no mud, no lotus - Thich nhat hanh
The daughter of working class Korean immigrants, I grew up amidst the racial tensions of 1990’s Los Angeles. The Rodney King beating by 4 police officers who were then acquitted for their excessive brutality led to 6 days of riots in which my family lost everything - our home, our family business, our life savings, our sense of safety. This violence seeped into our home where my father, after multiple brutal attacks, would unleash his rage and frustration onto my mother and two older brothers across two decades. At a young age I was keenly aware of the connection between social injustices and how they directly impacted my life.
With all the strains at home, school was not a priority. However, determined to forge my own path, I studied for two years at a community college before being accepted into UC Berkeley. Majoring in Ethnic Studies, I was able to contextualize my life experience through other People and Communities of Color. It was at university where I was able to find my voice to speak out on the injustices that shaped my worldview and on the experience of other marginalized people. In my final year of undergraduate studies, I volunteered at Camp Sunburst, a weeklong sleep away camp for children and teens infected/affected with HIV/AIDS. A life-changing experience, I felt at home with a community of warm-hearted, caring, free individuals of mixed gender identities, socio-economic backgrounds, races, and professions. The relationships I cultivated at Sunburst over the course of 14 years continue to illuminate how I may carry myself in the world.
I was committed towards creating positive impact. My exposure to various dialogues of social good and community engagement while working at not-for-profits Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Social Venture Network in San Francisco increased my desire for greater agency in the world. Moving cross-country, I attended the esteemed Masters in Arts Politics at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts. In the program, I was challenged to think critically of the world in which I existed by considering questions such as, “how do I conduct myself in society?” and “how does the Arts impact daily, civic life?”
Upon graduating, I worked closely with Deepak Chopra on the series “Love in Action” at ABC Home in NYC, a platform bringing together communities of people to highlight issues such as fracking with actor Mark Ruffalo, rejecting corporate patents on seeds with activist Vandana Shiva, and creating a space for mindfulness in schools and in the workplace among other topics. The exposure to mindfulness, meditation, and spiritual well-being through Deepak’s mentorship resonated with my deep interests in community and social transformation, and led me to examine my own path to professional, personal and spiritual fulfillment.
In 2013 I left my position and began consulting allowing me to devote more time to meditation, yoga asana, and creating impact globally. It was in this role that I travelled to India to build the country’s first free skateboard park with local organization, Holystoked. With time to focus on my aspirations, I traveled to Uganda to facilitate an all-girls HIV/AIDS camp with a sister organization of Sunburst. Upon my return to NYC, I completed the 200-hour teacher training course at Sivananda Yoga Ranch in 2014. Soon after, the opportunity to direct a new team at a Fortune 500 company was presented and I accepted, though with much hesitation. Like many of my generation, the challenges of earning a living wage and paying off school loans was one I could not afford to ignore. Resolute as ever, I went beyond my own expectations receiving numerous industry awards and accolades, settling my student loans, and yet, I was unfulfilled. It was during this period where I met my beloved teacher Rima Rabbath at the Jivamukti Yoga School.
The inner transformation began to unfold and in 2018 I made the courageous decision to recenter my life towards wellbeing and reconnected with my passion for the arts as a social justice tool. I completed the 300-hour Jivamukti teacher training course in India and along with dear friends Noelle Ghoussaini and Nilou Safinya, brought together storytelling and skateboarding across the globe through A Skate Play, an original skate-theatre production formed in 2015. In the fall of 2018, A Skate Play made its way to Palestine in partnership with Skateqilya Skatepark where skaters and actors workshopped the play over the course of 3 weeks and provided a week of free and public performances.
The following year, with the blessing of Rima and support of the Jivamukti community, I completed the 800-hour Jivamukti Apprenticeship Program and was invited to be a resident Jivamukti Yoga teacher at Rima's school in Beirut, Lebanon, Yoga Souk. What was to be a 3-month residency in 2019 continues to be a journey in growth of the yoga community in Lebanon and of myself. After a deadly blast in 2020 that nearly destroyed the studio and much of the nation's capital, and amidst the height of COVID, I remained steadily in place raising funds and helping rebuild the shala and the students we serve.
I continue to redefine my life path through ongoing studies, trainings and community-based projects. Through a generous scholarship by Fundación Radika I completed the Trauma Informed Yoga teaching course in 2021 along with a mentorship program in the 2022 English-speaking training. The timing of the course was a true gift as an opportunity to share free weekly yoga sessions for young girls living in a local muslim orphanage in Beirut came to be. Alongside my studies, in 2021 I co-created the first free and public skatepark in Lebanon with international NGO MakeLifeSkateLife following a return to Brooklyn, NY for a 3rd edition of A Skate Play where we hosted a week of free and public performances for local public schools and residents made possible with the support of Downtown Brooklyn + DUMBO Art Fund and a partnership with The Theatre Development Fund, who created an accompanying curriculum for local public high schools.
The ground on which I stand is where I meet all practitioners on their own trek through life's peaks and valleys. My personal practice of meditation, asana, and karma yoga inform my yoga classes and retreats, offering students a rooted and uplifting quality for personal and collective transformation. None of this would be possible without the love, support, and guidance of my teachers which I am infinitely grateful for their presence in my life. Deep bows to each of my teachers and to each of you.
