Down Dog Studio
Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana), playfully mimicked by Barbara's yellow labrador retriever, Claire, in the illustration above, is a traditional yoga pose (asana) that is also shared by those who practice Pilates where it is known as Up Stretch. This postural gesturing in our canine companions signals a fun and easy spirit. Barbara chose to call her yoga and pilates teaching environment Down Dog Studio as a means to encourage students to come to their mats with a sense of ease and an open mind. In doing so, great transformations can ensue as mind, body, breath and spirit join together.
About Barbara
Barbara's life was deeply enriched by participating in high school and college gymnastics programs and theatre dance classes. She studied with Seamus Murphy, a dynamic and innovative Broadway dancer, who taught her a great deal including the marvelous experience one can have when the mind and body come together to create meditation through movement. Barbara taught gymnastics, conditioning and flexibility classes in private and public school programs and summer camps in New York City and San Francisco. There she witnessed teens and young adults make extraordinary transformations as they gained self-awareness and assuredness by creating a positive connection with their bodies.
Introduced to Pilates in 1989, she immediately loved that it elicited a mind-body connection through its many principles: awareness, balance, centering, concentration, breathing, fluidity, harmony, precision, and efficiency. Barbara's first introduction to Pilates was at the Center for Dance Medicine, where she was a rehab patient. Barbara remains grateful to the entire staff, and especially Naomi Leiserson, now owner of Turning Point Studios, for pulling her back from the brink. In the mid '90s, Barbara became a private student of Jean-Claude West, an internationally renowned kinesiologist, manual therapist and Pilates expert, where her training in Pilates advanced over several decades and continues today.
In 2002, Barbara took her first yoga class with Nancy Leigh-Smith. Barbara loved the new challenges yoga offered. After five years of practice, Barbara started her teacher training in the Advanced Studies Program at the Yoga Room in Berkeley. Her primarily teacher, the beloved (late) Donald Moyer, resides in her tissues and brain matter, where he continues to facilitate her practice and teaching style in so many ways. Deeply influenced by the work of B.K.S. Iyengar, and his many disciples in the yoga world, Barbara gravitates toward alignment-based yoga, breathing awareness (pranyama) and meditation (dhyana).
Combining her love of these two practices — yoga and Pilates — Barbara teaches classes to students of varying skill levels. Her teaching style is patient and respectful and her ability to break down the poses into attainable movements supports her student's personal transformation whether that is to recover from an injury, gain strength, improve balance and flexibility, or find personal inspiration through a mind-body practice.