Art and elephants have always been a part of my life. I still have a picture of an elephant I painted in kindergarten. My Grams became an artist later in life, and I have many memories of flipping through her gardening magazines to cut out flowers for inspiration. I also had curly red hair as a baby, which earned me the nickname Carrot Blossom from my Grandpa.

While I started yoga in college, I lost touch with both my art and yoga once I joined the United States Army. I spent 13 years as an officer in the Military Police Corps, during which I deployed to Afghanistan, served two tours in Germany, traveled throughout Europe, met my wife and started a family. While I had many wonderful experiences in the Army, I also had some not so great experiences. Unfortunately, those bad experiences ate away at the bond and sense of camaraderie that was so essential to my purpose and reason for continued service, and eventually resulted in medical retirement due to PTSD.

After moving to Charleston, South Carolina with my family I found the Warrior Surf Foundation, which helped me begin the healing process. And through the Warrior Surf Foundation, I found my way to Yoga Teacher Training with Flow State Wellness and Kate Moon. The community I found there helped me reconnect with my Self through both art and yoga. Just as the lotus flower emerges from the dark, muddy swamp to bloom into a brilliant and beautiful flower, I learned to draw light from the darkness and channel it into something I find beautiful.

And so Carrot Blossom created Lotus Blossom Arts & Yoga - my way of sharing that beauty with the world.