In 2005, I began sharing this path with others — guiding students through yoga, breathwork, meditation, and mindful movement under the name Yoga with Aria.

Over the years, I’ve watched people from every walk of life reclaim their strength, steady their nervous systems, and reconnect with parts of themselves they thought were lost.

Again and again, I’ve seen what becomes possible when someone commits to a daily practice — not perfection, not performance — just practice.

Daily Downdog was born from that knowing.

It’s an expansion of everything I’ve learned through injury, recovery, teaching, and lived experience — a space where healing tools are accessible, practical, and grounded in real life.

This is where breath meets structure, energy meets embodiment and where strength meets compassion.

Because healing isn’t about escaping your body.

It’s about coming home to it.

My healing journey didn’t begin in a yoga studio.
It began on my 14th birthday.

I was struck by a Suburban traveling over 45 mph as I crossed the street. The SUV skidded nearly 80 feet before stopping. My body was thrown across the intersection.

Everyone — including the police officer who later visited me in the hospital — said I should be dead.

I lost my kidney and spleen.
My pelvis, femur, and knee were shattered.
My ribs and skull were fractured.

The surgeon who operated on me — who would later become the Surgeon General of the United States — warned my parents that I might not survive the six-hour emergency surgery ahead.

After a week in the ICU, I woke up.

Different.
Alive.
Given a second chance.

Doctors told me I would never walk normally again. That I would live an immune-compromised life.

I chose to explore what might still be possible.

I spent one month in full-body traction, three months in a wheelchair, and six months in a full body cast. It was nearly a year before my feet touched the ground again.

On crutches, I began relearning how to walk. I joined a gym to rebuild a body that had atrophied almost beyond recognition.

Nine months later, I competed in the Southern Arizona High School Bodybuilding Championships, placing second in my weight class.

I was strong — but structurally compromised.

My left leg healed more than an inch shorter than my right. My femur fused with opposing rotations, forming a visible bulge along my thigh. My knee joint deteriorated, my patella partially gone, arthritic formations beginning to develop.

I learned to compensate. I wore a lift. I altered my gait. I hid the limp as best I could.

Three years later, surgeons re-broke and reset my femur with a steel rod to realign the bone. Two years after that, the rod was removed. Twelve years later, my knee required ACL surgery.

Through it all, I kept moving — swimming, hiking, biking, dancing.

And then, three years after graduating from UCLA, I discovered yoga and qi gong.

These practices didn’t just strengthen my body. They transformed my relationship with it.

That’s when “mind over matter” stopped being an idea and became a lived experience.

Today, most people would never guess what I’ve lived through.

That isn’t luck.

It’s dedication.
Patience.
Relentless perseverance.

And perhaps most importantly — a daily practice of loving my physical container exactly as she is. Whole. Complete.

Non-attachment.
Non-duality.
Peace with what is — rather than constant striving to change it.

This is the essence of Daily Downdog.

If my story offers you anything, I hope it’s this: courage.
Courage to persevere through your own challenges — physical, emotional, mental, or all of the above.

If I can do this, you can too.

Your Body Is the Practice.
Your body is not a problem to fix.
It is a teacher.

Daily Downdog isn’t just a collection of classes — it’s a living, breathing space to reconnect with your body, your energy, and your truth.

Here, we practice:

• Yoga for strength, mobility, and structural integrity
• Qi Gong to cultivate energy and calm the nervous system
• Face Yoga for tone, circulation, and longevity
• Breathwork and meditation to restore clarity and resilience
• Grounding practices for real life — not retreat life

Whether you are rebuilding, realigning, navigating change, or simply seeking steadiness, these practices meet you exactly where you are.

You don’t need to be flexible.
You don’t need to be perfect.
You just need to begin.

Each offering is designed to help you move with intention, breathe more deeply, and remember the strength already within you.