Sara

In 2015 when Sara became serious in her journey to recover from addiction, she started making homemade natural soap and created the company “Kiss My Soul.” The next natural step in her recovery journey was adding meditation and yoga practice for mind-body wellness.

Sara found the breathing, balancing, and stretching of yoga was very centering and empowering. She discovered a new awareness of her feet touching the ground and her newfound energy connection with the Earth. Sara has also noticed that body acceptance is often a barrier for some women accessing yoga. Creating a welcoming environment and offering modifications for curvy bodies became her mission.

In 2017, the next step in Sara’s spiritual journey was to receive training and attunements for Reiki I and II energy work. Then in 2018, she enrolled in Yoga Teacher Training at Hummingbird. Sara’s goal for her Community Class is to create a welcoming yoga space for all levels and all bodies with the intention that students leave with a freer and more open mind, body, and spirit.

Join SARA for her Community Class on Saturday, April 27 12:30 PM- 1:30 PM

To be completely honest, I never thought of myself as a yoga instructor. I initially found yoga 15 years
ago when I moved to Philadelphia from NYC. I thought it would be a great way to ease into a regular
fitness routine at my gym. I was fortunate to find a great instructor and class that I attended religiously for
about 5 years. But at that time in my life, yoga was about getting more fit and flexible, learning poses and
achieving them over time. That was when I was in my late 20s. Then my career and personal life took me
in other directions, and I fell far away from any yoga practice for about 7 or 8 years.
More recently, as the challenges of adult life seemed to be taking a heavy toll on my emotional/spiritual
balance, I began to feel really stuck. And then one morning I woke up and could not bend my hands.
Bloodwork suggested I had an autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis. That was 10 months ago,
and soon after I found my way back to the mat. This time, the experience was different--there was
meaning and purpose in every breath and movement, and I started to contemplate how yoga could help
me achieve optimal health and life balance. I felt inspired and motivated to deepen my knowledge of
yogic philosophy and am currently enrolled in the 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training program at
Hummingbird.
For me, yoga creates a sacred space in my day--to breathe, move, reflect, connect, find love, gratitude,
and peace, despite all of my imperfections. Yoga shows me how to feel alive, to live life purposefully and
with grace, and has opened up a new path for self-discovery. And yes, it has been so important in treating
my RA as well! The more I practice, the more I learn, and the more I practice and learn, I've realized that I
am finding my life's true purpose.
After graduation in June, I hope you will join me for a class and explore the wonders and gifts that yoga
has to offer. I look forward to meeting you on this journey.

Join JESSICA on Sunday, May 19 3:00 PM- 4:00 PM

Jeanne used to think that one had to be flexible just to walk into a yoga class. Her practice has taught her that flexibility comes with movement, and regardless of where you are in life, you can benefit from yoga.

Yoga has helped Jeanne move through grief and the loss of her husband to cancer. It has created space in Jeanne’s life to breathe and is a perfect anecdote for anxiety, depression, arthritis, and the bumps in the road of life.

In addition to her YTT 200 Training at Hummingbird this Spring, Jeanne is a Kripalu Certified Let Your Yoga Dance® Instructor, and has completed a Certification in Deep Play for Kids Yoga.

Jeanne invites you to get off of the couch and onto the mat and experience a gentle Yoga Flow.

Join JEANNE for her community class on Tuesday, May 28 at 6:30 PM

After having my son, I felt I needed a place and space for myself. I found that I loved the movement and
peace that yoga provided me. Then life got busy and I stopped going to yoga. A friend of mine began
teaching a Recovery Yoga class that I attended, which reignited my desire to practice.
Yoga has helped me make space for myself as a wife, mother, human, and recovering woman. I have
learned strength, perseverance, and peace in my practice. For me, yoga is taking time from life to
recharge and renew.
I have found power in persevering through self-doubt and will share that with my students. I also have a
passion to share yoga with the recovery community and look forward to doing that in the future.
My Community Class is an All Levels Flow class.

