Hi! I’m Kathleen. Get inspired to dive deeper into your own yoga practice or start your journey as a yoga teacher. Read my journey of how I followed my own dreams, from working as a full-time Digital Marketer to becoming a yoga teacher and then leaving it all to go hike over 2,400 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.
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There’s never been a better time to start a yoga home practice than right now. Just like you, I’ve been spending a majority of my time at home lately thanks to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. I get out in my neighborhood for a walk each day with the dog and make the occasional dash to […] Read more…
Yoga FAQs
My challenge isn’t with practicing yoga. It’s with getting myself to the studio to practice. If you find yourself struggling to get to the studio like I do, here are 6 tips to help get your butt out of bed and into an early morning yoga class. Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Yesterday was another big milestone in my yoga teaching journey. I celebrated the one-year anniversary of teaching my first yoga class, a candlelight Hot Power Fusion class at Corepower Yoga. The whole day was one big celebration. In the morning, I taught my biggest class yet, a Yoga Sculpt class with 36 yogis! We rocked […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Out of all the yoga teacher trainings I’ve done over the last couple of years, Yoga Sculpt teacher training at Corepower Yoga has been my favorite teacher training so far. This is quite a statement for me because when I started my first yoga teacher training, I was obsessed with Bikram Yoga. After my initial […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
As I made my way through yoga teacher training last year, I’d have these grand daydreams of what life would be like if I were a full-time yoga teacher. I imagined my life being more fun and less stressful if only I could ditch my day job and teach yoga instead. Yoga has always been […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
One of my all-time favorite Bikram Yoga teachers said years ago during a class, “It’s the practice room, not the perfect room.” At the time, I thought it was a clever thing to say. I had no idea this one little statement would resonate with me as much as it has, years after taking his […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
A couple of years ago, I heard one of my favorite Bikram Yoga teachers tell us as we settled into our first belly-up Savasana in class, “Don’t be afraid to let go of things that no longer serve you.” This was the first time ever in my yoga practice where I really listened to what […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
You know that feeling you have after taking a yoga class? Some call it yoga bliss. You feel a little happier. Life feels a little lighter. You may feel inspired to try something new or take on a new challenge. You might even be motivated to tackle a daunting item on your to-do list. Wish […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Last week I experienced a huge milestone in my yoga teaching career…I taught my first class! This time, it wasn’t teacher training or volunteering my time to teach a class. I was legitimately on the schedule and getting paid to teach an hour-long class to 16 yogis. 16!! Let me back up a bit. At […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Countless hours of preparation – attending training classes after work, memorizing cues, practice teaching, studying postures and learning and practicing giving hands-on adjustments during postures – all came to a head for me on Monday night. I auditioned to teach Hot Power Fusion at CorePower Yoga. I feel like so much was built up into […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Before I decided to sign up for yoga teacher training at CorePower Yoga, I did my fair share of research. I checked out other yoga teacher trainings in the area, based on location, schedule availability, price and the style of yoga studied. Since I’m a huge Bikram Yoga fan, I knew I wanted to go […] Read more…
Yoga FAQs
People ask me all the time if they can eat or drink anything before taking a Hot Yoga or a Bikram Yoga class. The short answer is yes, but it depends on what you eat/drink and when you plan on taking class. Drink Before I take a Hot Yoga or Bikram Yoga class, I always […] Read more…
Yoga FAQs
My motto has always been, “Early is on time and on time is late. If you’re late, don’t even bother coming unless you have a really good excuse.” I apply this motto to all aspects of my life, especially my yoga practice. Bikram Yoga is my ultimate way to release stress from daily life. The […] Read more…
Yoga FAQs
Heat is a key element when it comes to Hot Yoga and Bikram Yoga. It’s also the thing people either love or dislike the most about this type of yoga. Whenever I talk to friends about Bikram Yoga, the first thing they mention is the heat. In fact, the number one excuse I hear from friends […] Read more…
Yoga FAQs
You don’t need to bring a whole lot with you to a Bikram Yoga class, but there are a few essentials I always like to bring with me to make class more enjoyable. Here are eight things you should bring to a Bikram Yoga class: 1 – Yoga Mat Everyone needs his or her own […] Read more…
Yoga FAQs
Absolutely! Sure! Why not? I mean really, you can do anything you put your mind to. Before you try this for yourself, please allow me to give you a few words of advice. This is all from my own personal experience so feel free to take it or leave it as you see fit. First […] Read more…
Hi Everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve been here and I have some important and exciting things to update you on. First of all, I’ve moved! I have a brand-new website over at The Hungry Hiker and you should totally check it out. The-Hungry-Hiker.com is where I’ll be providing tips and tricks on how to […] Read more…
Self-care is so underrated in our society. I hear people bragging all the time about how they’re working a double at work, putting in 12, 14 or 16 hours days. I hear people boasting themselves for not being able to remember the last time they took a day off from work. We’re constantly in a […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Yesterday was another big milestone in my yoga teaching journey. I celebrated the one-year anniversary of teaching my first yoga class, a candlelight Hot Power Fusion class at Corepower Yoga. The whole day was one big celebration. In the morning, I taught my biggest class yet, a Yoga Sculpt class with 36 yogis! We rocked […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
