Monica Yearwood

Currently, I practice the art of Ayurveda and Yoga in Chicago. Like most lives, the unfoldment of how I got here has been an extraordinary journey full of adventure. I grew up interested in spiritual, metaphysical and religious studies. I can remember digging through the new age section in book stores when I was just eleven, and challenging my Pastor all through confirmation class for more answers. I was practicing meditation by the time I was in my teens, and reading books by Buddhist writers such as Jack Kornfield. I had a hard time concentrating in high school, as all of it seemed to pale in comparison to what I thought were the bigger questions of life. All of this surmounted in an inexplicable quest to know the truth of who I was in my early twenties. Inspired by beatnik writers and a philosophy major, I had visions of wondering off into the mountains in a quest for enlightenment.

Instead, my quest for enlightenment became deeply entangled in an illusion of being separate from the world, deep seated depression, and a hollow longing that never seemed to be satisfied. Everything in life seemed sad, impenetrable, and extraordinarily fast while it moved without me. These feelings coupled with a growing addiction to drugs eventually overwhelmed any sense of purpose that I had. In 2001, I found myself in rehab, foraging through ideas of enlightenment for places they had failed me. I questioned much of everything that I had believed, and stood fearfully on the threshold of change.

I explored many realms of healing at that time in my life, however, nothing seemed to resonate as true as the practice of Yoga. From my mat, I began to understand the fluctuations of consciousness. I began to realize that thoughts make great servants, but terrible masters, and I came to believe that I was more than my thoughts. Beneath the layers of all my thinking and desires I found a stillness. I experienced silence. Peace melted with my breath's rhythm. Inspired by this experience I went on to study Yoga further and became a certified teacher.

In 2002, I started studying Ayurveda at Maharishi University through the introduction of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Transcendental Meditation technique. While I was there I was fortunate to study with world renowned physicist and Vedic Science teacher, Dr. John Haeglin. Since then, I have studied with one of the foremost Western Buddhist Scholars and best selling author Lama Surya Das, Dr. Mark Halpern of the California College of Ayurveda, and most recently Drs. Brian and Light Miller of the Florida Vedic College, where I was individually selected by them as a Pancha Karma apprentice. I have received my certification in Reiki levels I and II, I am a certified yoga teacher, licensed massage therapist, and recipient of an associates degree in Dhanvantari Ayurveda from the Florida Vedic College.

I have to give credit, however, to my greatest Teacher which I have not received a degree for: the constant query, movement, and exploration from imbalance to balance, the unfoldment of the Self and constant becoming. As a practitioner it is my greatest desire to encourage the awareness of this unfoldment within my clients. Truly, our greatest Teacher exists within our own experience, and the deep wisdom of our very being. We can progress toward the Divinity within ourSelf, through the cultivation of inner peace and the realization of our unique purpose.

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