About Kate
Kate’s sense of belonging to a global community arose at a young age in the form of passion for language and cultural exchange. She spent the summer of her fifteenth year as an exchange student in Mexico, and her sixteenth year in rural Argentina, where she attended high school and lived with a loving host family. Later, while working toward her interdisciplinary degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Dartmouth College, she began teaching the skills of language acquisition and reading. For four years she led graduate and undergraduate students in lively, interactive Spanish and Portuguese practice classes in the "Rassias Method" designed to overcome mental and emotional barriers to learning. Since then she has taught children and adults in San Francisco, privately and in group classes.
Kate delved into the study of Brazilian, Haitian, and contemporary dance and music forms in 2000. Her study of dance quickly led her to yoga, and she practiced intensively for six years with dancer and yoga teacher Patricia Jiron. During that time, she completed the 750-hour Iyengar and Anusara based teacher training at the Piedmont Yoga Studio under the direction of Rodney Yee, Richard Rosen, Clare Finn, and Maritza, and began the practice of Vipassana meditation. Since receiving her teaching certification, Kate has pursued extensive continuing education with yoga teachers Ramanand Patel, Richard Rosen, JinSung, and Katchie Ananda, and regularly attends meditation retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Last year, Kate studied Sanskrit with Dr. Ram Karam Sharma through a five-month residency program at the Yoga Society of San Francisco ashram.
In 2005, Kate lived in the Buddhist Alliance for Social Engagement (BASE) house, an intentional community in San Francisco’s Mission district dedicated the promotion and integration of spiritual practice and social activism. Still greatly influenced by the spirit of BASE, Kate is currently exploring expressive arts, white anti-racism, and urban organic gardening and composting, and she often co-leads Indian devotional chanting (kirtan) for community events.
Kate is committed to practicing and teaching yoga as a tool for physical, mental, and spiritual growth and wellbeing. She is passionate about yoga and all mind-body practices as catalysts for cultural exchange, social change, and human understanding.