About Maura

Maura Brickman E-RYT 200+

Hi Everyone!  Thank you for visiting my website!  My name is Maura and I am a yoga instructor living in the mountains of Colorado.  I teach in person yoga and self-myofascial release (MFR) classes locally near Vail and Beaver Creek ski resorts. I also teach 2 live online classes each week that are recorded and accessible via my online yoga studio for monthly members. Additionally, I am available for in person or online private yoga sessions if you are interested in a more personalized experience. 

Background and general approach to yoga

I have been teaching yoga for almost 20 years and have experienced a wide range of yoga practices and philosophies over the years.  As a teacher and yoga practitioner, I choose to focus on the science behind the physical practices of yoga and breath, and how that connection can naturally influence our nervous system and mental health in positive ways.  I do not believe that yoga is a cure all or that there is only one way to practice or participate, but rather that yoga can be a self care tool that you use in combination with other systems of support in order to create a feeling of health and balance in your life, and that you can adapt your yoga practice to meet your individual needs each day.  I therefore offer a variety of classes and techniques in my online yoga studio, ranging from challenging vinyasa, to slow flow, restorative, and MFR recovery as a way to support you as a member, and/or individually when working one on one.

My yoga origin story

I was first introduced to the Yogic Sun Salutations as a warm up when I was on the springboard diving team in high school.  That's when my curiosity of yoga first began.  As a former diver and gymnast, the physical movements of yoga were similar in many ways and that sparked my interest at an early age. I took a few random yoga classes during that time, and mostly laughed a lot with other friends who joined me in trying something new and somewhat awkward.  I then went on to college out of state, and during my freshman and sophomore years, I began to feel significant stress and anxiety.  I ended up speaking to a counselor who recommended yoga as a way to help with learning to breath in a way that would calm my mind and body.  It was then that I began taking yoga classes on a more regular basis.  I enjoyed the challenge of the poses, and how it made me feel overall.  I was also an avid skier/snowboarder at the time, and ended up feeling some pain in my back after years of repetitive wipe outs, and I eventually went to a chiropractor for relief.  That is when I made the connection and realized that when my back felt better after an adjustment, if I wanted it to remain in proper alignment, I would need to strengthen the muscles and connective tissue (CT) around the bones in order to keep everything in place, and that much of the basis of the yoga postures was to assist the body in doing just that.  Going to a chiropractor can be helpful, but also very expensive and doesn't solve the CT issue. I then thought, if I can train the tissues to help maintain the bones in proper alignment through a yoga practice that I enjoy while also relieving physical pain and discomfort on my own, that would be great for me and my wallet!  I'm not saying that I don't ever need a little extra hands on help from my local chiropractor, who is also trained in ART (active release technique), but I do feel that yoga can be a compliment to that kind of care, in addition to other forms of body work, medical and mental health care, sports, activities, lifestyles, and work depending on what your personal needs are at the time. I especially like how you can also adapt what you do in a yoga practice to meet the needs that you have at any given time in life depending on where you are at in your own personal journey. 

Kundalini Yoga (part of my background, but the training was run by a harmful cult, and I have chosen to no longer teach, practice, or promote these techniques.)

Once I finished college, and was dating my now spouse, I discovered Kundalini Yoga, while living in Durango, Colorado.  This practice was very interesting to me, as I felt a very powerful effect after practicing it for the first time, due to the intensity of the practice and unique breathing techniques.  It was different than anything else I had come across, with the breathing and the mantras, and the claims of it being an ancient technology designed to help numerous mental and physical ailments each one with it's own specific "Kriya". I was enchanted by this "secret/sacred" practice and enjoyed the "high" that it gave me, which is what inspired me to dive deeper into its traditions. I participated in a White Tantric Yoga class in NM in 2003 where I again had a profound and interesting experience. Then in 2005 I went to New Mexico for a 21 day 200hr YTT in this tradition, which is something I would like to write more about separately someday, but for now I just wanted to share with you that I had this very significant experience as it is a part of my yogic journey. However, I no longer practice nor teach these techniques due to the fact that the "guru" founder was actually a criminal and did things that are not in alignment with my morals or ethics, and I do not agree that you can "separate the teacher from the teachings" when the teacher made most of it up in order to create a cult and gain power over vulnerable people who were eager to learn and had good intentions. I can't say that my experience with KY was all bad, because it wasn't.  I met some cool people, developed a daily yoga and meditation practice, and the meditations I learned and practiced both helped and hindered my own personal healing over the years. Eventually, I stopped practicing and teaching the more active kriyas once I became pregnant with my first child due to the fact that they just didn't support my physical body pre- or post-natal needs at the time. The rigorous movements caused pain and irritation, thus no time for that as a new mom. I did however enjoy some of the more gentle KY meditations over the years leading up to 2020 while also practicing Yoga Medicine's hatha yoga techniques and Headspace meditations. Then, once the truth about Yogi Bhajan and the Kundalini Yoga organization came out was when I decided to fully stop practicing this type of yoga. 

