About me |
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Don't compromise yourself. You're all you've got. - Janis Joplin
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You know the mind and body are connected but maybe you’re ready to practice this awareness in a way that changes your life!
Manuela has studied and mastered the mind body connection through competitive sports, a B.S. in Sports and Gymnastics, and a 30 plus-year career and expertise in mindfulness-based yoga practice. She’ll help you understand the secrets to a joyful, pain-free life by teaching you the tools of mindful movement, awareness and yoga to apply to your everyday life.
Her experience as the parent of an adult special-needs daughter has given her the unique tools and ability to teach with compassion, patience and creativity. Her mission is to bring yoga and mindfulness to everybody no matter the age or shape someone is in and in particular to help other parents of special needs children cope with a life they didn’t ask for, were not prepared for, sometimes don’t understand, many times feel is impossible to cope with, and some days want to escape from.
Maybe there’s something you haven’t learned yet that could change everything!
You know there are other people out there like you but you’re lacking a community that really gets it.
Navigating her life with her husband and daughter, and pursuing her dreams of writing, speaking and teaching have led her down a path to healing her own broken dream, a dream of raising a family with four healthy kids in tow. She’s deeply connected with her intuition and inner wisdom, learning over the years how to use that connection for her own life, and then passing those gifts to others.
Manuela knows how frustrated and desperate you can feel when the obligations of taking care of a special needs child crush your hopes for the life you thought you were going to live. Her life’s path has given her the education, experiences and expertise to guide you on that journey in a way you’ll come back to joy.
Manuela studied Adaptive Physical Education after developing a fascination with assisting those students who could not perform activities or exercises in a typical way.
Her teaching priority shifted from competitive sports to helping school-aged children learn how to have fun building strength and flexibility in the gym classes she conducted. The same principles have found their way into her adult classes.
She’s pursued a deep sense of wanting to know more about how movement affects the brain and how to instill passion for movement in others, no matter what level of ability. She’s focused on the study of how physical activity can connect the body and mind in a powerful and healing way.
If you’re craving a community of parents who thrive and live a fulfilled live despite the challenges Manuela will support you to do so.
Her mission is to raise the consciousness of her community to understand how to give her daughter and peers a village they can belong to and at the same time give a voice to the parent to ask for what is needed and who make self-care their priority.
Manuela graduated as a yoga teacher in 1986 under the guidance of Mr. L. Chariarse and Dr. M.L. Garothe at the Society for Humanities Education in Germany. She is certified by the German and European Yoga Teacher Association.
After moving to the United States in 1987 she became interested in Iyengar Yoga and studied with John Schuhmacher, Judith Lasater and Ramanand Patel. In 1994 she became a Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist which greatly influenced her way of viewing the body-mind connection and inspired her to integrate the gifts of yoga and mindfulness deeply into her life.
This led to further studies of how to live a mindful life and in 2006 she certified as a Phoenix Rising Group facilitator which enabled her to bring this powerful therapeutic approach to groups.
“How do I show up on my yoga mat? And how does that translate into how I show up in life?“ became her central question.
Being the mother to her prematurely-born daughter has further awakened her to the powerful potential of a human being.
Manuela wrote a story about her daughter Sarina and that story, „Sarina’s Gift,“ was published in the book „Stories from the Yogic Heart“ as one of several inspiring stories that point to the power of yoga to overcome life’s challenges.
She’s currently working on a book about a mother’s journey of surviving and thriving with a special needs child.
Besides her lifelong connection to yoga she is greatly influenced by her studies with
When she’s not on her mat, you’ll find Manuela outdoors visiting her trees, cooking, dancing and writing. Because even though her life is not what she planned, she makes the most of every moment and is able to come back to the gratitude, love and joy that always exist.
What’s the dream you have that if you had the answers to achieving it, you’d wake tomorrow with a hope in your heart and begin, ever so slowly and mindfully, to move toward it?
Manuela has a free group on Facebook where she offers support, guidance, tips, tricks and “Tiny Islands” (her tools for everyday living) to parents of special needs children who are struggling to cope and craving a life they dream of. Join her and her growing village HERE.
