Meet Maria
YOGA TEACHER
HOLISTIC THERAPIST
ESTHETICIAN
Philosophy & Background
Yoga is 1% theory & 99% practice.
-Sri. K, Pattabhi Jois
Maria is a 500 E-RYT (Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher). Maria is a dedicated instructor and an enthusiastic student. Her yoga journey began in 1993 while attending college in SF. She practiced the physical aspects of yoga off and on for the better part of 10 years; then in 2004 she was in a major car accident resulting in many injuries, including a broken back. For her, this is when the spiritual practice of yoga began.
Her deeply rooted experience with yoga and its transformational abilities led her to become a yoga instructor. In 2009 she completed her Ashtanga Vinyasa Teacher Training with It’s Yoga of SF under the expert guidance of the late Larry Shultz and Marie Hajjar-Russel. Maria attends monthly workshops with her teachers and recently completed her 300Hr. training through Yoga Tree of SF.
Additionally, she is studying at the Iyengar Institute and working towards certification. Maria is thankful for the classic yoga methodologies as well as variety of styles created through free spirit.
Maria believes that it is not an accident that we show up to the mat, but a calling. We are all here to be are truest self and that requires clearing out what is not serving us.
A regular yoga practice creates sensitivity to what matters most and creates space to live more freely. Maria’s teaching style emphasizes safe alignment, deep breathing and moving from the inside out. She encourages students to know and understand themselves through study, fierce movement and complete abandon. For her, it is not about how deeply you can access a pose physically, but about how deeply you are willing to know yourself.
Maria is also a Holistic Therapist, Esthetician, and intuitive Massage Therapist focusing on Woman’s health. She has been practicing the healing arts for 15 years.
