Advanced Wellness School

Yesterday we had some teachers, yes the ape too, finish Pilates Reformer training.

Ashley, Abby and Julie the ape! 😆

Watch for some new reformer classes to be added to the schedule at Fit and Fire Studios with Lean Body Barre and Hot Yoga

HUGE SHOUT OUT and Congratulations to Hailey!!!! She graduated 200RYT Yoga teacher training and is already teaching in Brookings!! So if you are family/friends are in the Brookings area, check out one of her classes at
She can do challenging classes to restorative classes and puts a truly inspirational and uplifting touch to each of her classes!

Congratulations Hailey!!!

If you see this gorgeous face in the middle, Julie, give her a big congratulations! Julie completed her 300ryt advanced yoga teacher training. She is now a 500ryt Yoga teacher!!!! Congratulations Julie Berry !!!!

Ugh. It's a brutal truth about the yoga industry.
You can learn to protect yourself, offer out what you can to build collaborations, it's a wonderful way to build yoga community as a whole. But it also comes with the realization that some people just don't know how to collaborate without competition. And sometimes they can be hard lessons to learn.
As a yoga teacher, I've had the judgmental looks, the condescending posts and emails, lies, insults. And in the deepest tradition of yoga, I understand that this is actually a reflection of the person throwing shade my way. I take all criticisms as learning lessons, and some can be quite corrective.
In our teacher trainings, we always talk about not only the importance of collaboration instead of competition, but the importance of respecting other yoga teachers and their practices. With over 400 different types of yoga, to say that one person is a better yoga teacher than the other is akin to saying one singer is better than all the rest of the singers in the world. Because it is the receiver's experience that creates the ranking, and every receiver is different, there can be truly no " best singer in the world" just as there can't be a " best yoga teacher in the world".
I truly believe we are, as teachers, there for the guests that come to our studios, sometimes we are exactly what our guests need and other times someone else can serve them better, and to honor the practice of yoga, means that it is our responsibility to guide our guests to their best path.
We can always do better, and we can always be better. In fact, that's another facet of yoga is to be the person off the mat that you strive to be on the mat, spreading peace and compassion

It’s Time We Look at Some Not-Very-Yoga-Like Behavior Happening Among Many Yoga Teachers In the past, I have invited a colleague to lead part of my prenatal yoga teacher training. In addition to being a yoga teacher, she is also a doctor of physical therapy and was able to teach us all how to assess ourselves for particular conditions.