I started practicing yoga when I was in my early 40s, and looking for a way to reduce stress and improve my flexibility and overall health. I had multiple physical challenges, including previously fractured vertebrae in my neck, inflammatory arthritis, extensive abdominal scarring and carpal tunnel syndrome, so I started off very slowly in a beginning class offered by my gym. Later, wanting more of a challenge, I started practicing with various instructors in Woodstock. I first met Linda when she was teaching at Bliss.

I find Linda’s classes unlike any other instructor’s, and have slowly become addicted to her eclectic mix of traditional yoga – including breathing and chanting - and strength-building. No two classes are ever the same, and her ability to craft an hour and a half of continuously flowing asanas to meet the requests of an individual class is remarkable.

I now practice 3 times a week in the studio and try to supplement that with a couple of days at home (which is hard because there’s no way I’d ever be able to work myself as ruthlessly as Linda manages in her studio). At this writing, at the age of 51, I am virtually pain-free, which I attribute as much to yoga’s stress reduction as to the strengthening and flexibility I’ve gained.

My best yoga memory is taking class on the morning of my 50th birthday, standing on my head while my class sang Happy Birthday to me. It was sublime

-Laurie Heaven, Write

My love affair with yoga started fifteen years ago when I could no longer run distances and my hot flashes were getting the best of me.

I tried several different classes and found some more tuned into the structure of the pose, others more towards the meditative aspect of class, and still others just too "gentle".
I did benefit from each class and teacher and feel thankful for all the foundation.

I have been studying yoga with Linda for about five years and I know I am in the right place. Now at sixty years old I am able to say my practice is deep, fun and healing. I have found "my yoga teacher". Linda mixes knowledge, devotion, humor and kindness in each and every contact I have had with her. I feel challenged and yet fully supported.

I am a psychotherapist and sit for many hours each day. Linda's classes keep my blood flowing. Yoga has helped turn my focus back to myself and take me back to me. For all this, I am grateful.
Thank you Linda for Shakti Yoga and most of all for you.

-Cynthia D

I am a 65-year-old woman in good physical shape. I've been doing yoga or a related exercise practice for about 25 years. I find that my practice with Linda meets my needs--my body feels flexible, supple, and alive. I am able to participate in sports. And I love the hour that I take twice a week to center on myself and my own needs. In addition to the physical benefits, I feel that my yoga practice with Linda helps me to center and focus in the rest of my life.

- Alice G, medical write

I started doing yoga when I was about 35 – in retrospect, I think my body and mind were starving for attention, and to make an acquaintance. As a smoker and a writer, I sat hunched in an oxygen-deprived, heart-closing state for hours a day. Yoga has been a constant unfolding and, in fulfilling
the promise of its name, a uniting. But my first experiences were disastrous! I found a class in a dance studio on Avenue A where nimble dancers did back flips while I grunted to touch my toes. I slowly regained some consciousness of my body and moved on to a variety of other studios (Linda, remember Jiva Mukti back in the freewheeling days above the Thai restaurant where teachers would have you do swan dives for 90 minutes and other nutty things?) until I found Shakti.

Yoga has given me a base for finding ease in many uncomfortable situations and positions, notably childbirth and quitting smoking. When I decided to quit smoking, I didn’t miss a day of practice. It was a great substitute, and I lived for my 90 minute class; sometimes even took two classes in a day. The breathing helped retrain my lungs and replace the desire to inhale smoke, and the practice helped me with the emotional tumult. The psychological aspects of yoga, of understanding the fleeting nature of sensation, gave me patience to get through the intense stages of quitting. Through holding a difficult pose, I become aware of how much my mind has to do with my perception of pain. This awareness, combined with breath, gives me just enough distance from the pain to stay with it, to move into and through the discomfort with just a tiny bit more grace. I also practiced yoga regularly throughout pregnancy, and it was a lifesaver during childbirth. I labored at home with deep, conscious breathing and delivered without the need for drugs two hours after arriving at the hospital. It’s a whole story in itself and I tell everyone that yoga is the only way I could have done it.

I have practiced with some wonderful teachers, but Linda is the most astute and intuitive about the human body. Her classes are challenging, but have never, ever caused next-day pain. And because her classes are fun, open, and relaxed – even at their most strenuous – they lack the pretentious
vibe you find in some studios. Somehow, Linda makes her students feel completely at ease, regardless of their level. Linda is purposeful about interweaving spirituality and the practicalities of everyday life. In a single breath she’ll make a sassy comment about dating and relate it to a
spiritual truth.

These days, my practice is spotty – I go gangbusters for weeks or months, then drop off. I used to feel bad about this inconsistency, but I've learned to breathe through it.

-MB, 48, writer and mo

After many years of toying with the idea of taking a yoga-class instead of once and a while practicing at home with a tape, I started working with Linda from Shakti-Yoga. I am very pleased, her classes are effective ,relaxing and fun. Linda showed me the very exact body stretch I needed to practice to free myself of serious muscle pain I felt for weeks in my shoulder. I got rid of the pain in one single session! Needless to say, this result blew me away.I am deeply impressed by her knowledge of body mechanisms and needles to say immensely grateful.

-Ina E .Massage therapist and Esthetician Woodstock , N.Y

Om. I began my yoga experience just over 7 years ago. At the time, I was 19 years old and had been in two devastating car accidents that did some serious damage to my back, neck, and shoulders. After nearly a year of chiropractic care and massage and physical therapy, my back pain still brought me to tears on a daily basis. A friend suggested yoga could be the prayer I needed to fix my unbearable pain. I spent the first year trying out different teachers and classes, until one night I came upon a quaint little studio in a woman’s house. Although it seemed strange to practice in someone’s home, I found an instant comradery with Linda and I have not strayed from her for nearly 5 years. Linda has a light that is giving, understanding, and knowledgeable way beyond her years. She has helped to transform my back and shoulders into a nearly pain free existence. My heart and my body are grateful for all that she has done and everything that she represents.
Namaste.

-Jennifer Nickel

Patti R.
Social Worker & Psychotherapist