I was introduced to yoga way back in 1969 by my mother-in-law, Alta.  One day she invited me to watch a TV show with her entitled "Yoga for Health" with Richard Hittleman on Oregon Public Broadcasting.  We had fun rollicking around on her living room floor, and I became a regular viewer.   From Richard Hittleman I learned many of the basics of hatha yoga: philosophy, vocabulary, postures and breathing exercises.  He also taught me sun salutations, alternate nostril breathing and stomach lifts. 
     A couple of years later, we had moved back east, and a friend took me to my first "live" yoga class at an ashram somewhere in the Poconos where I discovered that what I had learned on TV was being taught there as well.  I also learned that this was a form of exercise that I enjoyed and that I was capable of doing because of the respect that was given to individual ability.  This ashram was not close to home, so I did not return, but I continued to practice sporadically throughout the 70's.  We moved back to Oregon in '73.  I always lived in rural communities, far from larger cities where yoga was being taught.   Once in a while I would watch "Lilias, Yoga and You" which replaced Richard Hittlemans's show on public television. 
     In the 80's  I found a few sessions of classes offered through Portland Community College which turned out to be well taught.  But the public's interest in such studies was low and eventually  classes would be canceled due to insufficient registration.  So my yoga education and practice was at best intermittent for over 20 years.  By that time the 90's had arrived, my kids were teenagers and stress was taking its toll.  One day I tried to do a shoulder stand, a pose which always had been a favorite because I could do it with ease and I knew it was good for my thyroid gland.  I struggled to find the pose and when I barely had gotten into it my belly sagged onto my chest and I could hardly breathe!  A rude awakening!
     Once again, a friend took me to a yoga class she heard about in Scappoose.  This was the beginning of my serious yoga practice, which led to my becoming an instructor in l993. For eight years I was a self-taught teacher, by taking classes in Scappoose with Gary Domby, D.C. and Evangelia O'Dell, and through attending workshops in the Portland area, mainly at Holiday Johnson's Studio with Holdiay and many guest instructors.  I also traveled to yoga conferences and seminars to expand my exposure to many teachers from a variety of disciplines.  Eventually, I took formal teacher training with Bob Smith and Ki McGraw of The Hatha Yoga Center in Seattle.  I earned my R.Y.T. (Registered Yoga Teacher) status in September of 2001 upon completion of their two year program.  After that training, I was drawn toward the style of TriYoga taught by Kali Ray, with whom I've taken many workshops. 
       Yoga permeates everything in my life.  It has improved my strength, flexibility, and endurance. I embrace its values, do my best to live by them, and to share what I've learned with my students.