My Story
I’ve been a spiritual seeker for as long as I can remember. The big questions came early: Why am
I here? What happens after death? Have I lived before? Is there a path meant for me? The search for answers only deepened the mystery.
Early Spiritual Foundations
I grew up going to church and singing in the choir, loving the sacred stillness that followed the final note of a hymn. My mind was curious and busy, but that quiet pause — like ripples expanding across water — felt profound.
In high school, I was introduced to Reiki by a mentor. Alongside the intuitive awareness I had always known, I discovered a natural ability for hands-on healing. I completed Reiki I and II, and later my Reiki Master training.
Discovering Yoga
In 1996, Yoga entered my life. At 18, while visiting a friend in San Francisco, I laughed my way through my first awkward poses. Months later, as a freshman at Boston University needing a gym credit, I enrolled in a class. My nervous system was jumpy, my mind easily distracted, and I could barely hold my arms up in the poses. But with steady practice, yoga began to work on me. Strength and stamina grew — and so did moments of deep stillness.
I left school the next year to pursue surfing and moved to Puerto Rico, dedicating myself to the ocean while continuing a self-guided yoga practice. Books, breath, body, and the sea became my guides.
Massage, Astrology, and Healing
In 2000, I returned to Maine and enrolled at Downeast School of Massage Therapy, studying anatomy, physiology, and kinesiology and learning to work skillfully with injury and recovery.
During that time, astrology entered my life through a teacher who was also a practicing astrologer.
My first chart reading stunned me with its accuracy and insight. Astrology offered a symbolic language to better understand my life and relationships, and I began studying and interpreting charts for others.
It was a profound blessing to cross paths with a wise and seasoned astrologer who taught me that the first step to understanding astrology is to study your own natal chart — and the direction within — again and again. Knowledge of my deeper layers — the light and the dark, the easeful and the challenging aspects, the choices and opportunities available — has given me a framework to guide others in their own exploration.
I am currently enrolled in Steven Forrest’s School for Evolutionary Astrology, and it has been a delight to immerse more deeply with this master teacher, whose books have been foundational to my journey as an astrologer.
Teaching Yoga
In 2002, injury shifted everything. My intense physical yoga practice was no longer accessible, and soon after, a car accident deepened my physical challenges. Unable to rely on movement to quiet my frustrated mind, I turned inward and immersed myself in the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, the ancient Sanskrit text that outlines the daily practice of calming the fluctuations of the mind and discovering the true nature of the consciousness.
What first felt intellectual came alive when I heard it chanted in Sanskrit in the traditional oral lineage by Carmina Rafferty and Bhavani Maki. Carmina held a weekly class, and my passion for chanting the Yoga Sutra grew like wildfire. When she moved away, she told me it was time for me to begin teaching her Yoga Sutra class at Yoga East. This eventually led to guest teaching at other yoga schools around New England.
Yoga, pranayama, and meditation integrated naturally with my massage practice and became powerful tools to help clients accelerate physical healing, calm the mind, and regulate the nervous system. I began offering one-on-one sessions and small group classes. The results were inspiring and impactful, and I loved teaching.
During these years, I had a young son and daughter, a thriving massage and Reiki practice at a beloved local wellness center, and taught surfing in the summers. I offered astrological chart readings and taught astrology classes at Blue Tree Reiki in York Village.
I had been a dedicated student of yoga for 16 years — 12 of those studying with Kimberly Dahlmann at Yoga East — and in 2013 completed a teacher training with her. I still consider myself a student of yoga first and a teacher second. My teaching is informed by my daily practice, continued study with the teachers who came before me, and the experience of working with my students.
A Time of Transformation
In March 2020, my massage practice closed, along with much of the world. I stopped teaching my weekly Yoga Sutra class. My children’s school closed, and we were home together in isolation. My father’s cancer returned, and I was with him during his hospice journey. One of our closest friends died unexpectedly. I faced physical and mental health challenges. My children graduated and left home.
It was a time of personal and collective uncertainty — and deep transformation. The life I had known before the worldwide shutdown was gone.
Beginning Again
A life-changing trip to Peru. Learning to snowboard at 41. Assisting on a yoga retreat in Italy.
Reviving my weekly Yoga Sutra chanting class at Yoga East and expanding into new teaching spaces, including the Viewpoint Hotel in York, Maine. Deepening my study of all 4 books of the Yoga Sutra with Bhavani Maki. Traveling, surfing, healing, and finding solid ground again.
This website is the first time all of my offerings are gathered in one place and available worldwide. I share my story in the hope that you feel resonance — and see your own opportunity for growth and healing.
Today, I offer private sessions, group classes, workshops, and astrology readings — all designed to help you explore, grow, and reconnect with yourself.
May you feel inspired to step into your journey with curiosity and trust that change, serenity, and healing are within reach.
I look forward to working with you.
— Laura
I would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for sharing their time, energy, knowledge, experience, and love through the years:
Rev. Faith Benedetti, my beloved first Reiki mentor
Annie Wyman, Rolfer and teacher at Downeast School of Massage, who gave me a wonderful working knowledge of anatomy, and Jeanne Gaudette, who first opened the world of Astrology to me.
David Swenson, whom I took my first week long Yoga Teacher Training with in 2002, and who taught me to keep a sense of humor when teaching Yoga.
Nancy Gilgoff, who deepened my understanding of practicing Yoga on the path of Motherhood in 2009.
Nicki Doane, Kofi Busia, Eddie Modestini, Sharat and Saraswati Jois, and all the teachers who have helped to deepen and expand my experience of Yoga in new and challenging directions.
Eileen Prescott- who always challenged me to look deeper into Astrology, and gave me the confidence to continue on the path with her clear Aquarian nature and loving Venus in Pisces.
Carmina Rafferty, for igniting the spark of the Yoga Sutra in my heart, and for encouraging me to teach always.
Bhavani Maki, for her years of weekly mentorship through the 4 books of the Yoga Sutra, and always sharing her new discoveries, laughter, and wisdom.
Kimberly Dahlmann, for 27 years of teachings on the practices of Yoga, founding Yoga East and keeping the space of Yoga East open for 2 decades, and for her mentorship on the path of Yoga, always.
And to my forever teachers, my husband Dave, son Aidan, and daughter Lucinda.
