LOVE IS THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE ON EARTH.
About me
Like many expeditions, the route that took me towards yoga was full of unknowns--many personal excursions are consumed with stunning peaks and secluded valleys. Overcoming the odds and graduating from a highly acclaimed college in California demanded suppressing thoughts of doubt, trauma, and intense anger over obscure family support. My relief and joy upon arriving to adulthood with a degree was suddenly overcome with cloudy and uncertain thoughts about the future, again. Knowing that a connection to the human condition was an overriding personal goal—it was something I yearned for all my life yet never had. I also wanted to make a difference and create a life where giving was the lifeblood of daily actions and the meaning of my existence. My brother recommended public school teaching with at-risk students in Southern California.
Inner-city schools, places like Compton, Long Beach, and South Central were taking anyone with a pulse, college degree, and who were brave (or stupid) enough to enter into the battlegrounds of Title I schools-it was Social Darwinism as only the strong-willed survived let alone thrived. At 22 years of age, I found myself as a special needs Algebra I teacher in one of the most violent high schools in Long Beach, California. With no formal training, let alone any formal guidance with how to manage a classroom bursting with teenagers gang members, I went for it. My caseload was full of incarcerated (many multiple times) juvenile delinquents who had zero interest in the curriculum I was required to teach. Maslow before Bloom—these young adults were traumatized from their upbringings, their neighborhoods, and a system that had long abandoned them so math was not something they wanted to learn.
This was the beginning with appreciating the POWER of learning. It didn’t matter what the content was; learning requires us to become vulnerable, strengthen those in front of us, and ultimately illuminate our pupils with new knowledge that can empower the world to thrive.
-xox T P
While being fully immersed with teaching, learning, and finding ways to reach damaged young adults I was a student myself. I found a thirst for yoga, a longing to the path to spiritual peace, and practicing daily as often as possible-there was an insatiable appetite for yoga . Every moment I had outside of the classroom, I was in the yoga studio trying to understand the mind, body and soul connection.
This was the very thing I had been craving my entire life. Little did I know that this journey would lead me to a healing path that is an integral part of my life today, and it forever changed me.
I have been teaching yoga full time now for 15 years with over 10,000 hours of practice- through privates, retreats, teacher trainings, and mentorships in both Hong Kong and New York City teaching yoga is what I do. I currently live in the Hamptons with my lovely husband, rescue dog, and four beautiful stepchildren. A family that I love dearly-the inner and outer love and peace surrounding me was only possible because of yoga. The path led me here, yet the journey continues…
"TANYA IS ONE OF THE BEST YOGA TEACHERS OUT THERE. NOT ONLY DOES SHE STEADILY RADIATE HER OWN EXPERIENCE OF COMPASSION AND LOVE - BUT SHE ALSO INTRODUCES AND GUIDES OTHERS INTO THAT EXPERIENCE. I ALWAYS FEEL GROUNDED, OPEN-HEARTED, AND GRATEFUL AFTER HER CLASSES."
- CLAUDIA WHITNEY, TRANSFORMATIONAL HYPNOTHERAPIST + LIFE COACH