MELISSE

Melisse’s yoga journey started in 2000. Yoga quickly became her calm place and a respite from the fast-paced lifestyle in Los Angeles. In 2010 she wanted to learn to share and teach yoga, so she attended the 200 hour yoga teacher training at Yoga Works in Larchmont Village in Los Angeles. Melisse calls her yoga teacher training an illuminating and life-changing experience.

A short time after completing yoga teacher training, Melisse and her husband moved to Texas in 2011, where she began to teach gentle beginner Hatha yoga. She was delighted to be able to share the joy that Yoga had brought into her own life.

In September 2015, a routine mammogram led to further testing, revealing that she had invasive breast cancer. She was shocked and terrified, as anyone would be. Throughout the various tests and doctors appointments, and the whirlwind of a cancer diagnosis, she never stopped her daily yoga practice. Breathing and stretching helped her stay somewhat calm through a very scary time.

After a double mastectomy and reconstruction in December 2015, she gently and carefully began practicing yoga again. She used breath work and mindfulness through treatment, then very safely and carefully began to add Asana (yoga postures) as she healed and recovered.

Melisse’s practice today includes very gentle movement and breath work which helps to keep her healthy, strong, and free from lymphedema and cancer. Yoga has helped her stay centered and has given her a sense of calm and peace that the diagnosis of cancer had taken away. Melisse calls yoga “one of the greatest blessings in my life.”