A Brooklyn transplant by way of Connecticut and a few stops in between, Lauren formally trained and became certified in Hatha & Vinyasa yoga through the School Yoga Institute in 2014 (RYT-200) on Lago de Atitlan, Guatemala. In 2017, Lauren earned a 25-hour advanced certificate in Restorative Yoga from Laughing Lotus New York. The following year, Lauren received her certificate in Trauma-Informed Yoga through Yoga Behind Bars, a Seattle-based nonprofit that brings yoga and mindfulness to young people, women, and men caught up in the criminal justice system.

Drawing on her extensive experience in the mental health field, Lauren strives to serve students’ holistic needs, helping them nourish both body and mind.

Lauren is also on a mission to increase the accessibility of mindfulness and yoga. She has hosted free community yoga in the park, provides yoga to employees at local businesses, and has taught both educators, adolescents, and young children yoga and mindfulness in the school and vocational settings.

Recently, Lauren finished her Ph.D. in psychology, having defended a dissertation on mindfulness and culturally responsive pedagogy. She hopes to use this degree to continue to bridge mindfulness + yoga with mental health and education, believing mindfulness is a core component of a more just and well society.

“In practicing meditation, we’re not trying to live up to some kind of ideal—quite the opposite. We’re just being with our experience, whatever it is.” — Pema Chödrön