Gioconda Parker

I have been practicing yoga for 20 years, and teaching for 19. After my fifth yoga class, I knew I wanted to become a yoga teacher. My teacher training was a five-year internship style program.  I spent hundreds of hours with my teacher, as his student, assistant, and helper.

I also spent ten years under the guidance of a spiritual teacher, from whom I learned meditation, the heart of devotion and relentless self inquiry. However, my greatest lesson came through the dissolution of our community and my choice to part ways with him. This journey more than any in my life challenged me to take responsibility for my own actions and for my own growth, and while it was difficult, I took this time to dive more deeply into studies in yoga, Ayurveda and philosophy, and became the lead teacher in the first teacher training of a prominent Austin yoga studio.

I continued to study and practice yoga—journeyed to India and Thailand—and upon my return continued to lead and to develop more teacher training programs, as well as international yoga retreats. In 2013, I completed my Master’s Degree in Spiritual Psychology and in 2014 I completed the three year training program in Somatic Experiencing and began seeing clients as part of my post training work. I became an SEP (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner) in June of 2016. 

I teach Vinyasa Yoga, Yin Yoga and Partnered Thai Massage, meditation and pranayama, the foundations of Ayurveda, and am well studied in the Yoga Sutras and other significant yogic texts. In addition, I have studied world religions, have been trained as a life coach, and completed a year-long energy healing course. I am an eternal student, and have found this supports my continued passion for teaching and mentoring. I love sharing what I know, learning what my students know, and having the opportunity to invest in my students with the same loving care my teachers invested in me.