When I took my first Nia class, I danced, and my body smiled and breathed a huge sigh of relief – to move in a way that felt so natural and sooooo good. After taking ballet, tap and jazz as a girl, I tried ballet again as an adult, but there was no smiling in any part of my body. It seemed forbidden!

So great was the pull of Nia that I always thought in the back of my mind that I would like to share it with others, although I had never had the desire to teach anything before.

In the meantime, I moved to Greenville and struggled to find a Nia class close to home. After my daughter’s first birthday, I realized I needed to do some things for myself, to exercise and have some fun. Finally I had a revelation, I will teach my own classes! I was also trying to find ways to heal some lower back pain and little did I realize that Nia would help me with that. During this time my mother’s cancer reoccurred as well and Nia saved me from going crazy with grief while I was losing my mom. To delve into the teaching of  a positive, joy-affirming practice and to share it with others has made such an enormous impact on my life, helping me heal physically, emotionally and spiritually. My hope is that I can help others, even in some tiny way, find healing too.