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. Practice. Just showing up.

Daily Downdog emerged because I see and feel something greater than Yoga with Aria. I see a movement of people committed to themselves.

Daily Downdog is an expansion of everything I’ve learned through my own injuries, through the experiences of my students, through more than 20 years of teaching, and, perhaps most importantly, through more than 40 years of living in—and learning from—this body. It’s a relationship with movement that has defied doctors’ predictions time and time again.

Daily Downdog is a space where tools for healing are accessible, practical, and grounded in real-life experience.

Let’s practice together in a space where breath meets structure and strength meets compassion.

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 left kidney and my spleen.
My pelvis cracked in half, my femur split in two, most of my kneecap shattered, and my ribs and skull fractured.

The surgeon who operated on me — who would later become 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, creating a visible bulge along my thigh. My knee joint had deteriorated, part of my patella was gone, and arthritic changes had begun 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, using a steel rod to realign the bone. Two years later, the rod was removed. Twelve years after that, 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 I stopped asking my body to overcome, and started learning how to listen.

Today, most people would never guess what my body has lived through.

That isn’t luck.

It’s dedication.
Patience.
Perseverance.

And perhaps most importantly, a daily practice of loving my body exactly as she is.

Whole.
Complete.

Not constantly striving to fix or change her, but learning to meet what is.

Non-attachment.
Non-duality.
Peace with what is.

If my story offers you anything, I hope it’s courage.

Courage to listen to your own body.
Courage to meet yourself where you are.
Courage to keep showing up through whatever challenges life places in your path—physical, emotional, mental, or all of the above.

You don’t have to practice perfectly.

You just have to practice.

Your body is the practice.

Daily Downdog offers accessible practices designed to help you build strength, restore mobility, cultivate energy, and reconnect with your body.

Here, you’ll find:

• Yoga for strength, mobility, and structural integrity
• Qi Gong for energy and nervous system support
• Face Yoga for tone, circulation, and longevity
• Breathwork & Meditation for clarity and resilience
• Grounding practices for real life—not retreat life

Whether you’re rebuilding, navigating change, or simply seeking steadiness and greater joy, start with your practice.