Hi, I'm Laura. Welcome!
Welcome to Grounded Earth Yoga. It's nice to have you here!
Are you in search of a "yoga family" to join, or perhaps just a good class to drop in on as your schedule allows? I teach at several different locations in Hunterdon County.
We're always happy to welcome new faces to the fold. Explore our yoga classes, check out the schedule, and keep in touch via email for the latest happenings.
How I Got Here:
My yoga journey began in 2010. My daughter was one year post-left hemispherectomy, an intense type of brain surgery to remove the origin of the seizures she had suffered from since birth. Although she was seizure-free, back in school, and gaining new skills all the time thanks to her intense therapies, I felt myself floundering more than ever. It was as though all emotion and trauma I compartmentalized throughout the seizure years exploded out, and I was starting to feel like I didn't know who I was anymore.
Intuitively, I knew I needed to do something to settle my runaway mind, and that yoga and meditation sounded like a good option. A Google search sent me to Yoga Loka in Frenchtown, and right away I knew I had found what I was looking for.
Yoga Loka was founded by Bonnie "Amarjyothi" Pariser, a Certified Yoga Therapist, TRE Provider, decades long instructor, and devoted practitioner of Shri Vidyaa, an ancient tantric yoga lineage. I settled into the physical practice of yoga easier than I imagined possible, but it was the spiritual and philosophical practice of yoga that drew me in. As I involved myself more and more in the teachings and workshops, I recognized how often my habitual thought patterns and emotional reactivity were the cause of my own suffering. Reading and practicing the tenants of Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras" gave me the framework to observe my emotions and choose my reactions, thereby changing how I normally reacted to the stresses of my life as a wife, mother of a special needs child, and human being living in the world.
After being a regular at Yoga Loka for several years, we decided to have a second child, and I began practicing with the teachers at Riegel Ridge Community Center (hooray for the child care room!). I still kept up with weekend immersions and workshops at Yoga Loka as time would allow. When my daughter began preschool, I knew that I was ready to take my practice to the next level.
I didn't know if I would actually teach upon completion of my 200 hour training program. It seemed so overwhelming! But as I continued my training, I found myself supported and encouraged by both my family and my fellow teacher trainees, and the decision became easier. I completed the 200 Hour Teacher Training program in the spring of 2017 and began teaching at Yoga Loka and Riegel Ridge Community Center. That fall, I couldn't resist the chance to deepen my training, and I entered Yoga Loka's 300 Hour program with some of my original fellow students. This spring I received my 500 hour RYT Designation from the Yoga Alliance after working with the Harvest Family Success Center to establish an adaptive Mat and Chair Yoga Program to serve the local community. Since receiving my designation, I have received additional training in Restorative Yoga and deepened my practice with additional meditation, kinesiology, and spiritual study classes. I will always be a yoga student first, and a teacher second.
How I teach:
I truly feel that yoga is for every BODY - every body shape, size, type, age and ability. Yoga is an amazingly adaptive practice that can be explored even with a history of injury or chronic pain. I encourage students to stay open, curious, and in tune with his or her body during class in order to gain the amazing health benefits of yoga without moving into pain. My purpose in class is to support and lead students while providing variations of poses that allow for chronic back, hip, knee, and shoulder discomfort.
I currently teach classes at Yoga Loka in Frenchtown and Riegel Ridge Community Center in Holland Township, NJ.
If you are local to the area and would like to receive updates about upcoming yoga classes, sign up for our mailing list right here.
Are you in search of a "yoga family" to join, or perhaps just a good class to drop in on as your schedule allows? I teach at several different locations in Hunterdon County.
We're always happy to welcome new faces to the fold. Explore our yoga classes, check out the schedule, and keep in touch via email for the latest happenings.
How I Got Here:
My yoga journey began in 2010. My daughter was one year post-left hemispherectomy, an intense type of brain surgery to remove the origin of the seizures she had suffered from since birth. Although she was seizure-free, back in school, and gaining new skills all the time thanks to her intense therapies, I felt myself floundering more than ever. It was as though all emotion and trauma I compartmentalized throughout the seizure years exploded out, and I was starting to feel like I didn't know who I was anymore.
Intuitively, I knew I needed to do something to settle my runaway mind, and that yoga and meditation sounded like a good option. A Google search sent me to Yoga Loka in Frenchtown, and right away I knew I had found what I was looking for.
Yoga Loka was founded by Bonnie "Amarjyothi" Pariser, a Certified Yoga Therapist, TRE Provider, decades long instructor, and devoted practitioner of Shri Vidyaa, an ancient tantric yoga lineage. I settled into the physical practice of yoga easier than I imagined possible, but it was the spiritual and philosophical practice of yoga that drew me in. As I involved myself more and more in the teachings and workshops, I recognized how often my habitual thought patterns and emotional reactivity were the cause of my own suffering. Reading and practicing the tenants of Patanjali's "Yoga Sutras" gave me the framework to observe my emotions and choose my reactions, thereby changing how I normally reacted to the stresses of my life as a wife, mother of a special needs child, and human being living in the world.
After being a regular at Yoga Loka for several years, we decided to have a second child, and I began practicing with the teachers at Riegel Ridge Community Center (hooray for the child care room!). I still kept up with weekend immersions and workshops at Yoga Loka as time would allow. When my daughter began preschool, I knew that I was ready to take my practice to the next level.
I didn't know if I would actually teach upon completion of my 200 hour training program. It seemed so overwhelming! But as I continued my training, I found myself supported and encouraged by both my family and my fellow teacher trainees, and the decision became easier. I completed the 200 Hour Teacher Training program in the spring of 2017 and began teaching at Yoga Loka and Riegel Ridge Community Center. That fall, I couldn't resist the chance to deepen my training, and I entered Yoga Loka's 300 Hour program with some of my original fellow students. This spring I received my 500 hour RYT Designation from the Yoga Alliance after working with the Harvest Family Success Center to establish an adaptive Mat and Chair Yoga Program to serve the local community. Since receiving my designation, I have received additional training in Restorative Yoga and deepened my practice with additional meditation, kinesiology, and spiritual study classes. I will always be a yoga student first, and a teacher second.
How I teach:
I truly feel that yoga is for every BODY - every body shape, size, type, age and ability. Yoga is an amazingly adaptive practice that can be explored even with a history of injury or chronic pain. I encourage students to stay open, curious, and in tune with his or her body during class in order to gain the amazing health benefits of yoga without moving into pain. My purpose in class is to support and lead students while providing variations of poses that allow for chronic back, hip, knee, and shoulder discomfort.
I currently teach classes at Yoga Loka in Frenchtown and Riegel Ridge Community Center in Holland Township, NJ.
If you are local to the area and would like to receive updates about upcoming yoga classes, sign up for our mailing list right here.
My teacher training graduation class of 2017.
Class of 2018.
