Hi, I’m Emiley

- you can call me Em :)

A smiling woman with long curly blonde hair, wearing a nose ring and a gold bracelet, sitting on a wooden chair with one leg crossed over the other, in front of a plain light-colored wall.

A glimpse into my full story is below, but here’s the cliff notes.

Yoga found me and my burnout nervous system, at my lowest.

I had a light bulb moment that changed everything…

A woman with long blonde hair practicing yoga outdoors, standing with arms extended to the sides and palms facing down, in front of a stone wall.

Education

I hold over 500+ hours in Yoga Alliance certified trainings from all over the world with eastern and western philosophies.

My certifications specialize in Nervous System Health, Polyvagal Theory, Somatics, multiple styles of yoga and breathwork.

I’m also currently continuing my education towards becoming a Yoga Therapist.

Since then…

Medical Background

My blend of experience comes from working with thousands of patients of all capacities through assisting in Chiropractic Care and Physical Therapy clinics,

Neurofeedback assisting and working in the mental health field,

and working in retreat centers in Asia. Now, in California I teach and facilitate yoga and breathwork classes, workshops and events in my community. I also help run a wellness program in assisted living homes.

My vast range of experience has allowed me to understand stress in short term and long term, gain perspective from all walks of life… and understand what really matters.

Personal Experience

I share the tools I needed to recover from burnout, I use to regulate my nervous system, address my trauma, - the work that gave me my spark back.

The tools I wish someone could’ve shown at the beginning of my journey (in full story below).

Overall, my passion is to help others create lasting impact in their life, relationships, and nervous systems.

I’m currently working towards hosting week long retreats designed to help get my students in nature, to experience ventral vagal regulation and into community.

If you’re curious, here’s the in depth version…

A woman meditating, sitting cross-legged on a cushioned chair with a wooden frame, eyes closed, hand on her chest, wearing a green tank top and green pants, with long wavy blonde hair, in a minimalistic room with a plain beige wall.

The beginning

This all started in Virginia — I know, I’m shocked too.

I grew up on a small rural farm… as you can imagine, “Yoga Teacher” wasn’t exactly the career path I saw for myself…

Let’s get straight to it, raw and real. After multiple traumatic events in high school, I threw myself fully into work, ready to put it all behind me… and it worked, somewhat.

I was quickly promoted to management at the Plant Nursery I worked at full time, started landscape designing for clients, while pursuing my college degree in environmental horticulture at night, year round.

I think we all know where this is going…

A woman performing yoga in yoga pants and a sports bra against a plain wall, balancing on one leg with hands in prayer position.

The lightbulb moment

It turns out sleeping an average of 3 hours a night, waking up on an open laptop, while trying to keep up with meal prep and endless laundry DOES take a toll on you… huh.

On a more serious note- even when I was sleeping, I would wake up sweating and crying from memories of the traumatic events mentioned before. I was stuck in fight or flight constantly, I didn’t feel safe in my body, and health / wellness and therapy wasn’t accessible at the time.

The only way I knew to cope, was to stay in overdrive and hustle. I knew I was numbing out and logically knew it was unhealthy that I lost access to feeling fully and expressing emotions… but I felt stuck.

Like the kind of stuck that feels beyond help.

I didn’t know where to turn or what would work,

For example, I couldn’t cry when I tried… yet I would wake up in tears? My common giggles and belly laughs didn’t light me up anymore. I even started to experience what I know now, were somatic pains from the stress. My body became a stranger to me… yet I kept going,

A hand holding a Tibetan singing bowl with a wooden striker, set against green foliage.

To “get away from everything” and reevaluate - I went on a vacation, and yet, still 7 days in, my body was still waking up without an alarm before the sun - and was exhausted. I was still having nightmares… and I felt guilty to be feeling to so jaded, in such a privileged and beautiful place.

I wondered, “what was wrong with me? Would this be my life forever? …and, is my current life path actually worth it anymore? Why am I even stressed, I’m on vacation, I should be enjoying this and my favorite things here!”

Two women practicing partner yoga or stretching outside on a wooden deck, with one woman lying on her back and the other woman reaching forward to hold her. Both women are wearing athletic clothing, with one in a teal sports bra and shorts, and the other in a white top. The background shows a wooden deck and a body of water.

So,

To try and relax a bit, I decided to take my first “real” yoga class… and something profound happened.

I woke up from shavasana, feeling at peace for the first time in a long time, without “thinking my way there".

I was deeply rested. Present. Felt healthy. Even, joyful again? Connected to something bigger than myself, it’s hard to fully describe in words. In that moment, I realized, it’s not that I couldn’t push myself to work hard anymore - the hustle stopped being worth the price.

I bet you can’t guess who started researching her first yoga teacher training on the flight back?

Group of women practicing yoga in a bright room with large windows overlooking a tropical beach, some in a backbend pose and one on a balcony stretching outdoors.

The unfolding

A month later, I finished my school semester and left my 9-5. Against everything I’d ever known in my small town, I left for Costa Rica and my first 200 hour YTT. I left my “white picket fence” life to pursue whatever this path had in store for me. I put full faith into the “something bigger than myself” I felt.

My focus was on self studying and trusted the rest would come later.

…and it did.

A woman standing behind a stack of folded blankets and pillows, with a colorful mural of a large face, a white dove, and other artistic elements painted on the wall behind her.

Since then, to now

Upon returning from training, I worked in Chiropractic Care and Physical Therapy, gaining a deep understanding of anatomy on various body styles, mechanical stress from all career backgrounds and life experiences.

Then, I worked in Neurofeedback alongside mental health therapists, my first clinical exposure to mental health, emotional releases and subconscious stress patterns - that control most of our living experience.

After almost a year and a half after my first YYT, I decided to take another leap of faith, this time, to study and work full time in the ‘yoga hub of the world’ - Asia.

Traveling through Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia - meeting monks and learning eastern philosophy. This is also where I studied the nervous system, somatics and worked in retreats - providing the same experience that I once had when I found yoga. That chapter deserves it’s own novel, ha.

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People participating in a yoga class in a room with a view of the ocean, palm trees, and blue sky through large open doors.

Just under a year later, in 2025, I moved to California where I was certified in Trauma-informed breathwork and started my Yoga Therapist certification.

And somewhere along the way… the more I practiced yoga and breathwork (and therapy lol) - not just on my mat, but right before walking into a meeting, in my car after my work, when deep emotions and memories arose - I could sit with them - and the less control they had over my state… and my baseline.

My mental space felt free and my body softened - without me constantly trying. Now, the nightmares only come every now and again, and I know how to navigate through them. I even actually started having good dreams again…

A woman with long wavy blonde hair smiling, wearing a green sports bra and matching green pants, performing a stretching pose with one arm extended overhead and the other hand resting on her bent knee, against a plain light-colored wall.

While I know my story is pretty unique,

there are common threads we all experience and relate to. No, we don’t all need to leave our 9-5s and completely take a leap of faith traveling Asia - ha.

But we all need stress relief and nervous system regulation. Access to being present. The ability to actually feel rested when it’s time to rest. To feel alive.

My hope is to inspire you to live a more meaningful and regulated life,

and to redefine stress relief from forcing ‘rest and digest’ - and know that there’s so much more, that makes stress relief and burnout recovery much more accessible - and give you the tools to experience it yourself.

Thanks for reading and being here. I hope you feel at home.

Love, Em

PS. if my story resonates all too well, just know, it does get better. It’s not easy, and it might be bumpy, but it does get better. And yes, it is so worth it.