Elizabeth Cross
Baltimore, Maryland
In Process of Being Certified to Teach RussaYog to Adults

I come to RussaYog as a life long health care professional who has always believed in the blending of traditional and non-traditional, the east with the west therapies and philosophies within the western medical model.    Having lived in multiple places in the USA I have had tremendous opportunities to meet people from all over the world who have shared their practices with me, thus helping me to be an eclectic practitioner. (I have worked some incredible facilities to learn a variety of skills i.e., The Rehabilitation Institute in Chicago, The Children’s Hospital and Charity Hospital in New Orleans, Johns Hopkins, The University of Maryland and Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, and Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, to name a few).  My goal has been to pioneer new therapeutic interventions for children and to bring physical therapeutic techniques to youth with physical or socio-economic limitations in order to include them in programs offered for all children.  I am currently working with the Yoga Tree with several of my pediatric clients and they love the tree!  I usually cannot get them off of it!  RussaYog offers people of all ages a user friendly, fun, and athletic way of strengthening, stretching and balancing the mind, body, and soul and it is a perfect fit for the professions I work within.Along with my background in Physical Therapy I utilize my Social Work degree while working with the families and children I encounter and I plan to bring RussaYog to the public health programs I am currently working on with grant funding.  I have begun a program at George Washington University for work on a Masters in Public Health to create programs for children in the less fortunate communities in our inner cities as well as children with special needs.  My love of yoga has evolved over the years and stems from a strong physically active background.  My involvement in multiple sports has provided me with a healthy physical base, but it has been my immersion into RussaYog that has provided me with a natural blend of the mind, body, and spirit.  RussaYog embodies the perfect blend of my love of yoga with my work and my personal growth.I am a very passionate person in my work and my play and am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with children and their families as they achieve their maximal potential physically, psychologically, and spiritually. RussaYog allows them to achieve their potential as well as permitting me the stress relief from the intensity of my work.  It is a calming force in my day and a wonderful way to re-energize.  RussaYog permits one to contemplate how your body is feeling and where you may need to place some attention, thus providing an opportunity for prevention of injury.  It has provided me with a unique tool to share with the children I work with and I hope to share this with adults as well, as I work toward health and injury-prevention with friends, family and clients.

I have a tremendous need to continually learn new skills and I love RussaYog for the never-ending variety of routines/tools it provides me for working with my own body as well as my clients.  I feel that the more in touch with oneself we are, the more we can connect with others without walls of fear, but with “unbounded optimism” and the joy of sharing with others.  I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes when I think of the opportunity that RussaYog has provided me…”be the change you wish to see in the world…” Gandhi.  I have been seeking a way to share my joy and love of yoga with children around the world and I have finally found it in RussaYog.  What an incredible opportunity I have in working with such wonderful mentors/teachers as Teresa and Jasprit.  I am honored to participate in their dream of sharing their gift of RussaYog with each of us