Contact info:
Please e-mail Marleen at MarleensYoga@gmail.com
or call her at (707) 747 5103.

I am a 200 hour registered yoga teacher (RYT) through Yoga Alliance and have been teaching since 2002.

I was never the fat kid in school, but I was the brainy, nerdy, unathletic one (yes, I had glasses). The last one picked when choosing sides in PE and I hated PE. I hardly played any sports and wasn’t very successful when I did. In my twenties my weight started creeping up, a few pounds per year, adding up. When I got pregnant with my first child I started on the chunky side. A year after he was born I was still 15 pounds heavier than before I got pregnant and getting frustrated. I joined a gym on his first birthday, but soon remembered why gyms hadn’t worked for me before: weightlifting, cardio, classes…. They were either boring or uncomfortable, or both and going there was a chore.

When I hurt my back in a mat pilates class, I decided to try yoga, thinking it was gentler. It wasn’t that gentle, but it was something that immediately felt good doing, even stiff and weak as I soon realized I was. I felt better coming out of the class than going in. So I went back. Before I realized it I was going 3 to 4 times a week and I started to feel healthier and more energized. My need for mid-morning and mid-afternoon junk food pick-me-ups started to decrease, and I became motivated to change my attitude about food. When my son turned two I had not only taken off the pregnancy pounds but also the ones that I had added in my twenties.  I lost almost 30 pounds in total, and that while gaining muscle weight!

Yoga had made me feel (and look) so good, that I wanted to become a teacher to bring this wonderful thing to other people. I taught throughout my whole second pregnancy (still gaining 45 pounds, I am not a saint) and bounced back so much faster this time. All 45 pounds came back off, with yoga and sensible eating.

Now, in my late 30s I am in the best shape I’ve ever been in and I love seeing the same changes in my students. Almost without realizing it, they are getting stronger, they feel better, they look better, they are calmer and they start shedding unwanted pounds!
I believe that yoga can do this for every body. Try it and experience this positive addiction !