Her Story

A Path from Chronic Pain & Injuries to a
Life of Wellbeing through Yoga

Rebecca has been an athlete her entire life and always interested in the life that is beyond what we can see with our eyes. Competitive gymnastics in her youth gave her a strong sense of self discipline, body awareness, and helped her learn to remain calm in the face of challenge. As a successful runner during her teens, she naturally practiced meditation in motion. Springboard diving for the women’s swim team at the University at Buffalo taught her about the subtleties and power of mental focus, clarity and intention.

It was not until graduate school did she find yoga. All of the sports that she loved had left her with a history of injuries and chronic pain in her low back from multiple stress fractures. She was told by doctors that she would never enjoy sports again. Frustrated, and in constant pain, she gave up her favorite sports and began a journey from self-pity to self-healing.

A friend convinced her to take a yoga class. She coaxed her by telling her that it would probably help her back. The back pain was gone, and yoga became a regular practice.

Upon finishing her Masters of Urban & Regional Planning at the University at Buffalo, she was selected as a Presidential Management Fellow and moved to Washington, DC. There she discovered the professional world of politics and worked for a federal agency. She took on a whole new level of stress. Moving away from friends and family and embarking on her new career was challenging. She discovered that stress made her stiff and achey, while practicing yoga would “undo” everything from the day.

After three years of continual practice she read her first yoga book, “Light on Yoga” by BKS Iyengar. Wow. She had no idea what yoga was all about until this book. While not really a beginner’s book on yoga, it was just what she had been searching for. Yoga was the real deal, and she knew it instantly.  Yoga had improved her well being on an energetic and spiritual level as well as the physical and emotional levels.

In 2005, when Rebecca married Joshua Cohen, a helicopter pilot with the US Navy, she moved to Pensacola, FL where she took Nancy LaNasa’s yoga classes. She really enjoyed the challenge and structure of Nancy’s classes, and of course, her humor.  Nancy has over 20 years of experience and previously managed the Jivamukti Center in New York City. Rebecca’s practice continued to evolve and eventually she followed her teacher’s footsteps and traveled to the Sivananda Ashram in Kerala, India for her teaching certification.

Rebecca brings ten years of personal experience with yoga, and a lifetime of sports into her teaching. Her teaching style is tailored to the students’ needs, incorporating a series of yoga postures intelligently sequenced and linked to the breath. Ask her what she is going to teach today, and she’ll say, “It depends on who shows up”.  

In 2008 she relocated to San Diego, CA. She is currently teaching classes at Bamboo Yoga & Bodywork in Coronado, The Little Yoga Studio in downtown San Diego, and the LaJolla Yoga Center in LaJolla. She is a Professional Yoga Therapist (PYT) and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) at the 500 hour level, trained in the Integrative Yoga Therapy tradition, and is also trained in Thai Massage. She gives one-on-one and small group therapeutic classes.