Katherine began practicing yoga in 1993. She became a yoga teacher in 1996, the same year she completed a 500-hour massage therapy training course and began her practice as a manual therapist. Her interest in the study of subtle energy was ignited in massage school, where she took the opportunity to sample a wide variety of energy healing techniques including cranial sacral therapy, polarity, shiatsu, healing touch, crystal healing and reiki. She was most drawn to focus deeply on Reiki. She completed a two-year apprenticeship and became a reiki master/teacher in 1998.
For eight years, Katherine served as a hospice volunteer, offering massage, Reiki and yoga breathing techniques to those transitioning from their physical bodies. The honor of sharing in this most spiritual phase of people’s lives gave Katherine a deeply ingrained respect for life and a desire to be of service to those who are suffering.
Katherine's interest in the therapeutic aspects of yoga continued to grow. Her creative integration of yoga breathing techniques and Hatha yoga poses enhanced outcomes and facilitated the healing process for her massage and Reiki clients.
In 1999, Katherine sustained an injury that limited her yoga practice and ability to run, both of which had been staples of her life. The injury led her to study bio- mechanical alignment through the Anusara yoga method. She found this method to be very helpful in healing her injury and creating more balance in her yoga practice. She went on to become an Anusara teacher from 2001-2011.
In 2003, Katherine decided to focus more on using yoga as therapy for people experiencing limitations and pain due to injury and disease. Ironically, Anusara yoga, the method that once had created freedom from limitation in her practice, became a limitation in itself. This led Katherine to expand her training with other teachers and modalities.
Katherine has gone on to study extensively with Doug Keller, yoga teacher and author of several books on every aspect of yoga, including the two-volume set, Yoga as Therapy. He also has written many anatomy/alignment articles for Yoga International and Yoga Journal magazines. Katherine’s studies with Doug introduced her to Anatomy Trains, the structural integration work of Tom Myers, which she recently has begun to incorporate into her practice and teaching.
Most recently, synchronistic events and connections have led Katherine to begin her study with Arthur Kilmurray, one of the most innovative yoga teachers of our time. In a very short period, Arthur's teachings have profoundly influenced Katherine's own teaching and practice.
Says Katherine, “Arthur offered the missing link in my practice, FLUIDITY!”
According to Arthur’s teachings, combining subtle energy with alignment, and moving from the core of our being with mindfulness, are keys to living fully. Life moves in waves and spirals and by honoring the divine feminine energy within our being, we ignite our own creative life force. This allows us to begin to realize our never-ending, unfolding and as yet unknown potential. Living fully is what Katherine strives for in her own life and in her role as a teacher and facilitator for her students and clients.
