Katherine Valde

Katherine’s classes include challenging physical movement because it helps students gain access to the inner landscape of their minds and hearts. Katherine’s sequences are rooted in alignment in an effort to create focus and presence. Above all, Katherine’s classes invite students not to take ourselves too seriously, to make mistakes, to try new things, and question our patterns. Katherine came to yoga after running distance in high school and playing tennis in college left her body with serious pain, injuries, and general immobility. Through consistent practice, her fingers did eventually come to into contact with her toes, but more importantly she found (as many other have) that the value of yoga was ultimately not about learning to touch your toes, but about what you learn on the way down. Katherine completed her 200-hr RYT training at Back Bay Yoga in Boston, MA in 2014 while she was pursuing her PhD in philosophy at Boston University. In 2019 Katherine found herself moving to Spartanburg, South Carolina to work as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Wofford College. While in Spartanburg, Katherine found yoga community teaching at studios in Spartanburg, leading classes on campus for students, faculty, and staff, and taking Wofford students on retreat to Nicaragua each January. Starting in fall 2024, Katherine is accepting a new job teaching philosophy at Loyola University- Chicago, and she is looking forward to finding her new yoga community in Chicago.