Mary’s Yoga Bio

A registered yoga teacher (e-RYT 500) in the Viniyoga tradition, Mary received her certification at Whole Life Yoga in Seattle, WA from Tracy Weber, (student of Gary Kraftsow, student of T.K.V. Desikachar) and her 300 hour from Yoga Center Retreat (formerly Yoga Center of Minneapolis). In 2020, Mary received an additional 200-hour Nada Yoga (the Yoga of Sound) certificate from Nada Yoga School in Rishikesh India, and in 2024 co-founded a Registered Yoga School (RYS) with her master teacher Tara Cindy Sherman, launching Yojita Yoga Teacher Training.

Mary has pursued continuing education in prenatal yoga, yoga for anxiety & depression, pranayama, and a 30-hour certification in Trauma-informed Yoga with Firefly Yoga International. Mary was a teaching assistant for Whole Life Yoga’s ten-month-long, 200-hour teacher training in 2010 and assisted in WLY’s “Yoga for Healthy Backs” Series. She has her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with an emphasis on Transpersonal Psychology from the University of Minnesota–Duluth. Mary has also received volunteer training in sexual assault victim advocacy from PAVSA and domestic violence victim support from DAIP. She founded and ran Imbue Yoga Studio in S. Mpls for nearly 3 years (closing Jan. 2019).

As a wanderer-luster and experience junkie, she has worked in many types of jobs: as a clinical research assistant in a prison & hospital, an AIDS prevention outreach worker on the streets, and harm reduction work in needle exchanges, as well as many hundreds of hours as a server, bartender, and barista.

All of these experiences culminate in the guiding of Creativity and Yoga Retreats. Mary has led and co-led retreats in Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Bali, Malta, Ireland, India, Mexico, and Italy.

Mary is an avid runner (10 half marathons and two full marathons), a nature lover, and a vegan. In her spare time, she enjoys playing music, cooking, writing blogs, poetry, and in journals, painting cow portraits, reading non-fiction, and traveling.