North PNW Yoga Founder: Cara VanDyke
Cara VanDyke holding the abhaya hridaya mudra in front of a mural of Mt. Rainier at a studio space in Seattle.
As part of my introduction, I decided to fill out the same survey that other featured instructors on North PNW Yoga respond to! I established this newsletter and website to celebrate the community I call home and to raise awareness of the healing opportunity with yoga. My yoga practice deepened while living in Seattle and after moving back North in 2021, I found a rich tapestry of practitioners sharing the yoga practice.
Originally from Mount Vernon, I grew up spending a lot of time in Bellingham with my extended family. I am now located in Everett and enjoy my personal practice through raising my young son.
Name: Cara VanDyke
Practice with me at: Cara Jane Holistics - Schedule
How did you get started with yoga? Until I decided to take myself on a yoga retreat in 2016, yoga and I had been circling around each other since elementary school. The Retreat was a “steal” — a 3 day, 2 night event hosted by Free People in the beautiful wine country of California with an incredible yoga instructor. That yoga instructor showed me the depths of yoga including a reminder that it was okay to feel all the feelings I had repressed.
What inspired you to become a yoga instructor? After that first yoga retreat, I went on one more to Hawaii and became hooked on: mantras (chanting), fluid movements connected to breath, and meditation. Those two retreats found me in a quick-follow circa 2017 to take a yoga teacher training in Seattle based on the Anusara teaching lineage. I’ve been teaching since then with two focuses: (1) to help others understand the depth offered by the practice, and (2) practicing for longevity through understanding functional anatomy.
How do you like to practice yoga off the mat?Yoga off the mat for me looks like energy management and noticing my reactions. I don’t know if I really like it, but yoga has given me the understanding of when I may have pushed too hard or to notice when I am caught up in a reaction cycle. My emotional intelligence has improved and I would like to think I am a nicer person. When times get really rough, I lean on mantra to guide my focus.
Who are some of your favorite yoga instructors? Janet Stone and Tracee Stanley are currently my instructors for deepening my understanding of the 8 Limbs of Yoga. I appreciate the depths of their practice and how they reflect back their integrations and understandings to other practitioners — it is masterful.
What makes you happy? Why? I find joy exploring the great outdoors, visiting places new and old, and spending time with my husband and son. These activities offer me a reminder of my place amongst the bigger things in life, including love.
If your best friend was in town, what would you do with them? Where would you go?
Grab a coffee and treat at Narrative in Everett
Take a drive North or East of Everett to the wilderness for a hike and forest bath
Find a late lunch / early dinner in the next town from our hike — a pint will definitely be ordered
Cara (she / her) shares teachings that honor the roots and traditions of yoga. You can count on her to create a safe and judgement-free space where every student can develop a personal practice that extends off the mat and into their life.
Website:https://www.carajaneholistics.com/
Instagram: @itgal2yogini & @northpnwyoga