alison conforti

Alison has been practicing yoga for nearly twenty years and has been teaching for six. After struggling with chronic lower back pain due to a three level spinal fusion as a result of a car accident she endured when she was almost eight years old, she turned to yoga in her mid twenties. For the first few years she practiced with yoga DVDs in her bedroom. Through yoga, prohibitive back pain gave way to a new sense of limberness and strength in her body as well as a renewed self-assurance. The gentle yet challenging approach was transformative. After being invited to a class by a friend, Alison began to practice the Bikram method, which she did for several years. She had a regular practice when she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle in 2009 and was left with a broken knee. Complications from the injury resulted in an arduous, year long recovery. The experience of going from being fit and active to becoming incapacitated and depressed is where the real magic of yoga was ignited for Alison. Working with her “new body” she eventually returned to yoga through a hot Vinyasa Yoga practice and she was opened up to a more spiritual and philosophical world. With life’s challenges as a catalyst, Alison opened to a deeper journey of knowing about herself and the connection to and of all things through her yoga practice (svadhyaya). Yoga has since remained a central tool to tune into the present moment, resonate with her true Self and to stay honest in her practice and therefore in her everyday life. In 2015 she got her 200 hour Vinyasa certification under Stephanie Battle with Sacred, Brooklyn while in Costa Rica.

Alison’s heart centered approach to teaching is largely influenced by her own journey of healing, which she wants to share with all who are called to it. With an emphasis on pranayama (regulation of breath), which helps us to observe and connect to life force and presence, and through using asana (“seat”/physical postures) as a practice of love and compassion, Alison meets her students where they are at. Always working with the main ingredient of breath awareness, Alison guides students to feel into the asana practice from the inside out. Ushering students to find the right alignment for their bodies, Alison helps students to reap the endless benefits that yoga has to offer for mind, body and spirit such as strength, flexibility, stamina, mental clarity, focus, stillness, spiritual connection, grounding, expansion, heart opening and fostering compassion.

Alison holds a Masters of Public Health, Nutrition as well as a B.A. in Anthropology and Spanish and she is a certified Holistic Health Coach. She is a lover of the natural world and has lived in Spain, New York City and currently resides on Big Island, Hawai’i. Her classes have included heated and non heated Vinyasa, Chair Yoga and describes her most authentic style as gentle Vinyasa/ Hatha. She has taught in studios, schools, permanent supportive housing facilities, parks, community centers and assisted at Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, NY in 2017. Se habla español.