Meet Heather Burkart, one of our founders! Heather shares her story on how she found yoga, and how the MPYC came to be. Join Heather for class on Sunday, March 6 at 11 AM CT.
I found yoga back in the early 2000s in Chicago. At the time, I was a lost 20-something with a toxic lifestyle and an unhealthy relationship with my body. I knew that I needed a lifeline to pull me out of the abyss that had become my life. I convinced my best friend to enroll in yoga classes with me at a local park district in our Chicago neighborhood because I didn't want to go alone. I was pleasantly surprised and found that coming to regular classes helped me feel better than ever. I was learning how to mindfully move my body, breathe deeply, and meditate. I'm extremely grateful for these formative experiences with yoga as they set me on a course as a life-long student of yoga; one that would make health and wellness the focal point of my personal and professional life.
By 2008, I was a 200-hour Kripalu-trained RYT. Kripalu introduced me to Ayurveda, Yoga's sister science, which led me to pursue training at Kanyakumari Ayurveda & Yoga Center in Glendale WI, and eventually moved to Milwaukee in 2010. I completed a Prenatal Yoga teacher training in Chicago in 2010 and began my focus on all things prenatal and postpartum through the lens of Ayurveda and yoga. I've had two kids since then and have leaned deeply into both sister sciences. They provide a wellspring of balance and nourishment that continues to support me to this day. This fuels my passion for sharing the wellness tools of Ayurveda & Yoga with moms whether it's through Ayurvedic consultation or yoga.
In 2017, I met Amy Kranz, founder of the Womb Room, and we co-created Milwaukee Prenatal Yoga Community's prenatal yoga teacher training. MPYC is her brainchild and her mission was to offer a birth-centered approach to prenatal yoga and to make the training accessible to BIPOC teachers. Together we worked tirelessly to gain Yoga Alliance's stamp of approval and launched our first training in 2018.
And, we're still here! We took a pause early in the pandemic but we're back with live-streamed classes and on-demand self-paced online continuing education and teacher training. Amy has moved on since and continues to grace our Level 2 training with her infinite birth wisdom and prenatal yoga teaching. I remain as MPYC's lead teacher, committed to sustaining our shared vision.
As passionate as we are about the work we do, we can't do it on our own. We depend on community support to keep serving the women we serve whether it's our teachers or our students. We want to continue to use prenatal yoga as an advocacy tool for women in the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience, especially our BIPOC sisters who are in need of lots more support. Will you stand with us?
Make a contribution to support MPYC . Any amount is appreciated. Thank you.
If you want to learn more about Heather's Ayurvedic services, visit www.herwellbeing.com.
Listen to the Her Well Being Podcast to learn more about her story and Ayurvedic wisdom for women.
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