LauraRose Hisrich

I began my personal yoga journey in 1997 while teaching in the Eugene 4j public elementary schools. Donna O’Neil, then fellow 4j teacher and new yoga teacher, offered classes through the school district. I cannot believe how lucky I am that my first teacher was Donna--she was great even then. Over the years I explored various yoga classes and NIA™ in my personal practice. I love to incorporate creative intuitive movement into my classes. In 2008 I discovered YogaCalm™ which was developed by Jim and Lynea Gillen of Portland, Oregon. It aims to bring mindfulness, self-control, and safe asana practice into public school classrooms. I did the Yoga Calm for Youth certification module which I used in my classroom for several years. After resigning from my 17 year career in teaching, I decided to combine these two passions and continue my path of study with the Gillens. The Yoga Calm approach is open-hearted, student centered, non-competitive, and alignment and safety conscious. I completed my RYT-200 training with Yoga Calm™ from Sept. 2015-June 2016. In the summer of 2017 I added a Bo Yoga® certification course, taught by founder Nate Guadagni, to my repertoire.  I feel immense gratitude for finding such big-hearted, and simultaneously rigorously intellectual teachers, who encouraged me to find my own way, to really think and feel -- not just memorize or blindly follow directions -- at every step of my journey along the yogic path. I continue to learn every day through practice, reading and experiences with various teachers and students (who are of course also my teachers)      I find many of the same rewards in teaching adults as I did children: sharing knowledge to help people become more in tune with their physical, mental and emotional bodies.  I particularly enjoy introducing reluctant beginners to the simple joys of yoga in a light-hearted, non-judgmental, safety-focused fashion.  Helping students learn how to reflect on their efforts, find their power and to advocate for themselves brings me great satisfaction.  When I am not practicing yoga I enjoy fiber arts such as spinning, knitting and weaving; playing a little piano and a little banjo; patting my cat, Bumbles; and helping the love and anchor of my life, Seth Kimmel, keep his double-bass-violin building business in business by doing IT support and marketing.