Kat Olmsted, RYT

“Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worth of rescue.” - The Clearing by  Martha Postlewaite. 

 

The above poem speaks volumes to what I believe is the benefit of practicing yoga. My practice started 18 years ago when I decided to try yoga to help alleviate some severe back pain. The first class I attended, I remember having an ‘a-ha’ moment where my perspective shifted. It was as if an internal pressure valve was released and I knew, somehow, my back pain had more to do with stress than anything else. In truth, I was pushing away my reality and trying to live in a pretense of how things should be for me. Over time, I would realize that my practice was about coming home to myself, just as I am right at this moment, over-and-over again. In my opinion, yoga is a practice of uncovering our true nature and eventually offering this inner beauty to the world. My practice has also been my sanctuary during difficult, life-altering experiences. My mat has become that place to “create a clearing in the dense forest of (my) life”.  I am forever grateful for my practice, my training and my teachers for everything that has been revealed and/or released.

 

In 2003, I attend my first yoga intensive and at that point, I realized that I wanted to start learning more about yoga practice and philosophy. I have always been truly interested in the therapeutic benefits of yoga for the mind, body, and spirit. Around this time, I also discovered vipassana meditation and the works of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach. In 2008, I received my first 200-hour yoga teacher certification in classical yoga; then in 2019, I received my second 200-hour yoga teacher certification in vinyasa flow. Along the way, I would become certified to teach children’s yoga and Yoga Nidra as well as becoming a certified Reiki Master.  I have done the first Anusara Immersion training, Level 1 and Level 2 of the Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy training, The Power of Awareness meditation training, Mukunda Stiles Joint-Freeing training, a Yoga-Ed children’s yoga training, and a restorative yoga training. I have also done several workshops for Anusara yoga, Iyengar yoga, asana alignment, yin yoga, and meditation. I am deeply influenced by the work of Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Rick Hanson, Daniel Seigel, Bessel van der Kolk, Brene Brown, Kristen Neff, and Anodea Judith. I am currently taking an online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction training and an online IRest Yoga Nidra training. Currently, I am attending a 300-hour Advanced Teacher Training. 

 

I teach both children’s and adult yoga. I have taught children’s yoga at elementary schools, summer camps, yoga studios and to teen dance ensembles. For adults, I have taught beginners, gentle, flow, restorative and Yoga Nidra classes. I have also guided some meditations. My goal with both populations is to create a safe, healing, playful and creative environment where self-acceptance and whole-hearted living are encouraged and nurtured.

 

Off the mat, I am an artist who has spent over ten years working as a decorative artist on historic buildings and an art consultant for non-profit organizations. I also have shown my work in galleries and museums. I have been on two public art committees and I have served on the board of two grassroots organizations. I also organized and ran an Earth Day lantern parade for the city of Broomfield.