Erika Carlson

Erika Carlson is a Yoga Alliance RYT 200 yoga instructor, presently offering studio classes at New Milford Fitness & Aquatics Center in New Milford, CT, the Mayflower Inn & Spa in Washington, CT, and at Hawley Elementary School in Newtown, CT.  Previously, Erika taught yoga class at Full Circle Yoga School in Big Pine Key, FL, as well as for Monroe County District employees in Key West, as well as private/small group sessions in-person and live, online.  In addition to a personalized yoga experience, Erika offers private sessions of guided meditations that focus on the healing powers of light and visualization.  

Shortly after relocating to the Florida Keys, Erika received the unfortunate news that her mother’s cancer had returned and was terminal.  Feeling depressed and helpless, Erika rediscovered her yoga practice at Full Circle Wellness in Big Pine Key, Florida. While regularly attending classes, Erika began to find healing for herself and started to recognize how she could use her growing practice that encompasses her dance training and academic background to send healing and universal understanding out into the world. Her evolving practice as both a yoga student and teacher have assisted her in opening up and allowing herself to receive healing visions of light and consciousness, which she implements into her classes as well as in guided meditations.

Erika encompasses a lifelong relationship with physical movement and breath.  While receiving ballet and modern dance training from New York City Ballet principal dancers, as well as Momix and Pilobolus headliners, she began performing throughout New England with the modern dance company, BluDance Theater.  Her mentor and inspiration for dance, Kelly Holcombe, was the first person to introduce yoga to Erika as a form of finding a place of calm in the midst of balancing life as a teen dancer. Although she loved working and training as a modern dancer, Erika had difficulty finding peace amongst the pressures of physical appearance in the dance world, and chose to pursue a career in education, finding herself working with middle school students who were often in need of self-love and healing. By mindfully utilizing her past professional trainings and putting them to work in yoga, Erika provides a unique experience that invites all yogis, both new and experienced to move and live freely in the rays of their shining lights.