I feel deeply blessed to be heading into my 21st year of practicing yoga and guided meditation. My passion for it started internally, to find focus and to relieve stress in my life, then shortly opened up to the physical practice of Iyengar yoga. I continued to search and explore the different avenues, all based on the same principles of uniting the mind, body, and spirit through breath. I began to practice Ashtanga which I found exhilarating and more fluid than Iyengar. After coming through second series Ashtanga, I began exploring my options further. I am an original Yoga Works-trained teacher and have been fortunate enough to train with and teach under such world renowned yogis as Maty Ezraty, Chuck Miller, Lisa Walford and Bryan Kest.

I have practiced through two pregnancies and with deep focus and Ujjayi, I have welcomed two beautiful boys into this world. In June of 2004, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Resistant Thyroid Cancer and since then I have had four surgeries. Each time my practice continues to come back, reassuring me that it is always there regardless of my physical or emotional state. Not only did this experience provide perspective for my practice but has also allowed me to teach yoga as a healing modality. I am honored and grateful to have been able to teach "Power through Illness" the last two years at the annual Midwest Yoga Conference. I am deeply learning the lesson of surrendering to the things I have no control over; I am a Yogini and I have cancer. I am determined to live my life to the fullest each and every day I can. I honor and thank my incredible husband, my babies, my family, my friends and students, and my wonderful teachers.

Deepest Namaste,
Hilaire