Bio n' Stuff
Official Stuff...
April MacKay
200e-RYT ~ 500RYT ~ YACEP
The alphabet soup listed above are my certifications through Yoga Alliance. They mean that I've logged over 1000 hours of teaching, over 500 hours of training as a teacher, and I am qualified to teach continuing education to other teachers.
I have received training in teaching many styles of yoga, including Vinyasa, Hatha, the Ashtanga primary series, Yin, Restorative, Gentle, and Chair Yoga.
I also have training and experience working with Seniors, children and teens, as well as moms-to-be.
My Story...
I came to yoga because of dance. I’ve been dancing since I was a little kid and part of our training was to build flexibility, so we were always exposed to bits and pieces of yoga. Sometimes full yoga classes were included in schedules at intensives and workshops, and I usually thought it was pretty cool stuff.
In college I found myself facing a summer with limited movement options since I lived too far away from anyplace with adult classes to keep dancing regularly. I had already learned that my body starts to deteriorate quickly and painfully when I’m not moving. My mental state does no better, since I love movement, I crave it like most people crave air or potato chips.
A yoga studio by my house had an unlimited monthly pass that I could just barely afford so I went to seriously like every class because I was used to spending 8-12 hours in the dance studio and now had all that free time on my hands. And something magical happened. I fell in love. Not just with yoga, but with myself. My teacher Theresa May and her wonderful team at Santosha Yoga let me know that whatever I brought to my mat or to life each day, as long as I was fully present and breathing through it, was enough. It changed the course of my life.
In the spring of 2014 I completed teacher training through Santosha Yoga and became a 200-RYT (registered yoga teacher) through Yoga Alliance. I moved to Portland, Oregon right at that time figuring it was a good a time as any other to quit my lucrative real estate career and go for the more fulfilling (for everything but my bank account) career of Yoga Teacher.
I’ve never regretted that crazy awesome decision. The opportunity to bring yoga to others is one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given by fate (or whatever). I’ve now completed the 500-hour level of training through Allison Duckworth at Karma Yoga, and I study (as regularly as my crazy schedule allows) with my teacher Audra Carmine at Love Hive Yoga. I've taught regular classes and special workshops in Melbourne (Australia) and in Chesterfield, Michigan (Detroit area). I'm currently teaching in Portland and you can find my class schedule here.