02/03/2026
FROM BODYWORKER to MOVEMENT GUIDE
I'd like to share a little story about how I ended up here, running this small, intentional space where massage and yoga coexist side by side.
I didn’t plan to become a yoga teacher. My path started with my hands.
At 20, I moved to Portugal to study integrative bodywork, drawn to the energy, healing, and incredible intelligence of the body. That training lit something up in me that I’ve followed ever since.
I came home to Vermont and, by what felt like a miracle, took over the practice of a succseful massage therapist. For years, I worked full-time doing deep, intuitive bodywork. But the work started to wear on me. My wrists ached. My posture suffered. And I knew something had to shift.
That’s when yoga saved me. I pawed through my moms yoga books as a kid, so I knew the basics. I showed up, a little anxious, a lot intimidated, to a hot yoga studio nearby. I started practicing regularly. My energy levels stabilized, my sleep improved, my wrist pain resolved and my posture felt strong and subtle. Almost immediately I thought, 'My clients need this.' Not just the massage, but the tools for self transformation that are locked within the ancient practices of Yoga.
I then enrolled in a 200-hour yoga teacher training program. And everything changed.
Teaching didn’t come naturally. Public speaking terrified me. But because I was speaking about the body—energy, healing, transformation, it felt like the words came from somewhere deeper. I found my voice. And I haven’t stopped teaching since.
After completing my 300-hour training, I applied to teach at the only studio within 45 minutes of me, but I was turned down flat.
So I opened my own. In a dusty old barn. With a box of note cards. That’s how True Center began.
Since then, we’ve evolved into a space that reflects everything I believe in: small classes, deep presence, somatic (inner listening) care, and the integration of massage and yoga as a unified healing path.
This version of True Center feels like the most honest, aligned work I’ve ever done.
Here, we believe healing happens in relationship—with your body, with the space around you, and with people who see you.
That’s what we’re building. And we're delighted that you’re here for it.
Thank you for being part of this. I hope you share your story as well.
With warmth,
Emily
Founder of True Center Yoga