Heather Martello
I came to yoga over a decade ago when the "dot.com" where I worked as an instructional designer brought in a yoga teacher twice a week. At the time, I thought yoga would be a good balance for my marathon training and the stress of crazy deadlines, and I wanted to know what the buzz was all about. The instructor happened to be one of Chicago's master teachers and I quickly discovered that while yoga was not at all what I had expected, I had happened into something very powerful.
The study of yoga continually fascinates me. In 2003 I received my teaching certification from Ana Forrest, and attended Moksha Yoga's teacher training program in 2005. Currently, I am attending Yogaview's level 2 Teacher Training, and continue to study with world-renowned master teachers on an ongoing basis. My master's degree in education and my 20 years of teaching both on and off the mat allows me to make accessible the subtler aspects of yoga. My goal in teaching yoga is to share the joy of yoga and help my students discover yoga's awakening of the body and mind, how it delights the spirit as well as the body.
My teaching style fuses a variety of the disciplines I have practiced; for example, it provides the discipline of Ashtanga, the alignment and accommodation of Iyengar, the freedom and spontaneity of Universal, the energetics of Para Yoga, and the power and breath of Forrest Yoga. I bring a sense of play to class; while my teaching maintains the pillars of breath, strength, integrity and spirit, it places equal importance in finding a place for joy and laughter in the practice. Always a different sequence, my classes are challenging and generally rather sweaty, but are always a safe haven for students of all abilities. Above all, my teaching honors my students. The practice and process of yoga is highly individual and personal, so I believe it's beneficial to explore a variety of disciplines and teachers to discover what works best for your practice: ultimately you are your own best teacher.