This week marks the one year anniversary of when I auditioned to teach Hot Power Fusion at Corepower Yoga. I remember the night of my audition like it was yesterday. Every time I think about this experience, the nervous jitters come back immediately. I was already so scared, but what I didn’t know ahead of […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Countless hours of preparation – attending training classes after work, memorizing cues, practice teaching, studying postures and learning and practicing giving hands-on adjustments during postures – all came to a head for me on Monday night. I auditioned to teach Hot Power Fusion at CorePower Yoga. I feel like so much was built up into […] Read more…
Teaching Yoga
Before I decided to sign up for yoga teacher training at CorePower Yoga, I did my fair share of research. I checked out other yoga teacher trainings in the area, based on location, schedule availability, price and the style of yoga studied. Since I’m a huge Bikram Yoga fan, I knew I wanted to go […] Read more…
Absolutely! Sure! Why not? I mean really, you can do anything you put your mind to. Before you try this for yourself, please allow me to give you a few words of advice. This is all from my own personal experience so feel free to take it or leave it as you see fit. First […] Read more…
My challenge isn’t with practicing yoga. It’s with getting myself to the studio to practice. If you find yourself struggling to get to the studio like I do, here are 6 tips to help get your butt out of bed and into an early morning yoga class. Read more…
Not every day is magical and amazing in the life of a yoga teacher. Yes, yoga teachers have their “off” days too. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been feeling a little “off” and haven’t been able to figure out why. Maybe it’s because I’ve been busy. I’ve been on the go all summer […] Read more…
Today was a milestone in my yoga teacher training journey. We hosted a Hot Power Fusion community class this afternoon at the CorePower Yoga Greenwood studio. I got to teach half of it! Normally in a bigger sized group for the Extensions Program, I’d only get to teach a small portion of the community class, but since it was only my coach and I this week, I got to teach a whole 30 minutes of yoga.
I was really excited about having the opportunity to get so much practice teaching with a live group of students today. If I told you I wasn’t also very nervous, I’d be lying. I spent all morning studying and practice teaching the sequence. I even got to the studio early because I didn’t want my nerves to get the best of me. I figured getting to the studio early would allow me to have more time to practice teach a bit more before class started. I was right. As soon as I arrived, I ran through my flashcards some more and practice teached a few postures on my coach.
As soon as the nervous feelings started to bubble up inside and tried to take over my excitement, I reminded myself that this was just yoga. Yoga is fun. I love yoga. Yes, I know it sounds silly, but I had to keep reminding myself how much I love yoga and how much fun it is. But it worked! I did a pretty good job keeping all of those nervous nelly feelings at bay.
The hardest part about teaching the community class today was the waiting. My coach taught the first half of class and I taught the second. As my coach started class and cued the postures during the first 30 minutes of class, I sat in the back, observing and awaiting my turn to teach. The anticipation of waiting for my turn to teach yoga is what seems to be making me the most nervous. That’s when I start second guessing myself. What if I forget a posture? What if I can’t remember a cue? What if I totally blank and say nothing at all? What if one of the students comes up to me after class and tells me I suck at teaching yoga? Guess what? None of those things happened. Not a single one. I didn’t forget any of the postures. Sure, I blanked on a couple of postures at first, but as soon as I took a breath and regained my focus, the name of the posture and cues came right back to me, just as if I was reading it from one of my flashcards. I stumbled a little bit on some of the cues, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I’ve seen plenty of seasoned teachers stumble over the words coming out of their mouth in class over the years. We’re human. Not once was I ever at a loss for words. None of the students came up to me after class to tell me I sucked. I even managed to end the class right on time.
Is there room for improvement? Of course there is! As a yoga teacher, I will always be a student first and foremost. The learning shall never end. In this particular case, I learned a number of things I can work to improve on – take a better command of the room as the teacher (I was nervous and it probably showed a bit at first), cue breath better during postures, hold my students longer in some of the resting postures during class, eliminate a few filler words here and there, start working on adding in more refinement cues to the postures I’m cueing, be more comfortable walking around the room and teaching to the bodies in the class and give amazing, feel good hands-on adjustments to multiple students.
I did receive a few compliments after class from some of the students. One said she thought I did a great job with keeping a great pace during class. She said she could hear me perfectly and thought I didn’t talk too fast or too slow. My pace was just right for her. Another student said they really enjoyed my music. I’m so happy this nerve wrecking experience went as well as it did. I can’t wait to get a few more of these under my belt so I feel comfortable teaching a class of my own, one day soon.
Before I decided to sign up for yoga teacher training at CorePower Yoga, I did my fair share of research. I checked out other yoga teacher trainings in the area, based on location, schedule availability, price and the style of yoga studied. Since I’m a huge Bikram Yoga fan, I knew I wanted to go […] Read more…
There’s never been a better time to start a yoga home practice than right now. Just like you, I’ve been spending a majority of my time at home lately thanks to the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. I get out in my neighborhood for a walk each day with the dog and make the occasional dash to […] Read more…
