About Erica
Erica Martzen is a Yoga Teacher, Health & Wellness Coach, and founder of Bija Wellness, currently offering services virtually and in person. An advocate for authenticity, Erica helps others discover their truest self and how to live in alignment with that core being, through weekly yoga classes, private coaching, group programs, and wellness retreats.
Much of Erica’s work is a coming full circle, helping people overcome trauma, uncover patters, and navigate desired change. Spending her early years surrounded by instability drives much of Erica’s work today, where she provides the support to nurture the nervous system, help her clients let go of behaviors no longer in service of becoming their best self and explore their deepest desires. Over the past few years she has worked with Children and Youth social services, as well as independent contracting with children and families at risk of separation, through crisis management, specialized support, and authenticity coaching.
During Erica’s early years, her local YMCA yoga classes provided a refuge from the chaos of every day life. Those first yoga classes were a reprieve from the stress of having to survive and navigate a very adult world as a child, and it was on her mat that she first really felt she could settle her breath and be in her body. Yoga grew into a place where she finally felt safe to just be. To be in one moment, to be herself and explore what that means. Thus, this has become the atmosphere and guiding principle in Erica’s classes – to cultivate safe spaces for her student’s and clients to explore who they truly are, outside of the roles and narratives of their past.
Erica believes Yoga to be a place that resides within each of us. One where the rays of gratitude outshine the insecurity and impostor syndrome of the mind. Yoga allows us to find more freedom in the body, notice and set down patterns of self-criticism and people pleasing, to regulate the nervous system, to step into our own self-agency and power of choice, and to expand our awareness from the scope of the individual to the collective. Erica currently guides group classes, private sessions, and retreats, teaching in the styles of yin, restorative, vinyasa, and yoga nidra.
Erica utilizes the teaching of yoga in her coaching as well, taking the seat of listener, reflector, and partner on her clients’ journey of unfolding. Erica specializes in helping her clients see opportunities that align with their values, activate internal strengths, as well as opening doors of awareness around where they’ve been self-abandoning their needs to gain acceptance or meet others expectations. Her client-centered coaching style is grounded in self-knowing and clients having their own answers – while her role is one of being with them, moving at their pace, and providing a safe container for them to explore who they are and uncover what matters most to them. Erica works with people to gain the clarity and confidence it takes to create the life of their dreams.
A Pennsylvania native, Erica graduated in 2019 with a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Wilkes University. Soon after, she studied in her first Yoga Teacher Training, a 200hr program at 108 Lotus Yoga. A blessing in disguise, lock-down provided Erica the opportunity to study online with various teachers from around the world, following up her YTT with a Yoga Sequencing Training with Gloria Baraquio, a Yogic Self-Care training with Catiebelle Bulmer, a Sensory Enhanced Yoga for Self-Regulation Training with the Sensory-Enhanced Yoga Institute, and a Yoga Nidra Training with Kaya Mindlin. In 2022, Erica studied for another 200hrs in yoga methodology and spiritual counseling at Shivakali Yoga in Hawaii. She then volunteered at Ratna Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center for 6 months in Northern California, where she lived on the grounds and became a retreat leader and Wellness Center director.
This year Erica finds herself growing in Arizona as she finishes her MA at Maryland University of Integrative Health as a Health and Wellness Coach. She has just launched her private practice under a new name – Bija Wellness. Rooted in our connection to nature, Bija Wellness is all about nurturing patience, widening perspective, and embodying knowledge in an ever changing world. Bija Wellness’ mission is to water the inner seeds of perseverance, optimism, and the vulnerability that leads to personal freedom.
Outside of work hours, Erica feels most herself while mindfully moving through nature, spending much of her free time beneath tall trees and along river banks. An eternal student, she is always voraciously learning something new, whether it’s related to natural health practices, yoga, or the main language of the next country on her backpacking bucket list. Erica appreciates honesty, slowing down, soaking in sunsets, and trying new things.
Erica’s books are currently open for private sessions. If you would like to have Erica teach in your studio, hold a wellness class in your office, lead an after-school mindfulness series, or lead yoga in your retreat, download her resume and send us an email.
“Coaching sessions with Erica were so helpful and motivating! It allowed me to bring my health goals into actionable steps. Erica does a great job of asking questions that get you thinking how to make healthy habits you can stick with. She guides you through creating a step-by-step plan that is realistic for your lifestyle, and helps you identify any obstacles that might set you back or get in the way of your progress. I left each session feeling excited and empowered, when before I felt stuck and unmotivated. I highly recommend working with Erica!”