Class Schedule
Take an in-person class with me every Thursday beginning July 10th, 5 PM to 6:30 PM at Tarana Yoga. All of my classes are sound and music free. All are welcome in this space and my classes are accessible to everyone!
Zoom classes
Tuesdays, 4 - 5:30 PM
Thursdays, 9AM - 10:30 AM
Saturdays, 9:30 - 11 AM (various Saturdays, please message for availability.)
I am available for 1 on 1 sessions, send me an email!
Email moniqueyoga11@gmail.com to attend a zoom class, or reach out via instagram.
More about me and my Teaching!
Why do people come to my classes?
People come to my class so that they can learn how to strengthen their bodies, how to heal from injuries, how to discover different modalities other than yoga that can actually bring the body into greater balance. I use Pt exercises, Pilates exercises, Tai chi exercises in various other modalities to create balance in our system. If you've never done yoga before, it's a great place to start because I am very much focused on the alment of the body and how to set up your muscular system to create muscle memory, to create an understanding about where you are living in your body so that we can start to transform and create a stronger, more graceful, more balanced system.
After 30 years of practicing in teaching yoga, I have learned through my body and the information it's given me through various injuries as well as a brain injury. I've learned to use other tools and other ideas of movement to help integrate the body to a greater point of strength. My strength in teaching is my description on how to of getting into each and every pose. And learning the energy of other people's bodies to help transform my words so that they can understand what it is they need to do. To climb into themselves and create strength, to create grounding, to create balance.
In the beginning of my brain injury, I had to relearn how to do various things, things as simple as reaching into the cupboard to take out a glass, or directing the tip of my finger to my nose to the dot on the wall. I had to relearn how to do everything again, and what yoga did initially for me was in the space of being exhausted and not knowing where I was in space and time; it truly gave me the gift of calm and gave me the gift of patience. I wasn't in my body anymore, I wasn't in my mind anymore. I didn't have an opportunity to be upset or feel the need to force and advance my recovery. As time went on, what I realized when I was trying to gain my balance back that if I was in a PT room and I was working with my amazing PTs, I couldn't balance with the PT stuff that they were offering me.
But if I brought that home and literally pulled out my mat and added the PT exercises amongst the exercises of yoga, my body held the memory; in holding that memory, I could do something as simple as tree pose. I might not have been able to do the PT exercises, but it gave me the confidence to remember, and to continuously work on doing my PT exercises so that I can find my balance again. And it was the same with finding my strength. Some days I woke up and lifting two pounds was too much. When I took it back to the body that I know, the yoga body, the muscle memory, the communication that it was already there… it enhanced a new level of communication between my new brain and my old body. I was able to create different levels of language that helped me understand what it was I needed to do to continue to build strength without overdoing, without pushing. The other aspect of yoga, too, that helps me continuously on a daily basis is letting go. I remember this interaction that I had with my teacher, and he said this to me long ago - I was really excited about a pose that I did. It was one of I was really ridiculously hard poses that there's really no reason for us to actually do them, but it was excited because I could do it. And I said, “oh my god, did you see it?” I said, I can't believe I did it. His response was, “yeah, you did, now let it go”. And that's the practice of yoga and my brain injury. On a daily basis, I have to let everything go because it doesn't matter if I could stand in a tree pose on Monday, and Tuesday I might not be able to stand in that same tree pose.
It doesn't matter if I could walk around the block on Tuesday, Wednesday I might not be able to walk around the block, so I get to take everything in stride and remember to detach.
On on a daily basis I still struggle with the brightness of light.
I struggle with the sound of life. I struggle with crowds. This October will be six years. I still have not had the opportunity to go to a concert - music was a huge part of my life. So that is missed. Because I'm so sensitive, it's not just me listening to the music. It's actually me feeling the music. I can feel the vibrations in my body so it's a whole new level.
On a day-to-day level, I'm easily startled by loud noises and sounds. Restaurants are very difficult for me. I have, I'd like to say, a one brain cell type of memory. I don't remember people sometimes. I don't remember a lot of things, but I grace myself through it is because I just frickin laugh. That's all I can do!
Some days I can walk, and some days I can't. Some days I'm upright, I could do a little jig and my dance and my step, and then some days I didn't get enough sleep or I was at the farmer's market earlier that day and it was too many people. I was too overstimulated and I might not be able to walk correctly for the rest of the evening and that's just a gift to sit down and rest.