MEET TARA

CERTIFICATIONS + CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

  • Founder of Ease Yoga Cafe in Del Ray Alexandria (2015-2020)

  • Two Year, Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program (MMTCP) - teachers: Tara Brach & Jack Kornfield, January 2023

  • RYT 500 hour with Yoga Alliance

    • 200 hour Interdisciplinary Yoga Teacher Training, Nosara Yoga Institute (NYI) - teachers: Don and Amba Stapleton, November 2009

    • 300 hour Advanced Yoga Studies Teacher Training, Evolve Yoga and Wellness - teacher: Ann Hunt, October 2020

    • 100 hour Inner Quest of the Yoga Educator, Nosara Yoga Institute - teachers: Don and Amba Stapleton, April 2010

    • 20 hour Self Awakening Yoga Training, Nosara Yoga Institute

      - teachers: Don and Amba Stapleton, October 2013

    • 15 hour Fundamentals of Yin Yoga Training, Pavones Yoga Center - teacher Indira: Kate Kalmbach, November 2015

    • 25 hour Yin Immersion Course, Ease Yoga Cafe - teacher: Braja Kishori, October 2018

    • Sound Healing Training with Gong, 10 hours - teacher: Jeneen Piccuirro, 2018

    • Qigong Training, Yin Yang Medical Qigong - teacher: Kourosh Koshani, 2019

TARA’S STORY

So many people have helped me become the person that I am today. So many souls who have walked my path with me, whether for just a few paces or for years and years. Teachers, family, friends. By learning a bit about them, you can also learn a bit about me.

It was Kourosh Koshani, a wise and talented healer, who set me on my spiritual journey by suggesting I explore the big questions in life: Who am I? Where have I been? Where am I going? What is my purpose? My work with Kourosh led me to many places, one of them being a yoga teacher training in 2009. It’s through Kourosh that I began to deepen my meditation practice and to learn qigong. I am so thankful for Kourosh.

In the beautiful jungles of Nosara--a beach town on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast--and in the sacred Shalas of the Nosara Yoga Institute (NYI), I began to explore the idea that “Yoga is Inquiry” and further investigated the question “Who Am I?” Don and Amba Stapleton, the founders of NYI taught me in a month-long intensive 200-hour yoga teacher training course. It was with them that I broke open and learned deep in my soul that the teaching of yoga was part of my purpose. Thank you, Don and Amba.

When I dreamed up the idea of starting a unique style of yoga studio in our eclectic neighborhood of Del Ray in Alexandria, Virginia, my husband Jerry lovingly said, “Go for it”. Ease Yoga Cafe has been described as a sacred space where practitioners were invited to show up as they are, to embrace the perfectly imperfect and to learn to explore their bodies and minds through intentional movement and breath. Thank you, Jerry, for your loving support.

An important part of my yoga training was the 100 hour Inner Quest Module at NYI. It was there that I met Ann Hunt, who assisted in the teaching of that course and went on to found Evolve Yoga and Wellness. Since our first meeting, Ann and I have worked together to guide teacher trainings at Ease. We trekked through India together in 2019. In 2020, Ann awarded me my 500-hour level yoga teacher certificate. Ann is an amazing yogini, a mentor and a friend. A true soul spirit sister. Thank you, Ann.

I am a mom to three extraordinary children. Thank you, Baker, Riley and Tae for giving me the gift of motherhood. Each of you is such a unique and independent spirit in this world. You inspire me and continue to teach me so much about the modern world and about myself.

Ease was blessed with some of the finest yoga teachers I have ever met or worked with. Thank you to each and every one of you. Attending your classes and interacting with you all gave me some of the best years of my life so far. It was a difficult decision to close Ease because of COVID; however, the silver lining of that closing is that I now love witnessing each of you spreading your wings and flying.

I have seen your strength, your dedication, and your spirit and I have witnessed your “Aha!” moments, your unlearning, and your vulnerability. Thank you for showing up in all the beautiful ways you have.

Ease was also blessed with truly wonderful students. To all my Ease students, thank you for trusting me with your physical bodies as well as with your tender hearts. I have seen your strength, your dedication, and your spirit and I have witnessed your “Aha!” moments, your unlearning, and your vulnerability. Thank you for showing up in all the beautiful ways you have. I look forward to more exploration together in the future through retreats, workshops, classes and through working one-on-one together.

In 2021, I began a new journey with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification Program. I am honored to be a graduate of the class of 2023. I cannot wait to share with the world the wisdom I gain from Tara’s and Jack’s teachings and from the teachings of my fellow students. Thank you, Tara and Jack.

My body is so special to me–as each of our bodies is to each one of us. Thank you to my body. Thank you for sending me a deep wake-up call at the age of 32 while pregnant with Riley. The cervical cancer I was diagnosed with then changed my life forever. It taught me to wake up, to listen, to slow down, to become aware, and to explore all the healing energy around me and within me.

Lastly, to my mom: I love you so much. Thanks for bringing me into this world.