Christel Joy Johnson

My yoga specialty is working with injured bodies and medical conditions to help enable you to heal yourself. Even more awesome than helping someone heal themselves from an injury is to help them never get one in the first place! So, I also work with bodies on injury prevention, particularly athletes.

Part of the reason this has become my passion is that having been in 11 car accidents (6 of them before I even had my drivers license with other people driving!), left me with a spine that was in pretty terrible shape. I have a reverse cervical curve, next to no curve in my thoracic or lumbar spine, a sacrum that radiates pain at times, mild scoliosis, and pain from my sciatica nerve that shoots down my leg.

I came to yoga to reduce the chronic pain in my back body. I came to yoga to heal. The physical practice of yoga has helped me do that and I also learned that yoga is sooooo much more.  I use it for the mental strength it has taught me was inside me all along. I use it to find stability in my body to keep me safe. I use it to find stillness, to soften, and to maintain balance for my Type A personality.

I have been trained at the 500 level through Yoga Works. I am also Yoga Alliance Certified (E-RYT 500). Carmen Fitzgibbon is and always will be my mentor and teacher.

I am lucky to have lived in Los Angeles where I had many amazing teachers at my fingertips. I have taken workshops with Tom Myers, Paul Cabanis, Lisa Walford, Tias Little, Jeanne Heilman, Joan Hyman, and more. I will continue to take workshops for my own yoga practice. The beauty is ~ I become a better student with each workshop I take and then get the privilege of sharing that with my classes. What an honor and a gift.

I feel blessed to be doing something I love on a daily basis. I am honored that people allow me to share my path to becoming happy and healthy. It’s been a wild ride and the biggest lesson I am learning is to let go and enjoy where it takes me!