student spotlight

If you’ve spent any time at the Breathing Room, chances are you’ve seen Michelle Carnahan. Michelle is one of the most dedicated members of our yoga community -often taking classes six days a week.

It would be easy to think Michelle has been practicing yoga most of her adult life, but it wasn’t until she was approaching middle age that back pain led her to yoga. She began taking yoga classes at Total Woman Gym in Alameda and started feeling the results. In 2013, she followed several of the Total Woman teachers to Leela Yoga (now Breathing Room).

Yoga became much more than a way to alleviate back pain. She gained; strength, balance, coordination and better stress management. As Michelle’s practice has evolved, she has become more self-aware, self-assured and confident. It has helped her to have a much wiser and kinder self-image than she had in her twenties and thirties.

She has realized there is no doing a pose ‘perfectly’ -just trying something new can lift her spirits. And being surrounded by like-minded people who are also trying their best helps her feel more connected to community.

When Michelle isn’t at Breathing Room, she is co-directing Kiddie Kampus Cooperative Pre-School — a parent participation school. As busy as she’s been as a co-director these past 20 years (and a parent of two now-grown children), she has prioritized yoga as a joyful practice. Almost every day, Michelle carves out time at the studio —nurturing her present and future self.