I started practicing yoga in 1995. A close friend invited me to a vinyasa yoga class and then a week later I took a class offered by the New York Road Runners Club taught by Beryl Bender Birch, whose husband Thom Birch was a gifted runner as well as yogi. Beryl and Thom inspired me and introduced me to the concept that practicing yoga was a great way to keep my joints and body healthy enough to continue running for years to come. I loved yoga instantaneously. To me, it was writing in motion: Here I was in a room where we flowed and breathed and magic happened in the midst.

Yoga was a way for me to break out of my mind, the constant to do lists, the constant writing things as I lived them. In yoga, I just was. 1995 was by no means the yoga boom in NYC, and yet it was there for those who sought it. My journey continued at Yoga Zone, under the direction of Guru Alan Finger, which became Be Yoga and is now back to its original Yoga Works. Alan is the founder of the ISHTA method of yoga, or the Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra, and Ayurveda.As with all things that I love, I immediately incorporated yoga into my schedule. No, I didn’t have free time — I was working full time and was a full-time graduate student. But the more I practiced, the more I felt I didn’t have time not to practice yoga. While running provided me the space to dream and think, yoga helped me to ground. Three yoga classes a week evolved into five and ultimately, a daily practice. The peace of mind, gratitude, and overall good feelings yoga produced made me a more productive version of myself. Yoga freed me, before I realized that I felt bound.