How I Fell in Love with Rebounding

One of the best yoga jobs I've ever had was teaching yoga and sound baths at Mattel's corporate office in El Segundo.

I loved the community. I loved the energy. I loved getting to bring people into their bodies after long workdays and give them a place to move, breathe, stretch, and reset.

One day, I walked in to teach my yin class and the studio manager asked if I would be interested in getting trained on the Bellicon.

That same day, I had just found out I had been laid off from my advertising job. I probably wasn't as focused as I should have been. I was still processing, still trying to figure out what was next, and I had quietly decided that I was going to enter a "yes" season — to say yes to more opportunities, even when I didn't know exactly where they would lead.

So I immediately said yes.

But in my mind, I heard Peloton.

As we walked into the studio and she continued explaining the new mini trampolines they had just brought in, I realized these were not bikes.

They were rebounders.

And I had just said yes to something I had never even seen before.

Two weeks later, I found myself in a weekend Bellicon training, and I quickly realized I was the only yogi in a room full of fitness professionals.

It may have been the hardest, most joyful thing I have ever done in a training. Each eight-hour day left me completely exhausted, completely sweaty, and somehow smiling bigger than I had in a long time.

There was something about it that felt different.

It was cardio, but it didn't feel punishing. It was challenging, but it felt playful. It was movement, but it felt like joy.

I left that training thinking I would eventually pull a class together. But the trainer from that weekend — hello, Dustin — called me afterward and pushed me to start a class as soon as possible.

Because of that nudge, we were able to get something on the books the very next week.

And I am so grateful for that first class of 18 people who showed up and let me grow into this new modality in real time.

That class became something so much bigger than I expected. It fed my soul. It brought together a community of fun-loving Mattel friends who we lovingly called "The Tramps." Every week, there was a waitlist. Eventually, it became the number one class at the fitness center.

I looked forward to it every single week because it was never just bouncing.

We sang along. We shared music. We laughed. We danced. There was always something for everyone.

It was, without question, the happiest 45 minutes I had ever spent doing a workout.

But what made it even more special was that I taught yin yoga and sound healing right after.

So after we raised our heart rates, bounced, sang, danced, and moved on these amazing trampolines, we shifted into deep stretch, rest, and sound healing.

Those Wednesdays were magical.

We had the joy of movement, the release of yoga, and the nervous system reset of sound — all in one evening. I felt so blessed to be able to teach there during that season.

When I later met with Sound Bird Center and the lovely Adrienne Bawa, I originally went in to talk about how I could support the studio through sound healing.

But as we talked, Adrienne listened closely. She saw me light up when I talked about rebounding. She immediately understood that this modality had something special to offer, and she wanted to bring it into Sound Bird Center.

After I explained the two classes I had been teaching — rebounder cardio followed by yin and sound — we decided to condense the experience into one hybrid class: 30 minutes of bounce, 20 minutes of yoga-inspired deep stretch, and 10 minutes of sound bath Savasana.

It really was the best of all worlds.

That class became Joy Bounce.

And now, I am so grateful to teach Joy Bounce twice a week, and hopefully more, at Sound Bird Center in Culver City.

Joy Bounce brings together so many of the things I love most: joyful movement, music, community, deep stretching, and sound healing. It is low-impact, high-benefit, and incredibly fun. It supports the body without punishing it. It wakes up your energy, moves lymph, lubricates the joints, builds balance, and reminds you that cardio can actually feel good.

For me personally, rebounding has been life-changing.

My joint pain is gone. The stiffness in my fingers is gone. Flexibility I hadn't felt in years — even as a yogi — has come back. And the lymphatic benefits are something I continue to feel and appreciate every time I step onto the rebounder.

But beyond the physical benefits, rebounding gave me something I didn't even know I needed at the time.

It gave me joy during a season of uncertainty. It gave me a new path when one door had just closed. It gave me a way to move that felt playful, healing, and empowering all at once.

If you're bounce curious, I invite you to come try Joy Bounce. You can be my guest.

Because sometimes the thing you accidentally say yes to — the thing you thought was a bike but turned out to be a trampoline — becomes the thing that changes everything.