What is Yoga Nursing?

Yoga Nurse Mission:

To create a global army of modern nightingales, yoga nurses, to uplift our ailing health care system; to relieve pain and suffering and increase quality of life by caring for patients and for nurses with therapeutic yoga nursing.

1. What is Yoga Nursing?

Yoga Nursing® is the holistic, healing practice of caring and compassion provided by licensed nursing professionals who are also certified medical yoga teachers. Its mission is to create a global army of modern nightingales, yoga nurses, who will uplift the ailing health care system and relieve pain and suffering for both patients and for nurses.

2. What prompted you to create this field?

I took a training in Ayurveda, the sister science of yoga, in the mid 1990’s with the brilliant Deepak Chopra and David Simon Mds. At that time I was a full time yoga teacher and they inspired me. I thought “Wow! If I became a nurse as well as being a yoga teacher, I could really make a difference in the quality of people’s lives.” Once, while I was still in nursing school teaching a yoga class, one of my students called me the yoga nurse! That‘s when the Yoga Nurse and the field of Yoga Nursing was officially created. I graduated from nursing and it became crystal clear that there was a natural fit between traditional western based nursing knowledge and the ancient eastern science of yoga. The marriage of therapeutic yoga and nursing offers people the best of both worlds and insures the greatest success in their healing.

3. How does therapeutic yoga help people with grave illness?

Therapeutic yoga improves the function of the nervous and immune systems, increases function of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, decreases chronic pain, anxiety, depression and so much more. I have cared for numerous patients with cancer, heart disease, chronic pain, anxiety and depression to name a few grave illnesses. I have witnessed exciting and often dramatic improvements AND I have numerous testimonials; in addition there is now an abundance of clinical evidence provided from the NIH (National Institute of Health).

4. How can Yoga Nursing help to alleviate work place stress?

Work related stress, anxiety and depression costs American businesses billions of dollars. Yoga Nursing helps to decrease work-related stress which leads to improved morale, productivity, decreased absentee-ism, less employee turnover and fewer work place accidents.

5. What made you switch careers from the Hollywood high life to Yoga Nursing?

I believe it was destiny. Everything we do in life prepares us for our ultimate role or service. Although I was one of the fortunate ones to make a living in show biz, I felt increasingly empty in my heart and soul and my life took a radical turn. I decided to “leave the business before it left me” and ultimately dedicate my life to caring for others. Hollywood gave me a terrific training ground for my final role as the Yoga Nurse!