GET TO KNOW IRIE
Fierce Surrender
Welcome! I'm Irie, a yoga guide hoping to share space and energy with others as we journey toward a more just, peaceful, and healthy community.
My professional background includes work as a CPR certified Registered Nurse for over 20 years; my nursing background informs my knowledge of the human body making functional movement and proper alignment central to the physical aspects of the classes I guide. I am a certified, insured yoga instructor registered with Yoga Alliance (RYT-200).
My belief in God and the messages of the Gospel provide me direction to passionately seek truth, justice, & equity in all relationships and institutions I find myself in. My faith and yoga practice have become inextricably linked, leading to Irie Yoga experiences filled with hope, perseverance, and fire.
I am....A student of yoga, taking breaths, holding poses, sometimes vinyasa. Always music; with intention. In groups or alone. Lying, sitting, standing, floating, flying, free; fierce surrender.
THE IRIE YOGA JOURNEY
The journey is the destination
My yoga journey began in 2009 after recovering from two cesarean sections in the span of two years. The strain on my body, brought on by the first two babies weighing 10 and pounds, felt almost irreparable. On the suggestion of a physician, I began practicing at a yoga studio to regain physical strength and improve posture, but came to love the depth and beauty in the practice. I have been practicing several days a week ever since, including through my third pregnancy. After several years of interest in pursuing yoga teacher training, God's timing provided that opportunity in 2019. when I become a certified yoga instructor (RYT-200) through the MI Hot Yoga Family of Studios. In October 2020 I completed Yoga for All, a 35-hour accessible yoga training through Diane Bondy Yoga. And in 2023 I had the incredible opportunity to participate in a 25-hour Trauma-Informed Yoga training in Santa Monica, CA with Hala Khouri.
In June of 2020, I channeled my feelings of outrage and helplessness surrounding the murder of George Floyd, by co-organizing and leading an annual donation-based, outdoor Juneteenth sunset yoga flow to raise consciousness and funds for the racial justice movement in the greater Lansing community.
The pandemic, although gut wrenching on many levels, has been transformative. It forced me out of the yoga studios for both personal practice and teaching. My bedroom, basement, deck, and parks became my new yoga spaces, where I learned to tap into a creative spirit I didn't know existed. My daily, solo personal practice became foundational to my triad of physical, mental, and emotional health.
Since becoming a certified RYT-200 yoga teacher in 2019, I have lead studio, community, private classes and workshops in the Lansing, MI area for beautiful people of all ages and physical abilities.
And the journey continues....