Manuela has studied and mastered the mind body connection through competitive sports, a B.S. in Sports and Gymnastics, and a 30 plus-year career and expertise in mindfulness-based yoga practice. She’ll help you understand the secrets to a joyful, pain-free life by teaching you the tools of mindful movement, awareness and yoga to apply to your everyday life.
Her experience as the parent of an adult special-needs daughter has given her the unique tools and ability to teach with compassion, patience and creativity. Her mission is to bring yoga and mindfulness to everybody no matter the age or shape someone is in and in particular to help other parents of special needs children cope with a life they didn’t ask for, were not prepared for, sometimes don’t understand, many times feel is impossible to cope with, and some days want to escape from.
Maybe there’s something you haven’t learned yet that could change everything!
You know there are other people out there like you but you’re lacking a community that really gets it.
Navigating her life with her husband and daughter, and pursuing her dreams of writing, speaking and teaching have led her down a path to healing her own broken dream, a dream of raising a family with four healthy kids in tow. She’s deeply connected with her intuition and inner wisdom, learning over the years how to use that connection for her own life, and then passing those gifts to others.
Manuela knows how frustrated and desperate you can feel when the obligations of taking care of a special needs child crush your hopes for the life you thought you were going to live. Her life’s path has given her the education, experiences and expertise to guide you on that journey in a way you’ll come back to joy.
Manuela studied Adaptive Physical Education after developing a fascination with assisting those students who could not perform activities or exercises in a typical way.
Her teaching priority shifted from competitive sports to helping school-aged children learn how to have fun building strength and flexibility in the gym classes she conducted. The same principles have found their way into her adult classes.
She’s pursued a deep sense of wanting to know more about how movement affects the brain and how to instill passion for movement in others, no matter what level of ability. She’s focused on the study of how physical activity can connect the body and mind in a powerful and healing way.
If you’re craving a community of parents who thrive and live a fulfilled live despite the challenges Manuela will support you to do so.
Her mission is to raise the consciousness of her community to understand how to give her daughter and peers a village they can belong to and at the same time give a voice to the parent to ask for what is needed and who make self-care their priority.
Manuela graduated as a yoga teacher in 1986 under the guidance of Mr. L. Chariarse and Dr. M.L. Garothe at the Society for Humanities Education in Germany. She is certified by the German and European Yoga Teacher Association.
After moving to the United States in 1987 she became interested in Iyengar Yoga and studied with John Schuhmacher, Judith Lasater and Ramanand Patel. In 1994 she became a Phoenix Rising Yoga therapist which greatly influenced her way of viewing the body-mind connection and inspired her to integrate the gifts of yoga and mindfulness deeply into her life.
This led to further studies of how to live a mindful life and in 2006 she certified as a Phoenix Rising Group facilitator which enabled her to bring this powerful therapeutic approach to groups.
“How do I show up on my yoga mat? And how does that translate into how I show up in life?“ became her central question.
Being the mother to her prematurely-born daughter has further awakened her to the powerful potential of a human being.
Manuela wrote a story about her daughter Sarina and that story, „Sarina’s Gift,“ was published in the book „Stories from the Yogic Heart“ as one of several inspiring stories that point to the power of yoga to overcome life’s challenges.
She’s currently working on a book about a mother’s journey of surviving and thriving with a special needs child.
Besides her lifelong connection to yoga she is greatly influenced by her studies with
- American/Tibetan Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron
- Michael Harner, “The Way of the Shaman“
- Steven Levine “A Year to Live “– a yearlong study that taught her on yet a much deeper level to live each moment, each hour, each day mindfully.
- “Awakening Joy“, a yearlong study group by James Baraz
When she’s not on her mat, you’ll find Manuela outdoors visiting her trees, cooking, dancing and writing. Because even though her life is not what she planned, she makes the most of every moment and is able to come back to the gratitude, love and joy that always exist.
What’s the dream you have that if you had the answers to achieving it, you’d wake tomorrow with a hope in your heart and begin, ever so slowly and mindfully, to move toward it?
Manuela has a free group on Facebook where she offers support, guidance, tips, tricks and “Tiny Islands” (her tools for everyday living) to parents of special needs children who are struggling to cope and craving a life they dream of. Join her and her growing village HERE.