Hatha/Vinyasa Yoga

After that first YTT experience, and as a new teacher, I continued to take classes in Hatha and Vinyasa yoga with some of my favorite instructors at the studios where I worked. That is when I became motivated to take another 200hr yoga teacher training in 2009, this time in Hatha/Vinyasa Yoga Interdisciplinary. So, at the end of the ski season that year, I traveled from Colorado to Massachusetts (my state of origin) to study for a month with Jennifer Yarro at Frog Lotus Yoga in the Berkshires. This training consisted of a small group of all women. It was a positive experience, this time at an active yoga studio where we were not only immersed in our yogic studies but also had the opportunity to apply and observe what were learning in real time by being able to attend and participate in the public classes once we completed our YTT requirements for the day.  I feel this training gave me a solid foundation of the basics of all types yoga, its traditions, philosophies, meditation, anatomy, asana (poses), sequencing for hatha and vinyasa classes, and how to teach and assist students verbally, using props, and hands on. This experience along with the previous ones has contributed significantly to the development of a daily yoga practice over the years, and has created the foundation of support that I lean on still today as a way to care for my own mental and physical health. A daily yoga practice has worked well as an adjunct to the other resources I've used and needed over the years, especially through some of the more challenging times.

Tiffany Cruickshank and Yoga Medicine

I took my first class with Tiffany Cruickshank at a yoga festival in Colorado shortly after having my first child, in 2010. I really enjoyed this class and learned some very helpful cues especially for chaturanga and my shoulders which have always been tense and tight.  Soon after that is when I moved from my small mountain town in Colorado back to a more populated area in Massachusetts.  I thought that I would find the person I wanted to study with to get my 500hr yoga certification there since I'd have access to more classes and advanced instructors. However, after venturing out and trying many different teachers in the area, I did not feel drawn to anyone in particular to continue my advanced yoga studies with in person. I soon became pregnant with my second child, and during that time is when online yoga really started to take off. I tried many different online yoga platforms and instructors, and eventually landed in Yoga glo where Tiffany was an instructor.  I was able to take a weekend class with her in Boston after I had my second child, which was awesome, and that was when I began considering that she was the person I really wanted to take continuing education classes from.  Soon after that experience, I became pregnant with my third child, thus, my goals of becoming a Yoga Medicine instructor had to be put on hold for a while. In the meantime, I continued to practice online with Tiffany exclusively. Her classes, cueing, techniques, and perspectives all resonated with me physically and mentally, and it came to a point where I didn't feel the need or desire to practice yoga with anyone else. This gave me the opportunity to really feel in my own body and mind the benefits of these Yoga Medicine techniques that Tiffany was sharing. Her more scientific approach and knowledge of anatomy matched with my own experience of the positive effects after taking her classes, and this built up my confidence and trust in her as a teacher. I continued to practice with Tiffany online, learned the sequences, and would even share many of the techniques with the students I was teaching in my own classes for the next decade. During this time, I was waiting and hoping that someday I would be able to start a more in depth training with her, and learn the science and anatomical reasoning behind the creative yoga sequences that Tiffany, the founder of Yoga Medicine, was sharing. Once the pandemic hit in 2020, Tiffany put her YM training modules online, and I was finally able to begin my journey into getting an additional 300hrs of yoga training in order to become a 500hr Yoga Medicine instructor. 

Each Yoga Medicine training module consists of detailed anatomy, function, dysfunction, and yoga therapeutic techniques for each area of the body, hips, shoulders, spine, etc.  I have completed the 55hr shoulder module, the 55hr hip module, the 55hr Spine Module, the 55hr Myofascial Release Module, the 25 hour Athletes Module, and the 25 hour Women's health Module. I am now working to complete my case study hours which, once complete, will give me the 500hr Yoga Medicine instructor status, and will leave me well prepared to work more one on one with clients who want that specialized attention. I also started my online yoga studio in 2021, right at the same time that I began my journey to becoming a 500hr YM instructor, thus all of my online class recordings reflect on what I have learned over the years in these Yoga Medicine trainings. 

What keeps me practicing yoga

I am so grateful to have had access to online yoga, in particular, the Yoga Medicine classes/trainings and to the various techniques and teachings over the years, as it has been in many moments in my life, a saving grace for my sanity especially while in the throws of the extreme stress that I dealt with during the times when my children were so young and life for me was less stable.  I had this one "constant", my yoga practice, where I could take a break from everything else, lay out my mat, take time to myself to reset, recharge, and reconnect to my physical body, recognize my strength, calm my nervous system, and relieve some of the aches and pains that came with the demands of my life, mentally and physically. And, although my journey has had some ups and downs and hasn't been perfect, I can say, to this day, that my yoga and meditation practice is something that helps me to feel better and stronger in numerous ways. I am reminded of all the good in my life and in myself, and that is why I keep practicing and choose to teach it to others, so that hopefully I can help others feel continue to feel good too.