Join RACHEL for her community class on Sunday, April 28 3:00 PM- 4:00 PM

When I attended my first yoga class in 2003, the first thing I noticed was how friendly everyone was
towards me. I quickly realized that I was sitting on the teacher’s mat when she arrived. Oops! And, I
thought…”Sure, why not. I could teach.”
What struck me the most about yoga was that it was a community of people, not just an exercise class. I
found this sense of simply being with people very powerful.
Through regular practice, yoga has allowed me to bring laughter and joy into my life and to others’ lives,
even in the darkest moments. Over the years, I began to see that I could also bring the pauses present in
a yoga class into my daily life.
I have practiced regularly at one or two studios in the Philadelphia area, but also consider home DVDs a
big part of my yoga experience! I have learned that you really can do yoga anywhere. In the spring of
2018, I completed a children and teen yoga training with Kidding around Yoga. This led me to pursue a
200 hour teacher training at Hummingbird Yoga in 2018. In the future, I hope to share yoga especially
with children and teens struggling with any sort of mental health issue.
Yoga for me is a way to bring out the light that is within each one of us. We all struggle with our inner
battle between lightness and darkness. My goal is to help people find that inner light, even when they
feel that it is not possible.
My community class will be a reflective, gentle flow class, suitable for all levels of yoga practice. Laughs, jokes, and lightness are invited!

I started practicing yoga at a time in my life when life on life’s terms was overwhelming and stressful. I
needed a place to quiet my mind and rid it from chaos. Yoga has taught me to breathe through stress
and difficult times when life shows up unexpectedly.
Yoga has been a journey on my path of self-discovery. It has taught me patience and compassion, for
myself and others.
My Community Class will be an All Levels Yoga class that emphasizes twists. We will focus on flowing the
negative toxins out of our bodies.

Join JAMIE for her free Community Class on Tuesday, May 21 6:30 PM- 7:30 PM

I have been practicing yoga on and off for 20 years, making it a priority in 2008 to focus on nurturing inner changer.

My yoga practice gives me a time and place to put everything else on hold, to quiet my mind, and to connect to my inner being. The heightened awareness I experience is what continues to draw me to my mat.

My passion is to share the effects yoga has had on my life with others seeking a journey to their inner self.

My Community Class will be a Gentle, flowing class that will focus on centering and self-compassion.

Join ERIN for her community class on Tuesday, May 7 6:30-7:30 PM

Lynn grew up in a family that stretched regularly. As a child, she and her siblings would join their dad
during his stretching routine in their family living room. “It feels so good to reach a little more” was their
motto.
The years quickly passed, and she found her adult self feeling stressed from daily life and working in
corporate America. Always the seeker, Lynn began looking for stress relief and reconnection to herself.
Lynn was introduced to yoga when she attended her first Iyengar class. The practice was disciplined and
structured, and learning the poses was a challenge. Once she got her feet wet, she became curious and
found various types of yoga. Her yoga practice has made her aware of unconscious holding in her body
and has helped her to focus on the mind, body, and spirit connection.
In conjunction with her love for yoga, Lynn is a passionate Licensed Massage Therapist. She has an
uncanny ability to connect with her clients through the power of therapeutic touch. All the while,
encouraging her clients to behold self-healing.
Lynn prefers to practice and teach gentle yoga flow and will be teaching this type of class for her
Community Class. Come visit Lynn for her yoga class or for a massage in her Hummingbird living room!

Join LYNN for her community class on Sunday, May 5 3:00 PM-4:00 PM

Shannon’s passion for helping women heal guides her classes, which integrate Hatha
Yoga, Qi Gong, Tao Yin, Meditation, and Energy Medicine Yoga.
Her passion was ignited in 2014 when she lost her first daughter. The loss became her
greatest teacher, calling her into deep study of yoga philosophy and various Eastern
Healing Modalities. What arose from the darkness of grief and loss was the light of self-
healing, a healing accessible to all who search within.
Through her offerings she seeks to “make this mountain taller” so that all women who
follow, including both of her daughters, may see farther than those who have gone
before. She welcomes all bodies, all stages of life and abilities, all seekers of whatever
they may seek, to join her on the mat and in building that mountain.

Join SHANNON for her community class on Tuesday, May 14 6:30 PM- 7:30 PM

Andi’s initial involvement with yoga began with the interest in complimenting her running with
the mental focus of yoga along with the physical aspect of the poses. At first, she was hesitant
to try yoga, because she had the common misconception that one had to be flexible. However,
as she grew in her practice, she came to learn that it is the intention for the pose that is the
true path. Andi also discovered, much to her delight, that the focus on the breath and the mind-
breath connection gave her a way to find balance in her life off of the mat. Using what she has
learned about breathwork in yoga has helped bring calmness and clarity to challenging life
situations.
Andi sees yoga as a connection between body and breath, physical and spiritual self, and life on
and off the mat. The goal for her Community Class is to bring balance between movement and
stillness on the mat so that it can serve as a bridge into the world outside the studio.
She is excited to graduate from YTT 200 in June 2019 and share her yoga journey with others.
Andi is so grateful to have found Hummingbird, a warm, welcoming, and supportive
community. Namaste

Join ANDI for her community class on Saturday, May 18 12:30 PM- 1:30 PM