Welcome!

In May 2020, I began a daily yoga practice online with Clara Roberts Oss’s platform. Covid was running rampant, lockdowns were persistent, and I needed a way to begin the day and then get to work. As the year progressed, it became obvious how much yoga helped me manage my anxiety. Over time, I noticed that it shifted my grievings as well. It didn’t erase them or fix any of it, but yoga allowed me to hold space for my grief and anxiety.

In 2022, I completed my 235-hour yoga teacher training through Devanadi School of Yoga and Wellness at Shanti Yoga Center. Initially, I took the training to deepen my own practice. Actual teaching was not the goal. Until it was.

A lightbulb went off during one of our first training weekends and I realized that this was precisely where all of my grievings, all of my anxiety was leading: to teach yoga to people who are managing their own grieving and anxiety.

Thus, Heart Forward Yoga began.

So who am I?

My name is Lauren. I grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and now live in St. Cloud, Minnesota. My husband and I have two dogs and a cat. I have a master of arts in theology from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For ten years, I worked at Liturgical Press before becoming a freelance editor. My favorite book is Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. I love making meringue and bread. My favorite yoga pose is lizard. I begin every transition in my life by listening to Indigo Girls’ 12:00 Curfews. I believe a reasonable bedtime is 9:30.