Namaste! My name is Katharine Joann Elise Ziegler, but you may call me Katie Jo. Inspiring others to discover their own passion for knowledge has always been my dream, whether that manifests through magick, mathematics, movement, or music. I have always found that my mind is most still when I’m focused on my body and my breath. I practice yoga to carve out time to relax and relieve stress as well as to improve my flexibility, my posture, my strength, and my balance. I like to use aromatherapy, candles, soft music, lots of props, and shades of purple to create a safe, serene, sacred space. As an aspiring astrophysicist and astrologer, I bring a perspective that balances science and spirituality to the yoga teacher community.
Based in Royal Oak, Clawson, and Birmingham, Michigan, I am currently teaching hatha, prenatal, restorative, and yin yoga throughout the Detroit metropolitan area. In addition to teaching yoga, I specialize in tutoring physics, mathematics, and astronomy, but I can also tutor French, English, psychology, chemistry, and standardized test prep (SAT, ACT, GRE). Please visit my sister site Nocturne Tutoring to learn more about my tutoring offerings if that piques your curiosity.
My yoga adventure began with a kundalini yoga class taught by Phil Barth at Fire Horse Yoga, Massage & Wellness in Jasper, Indiana and continued with one of my favorite University Honors Program finals week traditions at Purdue University: Inner Peace taught by Catharine Patrone. As a graduate student in physics and astronomy & astrophysics at the University of Chicago, I primarily practiced restorative and gentle hatha yoga with Meredith Haggarty in the magnificent chancel of Rockefeller Memorial Chapel and completed two yoga malas with her at Bond Chapel. I also performed sun salutations in the snow on the shore of Lake Michigan as part of Kuviasungnerk/Kangeiko and attended vinyasa yoga classes at Millennium Park and the Adler Planetarium during the summers. During my frequent visits back to Purdue University, I occasionally took aerial yoga classes at Studio Soar in West Lafayette, Indiana. While living in Indianapolis, I mostly practiced yin yoga and candlelight flow yoga with Karyn Hajewski and Chia Bush at Studio You Yoga in Greenwood, Indiana. I would love to delve into Iyengar, kundalini, and aerial yoga more in the future.
I completed my RYT 200 Hatha Yoga Teacher Training with Tina Drew at Fire Horse Yoga, Massage & Wellness in Jasper, Indiana, in January of 2017, my Yin Yoga Teacher Training in March of 2018 at Tree House in Indianapolis, and my RPYT Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training with Elise Bowerman at Sweet Momma Yoga in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in May of 2019. I taught a Friday morning guided imagery meditation class for two years as part of the Twenty Minutes Still series at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. I hosted a social event for the Women in Physics and Astronomy Mentoring Program called Yoga, Bonfire, and S’mores at Promontory Point in Chicago. Before moving to Michigan in August of 2018, I taught yin yoga and goat yoga at Studio You Yoga in Greenwood, Indiana. In summer 2019, I taught prenatal yoga at Detroit Mama Hub and gentle hatha yoga at Pembroke Park in Birmingham, Michigan. On the Autumn Equinox of 2020, I auspiciously bought an avantgarden abode and atelier in Royal Oak, Michigan. In November, I launched the grand (online) opening of Lotus Lune, my very own in-home yoga studio, with a virtual prenatal yoga series via Facebook Live.