Valerie Hesslink

When I enrolled in yoga teacher training, I was unsure if I would teach yoga. My intention was to learn more about how to take the experiences in my yoga practice and deepen them further in my bigger body. When I did decide that I wanted to share my yoga, I wanted to help others who were in– bigger bodies, old bodies, stiff bodies, or just bodies that get ignored by the yoga world – to make yoga work for them. My hope is to bring this ease to your practice.

My approach to wellness, is focusing on movement that inspires joy, intuitive eating, and self-care. My aspiration in teaching is to bring a yoga pose to your unique body and not the other way around. Your body deserves no less!

I grew up with some pretty serious asthma as a child with a desire to move and a fear to move because I may not find the next breath. When I first started practicing yoga, I finally found more space to fill my lungs with air . Because of this knowing how precious breathe can be, I am rather zealous and seek to learn more every day about different breath work practices, anatomy, and the continuous study of movement in the body.

I honor Yoga as an important mindful practice- but a lot of me comes through as I teach- silly, weird, nerdy, or dropping an occasional film or music reference self. I offer all my teachings from a deeply nurturing and compassionate space. My aim is to empower you to live your life and practice yoga un-apologetically – in the body you have today.