“Wisdom is knowledge with experience,

which has been distilled through the heart over time.” *

Like an ordinary mortal, Ayosea worries about carbs and calories and the few inevitable extra pounds that most of us acquire as the years roll by.  Unlike many ordinary mortals, she enjoys her 7^th decade with the same high spirits and vitality that sparked the earlier chapters of her life.  Never one to rest on her laurels, she has been an energetic woman ahead of her time all her life.  Raised in New Jersey, she graduated from Bard College in New York with a Bachelors Degree in Modern Dance.  She lived two years in Europe with her first husband as he pursued his career.  In the 70’s, Ayosea moved to California and got her Masters Degree in Recreation Therapy at San Francisco State College.  Her second husband Richard was a ceramic artist (potter), a ski instructor and recreation administrator. They lived in a number of ski areas over the years when they were raising their two children.   The family moved to San Diego in 1977.  Ayosea worked at the San Diego Center for Children in recreation therapy and expressive arts.  

     The practice of yoga in the 1970’s was not nearly as widespread as it is today.  She credits a work-related weekend seminar in movement education and dance therapy for her first yoga experience.  Another early influence was Lilias! Yoga and You on TV.  Her interest and proficiency in yoga increased over the next thirty years.

     While there are numerous styles of yoga, Ayosea considers her training and her teaching to cover a wide range of styles.  She believes the greatest benefits of practicing yoga include physical conditioning and the development of inner balance and focus.  She is emphatic that practicing yoga through the years has helped her deal with life’s inevitable traumatic events, such as the loss of her husband Richard to cancer in the summer of 2001.  In the midst of this increasingly chaotic world, Ayosea believes her students can find peace in developing this inner point of reference that yoga training cultivates.

     As an instructor for Palomar College, Ayosea is especially pleased to offer these classes free of charge at various locations within the community, expanding the positive influence of yoga to people who might otherwise not be able to take classes.  Last year, Ayosea added another acronym to her name - she is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance, making her Barbara (Ayosea) Morse, MS, RTR, RYT -  “That’s a lot of letters for a small person!” she says.

     Through her interest in recreation therapy with children, Ayosea has had a pet project for many years - SQUNCH. In the 1960’s this program was used in the public schools for counseling and therapy, and in the 1980’s, four of the stories were made into records by Chevron Oil and distributed to schools in California.   Later, another company bought the rights and turned the stories into tapes, and she and her friend Pamela Allen have made a game out of it.  She is looking into marketing SQUNCH in other forms, perhaps in a CD ROM format.

     Outside of her dedication to recreation therapy and yoga, Ayosea is a lap swimmer and a published writer.  Among her credits is an article entitled Yoga in Times of Trauma (Teacher’s Newsletter, Winter 2001 edition of the Yoga Education Society).  For fun, Ayosea enjoys her Goddess women’s groups.   Her son and daughter-in-law help her maintain their home and pets, one dog Pilot and five cats.  She has a large extended family, five step-grandchildren and six step-great-grandchildren.

     In the standing circle meditation Ayosea does in her classes, she offers this prayer for peace.   These words of Mahatma Ghandi reflect the feelings in her heart, from a life well lived and a continuing commitment to help and inspire others develop their highest potential:

"I offer you peace.  I offer you love.  I offer you friendship.  I see your beauty.  I hear your need.  I feel your feelings.  My wisdom flows from the Highest Source.  I salute that Source in you.  Let us work together for peace, unity and love."