Deborah grew up in an isolated piece of paradise in East Florida and walked the woods by her home extensively as a child. As an adult, she and her siblings even joined their father in his 17-mile-per day walk across the state of Florida for his 80th birthday. 

 

That love of walking and being close to nature followed her to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she studied Iyengar Yoga for many years.  This form of yoga is  based on precise positioning of the body, and includes many poses based on the observations of animals and nature.  She thought she had a pretty good awareness of the natural alignment of her body from her years of walking and yoga until attending her very first Secrets of Natural Walking Workshop in 2014.  "SONW showed me I had a whole lot to learn, and  to "unlearn" about my body, and that I had been holding it in unnatural ways that lead to pain and decreased function.  Secrets of Natural Walking has taught me the natural way to walk, with far less effort and stress, while still toning all muscles in the body".

After leaving Ann Arbor, Deborah felt a strong desire to "save the world".  She received a BS in environmental Biology and worked for many years with a program focused on saving the fragile delta of South Louisiana.    She gave presentations around the state and nation on this topic, but always felt like there was a larger direction for her life that was waiting to be shown to her.

 

Hurricane Katrina spurred a move to Asheville where she studied for many years with the founder of SONW in other programs offered on healing and opening the heart. When Secrets of Natural Walking was launched, she  immediately knew that she wanted to be a part of this "yoga of walking", and attended instructor training in Los Angeles in 2014.  She has seen her own health improve, with increased vitality and mobility as a result of natural walking.  And she has seen first- hand how others have been helped dramatically

"I am so happy to be a part of SONW where body, mind and heart" all come together, and miracles happen.  It truly is the next generation of holistic exercise".