Early in 1997, while studying education in graduate school, a friend asked Hillary Easom to guide him through a yoga practice following direction from a book. Intrigued, she borrowed the book and began to practice on her own. Even a short, 20-minute practice made a difference in how she felt each day, and yoga became a nice complement to running and cycling.

A couple years later she took her first "real" Iyengar-influenced yoga class. After several months of practice, Hillary was introduced to a vinyasa class and fell in love with the dance-like, meditative movements connecting body and breath. This, to her, was grace embodied. Her practice was transformed.

When she became pregnant with her first child in 2005, she started taking prenatal yoga classes with Leslie Lytle in Richmond, VA. Yoga played a huge role in two very enjoyable pregnancies and births, and it was Leslie who inspired her to eventually become a yoga teacher.

 In early 2009, Hillary pursued a 200-hour yoga certification mentoring with John Berg and Anirudh Shastri. In addition, she has completed 85 hours of pre-/postnatal teacher training with Jane Austin and in-depth training with Max Strom, Cheri Clampett, and Arturo Peal.  She is deeply grateful for the gifts she has received through their teaching.

 She still enjoys exploring different styles of yoga; her own teaching style can best be described as a breath-centric flow with an attention to alignment and some longer-held postures to build strength, stability and stillness of mind.

 Combining two passions—yoga and teaching—has allowed Hillary to embark on a journey that feels less like a job than a blessing. As you join her on this journey, you will work together in an effort to open the body, mind and spirit to all that is possible. Her number one goal is that every student—regardless of age, fitness level or experience—finds something in the practice that speaks to their soul.