Origins

Welcome to Bodymind Teaching

My name is Tara, and I’m the founder of Bodymind Teaching, an educational consulting platform rooted in mindfulness, individualized education, and the belief that learning is a soul-level journey. This work began as Bodymind Learning, an educational services business that I founded in 2017.

Bodymind Learning was born from my years in the classroom as a special education teacher in New York City’s public schools. I moved between schools that were often described as “challenging,” with students labeled “at risk.” But I saw something else: young people with extraordinary capacity, each possessing unique gifts. Many had ADHD, learning disabilities, or social-emotional challenges—but even more simply, they needed their learning needs to be truly seen and met.

I started integrating mindfulness into my public school teaching out of necessity. Test anxiety was rampant, attention was fractured, and traditional methods often missed the mark. Inspired by my training with organizations such as Mission Be, Mindful Schools, and the Association for Mindfulness in Education, I began incorporating various techniques into the classroom—moments of silence, progressive relaxation (a form of guided meditation), and mental rehearsal to prepare before tests. Students responded with unexpected depth—some said these practices helped to calm their minds for the first time.

Meanwhile, my need for nervous system healing was mirroring that of my students. As a single mom navigating the grind of city life, I battled cognitive fog during the day and lay awake at night, my mind unable to slow down. Like many early- and mid-career special education teachers, I found myself in a state of chronic overwhelm due to the relentless daily demands of the job. (Nearly half of new special education teachers leave the profession within their first five years.) I turned to yoga and began exploring how energy flows and is regulated in the body, guided by both ancient wisdom traditions and embodied practice. As I applied these practices in my own life, I began to see a profound connection between embodied awareness and cognitive functioning—and how essential this is for both students and teachers.

My next professional step was a conscious one: a Quaker school for students with learning disabilities, where silence and reflection were woven into the rhythm of daily life. I was given space and encouragement to experiment with bodymind approaches in my classroom and small groups—and for the first time, my educational philosophy and professional role were in alignment.

It was during this time that I formally began Bodymind Learning, a tutoring business grounded in the same bodymind principles I practiced in the classroom. Working one-on-one allowed me to go even deeper with students—building on what I had done in the classroom to support not just academic growth, but also attention and focus, learning anxiety, and executive functioning. I integrated mindfulness tools and techniques into each session, and students began to notice meaningful changes. They not only made academic progress; they began to feel more grounded, capable, and present. Many wanted even more of these practices.

Through my tutoring practice and over a decade of classroom teaching, I developed the core ideas that now shape Bodymind Teaching—a professional development and consulting platform dedicated to bringing bodymind principles into the heart of instructional practice. These experiences showed me how mindfulness, movement, and embodied awareness can transform both learning and teaching. Today, I help educators cultivate soul-aligned pedagogy that honors each student’s unique path, while also supporting their own clarity, well-being, and presence in the classroom.

If your school is seeking to bring more presence, soul, and embodied wisdom into its teaching culture, I’d be honored to support your team through Bodymind Teaching.