My first yoga class was in grade school. I was one out of four other kids who chose yoga as their extracurricular activity. The whole class laughed at me after the teacher announced I was the only one who selected it from my class.

All four of us (of the entire school) felt extremely self conscious. The teacher, I remember, was very nice and did her best to make it an enjoyable experience. Nonetheless, under bright fluorescent lights and on a cold stage in the cafeteria, none of us felt like we wanted to be there.

Fast forward to adulthood. In my early twenties, a bestie asked me to take a yoga class with her in DC. It was at Joy of Motion, a dance studio. Back then, yoga studios weren’t abundant and gyms didn’t offer them. First off, the teacher was beautiful. Elegant, svelte physique, and had a quiet confidence about her. At the time, I struggled with finding a fitness regimen that worked. Not to mention, my diet was based on the Standard American Diet (SAD), which included processed foods. So, this yoga class kicked my ass. HARD. Downward dog, a basic pose, killed my wrists and my shoulders were burning. Nothing was easy yet I felt drawn to it.

Kimberly Wilson, who formerly owned Tranquil Space in DC, was my next inspiration. She was knowledgeable, kind, and creative. Her ideas always inspired me to be better. It was yoga at this time that helped me through one of my dark moments in life. The practice held space for me to process through my emotions and pain.

My first 50 hour teacher training was with Tranquil Space. While my intention was simply to understand the practice better in my body, I discovered I had a voice for it, a knack for cueing. I also could see the energy of the movements and breath and how it affected the practice experience.

For over a decade, I pursued this path of teaching yoga. After several 200 and 300 hour trainings (Patty Ivey of Down Dog Yoga, Baron Baptiste of Baptiste Power Yoga, Shiva Rea of Prana Flow, Tim Miller of Ashtanga Yoga Center, Tova Steiner of Little River Ashtanga, David Kyle of Rocket Yoga, and many other workshops and immersions), I knew there was something missing. Yoga was superb for unlocking energy, and building a fluid connection with breath and alchemic postures. However, I still lacked strength and stability. Enduring a number of injuries (sprained wrists, SI joint instabilities, rotator cuff tears, muscle spasms, and weak hips), I knew I needed to add something to my physical training.

I found Ido Portal Method. Many would consider him the world’s best movement coach. And yes, he and his team was exemplary. Known to be strict and unforgiving, I thrived with his team’s attention to detail. They demanded excellence. Even as a grown ass woman, I learned things like handstands, muscle-ups, drop backs, jump throughs and backs (an Ashtanga thing), and much much more. Not only did I not lose any flexibility, I gained strength in my practice that filled in all the holes I experienced for years. I also bullet-proofed my body from all those recurring injuries I used to get.

Now with yoga, movement, and my nutrition squared away, I was thriving at peak physique. I had my own yoga and strength & conditioning gym (formerly Prana Vibe), and I was living the dream.

The year 2020 happened to be a huge pivotal time in my life. I closed my studio after 9 years of being in business and I was completely on my own. I had two furbabies (Mochi & Luna) and we were going to travel across the country in my overland-outfitted Jeep. Also, I decided to take a break from yoga and went into emergency medicine. I still enjoyed helping people but post-Covid, I had to consider another career path.

As fate would have it, I stumbled back into teaching yoga. And, I realize I still loved informing new students of this practice. While back on the horse with teaching, now also as a yoga director of XCAL, a shooting sports and fitness facility, I still found an eagerness to affect healing for people. Fate would also have me cross paths with a colleague and now dear friend, Kate Deriso. I’ve always admired her and she had a lot of experience in the healing arts.

Come to find out, she offered Reiki trainings. At the time, I didn’t really know what that was exactly. In fact, I thought it was a bunch of woo-woo nonsense. So, I was quite skeptical. She invited me to be a “client” for one of her students to practice Reiki. That one experience was life changing. What I saw in my heart and felt in my body convinced me that I needed to do this, the healing of our energy. We need more of that in this world. And, I’m answering the call to assist people on their own healing journeys.

Yoga…Movement…Reiki.

One, some, or all the above. We come to intersections in our lives and depending on where we are at the time, we make a decision. We are designed to have many different iterations of ourselves in this lifetime. I would be honored to be part of your very own evolution, wherever you are.

~ Lucy