The Grateful Yogi

The decision was a divine blessing that became clear after a tragic experience. Ashley was working in Santa Monica at the time at Exhale Center for Sacred Movement one of the nation’s most renowned yoga studios when she received a phone call at work from her father. He told her that her best friend, Sarah was gone; her fiancé had killed her than committed suicide. Ashley couldn’t breathe. She ran out of the studio and tried to breathe but couldn’t. A co-worker told her to go take some time. So she walked a few blocks to the beach and proceeded to lay in the sand, close her eyes and draw sand angels with her arms. Then within 10 minutes of hearing the news of her best friends death, there she was! Ashley had a vision that was clear, real and sacred.

Sarah came to her as she was lying in the sand with a message. “Live every breath as if it was your last, do what you love, and love yourself!” Ashley and Sarah grew up always trying all the fad diets and workouts, (Sarah took Ashley to her very first Bikram yoga class) always going to extremes to look a certain way. Yet in this vision, Sarah was the most beautiful she had ever looked, dressed like a goddess laying on a chariot with her sexy librarian glasses, she said, “Ash, forgive him, I did, please help my mom and rest of my family and friends share that I am finally at peace, and I’m with my dad.”

This moment, made Ashley realize, 2 things, the importance of FORGIVENESS and “DO WHAT YOU LOVE!” It was right there on that sand that her life’s purpose was all of a sudden clearer than ever before. Spreading joy, and self-love through yoga and her gratitude for every breath is what she began sharing in her yoga classes from that day onward. Fast forward a few years, she received another message from Sarah in a dream! In this dream she was at the very first Bikram yoga studio in Las Vegas she ever went to, and she was teaching a Bhakti yoga class with Sarah, and the rest of her family.

This woke Ashley up and she went online and immediately googled that studio and saw that it was now for rent. * Here, it was clear the next chapter on her path was to open a yoga studio in her hometown. To give back to the community that she grew up in the gift of yoga and gratitude. Bhakti, devotion or heart of yoga through service is the style that resonates the deepest and she is humbled and honored to open the first Bhakti Studio in her hometown. (*The Grateful Yogi isn’t located in that same studio, but in a space that resonated deeply with Ashley and is in her old stomping grounds of Summerlin where she grew up)

Mission Statement

The Grateful Yogi is passionate about Bhakti yoga, devotional heart-opening yoga, and to help our Las Vegas community heal through these yoga practices including self-love, physical and spiritual health, community, music, creativity and relaxation. Our purpose is to help our students find ease and comfort in their own skin and voice through the healing power of Bhakti Yoga.