As a young child, Carleen made the  outdoors her playground when her family moved from the suburbs of NJ to run a yogic retreat center in the Pocono Mountains of Northeast Pennsylvania. Honestly, there wasn't much else for her nine-year-old self to do but wander across the 75 acres of forest and meadows to sit by the rocky creek and watch the beavers build their dams or lay in the soft moss of her secret sun-speckled pine tree sanctuary, gazing at the clouds.

 

Carleen believes that much of the stress we feel in our lives today stems from a disconnect to the wildness that resides inside us, along with our separateness from nature and others, catalysed by the unrelenting pace and demands of our modern lives.

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In her yoga classes, students are guided to come home to the body to move intuitively with their breath and heart through a flow of expansive and stabilizing asanas that help regulate our nervous systems. 

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Carleen also teaches mindfulness education to students at Anne Arundel Community College through the Health Sciences department. Her course is called Stress, Science and Well-Being HEA120. 

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When not teaching or coaching, Carleen enjoys snowboarding, surfing, and training and racing with her outrigger canoe team, and on her paddleboard at  Wednesday Night Race League.