When I was in my early thirties, my husband and I decided to do yoga together once a week. It was not fashionable at the time, there were few studios and fewer classes elsewhere. We enjoyed the time together and the benefits to our body.

While I received my first Structural Integration Ten Series, I suddenly found drawn to doing more yoga and started doing some yoga every morning. I was amazed how the combination of having the tissue lengthened and enlivened by the Structural Initegration work and doing my on stretching, twisting, and strengthening had profound results on my body. For more than ten years, yoga had helped me not become stiffer. Suddenly, I actually found more freedom in my movement. I'm still not a "Gumby" practitioner, but it's the change that has given me joy.

After a few years, I was teaching my clients yoga stretches as part of their Structural Integration work, and many commented that they found them useful. I decided I needed more education, and studied at Avalon Yoga Studio in Palo Alto. The training was rigerous, especially for someone on the stiff side like myself. But it also was wonderful to do more yoga, learn, meet others, and see things change. In fall of 2003, I was certified at the 200 hour level. I have since taught relatively regularly with the Stanford Health Improvement program, though my main work is with my clients: I usually reserve the last 10 minutes of a session for movement education or stretches.

In 2007, I attended a 100 hour level yin yoga teacher training with Sarah Powers (www.sarahpowers.com) and Paul Grilley (www. paulgrilley.com). I found this training educational and transformative. It made me realize how easily we impose someone else's alignment ideals on our bodies and how quickly we forget that feeling a stretch and a change in our body is what counts. Paul spent a lot of time illustrating the differences in human bone structure and made us all realize how much that bone structure determines how we look (see Paul's slide show of bone difference to understand what I mean). That said, it still makes perfect sense to open up the connective tissue to allow us to move freely inside the range our body supports. We can do this opening using yoga poses, but often Structural Integration is very useful in assisting the separation of long-held adhesions.

The training validated my belief that everyone is unique and beautiful, and that all I can do is support that beauty. I hope to start teaching more yoga as my schedule allows in the coming years.