Stillness in Motion

yoga classes and sound baths with Mathilde

ABOUT

About me and Yoga

I came to yoga in 2001. I walked into a studio in Los Angeles, CA, where I live, intrigued by what this ancient Indian practice offered that other forms of “stretching” and exercise didn’t. I walked out my body drenched in sweat but my mind oddly still and calm, as if my thoughts had gradually settled, like sediment at the bottom of a glass. I had never experienced this type of stillness before. There was definitely something there worth exploring so I dived in.

In 2008, I was diagnosed with a large herniated disk, the result of bouldering and horse riding falls. After 3 back surgeries, and a year of Alexander technique with the brilliant Sharon Jakubecy, I returned to yoga more in tune with my body than ever before. I became a certified Level 1 Hatha Yoga instructor in 2011, training under Anthony Benenati and Rebecca Benenati.

In 2011, I was certified in Children’s Yoga by Golden Bridge/Light Leaders and in 2016 I trained in Trauma Informed Yoga with Uprising Yoga. Over the years I have also continued to practice and study Katonah Yoga with the incomparable Abbie Galvin . This unique style blends Taoist philosophy with Hatha yoga and pranayama (breathwork). For the past decade, I have taught donation-based classes, all the while continuing my career as a storyteller in unscripted television, and refining my own yoga practice.

Yoga means to yolk. To yolk yourself to life. Far from being an escape from life’s trials it gives us a way to face them with more equanimity and grace. How you move and breathe on the mat can provide profound insights on how to move through life. Yoga isn’t just poses. It is a practice. The poses, or asanas, are only one of the 8 limbs of yoga. Pranayama or breathwork and dhyāna, meditation are two other branches that I incorporate into my classes, syncing breath to movement, and encouraging students to observe their mind as they move.

Strength, flexibility, refinement, expansion, acceptance, so many states and qualities are cultivated through this practice. The benefits continue to unfold for me, as I hope they will for you. Michael O’Neill, the author of the stunning coffee table book On Yoga put it so beautifully. Yoga is “the architecture of peace” and the “geometry of Love”. And now more than ever, we need to cultivate more of both in the world and in ourselves. So come practice, and be the change.

All ages, levels, body types, genders, basically everyone welcome.

I am teaching Mondays and Fridays at 12 pm at the Silverlake Rec Center starting Jan 12, 2024. C ontact me for privates and soundbaths. I am based in Los Feliz, CA but will travel locally.

email for more info

Sound

In 2023, I started incorporating quartz crystal sound bowls into my meditation and yoga practice. The vibrations help me "tune in" before a meditation or yoga class and also facilitate a state of deep relaxation at the end of a yoga class.

Quartz crystal sound bowls produce potent sound vibrations that literally massage your cells. The cells in your body all have their own resonance. Resonance is the ideal frequency at which an object vibrates. When you’re out of alignment or ill, that frequency becomes dissonant. Sound bowls help shift your body and mind from a state of a dissonance to one of resonance by generating tones that vibrate at the same frequency as your cells.

Each bowl's resonance corresponds to a different chakra or energy center in the body so they affect every part of the body. There are 7 main chakras, starting with the root chakra and moving up to the crown of your head by way of the sacrum, solar plexus, heart, throat, and third eye. When played individually or together, these vibratory sounds can be deeply relaxing and cathartic on your body and mind. It's not uncommon to have powerful emotional/somatic releases during a soundbath, as the vibrations can work their way through deep-seated emotions and tension. You can also fall into a deep rejuvenating sleep.

email for more info

Drawings

In 2017, a friend gave me a little Nepalese sketchbook. I had a box of 24 crayons sitting in a drawer another friend had gifted me the year before. I was a writer, not an artist but words had started feeling constraining. So I put crayon to notebook and decided to try something different and express myself visually.

I did set some parameters. I would meditate on a person, event or emotion and draw them in one sitting, without reflecting on composition and color, automatically. I did not allow myself any straight lines, as there are very few in nature. Circles symbolize motion, and as someone who has lived all over the world and loves to move and explore, the idea of stillness in motion - always having a place of calm and peace at your center you can go back to - is key to my wellbeing and something I wanted to imbue into the drawings.

I’ve since added more colors and textures to my repertoire. It’s a really fun, creative and relaxing exercise. I’m often inspired to make “portraits” of my friends and I love when they say to me “Oh that’s totally me!”