YOGANDIA · A SPACE WITHIN YOGA · AYURVEDA · BODYWORK · EDUCATION
YOGANDIA
YOGANDIA / MEET GOO

MEET GOO

Experience meets
understanding.

Grounded in decades of yoga and bodywork education, shaped by a life of movement, exploration, loss and beginning again.

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THE TEACHER & PRACTITIONER

The person behind
the practice.

I'm Stephanie Daves, though most people know me as Goo. I have spent more than two decades studying and sharing yoga, Ayurveda, mindful movement and traditional bodywork. My professional training matters to me. So does the fact that I know, from experience, what it feels like to lose your bearings and slowly find a way forward.

You may be here because something in your life is changing, because you're exhausted from holding everything together, or because you simply want a deeper relationship with your body and your practice. I won't pretend to know your story. I will listen. My work brings together yoga education, Ayurveda-informed living, traditional Thai bodywork, nature-based experiences and retreat leadership, always adapted to the person in front of me.

Before and alongside this work, I developed programs in science and education. The desire to make complex ideas accessible still informs how I teach: with curiosity, context, observation and hands-on learning.

CREDENTIALS & EXPERIENCE

Twenty years of
learning and teaching

E-RYT 500Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher

YACEPYoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider

Ayurvedic CounselorIndividualized lifestyle education

Nuad Boran MasterTraditional Thai bodywork

Yoga Teacher TrainingYogandia School of Yoga and Ayurveda

A PERSONAL NOTE FROM GOO

The path I've walked
shapes the way I teach.

My commitment to helping others find steadiness and connection began with my own need to understand painful experiences and find a way through them.

Long before I taught yoga, I found comfort in quiet moments of child’s pose, in wandering through forests and in floating upon warm seas. Movement, nature and silence gave me places to listen when life felt uncertain.

I have lived through loss and upheaval, questioned my purpose, and had to reconsider who I thought I was. Those experiences didn’t give me all the answers. They taught me how vulnerable it can feel to begin again—and how important it is to be met without judgment.

I danced through difficult emotions, spent long periods in meditation, studied traditions that approached the human experience from different directions and discovered that meaningful change rarely follows a straight line.

My formal studies gave me methods and structure. My life taught me humility, patience and respect for each person's pace. I don't believe I can do someone else's inner work for them, or promise that a retreat or a session will take away every difficulty.

What I can offer is presence, experience, attentive listening and practices you can explore for yourself. I want you to have room to breathe, feel, question, move, rest and recognize what matters to you.

I am a teacher, but I am not here to tell you who to become. My hope is to walk beside you for part of the journey and help you reconnect with the wisdom and agency that are already your own.

“I am a teacher, but I am not here to tell you who to become.”

GOO · A PERSONAL NOTE

THE BEGINNING

From the dance floor
to the yoga mat.

I was a professional dancer for more than twenty years. At first, asana was part of the conditioning my work required. Over time, yoga became something more enduring: a refuge and a way to understand my changing body and life.

Movement taught me discipline, curiosity and expression. Yoga gave those qualities a wider context—breath, philosophy, awareness, and the possibility of meeting myself differently from one day to the next.

As my life and body changed, so did my practice. I studied Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Yin-Yang, therapeutic and restorative approaches, Kunga Yoga, and alignment-focused traditions. My Pilates training also informed how I observe movement and anatomy.

Today, I weave biomechanics and sequencing with philosophy, storytelling, mythology and lived experience. There is no single style I ask every student to fit into. The practice should meet the person.

ASHTANGAVINYASAYIN & RESTORATIVETHERAPEUTIC YOGAALIGNMENTPILATES

THE WAY I TEACH

Not perfect poses.
A return to yourself.

I believe yoga is not about making the body look a certain way. It is about meeting yourself, as you are, in this moment of your life.

