About
Exploring yoga’s dynamic balance between movement and stillness, Amy Dara has studied with Beryl Bender Birch, Cyndi Lee, Susan ‘Lip’ Orem, Judith Hanson Lasater, and Julie Gudmestad. She continues to practice Anusara, Vinyasa, and Restorative yoga, and has long term experience with Ashtanga yoga. Her dedication and curiosity have led her to further her education at workshops and conferences focusing on teaching techniques and yoga as a healing modality.
Amy Dara is registered as an E-RYT 200 with the Yoga Alliance. She has taught classes and private sessions in the New York City and Boston metro area. Amy Dara currently shares her practice in and around Washington, DC, where she also trains budding yoga teachers.
Disclaimer: Amy Dara is not a physical therapist. She is a certified and registered yoga instructor with knowledge that facilitates collaboration with providers of Western medicine, such as doctors.
Some of Amy Dara Hochberg’s History
Mid-1970’s: Studies gymnastics at the local Y. One day, her grandmother watched a yogi on a television talk show and rearranged Amy’s legs into her first padmasana (full lotus).
1980’s: Borrows yoga books from the library and teaches herself basic Hatha yoga.
April 1997: Amy is struck by a car, leading to muscle tears in her mid- and upper back, neck and right shoulder. The orthopedist offers a choice of physical therapy, or a referral to a yoga teacher friend at the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City. Curiosity led to a long, rewarding healing process on the yoga mat.
1999: Her teachers encourage Amy to pursue yoga teacher training, which she begins with Alan Finger, and Lisa and Charles Matkin at Yoga Zone.
2000: Amy helps found the New York Yoga Teachers Association, and serves on the Board of Directors through 2003.
2001: Amy earns her advanced teaching certificate from Cyndi Lee at OM Yoga Center.
2002 – 2003: While working with private clients and teaching studio classes, Amy studies and works with Beryl Bender Birch. Among these projects is a post-9/11 program at a hospital in NYC, in which she teaches a modified Ashtanga yoga series.
2003: Amy Dara earns her Restorative Yoga Teacher Training certificate from Judith Hanson Lasater following an intensive course that also featured anatomy and physiology training by Roger Cole.
2004 – 2006: Amy transfers her practice to Boston. She earns her Bachelor of Science degree in Health Sciences with a concentration in Physical Therapy, which she begins to study at the doctoral level.
2006: Amy moves to Washington, DC, and continues to study physical therapy at the doctoral level. She registers with the Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT-200. Amy continues to practice yoga and teach private clients and studio classes.
2008: By now, Amy has studied physical therapy at the doctoral level for more than three years, and pursues her Master’s degree in Health Promotion Management to integrate her knowledge for her students’ optimal benefit. Amy begins to teach a broader range of workshops and train aspiring teachers.
2009: Amy earned her certificate to teach OM Yoga for Women Cancer Survivors, and started teaching a weekly Yoga for Women Cancer Survivors class at Circle Yoga. Amy completed her Master’s degree in Health Promotion Management, whose principles she is already applying to all areas of her work. She continues to train teachers at Yoga District, and began to develop teacher training tools for Yoga Activist.
2010-2011: OM Yoga 300 Advanced Teacher Training. Upon completion, Amy will be upgraded to Yoga Alliance E-RYT-500. Certified to teach Prenatal Yoga. Amy continues to develop teacher training tools for Yoga Activist, teach classes and private sessions, including a donation-based class for women cancer survivors at Circle Yoga.