Stephanie Estice

Stephanie attended her first yoga class in 1992 while she was living in New York City. She didn't love the poses, but at that first class, while lying in savasana, she knew there was something - a connection to a certain feeling that was familiar and felt good. Walking home that evening Stephanie felt like she was experiencing the streets as a different person than the one who had walked into that yoga studio an hour earlier. This led to an exploration of all the yoga classes that Stephanie could find in NYC at that time; she fell in love with aspects of many styles. In time, that sense of connection she experienced in her first yoga class led to a calling to a meditation practice.

Stephanie has been blessed to sit with beautiful teachers from varied traditions. She has deep love and respect for the teachers of mindfulness and heart-centered teachings, including those who have offered trainings to the Yoga on High community. On her personal quest, she has been called to spend years deepening with teachers who are considered by many as modern mystics: Jeddah Mali and Thomas Hübl; she also studies the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother. Their common focus is a deep attunement to the subtle energy that we are. As such, Stephanie considers her energy work (Reiki, Polarity Therapy) to be an extension of her practice of meditation.

In 2012 Stephanie started her Urban Zen Integrative Therapy training. The combination of elements of yoga therapy, essential oil therapy and reiki therapy is deeply supportive to those in the stressful situations of hospitals and hospice and to those facing the challenges of everyday life. Some of the many things that have deepened for Stephanie as a result of Urban Zen training are a love of reiki, a respect for essential oils, and a much deeper understanding of a sense of grounding and embodiment.

Stephanie is grateful to her teachers and mentors and for the chance to share with others through her work as a mentor and teacher. Everyday Stephanie sees opportunities for learning and growth that appear in her practices and in her relationships - with those closest to her as well as with those she hardly knows, and all in between. Some days her vision has more clarity than others, but each day brings another opportunity to allow the lens to be clear, to remember, to be with the experiences that arise in each moment.