Nest Staff Spotlight is our way to show appreciation to our teachers and to help our community connect. This week on Nest Staff Spotlight we learn a little more about Charlotte. Charlotte’s yoga journey began 20 years ago as a dancer. Burnout from a fast paced life and chronic health issues, Charlotte returned to yoga for healing. She has completed over 1000 hours of yoga teacher trainings with instructors such as Richard Rosen, Mary Paffard and Kia Miller. Read more to learn about Charlotte!
Tell us about yourself. Anything you want the Nest Community to know.
I’m really grateful to be part of the Nest community. I first started coming to the studio as a student of the amazing, Richard Rosen. I was not only blown away by the class, but I felt at home and loved the sweet connections I made with students before and after class. Nest truly is such a special and unique community and I’m grateful to be a student and a teacher here.
What are you currently reading, watching or listening to?
I’m currently reading the Bhagavad Gita. The reading is for the newly formed, Yoga Nerd Book Club that I’m in (if you’re a sincere Yoga Nerd and are interested in joining, come find me to learn more about it). I’m currently watching lectures by Joe Dispenza, who is exploring using principles of quantum physics to ignite powerful transformations in the body-mind. I’m listening to lots of ambient “yoga music”, some melancholy indie rock, and some international beats.
What would you like the community to know about your classes, teaching style or you?
Well, I love yoga-- and many forms of yoga including hatha flow, yin yoga, and kundalini yoga. I practiced yoga for many years, but didn’t truly fall in love with yoga until I found Kundalini Yoga. That was the first time I experienced myself as a radiant being, and recognized that I was not just my thoughts, my habits/ patterns, or my ego identification in general. To find a practice where I could tap into a deeper sense of self was, and continues to be, a life-changer! From that opening of sorts, I knew I had to study yoga-- texts, practice, take classes and learn, what are the keys and doorways into this powerful and transformative practice.
Some of the aspects I love most about the practice are first, the heart-opening. My teacher, Kia Miller, says something like, “If your yoga practice is not helping you become a more open-hearted, compassionate person, find another yoga practice”. Second, at Nest I teach yin yoga, and I find that this style is really potent medicine for our times. With our dominant culture producing very busy, stressful, and overly-cerebral lives, the yin practice is all the more important. I feel like it’s a radical act to take time to slow down and deeply listen to our bodies, our minds and our breath. From a young age, many of us are taught to find the authority outside of ourselves, to not listen to our bodies, to push through, “no pain no gain” mentality, or to see our bodies and selves from the outside in. To me the yin practice is such a beautiful life practice to reclaim who we are, to truly rest, to get to know ourselves and love ourselves, and thereby love and connect more deeply and authentically with others around us. They say, teach what you need to learn, and as a recovering work-aholic, people-pleaser, and “good girl”, yin yoga continues to be quite the transformative practice for me.
Last, since I’ve started reading the Bhagavad Gita in depth, it’s awakening in me the interest in karma yoga (the yoga of service), and living the path of yoga through action. In my past life, I worked for non-profits and social justice organizations. I believe that yoga can be a powerful path for waking up and increasing connection to self, others and community. I’m hoping that my practice continues to be more embodied both on and off the mat and I look forward to exploring how to make the link between our practice on and off the mat more fluid. Yogis have been many things over many years. However, to me yogis are radical beings who know themselves deeply, are kind and compassionate in each breath and action, and who, fueled by their connection to all around them, are beacons of light and positive change-makers.
What hobby would be a lot of fun to get into?
I really love woodblock prints and would love to learn this art at some point. I also used to dance flamenco and miss that fire a lot, so maybe it’s time to find my shoes and start dancing again. Ole!
What was the last experience that made you a stronger person?
Vulnerability in relationship is definitely making me a stronger person. I spent many years in the metaphorical “cave” so to speak as I was diving in to my yoga and meditation practices. It wasn’t really until I entered into a romantic partnership, that I actually began to see and integrate my “shadow” side, and begin to own, have compassion for, and accept my human-ness. It’s been one of the most challenging processes in my life, and certainly the most rewarding. I consider my partner a very important yoga teacher for me.
What is your favorite book/movie/tv show/podcast?
My favorite book is probably a children’s book I read as a little girl called Miss Rumphius. It’s about a woman who travels the whole world wide looking for her unique way to make the world a more beautiful place. I think this has to be one of the most influential books in my life as it planted a seed of life direction for me as a child. I hope by the end of my life I can live up to Miss Rumphius.
You can attend Charlotte’s Yin class Wednesdays at 5:30 pm!