Gia Bedell (she/her) began practicing yoga over 20 years ago after a painful neck injury.  She has experienced, first hand, the healing benefits of yoga.  Gia views herself as an eternal beginner and student.  Currently Gia is enrolled in a masters program for counseling psychology, with an emphasis on somatics. She sees the practices of movement and psychotherapy as an invitation to open and expand her view of herself and life. 

Nature, poetry, ancient history, and art are her greatest influences and tools for growth, teaching and practice.  By attuning to the world around, she feels she is more able to access connection rather than separation. 

When guiding a class, it is Gia's intention to provide adequate time and space to gather, ground and softly bring the students into presence.  She honors and deeply respects open spaces on the earth and in the joints and tissues of the body.  Her class style and sequencing is eclectic.  Not categorizing herself as a Vinyasa nor an Iyengar teacher, there are aspects of these intertwined in her modalities.  Gia teaches asana (postures) with a curious and playful energy.  Movement is encouraged at times to help soften rigidity in the mind and fascia, while times of stillness and holding postures emphasize the importance of quiet and concentration in a world that is so very busy. 

Gia's background in massage therapy informs her teaching style greatly by both providing a secure footing in the knowledge of safe alignment and kinesiology, as well as a springboard to encourage students to kindly put their hands on their bodies as a way to understand themselves and connect to the subtle energies within. 

Meditation and pranayama have been immensely helpful in rooting and tethering Gia to what is real.  In her experience, intertwining these disciplines with asana, along with tastes of restorative postures, proves to facilitate a more inward experience.    

In Gia's humble opinion, there is room for it all in yoga life, yet her classes are cohesive and intelligently planned.   The main focus of class is not about constant repetition, perfecting or achieving.  It is about getting out of our own way, allowing, letting go, being with, honoring and attending to what the body is willing to give.  It is her wish to build community by creating and holding space for a friendly environment in which students may arrive as they are and feel confident that they are well supported through the class.