2006 when I completed my first Hatha Yoga teacher training. Hungry for knowledge, I dove deeper into various modalities, including Kundalini yoga in 2008, where I explored subtle energy mechanics, breath work, and the power of sound healing. My practice evolved to include weight training and interval training, constantly expanding my movement vocabulary.

A transformative moment came in 2014 when I discovered Buti Yoga – a practice that seemed to activate my entire soul. This modality beautifully merged dance, intensity training, hip movements, body isolation, and breath work. It embodied everything I found liberating and empowering about movement, leading me to focus my teaching on this comprehensive approach.

Working one-on-one with clients, I began integrating all these diverse movement experiences. My approach evolved to focus on helping people reconnect with their bodies at the most fundamental level, incorporating breath, movement, positive affirmation, and carefully selected music to invoke specific energetic responses.

The impact has been profound. Women in my classes report shifting their self-perception, viewing themselves through a lens of love rather than judgment. Private clients, often dealing with demanding lifestyles, find relief through assisted stretching and postural awareness. Each person's journey is uniquw requiring a tailored approach drawing from my diverse movement background.

Today, I'm excited to bring these principles into corporate environments, helping people reconnect with themselves consistently despite busy schedules. My journey through various movement disciplines has given me a broad understanding of different techniques and their applications. This allows me to intuitively adapt my approach for each individual, recognizing that there's no one-size-fits-all solution in movement practice.

The key is always to start with fundamentals – helping people feel comfortable in their bodies and addressing postural alignment before progressing to more advanced movements. After all, every great journey begins with a single step, and every transformative movement practice starts with basic awareness.