Suzanne has always been someone who enjoys engaging with life through her body (think roller skating, bicycling, scuba/snorkeling, walking and running). When she tried yoga in graduate school (City and Regional Planning), she immediately recognized yoga’s power to rejuvenate the body, increase self-awareness, reduce stress, and cultivate greater clarity and peace. Suzanne has been a passionate practitioner and student of yoga ever since.
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Suzanne’s formal education in yoga was unplanned but perfectly timed with the 2008 recession. When the recession hit, she’d recently relocated to the Bay Area from San Diego and was in-between city planning jobs, so she decided to take an in-depth immersion/200-hour teacher training. She was hooked and never went back to her career in planning and became a committed student with an appetite to learn all she could about the various tools and technologies of yoga, the body, and teaching.
Teaching and practicing yoga expands her world to include all of life as her practice.
Suzanne teaches alignment-based yoga and yoga therapy to individuals, small groups and public classes. Her direct, approachable teaching style encourages students to learn about themselves as they move through or hold postures.
In each class, students are invited to go on an inner journey, gaining insight into personal strengths and areas of growth, useful and not-so-useful habit patterns, and how to listen to the wisdom within.
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Even after more than 5,000 hours of teaching yoga, she is constantly expanding her base of knowledge and enjoys sharing what she learns to make every class a new opportunity to grow.
Since 2009, Suzanne has earned more than 1,600 hours of yoga teacher training, most recently completing 800 hour certification as a Certified Yoga Therapist. Since 2010, she has served as an assistant teacher for yoga classes for people with Parkinson’s Disease and has been teaching her own classes to people with Parkinson’s Disease classes since 2013.
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As Suzanne’s teaching practice has expanded to include more private clients in mid-life, she added specialized trainings that promote healthy aging, injury recovery, support musculoskeletal conditions, and strengthen pelvic health.
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When not teaching or practicing yoga, Suzanne enjoys hiking in the redwoods with her husband and dogs, exploring in Hawaii, studying yoga and working in her yard.
CERTIFICATIONS
Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT) 900 hours
Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) 500 hours
American Parkinson's Disease Association (APDA)
​Parkinson Association of Northern California (PANC) - Parkinsonwise
Egoscue Certified Postural Alignment Specialist
Relax and Renew Yoga Teacher (restorative yoga training)
Certified Yoga for Pelvic Floor Teacher
Certified Yoga Tune Up® & Roll Model Method Teacher
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Other Trainings and Specialties:
Yoga for Healthy Aging
Yoga as Medicine
Yoga for Scoliosis
Yoga Anatomy Principles
Science of the Private Lesson
Nectar of Nidra (Yoga Nidra training)
Yoga and Neuroscience Connection
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SUZANNE'S TEACHERS
From the time I began my first professional training in 2009, I have been blessed to study yoga under some of the smartest and most inspirational teachers I have known.
Though the techniques and styles of each teacher have been different, each one has shown me the benefits of a committed practice of yoga. As I support my students to develop a relationship with yoga, I draw from the best of what was freely shared with me by my teachers.
I received my foundational training (200- and 300-hour) at YogaWorks in San Francisco, where I studied with Nikki Estrada and Erika Trice. Here I learned intelligent sequencing, precise instruction, and how to build classes filled with both dynamic movement and static postures. Nikki, my first teacher trainer, inspired my love of the Yoga Sutras and I owe Erika credit for inspiring me to tap into my creativity as a yoga teacher.
Vickie Russell Bell has been my guide and mentor in teaching yoga to people with Parkinson’s Disease and other physical challenges since the beginning. She instilled in me the importance of “teaching to what is possible,” the art of adapting yoga to the individual, appreciation for the subtle adjustments to deeply relaxing restorative yoga, and how to mentor other teachers.
Robin Gueth is the Director of The Stress Management Center of Marin where I took my Yoga Therapy training and certification. Robin has a deep love and appreciation for yoga, as well as a deep well of energy that she infuses into her classes, students and trainees. Her enthusiasm to teach and compassion for her students is truly inspiring.
Kaya Mindlin taught me the art of going deep by doing less and learning to trust as a path for healing. She is a patient, loving guide in her Supreme Release Yoga (SRY), a profoundly healing modality that releases spinal tension in the body and soothes the mind with Vedic philosophy.
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Although I’d had a couple of introductory courses in Ayurveda, the science of life, when Simone de Winter taught it to my yoga therapy training sangha, I fell in love with it. She gently encouraged us to adopt daily practices of nourishing self-care, while patiently teaching us theories and disciplines of Ayurvedic health and healing.
Leslie Howard introduced me to my pelvic floor and initiated me into the pelvic health revolution. She taught me to appreciate the beauty and complexity of my pelvis, and its direct connection to our breath and overall health.
I’m so grateful to all of the teachers who have influenced me and look forward to sharing these gifts with you.