It's been a few years in the making, but I can happily say that for the first time in my life I LOVE MY JOB! I am doing what I love, surrounded by an awesome community. Every time I walk into the doors of my yoga studio I not only look forward to the minute I can enter that yoga room and see all the smiling faces — but my heart sings! — my body already feels lighter.

There is something magical about being in community, where strangers become friends, the music gets us through, and the breath in unison is what inspires me. My name is Carleena and I am a yoga teacher at SHINE Power Yoga. I am on our leadership team, facilitating teacher trainings and writing programs, as well as being one of our studio managers. I feel blessed and honored to be working at a yoga studio, a vision and goal I set for myself wayyyy back in the summer of 2013 when I was a confused, frazzled young one.

You enter this world pure and good, but with your life traumas and experiences, you can easily become distracted from your truest light. Through yoga, meditation, and ample self-inquiry I have been able to strip away these stories and get closer to my essence of being joyful, excitable, and whole as is. My teaching style blends traditional yogic philosophy with Western yoga style to make my classes fun, engaging, steeped in tradition, and educational. My passion is to really teach yoga, more than just the physical postures, but going deeper into the layers of what embodying yoga means. I have a 500-hour certification in hatha and ashtanga, as well as continuing education credits in yin, restorative yoga, yoga nidra, Baptiste/Power Yoga, tantric Shivism, contemplative Buddhist psychotherapy, and yoga philosophy.

I once had a teacher share that “Namaste” means many things, one of them being: Not me, but you. I try to incorporate this simple thought into everything I do, especially when I show up to teach. I know my path is to be of service.

I am here — listening, loving, and breathing with my students. It's been a pleasure getting to know so many students, seeing their transformations, their smiles, and their accomplishments. I am overjoyed each day to continually meet yogis who inspire me, uplift me, and encourage me to always move from love.