My name is Haley Darling Carter and I am a Yoga Alliance 200-Hour Registered Yoga Teacher based out of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. I graduated from the Teacher Training program at mang’Oh Yoga Studio in the Fall of 2020 and began teaching as an independent instructor shortly thereafter. I’ve enjoyed teaching my family and friends but I am ready to take my business to the next level and launch this website and my Instagram page!
While I only became a certified instructor a short time ago, yoga has been in my life for over 8 years. I first discovered yoga during high school while looking for a way to effectively stretch my muscles throughout the volleyball season. I began going to a weekly class at Gold’s Gym in my hometown and soon found myself falling in love with yoga’s additional benefits beyond just stretching: the relaxation, the improvement in balance, and the unique muscle strengthening of the practice.
I wish I could say yoga has been a constant in my life since our first encounter but, throughout the rest of high school and college, my relationship with yoga could be better described as on-again, off-again. I would run to yoga when stress and anxiety filled my life, practice religiously for a few weeks, and then stop as quickly as I had started when life evened out. It wasn’t until I graduated college and moved to Manhattan when I came to realize that the anxiety and unease came a lot less frequently when I had a consistent yoga routine (or, when I entered the real world, the stress became nonstop and yoga was my only refuge; it’s really hard to tell). After this, I began attending yoga classes across the city and, soon, started considering becoming a teacher myself.
In the early months of 2020, I had been going to mang’Oh at least once a week and saw that they offered Teacher Trainings. I reached out to the studio director to learn more about the classes and made the decision to apply to the program when the application opened. However, a few months later, the Covid-19 pandemic began and I found myself without a job and without a clear path forward. While this was a scary situation at first, the free time gave me an opportunity to evaluate my next steps in life and my career and I eventually decided to continue pursuing a 200-Hour RYT certification while also shifting career paths into the legal field.
Yoga Teacher Training was an absolutely unforgettable experience and one I will cherish the rest of my life. Although my fellow trainees and I were physically separated due to the pandemic, we were able to connect with each other and our teachers on a level I could have never imagined. Seeing the passion everyone had for the practice of yoga was inspiring and further bolstered my determination to teach. I have spent the past few months teaching those close to me but I am ready to spread my love for yoga to everyone who will listen.
As a budding yoga teacher, I appreciate your support as I start this next chapter in my journey. Please reach out with any feedback you may have that can help strengthen my abilities as an instructor.
Now, let’s get started!
Namaste,
