Tracey Sledge

For most of my adult life, running was the way I stayed in shape. In 2000, when I returned from a 5 year assignment in Singapore, a friend took me to my first Bikram Yoga class and I knew instantly there was something special about this practice. My feet, hips and lower back had been starting to feel the years of running and I could tell yoga would bring a great balance for both mind and body. It wasn’t long before I began practicing more than running and soon I was practicing daily and not running at all! When my company moved me to Milan, Italy in 2004, before there was a Bikram studio there, I began practicing on my own. In 2006, I began teaching the Dayton Method hot yoga in Huntington Beach, CA, which is a set Hatha sequence similar to Bikram 26/2 sequence. I still wanted to take my practice to the next level so in the Spring of 2009 I left my executive position at a large industrial company and did the 9 week intensive Bikram Yoga teacher training. I have taught Bikram Yoga in Palm Desert, CA, Longmont, CO and Destin, FL. I am committed to continued education and have attended several Yoga Journal conferences, I take workshops, read books/articles and practice with other teachers to continue learning.

I am the co-owner of Destin Hot Yoga where we offer a variety of yoga classes including Bikram, vinyasa, yin, ashtanga and others. Being the only Bikram certified yoga teacher at our studio, I wasn’t able to practice the 26 – 2 as much as I would have liked. While I enjoy other yoga, my body missed the therapeutic benefits of Bikram Yoga and I began to have pain in my shoulders, hips and lower back. Since moving to Austin in March of 2017, I have been exclusively practicing Bikram Yoga at BeneFIT and within just a matter of weeks my back is no longer tight and painful and my shoulders and hips are healing as well. I am an avid golfer and feeling pain free and able to swing freely is an important element to my golf game.