About Michele
Hi. I’m Michele. I’m a mom, a wife, a daughter and a sister… a yoga educator & teacher trainer, and owner of Soul Space here in Carrick-on-Shannon.
I am also an art teacher, a plant lover, an amateur herbalist and avid traveler. I love my pets. I am a questioner, and a sharer, despite being an introvert.
Nice to meet you!
I am American, and I found yoga in 1991, when I started college. I had sustained an injury to my hip & back in a car accident, and had been making weekly visits to a chiropractor for close to two years. With a few months of yoga classes in a musty church basement, and the purchase of the Sivananda Companion to Yoga, my pain was considerably reduced. I soon became too busy to commit to weekly classes, but pulled out the book when pain started to settle in- I would move through some postures and get relief.
I went on to live for years with little knowledge or consideration for my body, but with age, and wisdom, I kept coming back to yoga when things got tough… and began formal meditation practice in 1999, with the Prairie Zen Meditation Center in my hometown of Urbana, Illinois.
I trained as an Art teacher, with a BFA in Art Education and MA in Art History, and quite happily taught both secondary and adult students for a number of years, until I wasn’t so happy. I was a middle-aged mother of two, in a happy marriage, but still felt lost. I felt a constant wanting, a yearning… an itch that wasn’t being scratched! Yoga had come and gone for years, via that first book, a few DVDs, and eventually weekly classes. Once I made the commitment… a commitment that was just for me… it started to stick. I could sense that yoga and meditation COULD change my life, if I let it. I am also stubborn, so it took a while!
Unlike a lot of yoga instructors, I was never an elegant dancer, or a strong, flexible gymnast. I was never athletic, and I didn’t do sports. I was a relatively sedate person, who lived mostly in my head! I love reading, painting, photography, lounging in the sun…
Yoga has brought me into my body, and sparked a passion for learning and understanding it- both physically, regarding muscles, movements, injury & repair, but also mentally and spiritually. It has been in those areas where the yearning was met.
Stillness. Meditation. Surrender.
The beauty of yoga is that it is a process, a practice, a path of living a meaningful life. From its beginnings in India, to its wellness explosion worldwide, yoga in all its forms and styles is offering us a gift.
I have been honoured to study and train with Eastern & Western teachers, from various schools of Yoga, in the US, India and Europe. I received my initial training with Roy Griffin at the Yoga Therapy & Training Centre, Dublin, who studied Sivananda Saraswati Yoga (just like my first book) and an additional 300-Hrs in India in the Himalayan Yoga Tradition studied in Rishikesh in the lineage of Swami Rama. I added 50 hours of Yin Yoga training in 2021 with Bernie Clark, and I have taken workshops with Kino MacGregor, Noah Mazé, Erin Motz, Jason Crandell & J. Brown (USA) and have taken lots of online classes with a range of teachers. I currently have 620+ registered training hours completed, and strive to add more learning whenever I can. I love teaching meditation (a range of styles) and yoga nidra. I’d describe my asana teaching as a Hatha-Flow, meaning not a lot of static holds, but not too fast-paced.
I am also qualified in Aerial Yoga, and am an aerial circus enthusiast (trapeze & hoop)! I love hanging upside down and facing unique and personal challenges.
For me, yoga is about learning, exploring and GROWING. There is no finish line. The work is never done.
I teach adults and children, of all ages, sizes and abilities, private & corporate groups, families and special events.
I am happy to welcome you to Soul Space, and hope to be a part of your yoga journey.
Michele
