Summer Cushman is an artist, minister, yoga teacher, and yoga therapist. A spiritual seeker her entire life, Summer believes that authentic yoga practice has the power to change everything. She has personally experienced the transformative and healing power of regular personal practice and has witnessed it in the lives of her students, which she considers a great gift.

Yoga is fundamentally about the reduction of suffering whether it exists on the physical, mental, or spiritual levels. Experiences of pain, challenge, and illness are an inevitable part of human life. While we may not be able to avoid this reality, we do have control in how we respond. Summer takes the time to understand her students and clients as the multi-dimensional people that they are and using the primary tools of yoga—breath, simple movement, awareness, relaxation, philosophical study, meditation, sound, prayer, and ritual—as well as teachings from Ayurveda, she works to empower them to respond to their situation in a personalized, engaged, and intentional way.

Summer is a perpetual student and has spent the last 2 decades following her curiosity. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in printmaking and art history from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. She earned her Master of Divinity degree with an emphasis in spirituality from Earlham School of Religion (a Quaker seminary) in Richmond, Indiana. She received foundational training and her 200hr Hatha Yoga Certification from CITYOGA School of Yoga and Health in Indianapolis under the direction of Nikki Myers and Marsha Pappas. She received advanced training and certification as a 500hr Viniyoga Teacher under the direction of Gary Kraftsow at the American Viniyoga Institute in California. She received training and certification as an IAYT accredited Yoga Therapist under the direction of Robin Rothenberg of Essential Yoga Therapy in Washington State.

Summer has been teaching yoga full time since 2010 and now serves on the faculty of Essential Yoga Therapy’s 300-hr advanced teacher training. She has led retreats and workshops throughout the country on such topics as spirituality, creativity, and embodiment. Summer opened and ran a successful yoga studio in Indiana from 2010-2013 where she managed 5 other teachers, taught group classes, offered special workshops, saw students privately, and offered spiritual direction. She designed a yoga philosophy course based on the first two chapters of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which she’s taught several times in person and will be offering as an online course in 2019. Summer teaches meditative yoga classes in Bellingham, WA and sees clients one-on-one for yoga therapy, private yoga teaching, and spiritual direction. She also sends out a weekly newsletter called the Yoga Church Sunday Sermons and offers the Annual Yoga Church Retreat. Please visit www.summercushman.com to sign up!

A northwest native, she is happy to have settled back in her home state and looks forward to exploring yoga and spirit with you in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.