Deborah discovered yoga in her early 20s and has been practicing and learning ever since, continuing to be amazed at the benefits she’s received and has seen in others. Over these many years, she has experienced numerous styles of yoga, including Hatha, Bikram, Vinyasa Flow, Yin Yoga, Buti, Yoga Nidra, and Kundalini, and her teaching draws from these various sources.
Deborah had been a full-time elementary teacher at both Montessori and Waldorf Schools, with a yoga practice on the side as a means for health and wellness. Attending the hot yoga studios in Sedona and Cottonwood, she was grateful to have a regular practice. After many years, she shifted out of full-time elementary teaching, and around that same time, her local studio offered its first 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training Certification. It became apparent that the moment had come to deepen her practice and prepare to become a yoga teacher.
Since the entirety of yoga is much more than simply the practice of the physical poses, she loves introducing the 8 limbs of yoga to others and includes pranayama (breathwork) and meditative practices in her classes. She welcomes all students, at all levels of experience, and offers modifications and props for comfort and ease. She believes that yoga is primarily about aligning more deeply with the inner self and discovering more about the mind-body-spirit-breath connection. With her heart-centered guidance, she strives to help practitioners find inner peace, focus, greater well-being, and transformation.
Deborah has enjoyed incorporating yoga into her elementary classes with children in the past. She currently teaches at the Sanctuary at Sedona and at the Cottonwood Hot Yoga studio. She also owns and operates her own Floating Yoga business and takes people out on inflatable paddleboards to practice yoga at the convergence of the Verde River and Oak Creek.