Who am I?
Just a girl from the Pacific Northwest who loves to help folks that could benefit from yoga – but are waaaay too busy to take studio classes regularly – create personalized practices, so that yoga actually works for them.
I grew up in Seattle, skipped town the moment I finished high school to attend college on the east coast, lived for a stint in Central America, and promptly moved right back home to the PNW within hours of finishing my bachelors degree (a liberal arts education from a tiny, little known, private college where I studied foreign languages – chiefly Spanish and French). I love to go to new places, experience new things, and meet new people – I adore listening to people tell me their stories. Yet one way or another, I am always drawn back to this beautiful, overcast, green corner of the country because home is my favorite place to be.
I love all things PNW. Yes, even – maybe especially – the rain. And like any good PNW’er, I love all things outdoors.
I also dearly love my hubby, whom I met in high school – yup, the high school sweetheart thing! And our two brilliant, spunky, love-to-play-in-the-dirt children. And my two rescued Boxers, who do indeed fit the stereotypes of both typical Boxers and typical rescue dogs. So my heart and my hands are full!
What do I do?
Most of my time is spent learning and teaching. I homeschool our kiddos. Am forever in the process of retraining my rescued pups to overcome their neurotic tendencies. And interspersed throughout my days are appointments with clients dealing with chronic pain, fatigue, or stress who meet with me to discover which particular yoga solutions are ideal for their body, their mind, and their real life. Nearly every angle of my life is involved in teaching, coaching, and inspiring – which means I also spend a great deal of time reading, studying, and training in order to teach well and help more.
I have enjoyed learning with many different yoga teachers from Iyengar, Ashtanga, and Viniyoga traditions developing my own practice for more than two decades. I studied with Amelia Moore (a student of Annie Carpenter) for my 200-hour training in 2014, and completed my 500-hour training with Robin Rothenberg (a student of Gary Kraftsow) in 2017.
In addition to continuous in-depth studies of functional anatomy, breath work and meditation to enhance my work with you on the mat, I also study the philosophies and methodologies of the Yoga Sutras and Hatha Yoga Pradipika, as well as Ayurveda, so that I can offer you more off the mat as well. I aim to provide a holistic experience to benefit not just the muscular-skeletal system, but also the nervous system and psycho-emotional health as well, for a fuller mind-body-spirit experience.
Why do I yoga?
For me, yoga is a lot like duct tape: it may not fix everything, but it sure comes in handy for most of life’s challenges.
I initially came to yoga in my college days as a means to combat insomnia and counteract stress. It pulled me out of depression.
I delved deeper into practicing as much as I could with teachers from Iyengar Yoga and Astanga Yoga traditions after college because the intensity of those styles met my chronic anxiety head on. It sort of lassoed it, wrangled it, and tamed it down.
I practiced gentle yoga during both of my pregnancies for much needed self-love.
After hitting 30 and having had two children, I stumbled upon hot yoga – entirely because it was the only studio near my house at the time – and discovered how lovely it can be to step out of the wet, chilly, PNW weather and pretend to be on a steamy beach in Costa Rica for 90 minutes. I didn’t feel as capable on the mat post-babies, but being in the heat was a lovely little “cheat” to get me almost back to the range of motion I had once had.
Then, realizing that I absolutely could not practice yoga the way I had pre-kiddos – finding that some of the old favorite poses were downright painful if not entirely impossible “all of a sudden” – I stepped into my first Yoga Teacher Training.
I took that first YTT in hopes of learning enough to know why I couldn’t yoga the way I used to, the way I wanted to. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that in more than a decade of practicing yoga, I had hardly scratched the surface. This tradition is rich with wisdom, tools, techniques, and rituals for holistic well-being.
Within a year of completing 200 hours of YTT, I enrolled in a 500-hour YTT in the Viniyoga tradition (known for therapeutic yoga). That second YTT turned out to actually be closer to an additional 800 hours of training, but I am so thankful for every moment of it! Currently, I am completing my final hours of required training to become a certified yoga therapist through the International Association of Yoga Therapy.
To read more about my experience and how I have incorporated my training into my own healing journey, click here.
How do I yoga?
My own yoga practice is as diverse and colorful as my ever-changing moods – think My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. Some days I am rolling myself slowly through a powerful Astanga-esque Surya Namaskar with a few arm balances thrown into the mix for good measure. Other days I skip the mat and pull the couch cushions onto the floor to drape myself into restorative postures. And still, other times I stay snuggled under the comforter with the kitten and my japa mala beads and I just breathe my way quietly through my mantra.
And this is precisely what I love to share when I teach others yoga: it is just as rich, diverse, and sophisticated as you are. Wherever, whomever, and however you are, there is a yoga practice, technique, tool, or ritual that can serve you. Find just the right recipe of asana (poses), pranayama (breathwork), dharana (meditative focus), vairagyam (continual effort), and svadhyaya (self-reflection), and it can unlock, transform, build up, and inspire!
Wondering if I might be the right yoga teacher for you? Read more about my teaching style here. And learn about how yoga therapy with me is yoga with a different spin here.
~ Margo Peña, E-RYT 500, YACEP
