We want to celebrate you, Susan! When you are at the front desk, we know our students will be greeted with the warmest welcome and biggest smile. Your reliability and willingness to help gives us all peace of mind. You help the Bella Prāṇa Wellness Collective cater to our students’ needs by simply showing up and aiding her to the best of your abilities. Our students love you and so do we. We have witnessed you work hard to deepen your practice and then share it with us all. We honor and appreciate your never ending care and attention to us and our studio. We love you very much, Susan!
What brought you to yoga? How has it impacted your world?
The first friend I made freshman year at UF asked me to come to a class at the school gym. I remember farting in the class and being really embarrassed. The next time I went to a class wasn’t until after graduation, when I was invited by a fellow English teacher when I was abroad in Thailand. I felt drawn to the practice through the light shining in my first teacher, P Noi. Since that day and coming back to Florida in 2015, I’ve kept my practice, feeling like I finally knew what I wanted to learn, how I wanted to live. I started saving and on New Years Day of 2017, I travelled to India to complete my 200 hour YTT. It was like coming home in the way nearly everyone around me knew about yoga. In 2019, I began practicing Ashtanga and it has brought me to my next big chapter, an apprenticeship with Jessica at Bella Prana starting this October. The practice is so many things, yes it’s discipline, it’s community, but it’s also pure magic as the living, moving body makes an offering with every breath.
What advice can you give to those who are just beginning their practice?
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, he talks about finding the sthira (stability) and the sukha (ease) in every asana. I would advise to do as such, to examine the body, to move your breath and awareness in exploration to find where there is effort needed, and where there is grace. Each day it might feel different, but just find it that day. Make your practice challenging, yet also focus on the enjoyable parts and in this way it’s sustainable.
Why are you a Bella Prana Desk Angel?
Spending more time at a place I love, with more people who are on a similar path. Service is such a great way to remain grateful and humbled by all I have, and I serve those in my community with my efforts at the front desk. Again, it makes me feel right at home. :)
What book or documentary has changed your life in the recent year and why?
I found a great book recently in a Little Free Library. Medical Medium by Anthony William. If you or anyone you know has lived with a chronic or unexplained illness, or you’re just really excited about holistic healing, his work might be of great interest.
Thank you so much Susan for being out Desk Angel of the Month!
Please join us at the Bella Prāṇa Wellness Collective! We offer over 90 classes a week for every level from Beginners to Hot and Power Yoga, over 500 classes on our virtual studio and 16 livestream classes per week! We provide specialty classes such as meditation, prenatal, baby and me, veterans yoga, and kids classes. We also have a 200 & 300hr Yoga Teacher Training and regular workshops and events designed to help you develop your yoga practice and evolve personally. We have an amazing New Student Special so please come let us prove to you why we are your yoga home!