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  Riverdog Yoga was founded by Kimberly Smith in 1999. Kimberly grew up in an active family where health and quality of life were the most valued forms of wealth. Nature was Kimberly’s first true yoga, growing up playing in Long Island Sound and the woods nearby.  It was there that she honed her instincts of natures’ subtle energies including those of  the stars, planets, plants and animals throughout the seasons.

Kimberly’s active lifestyle and appreciation for health led her to study Kinesiological Sciences at the University of Maryland; the foremost school in the nation for that field at the time.  Graduating with honors and graduate coursework, she landed a position in a premier national corporate health program.  While beginning her career, she continued her education by completing her Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology/Cardiac Rehabilitation at the University of Connecticut.  Kimberly continued to make strides in the field of corporate health management, managing and consulting on a national level.  She was one of the forerunners in the field to develop alternative health programs such as yoga, tai chi, and meditation to several Fortune 100 corporations.

During this period,  Kimberly’s mentor and yoga teacher went on sabbatical, only after playing the trickster.   It was then, that Christina Sillari privately mentored Kimberly in the teaching of yoga and encouraged her to further her studies with David Swenson and Joseph LePage.  Kimberly has studied Ashtanga Yoga with David Swenson and his wife Shelli annually.   Kimberly has also studied with Joseph LePage, with whom she is completing her 500 hour Professional Yoga Therapist studies.   She has also studied with varied teachers at Kripalu and elsewhere, some being Richard Freeman, David Life, Rod Stryker, Donna Fahri and of course, Kathy McNames of YogaVermont.  Kimberly is  recognized by the Yoga Alliance as a 200 hour Yoga Instructor and soon to be a 500 hour Professional Yoga Instructor and Therapist.

 Kimberly has taught yoga in a variety of settings to a variety of students including being chosen to teach:
- Cardiac Yoga Therapy for the Yale Affiliated- Bridgeport Hospital’s Yoga and Cardiac Rehab Study.
- Yoga Therapy for Singing the Sacred Bowl Retreats in Madison and Colorado with Pat Francek, MSW.
-  Ashtanga Yoga for Choate and Rosemary Hall  Faculty, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Creative Body Therapies, Connecticut Yoga Center, Fresh Yoga, Hamden Public School System,  The Shoreline Center, The Yoga Room, Demoiselle Yoga and Wellness, Wallingford Parks and Recreation, and West Hartford Yoga.

She has appeared on the Cable Television Show "Sarah" featuring Kimberly and the Original YogaGIRLS!;  on WTNH-TV 8; and in many print media, most recently she was featured in Yoga Journal and Connecticut magazine. In 2004, Riverdog Yoga reached a new level with the purchase of the Yoga Studio in Old Saybrook. 2008 will also mark the eighth year Riverdog  Yoga has hosted the annual Winter Solstice Yoga for Food drive - raising thousands of pounds of food for the needy.  Kimberly has also mentored many new rising yoga teachers, continuing the circle that her mentor once started with herself.

Kimberly deeply thanks all of her teachers, including Riverdog teachers, friends and family, And most importantly ALL of the many students from her many classes over the years.  “Each of you has added to the creation of Riverdog Yoga…..We truly are building community...one breath at a time."