About

Who is the Worry Warrior?

In 2012 Irene decided to pursue her 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification. During this journey she realized that WORRY embodied her spirit and passions perfectly. She decided to seek better balance in her life with the elements of WORRY and the WORRY Warrior was born! Irene is a mother of a beautiful baby boy with a demanding career, a loving husband and a Great Dane. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and is enthusiastic about all things Disney, technology and healthy living. Irene firmly believes that life is all about balance. Living in the present and loving with all of your heart is the best way to live the healthiest life possible!

Wine

I discovered the joy of drinking wine on our honeymoon. My husband was really into the idea of wine and I wasn’t much for drinking. On our honeymoon he was determined to introduce me to the joy of wine. I sampled a few things and begin to fall in love with the concept of wine. Wine is such a beautiful beverage. The craft of making wine is so intricate and each grape produces such amazing flavor that is completely dependent upon it’s growing conditions, the soil, the weather, the grape varietal. When you take a sip of wine is is an experience. One of my favorite quotes about wine is from Robert Louis Stevenson when he says, “Wine is bottled poetry.” Each sip is as beautiful as a well written poem, telling you the story of its journey from vine to bottle, the conditions endured, and how with age it became something even more beautiful. I have come to develop a deeper appreciation and enthusiasm for wine as I have continued to taste and learn more and more about the beverage. After a stressful day, it is very relaxing to unwind with a good glass of wine, closing my eyes with each sip, truly experiencing the beverage and listening to the story that it has to tell.

Om

I have always found meditation to be a beneficial way to reduce stress. During my yoga teacher training we were encouraged to meditate for 5 minutes a day, three days a week. This was the first time in my life that I had taken the concept of meditation seriously enough to make it a regular practice, and I noticed a genuine change in my ability to cope with stress.

Read

I have always been a reader. Ever since I was little I have devoured books. It wasn’t until recently that I stopped to think of this habit as a way to reduce and control my stress. Reading takes us away from our day-to-day concerns. It allows us to visit other lands, analyze other people’s personalities and problems, removing us from our own problems and environments. Reading also allows us to connect with others, to share our insights and thoughts on a multitude of issues and to more deeply analyze the world around us.

RUN

I started running in March of 2011 at the age of 24. I have never been an athlete and this has always evoked a lot of stress and insecurity for me. I have always been active, but never an “athlete.” I tried sports in Junior High, but I just didn’t have the competitive ability to participate in a team environment. I always struggled to breath and push my endurance levels in any sort of athletic activity and I never thought I would become any sort of athlete, in any form. I had been encouraged numerous times by friends to do 5K races, but I always wrote them off as insane athletic types who didn’t understand my ineptitude for anything athletic related. Finally I decided to give it a try. I started out slow, doing a lot of run/walk/run routines to build up my endurance and then decided to commit to running a 5K race and started a couch to 5K trainer. I trained and trained, pushing myself each week until I was finally able to run an entire 3.1 miles without having to walk. I was amazed, and still am amazed, that I could actually finish an entire race. After doing one race I was hooked and continued to keep myself in 5K condition by running on a regular basis each week. I realized that the act of running allowed me to calm my mind, to let go of the things that were causing me stress and to escape my busy mind for as long as I was able to keep my legs moving underneath of me. As I continued to use running as a way to escape the miles grew longer and longer, leading me to my first 10K and eventually to my first half marathon. Now I am a runner for life and I look forward to sharing my running experiences and training suggestions to hopefully inspire other runners and want-to-be runners out there to hit the pavement!

Yoga

I have always dabbled in yoga, doing videos at home since I was a pre-teen, but I never really took the practice of yoga seriously until I decided to join a studio in April of 2012 at the age of 25. I was very intimidated walking into a studio for the first time and I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew what yoga was, but I figured “studio yoga” had to be something much more complex and athletically involved than doing videos in your living room. It took me a while to truly develop a practice, and I had a lot of help from the instructors at my studio (Mindstream Yoga). Slowly I begin to build confidence and was able to release my busy mind each time I came to my mat. Yoga has opened my eyes to so many amazing revelations. It was the final variable in the equation that allowed me to add everything up, see myself for who for I truly am, recognize my faults and develop WORRY Warrior. I am so grateful for my yoga practice. After not even practicing for one year I decided to jump into the 200-hour teacher training and become a RYT (Registered Yoga Teacher) with Yoga Alliance. Teacher training changed my life. It wasn’t easy, and I had a lot of breaking points and moments of insecurity, but in the end I came out a stronger, more enlightened, more confident individual ready to share my passion for passion for yoga with the world and help others transform their lives.