Deborah_King-088-Edit-Crop.jpeg

My Background

I am a yoga therapist certified by The International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). In addition, I am registered with Yoga Alliance at the E-RYT 500 level and as a YACEP (Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider): and in August 2018, I received my Advanced Teacher of Yoga Therapy Certification from Kripalu’s School of Integrative Yoga Therapy.I have been teaching yoga since 2001, and I am a lifelong practitioner, having grown up with a mother who taught yoga and creative movement, and who passed on to me her kinesthetic way of being in and understanding the world.

As I began to train professionally as an actor when I was a teenager, and later at The Theatre School at DePaul University, my study of yoga deepened too.

I have studied under a wealth of remarkable teachers in many eclectic traditions including the Iyengar, Viniyoga, Ashtanga, Anusara, Vijnana, and Integrative Yoga Therapy traditions.

I began teaching while pregnant with my first child. I received my certification from Eight Limbs Yoga in Chicago in 2003 under the guidance of Per Erez, Miguel Latronica, and Carla Douros, and went on to assist in the following trainings, as well as presenting modules on prenatal and postnatal yoga. My work with pregnancy and following pregnancy spiraled into to a fascination with the therapeutic applications of yoga and this led me to apprentice with Iyengar teacher Gabriel Halpern for two and half years and to begin my own private practice, often adjusting the practice for therapeutic needs.

Now in Seattle, I teach full time both publicly and privately. I am fortunate to teach a large span of approaches to a wonderfully diverse spectrum of students: everything from Vinyasa classes to alignment-based hatha, to Gentle and Restorative classes and classes adapted for the needs of specific conditions, most notably PTSD, Trauma, Multiple Sclerosis and other neurological challenges, cancer, chronic pain, anxiety, and depression. My passion is discovering the unique practice for each person.

I use my extensive understanding of physiology and the nervous system in an experiential way to guide my students to explore the story and the process of their body system, uncovering, unwinding and also celebrating the asymmetries that make us human.

Deborah, Words cannot express. I feel like my body parts are all talking to each other in the same language and my brain is on ‘stand down’ alert. And to be with others who know what it is to live an adaptive lifestyle and not feel ‘less than’. . . well, for every class, mentor, reading and practice you ever took or participated in to make you the teacher you are, I am incredibly grateful. It makes me feel strong and empowered to tackle other goals with new zest.