Barbara’s early formal training and work was in the Ministry of Education, where her studies in psychology and sociology led to work creating appropriate education systems within the prison system, youth detention, psychiatric and mental health institutions. During the last 6 years of teaching in special education, Barbara set up simulated work environments for young adults who were intellectually and socially challenged, a process for transition to work and independent life.
The constant thread during this period was her personal yoga practice, which provided balance to a working life that held within it unusually high levels of stress that came with teaching people in a state of crisis, with significant social, emotional and behavioral challenges. This led Barbara to become a teacher of yoga and later to study yoga therapy with TKV Desikachar over the following decades.
The common factor in all of these previous work settings was that a feeling of ‘failure’ was the norm for clients; “I’m here because I failed.” The challenge was to connect with each person in such a way that you knew where to start; so each step could be a successful experience.
As a yoga teacher and therapist, her goal is the same, Barbara offers care, direction and gives healing practices based on knowledge about each person’s unique starting point. Her approach is to provide therapy and practices that over time, gift the yoga practitioner a sense of independence– “I CAN do this for myself”.