Romi    Biography | Testimonials


Biography

Romi is a certified yoga instructor and licensed massage therapist with over 10 years of training. Her passion for movement and music inspired her to practice yoga and study massage, eventually parlaying her talents into her career. Romi began her advanced yoga training in 1998 and has received Yoga Instructor certifications from the White Lotus Foundation as well as the Santa Barbara Yoga Center. She has worked and studied with various reputable teachers nationally and internationally and leads annual yoga retreats. Romi received massage certifications from Santa Barbara’s Body Therapy Institute and through the Holistic Health Program at UC Santa Cruz. She also completed applicable coursework at Santa Barbara Bodyworks.
In her yoga practice, Romi encourages her clients to live more freely in their bodies, so they may evoke and embody their creative spirit. She emphasizes breath and core strengthening to help build a student's inner foundation and weaves strength-building sequences with movement and intuitive healing modalities. Her yoga teachings draw from a mix of Hatha Yoga styles such as: Vinyasa flow, Ashtanga, Therapeutic/Yin, Restorative, Anusara and Forrest yoga modalities.

In every massage, therapeutic bodywork techniques are complimented with intuitive listening to maximize the client’s healing potential. Depending on the individual, different massage methods are combined to release pain and pressure from the soft tissue and muscle bodies. Deep compressive traction is mixed with penetrating deep tissue strokes and trigger point therapy. The modalities Romi offers include Restorative, Rehabilitative, Deep Tissue/Sports, Acupressure, and Energy Healing massage. Her goal is to create a deep, relaxing space for physical wellbeing, healing and transformation.

In her free time, Romi enjoys dance, holistic health studies, ecology, ethno-botany, wilderness and nature education, international travel, meditation, foreign cultures, performance art, music and art festivals, playing music and singing/songwriting.




Testimonials

"Romi has good energy to be around. She is clear, honest, and very dedicated to her work, which comes through in her teaching style."
-Rudi Lion

"I have studied yoga with Romi at the Santa Barbara Yoga Center on Micheltorena Street in Santa Barbara for approximately the past two years. I have been pleasantly surprised and inspired by the high quality of instruction and inspiration that I have found in Romi’s classes. Romi’s style of practice and teaching is somehow both powerful and graceful all at the same time…. I am very fortunate to have Romi Cumes as my yoga instructor. She comes with my highest recommendation.
-Paul R. Burns

"I can always count on finishing a yoga session with Romi feeling more energized, open, calm, and centered. Her classes are challenging yet safe, constantly evolving, and presented in a way that enhances each student's ability to explore and tap in to his or her own body's innate intelligence. She teaches with dedication and a fun sense of humor. I have recommended friends and colleagues to Romi and will continue to do so."
-Sean Marnane, Clinical Research Associate

"Romi is one of the more authentic yoga instructors I have experienced. She brings beauty, movement and fluidity into the practice while creating a safe space of levity and joy. Each class is a brilliant combination of challenge and restoration, integrity of form with freedom. Romi is a gift to the yoga community."
-Amy