Whether you arrive with pain, longing, curiosity or something to celebrate, I begin by listening. From there, we find the balance of movement, breath, stillness and attention that serves you. The practice is a conversation, not a performance.

My teaching draws on decades of study across the structured approaches of Ashtanga and Viniyoga, the balancing qualities of Yin-Yang practices, the deep rest of Yoga Nidra, and the grounded, attentive touch of Thai Yoga bodywork. These traditions inform my work, but no single system replaces the person in front of me.

For many years at Samasati, the Costa Rican rainforest was part of the classroom. The dawn sounds, changing weather and stillness beneath the canopy reminded us that yoga does not end when we roll up our mats. It continues in how we breathe, rest, listen and live.

“Your practice is never just on the mat. It grows into your breath, your choices and your way of being.”

Explore the retreat experience

“I will show you where to look, but not what to see.”

GOO · THE ART OF GUIDANCE

MY APPROACH

Yoga beyond
the studio.

01

Practice, not performance

There is no ideal pose or body to imitate. Practice begins with noticing, learning and choosing what is appropriate for the person in front of me.

02

Traditional roots

Philosophy, breath, movement, meditation, ethical practice and study belong together. Their value extends well beyond the physical sequence.

03

Space for the individual

My sessions allow time for listening, adapting and integrating the work into everyday life, rather than rushing through a prescribed routine.

SHARING THE GIFT OF YOGA

Wherever people
come together.

My practice has traveled with me. I've taught in yoga studios, at festivals and community events, in schools, hospitals and prisons, and in places where a group of people simply felt called to put down their mats together.

For many years, I also shared yoga as the resident teacher at Samasati Nature Retreat on Costa Rica's Caribbean coast. Teaching among the rainforest and its visitors deepened my understanding of what a yoga class can become: a pause, a conversation, a doorway back to oneself.

Travel, nature, teaching and the arts are not separate chapters of my life. They continually inform how I listen, guide and make space for others to discover their own practice.

Why I teach teachers ↗

“I practice yoga because I am better when I do.”

“I teach others to teach yoga because my time is limited and I have but one body. My hands can only extend to those near me.”

GOO · ON PRACTICE AND THE GIFT OF TEACHING

THE PATH OF BODYWORK

From Cambodia
to Costa Rica.

My study of traditional Thai bodywork began in Siem Reap at the Cambodian Home for the Blind Massage School. Over more than two decades, the journey has continued in six countries across four continents. The four-hour Nuad Boron session is where this ongoing study takes a particularly personal form.

Explore Nuad Boron ↗

“Yoga is not only what happens on the mat. It is how a practice continues into life.”

THE PHILOSOPHY OF YOGANDIA

WORKING TOGETHER

Professional experience.
Personal attention.

Some people come to me exhausted by responsibility, grief or a season of transition. Others want to understand their bodies, develop a sustainable practice, or study the traditions more deeply. There is no single reason to begin.

My work combines yoga, mindful movement, breathwork, meditation, Ayurvedic lifestyle principles, Yoga Nidra, guided reflection and traditional Thai bodywork. My broader studies have also included Vipassana meditation, herbalism, Curanderismo, classical and ecstatic dance, and clinical hypnotherapy. The practices I offer are chosen thoughtfully, with respect for each person's needs and boundaries.

Over more than two decades of teaching and facilitating retreats, I've come to value the quieter outcomes as much as the dramatic ones: a little more ease in the body, a clearer sense of choice, or the confidence to approach the next chapter differently.

Explore private sessions ↗ Explore Into the Wild Within ↗ Explore teacher training ↗

GUEST REFLECTION · PRIVATE YOGA

Alisha described how Stephanie personalized each yoga class to her skills and energy, blending challenge with restoration.

— Alisha M., reviewing a past Samasati experience

Explore guest voices

CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION

Begin with a question.

Tell me what you want to explore. Scheduling and online payments are paused while the new booking setup is completed, but you can inquire by email.

Email Goo