About Celeste

I grew up in a family deeply affected by ancestral trauma and addiction. My Father was Jewish. His family escaped from Germany during the time of Hitler. My Mother’s family was not Jewish – an issue in and of itself, with relatives on both sides. Her mother died when she was 4. Her father remarried and then died shortly afterwards. My mom was raised by her stepmother, along with her bother and sisters, during the depression. My Dad was an unrecovered, violent alcoholic who committed suicide. My Mom was a very quiet codependent. I was an only child who wanted to fix everything. But of course, I couldn’t. I left home at 16 and moved three thousand miles away, trying to outrun my problems. That didn’t work either. 

I struggled with anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and a lot of chronic pain. At one point I was diagnosed with 10 chronic conditions, but at that time no one had words, or any real understanding of childhood trauma. I was on a lot of medications for my conditions and I count it as my first miracle that I didn’t become addicted. I also worked very hard at “looking good” but honestly, there was a point where suicide seemed to be my only out. I went to a few different therapists but while they helped for a bit, I never found the healing there I desperately needed, nor did I, or they, recognize that I needed practices that *I* could do on my own on a daily basis to build and maintain a state of ease and comfort in my body, mind and soul.

Around that time, I started taking gentle yoga classes. I hadn’t been able to run or hit the gym in several years and I was starting to lose the body I thought I needed to be ok in the eyes of those around me. What I found in yoga was more than I ever expected – peace of  mind and practices to help me maintain it, a recovery of my physical strength and healing of the chronic pain, and an ability to discern my actual needs from my anxiety and fear. What I lost through the practices, was my anxiety, depression, chronic pain, insecurity and fear. 

Yoga therapy became my solution. I was in training to be a yoga therapist when the book, “The Body Keeps the Score” came out. In that book I found the answers to so many questions. Before then, I’d never heard the term, childhood trauma, but when I read it, I recognized myself and my family in the pages and decided to devote myself to helping others to heal, using the tools that had been working for me as well as new modalities that I learned from others, and a few I developed myself. 

Over the years, much new information has come to light, including scientific proof that trauma is stored in the body. If we don’t move, breathe and focus – all parts of regular, therapeutic yoga practices I use in my work – we’ll continue to feel the effects of the neurological damage that was done during childhood. 

Today I am a certified yoga therapist and family recovery coach, and I’ve been helping others, using the tools that worked for me, for the past 10 years. 

I am available to you. If you want to connect, just send me a message and you’ll hear back soon!

With Love and Gratitude,

Celeste