A note from Carol Berlin, Founder and Director of Freedom Within Yoga

It is truly my passion to offer yoga practices that are designed to inspire, uplift, and uncover our natural sense of wellbeing.

When yoga crossed my path, about 15 years ago, it was like remembering something or returning to a familiar place. This beginning, or this returning, has been very powerful and healing for me. I am often asked – is yoga a religion or an exercise? It is very much a spiritual practice but for me, it is not a religion.

Yoga is more like a template that can be overlaid onto one’s life. The inner balance and stability that is explored while moving through the yoga postures is the same inner balance and stability that is developed while living day to day life with its constant changes.

Students, whether new to the practice of yoga, seasoned or somewhere in between can expect a challenging asana (posture) practice, that is sensitive to each student's needs and level of experience.

The yoga practice is a combination of flowing, dancelike sequences with careful focus on alignment and long holds. Students are guided towards engaging muscles, deepening the breath, and steadying the mind, cultivating their own inner balance of total self-acceptance, compassion and continued growth in both body and mind.

Thank God for the teachers who have come into my life at the times that I needed them. Each one has been a light on the path.

I have studied the integrative benefits of meditation and pranayama breath practice extensively in India, and incorporate these teachings into my yoga classes.

I am a teacher/trainer of Kinneret Yoga, a unique 200- hour level women’s yoga teacher training program. Kinneret yoga is a Yoga Alliance accredited yoga teacher training. The training is held twice a year.

I am a volunteer yoga teacher for Kula for Karma, an organization that offers both physical and mental therapeutic yoga to underserved populations, helping them to benefit from the healing practice of yoga.

I hold women’s new moon, Rosh Hodesh (beginning of the new month ) gatherings at my studio, Freedom Within Yoga studio. We celebrate the evening by integrating yoga, meditation, intention, sisterhood, and Kabbalistic teachings of the new month.

You can find my writings, reflecting on the new moon, its Kabalistic significance and how it reflects in me on a personal level, both on my website and in the online collection of writings called “ The New Moon Project.

I look forward to meeting you,