Nest Staff Spotlight allows fellow teachers, staff members and our yogis the opportunity to delve into the life of a selected community member. We hope this gives everyone a chance to learn more about our teachers and staff.
Our yoga teachers bring life to Nest Yoga. Each teacher is passionate, welcoming and unique. Some have been teaching yoga for decades while others have been instructing for a few years. Because of their desire to learn, we are able to offer a variety of classes including SmartFLOW® Yoga, Yoga Tune Up®, Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Restorative and Yin Yoga, Egoscue Method, Yoga for People with Disabilities and Chronic Conditions and Meditation.
We are thrilled to welcome Alise Crain back the Nest team! Alise has over 500 hours of training in Hatha, Vinyasa, meditation and Yin with Annie Carpenter, Lauran Janes and Erinn Lewis. Her classes incorporate creative sequencing and movement focused on strength building and alignment. Read more to learn about Alise’s yoga journey, plant obsession and getting lost in Dublin!
Tell us about yourself. Anything you want the Nest community to know.
I’m originally from Austin, Texas, which is where I get my love of hot weather, breakfast tacos, and green space from. I’m still a relatively new Bay Area resident, with 1 year in SF and 2 years in Berkeley. I have 2 wonderful cats, Ty who is 10, and Nimbus who is 6, that are beautiful examples of how to be curious and be still at the same time. I own too many indoor plants and yet there is always space for more. For the past 5 years, my top 3 artists on Spotify have been Drake, Bright Eyes, and John Mayer (in that order). I decided to leave my 10 year career in project management to pursue UX Design in July of this year, so I quit my job and signed up for a 3 month UX design bootcamp.
What are three things still left on your bucket list?
Ha! I don’t have a bucket list! My current 5 year inspiration is to live in a home built by myself and my partner, that is a house inside of a greenhouse.
What are you happiest doing when you’re not working?
Cuddling with my cats, drinking good quality coffee, practicing in my “home studio” which is my bathroom with the doors closed and the air heater on.
When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
I’m not sure about laughing, but I often happy cry (at least once a week) about how thankful I am to spend quality time with various people in my life. Time together is such a blessing and I really believe that.
What are you currently reading, watching or listening to?
Reading: Make It New, A History of Design in Silicon Valley
What do you do with friends/family in your spare time?
Visit over red wine and topo chico.
What do you love most about your hometown?
Spending 8 months of the year sitting outside in the grass in sunny 95 degree weather.
How did you find yoga and what does it mean to you?
I took my first yoga class in 2011. My mom and I had decided to overhaul our lifestyle. I was post-college, first job stressed out, working 60 hour weeks at times in a chemistry lab, and she was ready for a change. Along with becoming raw food vegans, we also signed up for a 30 day membership at a local studio. I found that my developing practice was creating space in my life that I hadn’t found in a long time. I learned to carve out time for me, to pay attention, to pause even in the middle of a hectic day and in so many ways, beyond but including physically, I felt stronger than I had in years. In 2014, I took my first 200hr training with Erinn Lewis and Lauran Janes, who sparked in me the joy of Yoga as intentional and balanced action, a form of exploration in the subtle body, and the act of paying attention with a clearer lense in all of the moments in life. Yoga to me is the practice of slowing down enough to pay attention and to continuously connect and reconnect to ourselves, to the divine, to God, to the universe.
Have you ever gotten super lost? What happened?
I got lost while in Dublin, Ireland on my way back from the James Joyce museum. I had biked there from my friend's house and was completely turned around on my bike home. My phone died along the way, and I had no address of where I was going, no phone numbers to call. I was so lucky to find this pasted map on the back of a mailbox on the side of the road that showed major city features, one of which my friend lived a couple of blocks from. After several attempts of trying to navigate based on my memory of the map, returning to the map, and trying again, I made it back to her house just before sundown.
What is the best gift anyone has ever given you?
A beautiful crystal singing bowl, F note and colored green, for the heart chakra.
What style of yoga do you teach? Why did you choose this method or style?
I teach Vinyasa alignment classes. When I first started practicing yoga, I found myself often in pain - in my low back, in my knees, and in my hip joints - which led me to seek out teachers, training, classes and ultimately a teaching style with a focus on freedom through intentional action and movement. It’s so important that we all as students are empowered to understand how our body works and moves and feels, and so we are able to continuously adjust or do less or do more accordingly.
What hobby would be a lot of fun to get into? Have you started any hobbies during shelter-in-place?
I’d like to start sketching and classifying plants - creating mini books of leaf drawings! I’ve bought the sketch pad and pencils, now I just have to start.
Alise teaches Vinyasa with us twice a week! Mindfully flow and build strength with Alise Wednesday at 12:00 pm and Saturday at 9:00 am! These classes are all levels. Follow her on Instagram @curlyogalise or visit https://www.alisecrainyoga.com to learn more!