Stephanie Strand, E-RYT500, RPYT, YACEP, 1000 hour Yoga Therapy

I started my first yoga class in college as an extra credit class with my friend and loved it. From there began my journey through the yoga world. I took my first training in Minneapolis with YogaFit and started teaching at Cross-Fit gyms. I traveled west after college and did another intensive training with Jaya Yoga for their anatomical and fundamental movement-based practices. Wanting to continue along this path and feeling there was so much more to explore, I completed another training in Minneapolis with Devanadi and than progressed through to a Yoga Therapy program with Yoga North.

After learning about all styles of yoga and exploring different practices, making creative sequences that blend together and move into a flowing meditation makes me feel better than the purest yoga style. Holding space for functional movement is what I want for students, so they can tune in to their own creative side and find their yoga path. With this life experience, I want to inspire connection, healing, and wholeness, where people are gathered to breathe, sweat, move, and achieve more than just a physical workout. Yoga is all about the balance between strength and flexibility, holding and releasing; with music and syncing of people as a community that creates a whole new experience, you can't get anywhere else.

Yoga is a beautiful union between all elements of what comprises who you truly are, as a whole person. It is your spirit, body, emotions, mind, essence, and everything in between. It is more than just the pose, it goes deeper than that. Yoga is what makes us better people so that we can go out into the world and do better for others.