BODY LANGUAGE - Being Me

BEING ME

For most of my life, writing has been my refuge. The power of a blank page to absorb anxiety and self-doubt, to dissipate anger and calm fears, to create a sense of safety and control never ceases to amaze me.

But thoughts and feelings don't just live in our heads - they also reside, along with imprints of our experiences, in our bodies, moving through our blood and nestling deep in our bones. Though I have always been a writer, it was only after I discovered yoga that I began to realize how much my writing - and living - had hovered on the surface. How much I still held my breath. How disconnected I was from my body. And how much I was missing by spending most of my time living in the future or the past.

For me, yoga has been an incredible catalyst for honest, authentic writing and living. It is an essential practice that keeps me grounded and connected to my body and to the present moment - which is the only place where life happens. That's why, when I discovered yoga, it was such a powerful and transformative tool for me. Yoga brought me back, taught me to listen to my whole being, helped me find my self, my voice.

Because beyond the increased flexibility, strength, patience, perspective, and balance, that's the greatest gift my yoga practice has given me: the ability to simply be me. Listening to my heart. Trusting my instincts. Being present and noticing all the miracles in and around me. Recognizing, as B.K.S. Iyengar says, my own divinity.

That's the healing power of yoga. The more time I spent on the mat, the more empowered I became to accept myself and to live authentically. With a monkey mind that loves to dwell in the future and the past, yoga is a gift that keeps pulling me back to the present. I am especially fond of teaching Yin yoga, which reminds me to slow down, be more mindful, and let go.

"The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are."

~ Joseph Campbell

Training, Certifications & Degrees

200-Hour Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, Dragonfly Yoga Studio (Doylestown, PA), 2010
Anusara Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training, DIG Yoga (Lambertville, NJ), 2011
Yoga for Trauma Certification, The Trauma Center at Justice Resource Institute/Kripalu (Lenox, MA), 2012
MA, English & Comparative Literature, Columbia University (1991)
BA, English & Spanish, Dickinson College (1990)

I have also studied and teach Yin yoga, partner yoga, chair yoga, as well as yoga for kids and those with special needs.

Teaching & Publications

Over the past 20 years I've taught many different writing and literature courses, from Freshman Composition to Science Fiction and Contemporary American Novel. I spent eight terrific years at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn (now Polytechnic Institute of NYU) and other semesters at Seton Hall University, New York Institute of Technology, and New York University's School of Continuing and Professional Studies. More recently, as a natural extension of homeschooling my own children, I've taught online high school literature courses through Currclick.com and writing and literature classes for homeschoolers in my area.

I've authored and edited over a dozen books for LearningExpress, REA, and Kaplan, spent a year as copy editor for Mystic Pop magazine, and worked as a freelance writer and editor for companies including IBM, multiple home-based entrepreneurs and local businesses, and several authors working on memoirs. I am currently dabbling in poetry and writing a historical novel.

Where I Serve

My clients and classes are in Bucks & Montgomery County, PA and online via Skype (elizabeth.chesla). Please contact me if you are interested in a workshop or session in your location.

Namaste.