Dr. Hankins has a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Arizona State University where she was a Teaching Assistant for Nancy Buck and member of the Herberger String Quartet. She also holds a Performance Diploma and Masters of Music from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. Dr. Hankins has a background in dance, yoga, and pilates, and during her academic pursuits completed a wide variety of trainings and certifications regarding: postural anatomy, corrective exercise, fitness training, nervous system regulation, yoga, and musicians wellness. Having studied with multiple Karen Tuttle students, she builds upon this pedagogy with an understanding of kinesiology to help students play with ease. As a trauma-informed yoga and breathwork facilitator, she offers 1:1 and group sessions through her website: thealignedmusician.com and provides workshops to music schools and private studios. She lead the 'Movement for Musicians’ workshop series from 2019-2020 at Arizona State University, which focused on movement, breath, and meditation practices to avoid repetitive stress injury and performance anxiety. When not performing or teaching, Dr. Hankins enjoys composing and transcribing. Having a desire to expand the viola repertoire, she completed her DMA Research Paper on her transcriptions and recordings of Ernest Bloch’s Three Suites for Solo Cello with permission of the Bloch family and Broude Brothers Limited.