“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”
Laura was born and raised in Asheville, NC. She credits this artistic city with fostering the variety of creativity within her. She spent most of her free time in childhood dancing with the Land of the Sky Ballet. When she wasn’t dancing, she was often dreaming of elephants, giraffes, and other majestic animals. She always had a tremendous love of all animals and compassion for all beings. Laura went on to study at College of Charleston, graduating with a Bachelors in Corporate Communications and a minor in Dance. While there, she danced with the Robert Ivey Ballet Company and had several inspirational mentors. One of her Modern Dance teachers in particular had a profound influence on Laura’s life and dreams. Her teacher, Eliza regularly incorporated yoga into her practice. This is when Laura fell in love with the conscious connection of breath and movement. After graduating in 2002, Laura moved to Greenville, SC to begin her career in the corporate world. While busy with the demands and stress of the medical sales industry, she continued to practice yoga as a way to relieve stress and cultivate a mindful way of living. In 2010, Laura was introduced to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a global wildlife conservation organization based in Nairobi, Kenya. The trust is best known for rescuing and rehabilitating orphaned elephants and rhinos found alone in the wild. It touched Laura’s heart. She never imagined she would one day be able to unite her passion for yoga and her love for wildlife conservation as one. In 2016, she embarked on the journey of a 200-hr yoga teacher training with Linda Patterson at Integrative Yoga Therapy. Originally, Laura hadn’t planned on teaching, but during the course of the training she imagined teaching yoga and educating her students about wildlife conservation at the same time. After much deliberation, she decided to resign from her nearly 15 year corporate career to take a leap of faith and follow her passion. She opened Zen Mission in the fall of 2017.
Laura lives in Greenville, with her husband, Tony, and has 2 wonderful step-children. She and Tony have 2 dogs and foster 6 elephants and 2 rhinos at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. She regularly practices a variety of yoga styles- such as Hatha, Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP), Aerial, Bhakti, and Yin. The variety of practices allow her to remain challenged while continually learning about her personal (physical, mental and spiritual) journey through yoga. In addition to a passion for yoga, Laura has long had a keen eye for interior design. With this skill she began with helping friends and relatives with organizing, decluttering, repurposing and decorating their homes. She then began to help others transform homes and offices from rooms of chaos and clutter into tranquil, beautiful spaces where they feel calm and peace. During Laura’s yoga teacher training, she made a connection of this strength and one of the five Niyamas, Saucha. The Niyamas are part of an outline of ethical living defined by Sage Patanjali in the "Yoga Sutras." Saucha refers to cleanliness, sometimes described as non-hoarding. Laura noticed that when helping a client organize and declutter their physical space, it gave them a sense of wellbeing and tranquility in their minds and hearts.
Yoga is the common thread… the tool- whether it’s on a mat in a physical practice sweating out daily frustrations, raising awareness for the nearly extinct rhinos in Africa, or helping organize and declutter a home- Zen Mission is helping you discover a beautiful and balanced life. Your ZEN is waiting.
"Simplicity, clarity, singleness - these are things that give life power and vividness and joy."
-Richard Hallowell
