I am a multi-woodwind performer, music educator, and yoga instructor who is passionate about helping others manifest and discover artful expressions of the self. I have always been drawn to music and find incredible joy in teaching and performing. I had the fortune of formally studying music in my undergraduate and graduate coursework later coming to study yoga as a means of not only continuing but enriching my musical journey.
At the end of my masters degree in saxophone performance, I was suffering with excruciating pain. The pain grew to the point that I could barely walk. The hours and hours of holding the saxophone around my neck had led to repetitive strain injury, scoliosis, and significant degeneration of my lumbar spine. This is when and why I found yoga. The practice of yoga asana strengthened and lengthened my body. Meditation centered and stilled my mind. My creative spirit is happy and free because of this work.
Cara Thomas is a multi-woodwind performer and educator. She obtained degrees from the University of Tennessee at Martin (Bachelor’s of Music Education, 2009) and the University of Kentucky (Master’s of Music Performance, 2011) and studied with Miles Osland, Branford Marsalis, Bobby Shew, Pat LaBarbera, and James Moody. Since her international debut with Joe Lovano at the North Sea Jazz Festival, she has performed widely throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia including a notable performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Most recently, Cara has performed on the International Society for Improvised Music (ISIM) festival in Chateau d’Oex, Switzerland (July 2015). She is a current member of MTNA, KMTA, and BAMTA.
Cara specialized in saxophone throughout her schooling and continues to hold her beloved King Zephyr tenor, Selmer Series III alto, and Yanagisawa curved soprano saxophones exalted and rarefied, but for all that she developed a voice on the clarinets and flute, as well. As a prominent educator, Cara has introduced music to hundreds of young beginners in central Kentucky, teaching primarily in the Fayette, Scott, and Franklin County Districts. Cara’s experience has consummated in an inclusive approach to teaching that fosters personal identity through improvisation.
As a budding yogini, Cara completed her first 200-hr teacher training with Matthew Higdon of Subtle Power Yoga in January of 2016 and a second 200-hr training with Jessica Lichaa and Ginny Van Horn of Radically Rooted in October of 2019. In December of 2021, she completed her 500-hr certification at Asheville Yoga Center. Her unique approach is established in a grounded home practice that includes daily meditation and mantra recitation, breath work (pranayama), conditioning, and a hatha style asana that incorporates static and dynamic expression while venturing through the five elements. Cara has found great freedom in yoga and desires to share that with everyone she meets.