A Bit About Me

My name is Dawn Valentine, and I would love to help you create enough space in your life so you can discover your balance through yoga and meditation

A little about me, I am an honest to goodness bibliophile who loves a good story, fantastic tea, and my yoga mat. My yoga journey began a few decades ago as I entered into adulthood. Externally it appeared to be nothing special. I read books about yoga and meditation, practiced different postures and sequences at home, and then went to class to learn and improve. I practiced Iyengar for seven years, then I tried other practices like ashtanga, anusara, bikram, hatha and yin. Internally is where the change took place, I felt less stress, I lost my fears, I stayed present, I found self-confidence.

While I was happy with my books and my classes, there was still something missing. In 2017, life had come to a standstill. There was just too much grief from losing my mom, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and even my dogs. The practice was no longer working the way it had, and through fate, Dawn found herself in Faith Hunter’s 200-hour teacher Training Academy. Faith provided a practice method called 'Spiritually Fly' that offered breath, mantra, mudras, and meditation within a vinyasas practice. In learning how to become a teacher. I learned how to teach myself how to heal my soul, thus a new journey began.

In the years that followed, I taught as many classes as I could, and I found I loved leading people through moving meditations. Off the mat, I have always been obsessed with health and vitality. I studied alternative health modalities such as herbalism, reiki, reflexology, and thai yoga. More formal training and experience comes from my work in healthcare administration, public health epidemiology and primary research, and public policy evaluation. I continued my yoga studies in: yin yoga, restorative yoga, yoga nidra and anatomy. In 2018, I found myself in a training class under the guidance of Diana Tokaji, where she taught us how to support people when they experience acute trauma. Then the light came on, this is how I wanted to teach yoga, I wanted to help other people heal, create their own peace or reveal parts of themselves that have been hidden. My journey on the mat is my place of refuge, a place where I heal and my practice is the foundation for my personal transformation. In the western medical tradition it never felt like the work I did connected with any one person, in teaching people yoga I could watch the transformation. This satisfying endeavor took me on a new journey as I move forward as a yoga therapist. Currently I am studying under the tutelage of Brandt Passalacqua of Breathing Deeply to become a certified yoga therapist under the International Association of Yoga Therapists.

Today, I primarily work with people one on one with people. My clients often feel stuck and they are searching for ways to evolve or they suffer from addiction, grief, and trauma resulting from interpersonal violence and sexual assault. I offer yoga as a reflexive practice using tools like intersectionality and the philosophy of phenomenology bounded by the classical yoga practice to help people become conscious of the secrets hidden in their body.

I sincerely believe the more we understand the interconnection of body, mind, and spirit, the easier it is to create a harmonious existence and a path to living your life in a more rewarding and fulfilling way. No matter what has happened in the past, today, you can wipe the surface clean, begin again, and rewrite your own story. I hope to meet you on the mat one day. Until then may you find the peace you seek.

My passion is to use these tools to help people like you create their own path into a better quality of life. Where you will dare to create experiences that are more amazing than the ones in their dreams.