From the Heights — and I Mean That Literally
The Heights Made Me
I grew up in a place called The Heights — a real location elevated above the city of Cleveland, overlooking everything below.
From the 70's into the 90's, those streets were my entire world. And they were remarkable. Cleveland Heights in those years was a genuine melting pot. Rich and poor lived on the same block, showcasing every ethnicity and background. Art, music, history, and culture collided in the best possible way.
It was the kind of place that truly makes you believe in people — because you grew up surrounded by diverse individuals. It also produced some interesting humans. Travis and Jason Kelce grew up in those same neighborhoods. So did Machine Gun Kelly. The Heights seemed to inspire people who were real, resilient, and completely themselves. I like to think some of that authenticity stuck with me.
I left in the 90's and eventually found myself in Central Texas, which is a different world in many ways — fewer edges and less cultural texture. Yet, you never lose where you’re from; you carry it with you. That’s what “From the Heights” means.
Alongside that upbringing, my journey led me to discover accessible yoga, including Cleveland Heights yoga focused on wellness and even yoga for recovery. These practices have become part of my story, reminding me of the resilience and authenticity I learned growing up.
The Years In Between
The stretch from leaving The Heights to arriving at a yoga mat covered a lot of ground — career, relationships, and the full spectrum of adult life. It also included a serious relationship with alcohol that I eventually had to confront.
I got sober in December 2017. While that isn’t the beginning of my story, it marks the start of the clearest chapter in my life. Now, over eight years later, my sobriety has become the foundation on which everything else is built — including my Cleveland Heights yoga practice.
What I didn’t expect was how much getting sober involved learning to sit with discomfort rather than running from it. Accessible yoga turned out to be the perfect environment for practicing this concept intentionally — not as a distraction or a retreat, but as a way to get more in touch with myself. The mat shifted from a focus on flexibility to being a space for staying present with whatever arose, which, it turns out, is the essence of yoga for recovery.
How Yoga Found Me
I first was exposed to yoga as a kid. During the 70's, my mother practiced at a place called "The Light of Yoga Society" in Cleveland Heights. Later in life, I came to yoga the way many people in recovery do — seeking something that worked on the inside, not just the outside.
What I found was a practice with more depth than I expected: philosophy, breath, stillness, and a framework for living that mapped almost exactly onto what I was already learning in recovery, particularly through accessible yoga practices.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras describe the practice of stilling the fluctuations of the mind. If you’ve ever sat with a craving, a resentment, or the 2 AM version of your own thoughts, you know exactly what that means. Yoga didn’t give me something new; it gave me language for something I was already doing.
I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training in January 2026 and became a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) through Yoga Alliance. I have actually been practicing for the last 6 years, despite my recent arrival at teaching. I’m a hardcore GenX and believe in the importance of yoga for recovery—better late than never, and right on time.
How I Teach
My teaching style is accessible, grounded, and trauma-informed, focusing on creating accessible yoga experiences for everyone. I design classes for real bodies with real histories—no pressure to impress and not specifically for advanced practitioners or social media.
I believe the mat is a space for honest connection. You bring what you have that day, and we work with it together—no performance necessary.
Based in Central Texas, I teach Cleveland Heights yoga classes in the area and am also building an online presence with Yoga from the Heights on IG @yogafromtheheights. This is a space where you’ll find a focus on yoga for recovery and the other 7 limbs of yoga, rather than just fancy headstands or mainstream trends. Here, I share how yoga resonates off the mat in my life.