welcome!

Thanks for stopping by Donuts + Down Dog! When I graduated college in 2012 I was juggling a lot; learning what life was like without the structure of college athletics, coping with the recent death of my mom after a long battle with colon cancer, and building my career in Seattle’s wild tech scene. Like most twenty-somethings, I felt isolated. Instagram was just starting to take off (SERIOUSLY dating myself here), and I turned to the app to find community. I missed the community of college athletics, I wanted to find vegan recipes that weren’t going to completely destroy my 23-year-old budget, and wanted to find people who didn’t think I was completely insane when I suggested we try cryotherapy.

I found a lot of that in my late night scrolling, but I also found a lot of stuff that, frankly, made no damn sense. I saw bloggers pushing 10 day juice cleanses, famous yoga teachers demanding their students practice for a minimum of 90 minutes a day in a hot room, and laxative teas galore. Mostly, though, I saw a lot of really awful, if not downright dangerous, advice around how to be “healthy” and “fit”. I distinctly remember thinking; “If I just finished training at the college level and I think this stuff is overwhelming, I can’t be alone.” I wanted straight-forward advice from somebody that I could trust, workouts that wouldn’t take me 3 hours to complete, recipes that weren’t just cult-y diets and disguise, and ultimately, a version of wellness that felt sustainable. Since I couldn’t find it, I set off to create it myself.

I’m a holistic health and fitness coach, which means that I work with women to empower them to find their own version of strength and energy in a way that doesn’t suck. I don’t believe in one-size-fits-all training plans. I don’t believe in scarcity diets or militant meditation schedules. Instead, I do the heavy lifting (pun intended!) of investigating what works and why, and then share that information with you through informative blog posts, workout classes, 1:1 coaching, wellness guides, and more. Think of me as your very honest, very unfiltered wellness BFF. I promise to never bullshit you. Or try to sell you laxative teas. Or to put you on a diet. You deserve so much better than that.

The name Donuts + Down Dog came to life in 2016. I was teaching at a yoga studio a few blocks away from one of my favorite donut shops, and went so regularly after class that I knew all the staff. On a more serious note, it represents my approach to holistic wellness and fitness. I believe strongly that true wellness and lifelong fitness can and should be balanced.