Meet Emily

Emily is a life-long lover of movement.  She competed in gymnastics, swimming and soccer as a kid, danced in musicals and show choir throughout high school and learned to teach step aerobics in college.  After earning a Master’s Degree in Psychiatric Social Work and working in both research and clinical settings, Emily decided to stay at home after the birth of her first child.  She started taking yoga classes as part of her recovery from a difficult birth and was soon immersed in a practice that she wanted to share with others. In 2011 she completed the Jivamukti 300-hr teacher training and began teaching classes in the Bay Area, where she lived with her husband, daughter and son until relocating to the midwest in 2014. 

Since arriving in Minnesota, Emily has led classes in and around Minneapolis, eventually finding her way to mXe Movement Studio in Linden Hills, where she immediately clicked with founder Heather Corndorf.  Along the way she discovered Stråla, a powerful, feeling-based movement practice that uses the forms of yoga and the principles of natural movement to help people drop stress and tension.  In 2018 she completed over 100 hours of training with Stråla and found it invaluable as she was given the opportunity to create her own class, Fire/Flux, at mXe.  Although the Covid-19 pandemic took mXe out of the studio, Emily continued to connect online through live virtual classes, and even worked with Heather to create a new class, mXe Method, that has been her favorite format to lead.   

Emily continues to commit herself to a lifelong journey of guiding movement.  She believes that practicing how you want to be is the key to moving, feeling and living better.  Emily lives with her family and 2 dogs in Edina, MN and enjoys knitting, puzzles, reading and baking sourdough bread.   

 @emilysmith_move