Karen Faulkner

Karen Faulkner

Yoga Instructor

Fall 2021

I am passionate about sharing yoga and wellness to my community. Yoga should be available, accessible, & affordable to all. Yoga helps to reduce anxiety, stress, pain, and so much more. Why not make it part of our daily lives? So I have made it my mission to enter schools, nursing homes, and churches. That is where you will find our underserved populations.

I want to pay it forward with wellness. If I had this practice 40 years ago I am sure I would be a different person today. Disability or not, I take my 7 meds a day and I keep pushing through. Yoga has saved my life.

What excites you about your work right now?

Sharing Wellness through Yoga & Mindfulness to Pre-K - Seniors. This is a most extraordinary time in the lives of everyone. More than ever, wellness therapy and offerings to relieve stress, anxiety, sadness, depression has seen a huge increase since the beginning of the pandemic. My goal is to make Yoga and wellness available, accessible, and affordable to my community and beyond. The students are benefitting greatly from this practice. I am grateful to be able to share this practice with all that are willing and able.


What feels rich and abundant in your work right now?

The response from students "Yoga helps me to relax." The Rresponse from my elderly seniors - "We feel so good to have this practice available to us." The response from my community "Thank you for sharing this practice with all of us. This is what makes my teachings so valuable. I am forever grateful.

"I am trying to make a difference one child or one adult at a time by reminding them yoga lives within them. It's the breath & movement - they just have to practice linking the two always.”

Who do you dedicate your work to?

I dedicate my work to the underserved populations. Students Pre-K to w12th Grade, Children with Special Needs, and Seniors.

Who inspires you? Who are you learning from?

My past history of trauma, anxiety, & depression inspires me to continue to share my teachings. My younger son suffers from anxiety and depression, and I have seen how Yoga has benefitted his mental state. He enjoys meditation and assisting me in classes when I teach Special Needs Yoga.

I enjoy reading articles from other Yoga instructors that inspires and encourage this much needed work. I enjoy reading Wellness Mantra magazine as well. I have witnessed personally how Yoga has affected my life. I have used my Yoga Mat as a safe space, a place to be, a place to feel, a place to be still.

How can people reading this support your work?

My work can be supported if large spaces can be made available to us so that we can continue to offer this practice widely and more frequently to our community. It is very much needed and requested.

What is something you didn’t know, that you now understand differently about wellness?

The fact that Wellness can simply be sitting still, monitoring the breath, and being with self has had such an impact on students in a positive way. This brought the realization to me that Yoga is not only about movement and fancy poses, it is simply about being present for self.

Yoga is a personal practice and that can be whatever you make it.

What is your own wellness practice? How do you find balance?

I meditate, I seek quiet time to reset and recharge, I practice and teach yoga 4 days a week so this keeps my practice very close to my heart and in my body.

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Ready to make a change, for good?

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