ABOUT

Michelle Morrison

Michelle Morrison RYT A Maine native living in Brooklyn, Michelle is a compassionate teacher who loves sharing the joy of yoga with others. Her students are drawn to her relaxed, non-intimidating style, and her ability to gently guide them beyond their perceived limitations.

Michelle’s approach to teaching has been influenced by many things, including her experience as an actor, her past struggles with health issues, her love of nature, and her mindfulness meditation practice. Drawing on her training in Iyengar, Vinyasa, and Mindfulness Yoga techniques, Michelle organically builds each class around students’ needs and moment-to-moment awareness. As a result, her classes are insightful, spontaneous, and fun.

Michelle discovered yoga in New Haven in 1995, while recovering from a bout with a rare tumor. In her very first class, she experienced a sense of relief and joy that she had forgotten was possible. Over time, yoga provided a way for her to make friends with the body she had begun to fear. She went on to study Iyengar yoga for three years before moving to New York City to pursue an acting career. In Brooklyn, she practiced yoga at the Energy Center (EC), where her primary teachers were Frank Jude Boccio, Mary Flinn, and Liza Toft. Gradually, Michelle realized she was finding more satisfaction on the yoga mat than on the stage and decided to dedicate herself to studying and teaching yoga.

After completing the EC yoga teacher training program in 2003, she taught a weekly beginners’ class at the center and became Frank Jude Boccio’s substitute teacher. When EC closed 2004, Michelle moved her class to ArtsCetera, where she has built a loyal following of students. She is a meditation facilitator for the Rock Blossom Sangha, a community of mindfulness in the tradition of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, and recently completed Frank Jude Boccio’s Mindfulness Yoga teacher training program. In addition to her daily meditation and yoga practice, Michelle attends classes at Om Yoga in Manhattan.

Michelle’s dream of leading a summer yoga retreat in her hometown of Bar Harbor, Maine, became a reality 2007 and she is looking forward to the second annual One Wave retreat in August, 2008.

I am grateful to Michelle for providing a consistently challenging opportunity for yoga practice. She is skilled in recognizing individual strengths and in encouraging each practitioner to explore their personal edges, to risk going a bit beyond self-imposed boundaries. Her readings from yogic and Buddhist texts always seem to speak to my inner condition, and her eclectic music selections are a source of delight! – J. D.