An Ode to My 15-Year Yoga Journey + Life Update
Hola!
I’m writing to you fresh off the highs of Playa Mujeres, where I took time to celebrate love, watch the ocean, and enjoy a slower pace. Taking time to unplug and be fully present is a kind of alchemy that has awakened a deeper sense of adventure and exploration in me lately. Sitting on the rooftop, watching the tides roll in while honoring and connecting with the Creator — that’s the kind of energy the world needs more of. I sip tea daily, my beloved spearmint treat.
Welcome back to the blog — I’m returning after five years. This is Tea Leaves & Light, a space for reflection, evolution, and wellness. This is my new website, and I hope you love it. I’ll one day share the archives, but for now, new things are on the horizon, and I’d love for you to come along on the journey.
September has been lovely. Whenever I travel to new corners of the world, I find myself in deep contemplation — acknowledging dualities and spiritual messages. These moments remind me how important reflection is for our communities and connections with others.
What a journey 2025 has been. Many of us lightworkers are still shining brightly — showing up to help others through healing, education, and resource-building. Over the last 15 years, I’ve watched the yoga community evolve, proudly witnessing new faces — especially BIPOC instructors — rise to bring greater representation, truth, and action.
Yoga in Ivy Park, 2017
When I began practicing yoga in 2011, I had no idea what the practice was truly about. I became curious about energetic systems and how our anatomies radiate high vibration and promote cleansing. I’m deeply grateful to my mom, who first invited me onto this path. As I attended class after class, the teacher in me was ignited, and I eventually pursued my 200-hour RYT training — thanks to my friend Shayla. I realized there were many other skills I needed to grow along the way. It scared me, but I listened to my inner voice above all else and kept going.
By 2018, I was teaching law enforcement and policing professionals, residents, families, and nonprofit organizations. That was my nervous system training — my spiritual assignment to grow and contribute. There were hard chapters, but I never looked away. Setting up class after class, guiding people pose by pose, I came to understand that the greatest endeavor in life is to pursue understanding and truth. We live in a world where realities vary, but when you sit, breathe, and quiet the mind, you begin to understand your choices, motivations, fears, and beliefs — and question them without judgment. In doing so, I built stronger capacity: to hold space, to move energy safely.
Athleta Yoga, 2020
“Holding” is important. Often, we find beautiful things and don’t know how to hold them — so we drop or destroy them because they’re too precious to face. As a yoga teacher and inclusion professional, I’ve learned that we must practice holding — and when we can no longer, we must learn to set things down or set them free. Each moment, whether grief or inspiration, frustration or adventure, is here to teach us. Doing “the work” requires a spectrum of experiences. I’ve dedicated my time to learning what those experiences are and modeling them in my own way.
2018 was my initiation. I moved swiftly through it until I began to move softly — and I held myself through that evolution. I honor what I overcame, because we evolve, and our clarity deepens when we live according to our values. Today, I continue to practice those values — to invest, divest, build, dismantle, create, and hold. I serve through yoga and wellbeing. I teach others to self-care and self-advocate. I’m proud of the milestones I’ve reached, even those I keep quietly to myself.
I leave you with this: always listen to your inner voice. If you cannot speak your truth aloud, start by speaking to yourself. Then go make change — and find joy in all that you do. Live a life you can be truly proud of, and you’ll never need the validation of others.
To my family, chosen ones, and community friends — thank you for supporting me for a decade and a half. Thank you for lifting me up and believing in my work.
I carry on and I continue.
