T H E  S H O R T  S T O R Y

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Kaleigh began her relationship to yoga by practicing the lineage of Ashtanga Yoga for a decade before branching out to other traditions. The Ashtanga lifestyle was extremely beautiful, tied to ancient India and vastly informative. In 2016, Kaleigh began to study meditation and Ayurveda as well as traveling the world. Eventually earning her 200 hour yoga teacher training certification that led her on a new journey of sharing the practice of yoga as her career. 

 

As a teacher, Kaleigh's yogic philosophy will ground you in the present moment of spirit and body. You'll sweat, laugh, grow stronger, more flexible and simply feel healthier mentally and physically. Together, you will flow with encouragement, instilling self-love, non-violent communication and boosting your confidence in asana and through this walk we call life.

 

You'll find Kaleigh in various coffee shops always writing, reading, conversing and continuing her Svadhyaya, self-study. She's an avid photographer, focusing on healthy lifestyles and documenting her journeys with a camera tucked under her arm.

 

Please reach out to info@kaleighatkinson.com in order to set up a consultation and / or private yoga + meditation session. She's currently living & working in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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Read Artist Bio here.

 

With ☮ Metta

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T H E  L O N G  S T O R Y

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I dished out hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for people to heal me. I sought a fix for my pain from depression, those tears that wouldn't stop, that bed that was my only comfort. I needed someone to teach me how to connect to the body I saw with disgust reflected back at me. After weeks going through therapists, nutritionists, yoga teachers, and acupuncturists I still didn't feel better. I'd get glimpses of light, but more than anything I felt guilt around the amount of money I was charging on my credit card in order to find a source of healing. I felt shame that I was an obligation to these people (many practitioners of whom I call friends).

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Years of experimenting with eating disorders, not managing depression and many mistakes in choosing boyfriends later, I found myself. I sold everything, ran away from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and sought peace in Australia. Quickly I realized all of my problems tucked themselves neatly next to my earbuds in that carryon bag. I was still me. I was still inside this body I hated. But quickly I became aware that I had a choice. I could continue to choose misery, sadness, pain, toxic thoughts and self-neglect. Or, I could choose to begin again. Start this relationship with myself all over again. I was extremely grateful for living in the most beautiful place on earth and for the fact that I gave myself this tremendous gift of retreat. There truly was no time but the present.

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Dealing with my emotions through constant self-study by journaling, reading hundreds of self-help books, meditating twice daily and finding fitness in nature, workout programs and with Ashtanga Yoga was my prescription to healing. I still managed to get my nanny duties done for 35 hours a week and keep a steady social life (eventually I found some friends!).

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The Big Kahuna of all Kahuna healing was when I found Vipassana. It's kind of a funny story... I read (yet another) self-help/memoir blend of a book called Sex, Drugs and Meditation by Mary-Lou Stephens, which described her experience with addiction, trauma and a need to find healing, no matter if that meant leaving her job, vowing to not speak, make no eye contact and eat no dinner along with 10+ hours of meditation per day. All the while, using up all of her vacation days to dedicate to this experience. I finished this book, I was left extremely intrigued about this Vipassana thing. 

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A few mornings later I'm sitting outside of Naked Treaties (the MOST Byron-esque cafe) sipping my long black topped with steamed coconut milk a young American came running (I'm telling you running) up to me with wild eyes. Wild Eyes begins to talk a mile a minute about how he just drove up the coast from Blackheath in the Blue Mountains after participating in a 10 day Vipassana Retreat. I am telling you I met Wild Eyes just days after returning this book to the library. 

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Later in the week I decided to quit alcohol for all of February and was at the Beach Hotel soberly listening to my favorite local musician, Garrett Kato, meeting a crew of cool people visiting from the Gold Coast. My fast friend, Holly, kept telling me how much I reminded her of her best friend. "You'd love her, she just did this crazy thing... have you heard of Vipassana?!" 

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The next morning I applied for the 10 day sit in Blackheath, a gorgeous 90 minute train ride west of Sydney. What a beautiful excursion leaving Byron behind me. Something to look forward to, something foreign, something terrifying, something perhaps more exquisite than Byron Bay. A very long story short, this is where my healing came full circle. I'd spent the last 6 months really working on myself, unapologetically and as my only priority... all for the sake of, how do I love and accept me?

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Vipassana gave me all the tools to be 100% present in my body, in my skin, in my organs, out of my brain and ridding the toxic concoction of creating scenarios and false realities in my mind. I became a tiny speck of this earth. I could tell you the time based on the trees' shadows. Learned how to mindfully eat because I only needed food when my body told me (and because meals were small but made with an incredible amount of love). I cried a lot. I saw my past lives. Dealt with death and rebirth. Confronted issues with parents, lovers, friends. But mostly, I realized the stem to my depression and eating disorder was all false. Yet another creation that I defined myself as: I am depressed. I have an eating disorder. I attached to these falsities deep inside my subconscious since I was a child, which in turn created my adult reality.

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I am sharing my story because it is empowering -- most importantly, to empower myself. As overdone as it may be, if I can do it, I truly believe you can too. Whether yoga, meditation, foreign sanskrit named retreats are or are not your jam, you are the only one that has the power to heal yourself. Those thoughts, that body you see in the mirror and your emotional pain. One must understand healing will take time, you may need a support team, but most importantly you need to be ready.

 

I'm constantly healing, finding my tribe and I am very ready to seek contentment.

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When you're ready, I hope you contact me.

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Please reach out to me at info@kaleighatkinson.com in order to set up a consultation and / or private yoga + meditation session. I am currently living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

With ☮ Metta

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E X P E R I E N C E

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Meditation & Yoga Instructor for various corporations + small businesses alike

Contact me for more details: info@kaleighatkinson.com

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Yoga Instructor - pop-up events in Milwaukee at various hot spots such as...

City Lights Brewery, Nomad Nacional, The Sugar Maple, 1840 Brewing Co, Good City Brewing + more

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Yoga Therapist - Tri-Motion Rehab - Delafield, Wisconsin

Working one-on-one with patients on functional yoga movement and breath awareness to heal

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Yoga & Meditation Instructor - mke MindBody Wellness - Bayview, Wisconsin

Restorative Yoga w/ Aromatherapy & various Meditation techniques, Private Sessions

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Yoga Instructor - AddeoFit - Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin

Vinyasa Flow, Yin + Restorative, Private Sessions

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Yoga Instructor - East Side Pilates - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Yoga Sculpt, Yoga Flow, Yoga Wall, Restorative Yoga, Meditation, Jumpboard, Kids & Teen Yoga, Private Sessions

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200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training - Davannayoga - Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Graduate, 200 Hour Registered Yoga Teacher

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Woodland Yoga + Meditation Retreat - Woodland, Utah

Chef, Assistant to Ayurvedic Practitioner & Yoga Teacher, Photographer

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Vipassana Meditation Retreat - Blackheath, Australia

Student, Completed 10 Day Program

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Swami's Yoga Retreat - Kenthurst, Australia

Volunteer Teacher, Assistant Chef, Photographer

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Ayurveda

Student, Competed 18 weeks of studies under Ayurvedic Practitioner Kyle Roberts

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Unwind & Awaken Retreat - Punta Uva, Costa Rica

Chef, Assistant to Holistic Nutritionist & Acro Yoga Instructors, Photographer

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PJ's Yoga Shala - Ashtanga Yoga - Waukesha, Wisconsin

Student, Apprentice

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Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee

Ashtanga Yoga Teacher, World Volunteer Day Coordinator partnering w/ Groundwork Milwaukee to build gardens in the schoolyard 

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