Spoiler alert: I love me some yoga. RYT 500 as of November, 2019. If you want the long version, go ahead and read on. 😉
Over 15 years ago I began a physical journey with yoga. Surface level at best, my practice included straining toward my best “dancer’s pose” in front of the mirror and staying away from anything that felt too “weird.” Like many who experience yoga for the first time, my earlier experiences were all about the poses. Many years later I was visiting a friend in L.A. when she invited me to a homeless shelter on Skid Row. She was planning to teach yoga to a group of men there as part of her volunteer project. Since my personal experience of yoga thus far had created a fairly privileged view, I was not exactly convinced that yoga was what this group of homeless men (many also recovering addicts) needed in their lives!
She started out explaining that yoga is a connection of mind, body, and higher power. “You mean like God?” one man asked. “Sure!” she encouraged, leaving that question open to personal interpretation. And as she began to guide them through their first few breaths as a community, I was blown away (no pun intended) by the shift in the room. There was a palpable connection happening as she guided the group through some very simple movement and breath. Some men were standing, some were in wheelchairs, and some simply chose to stay in their seats, but all were made to feel welcome and comfortable. It was truly a spiritual experience, no matter what that “higher power” meant to each one of us.
To me, true courage -and true yoga- is the picture I just painted. To serve others with your divinely appointed gifts and talents is what this life is all about!
Fast forward a year or two of saving and I enrolled in a local 200 hour yoga teacher training program that cracked me wide open. I became known as one of “the criers” (lovingly of course). During one of the most difficult times in my life I experienced a connection of mind, body, and spirit as I never had before. Yoga brought so much pain and grief to the surface yet at the same time strengthened my faith and resolve. I apparently couldn’t get enough (hurts so good!) and returned for the 300 hour training in 2019.
My family has been incredibly supportive during these trainings and of course deserve a mention here~ I have been married for over 10 years (!) and have 3 children, ages 9, 5, and 4. We adopted our beautiful daughter through foster care and gained the other two the “old-fashioned” way.
I will be sharing some of my yoga knowledge and experience here, along with my personal struggles and progression. If you are a yoga lover or just want to be, a special needs or foster/adoptive parent or just want to be, or if you’re simply another human muddling through, I hope you will find something here. <3
Nothing brings me greater joy than loving and serving others and yoga is one of my favorite outlets for doing just that. I believe yoga is for ALL bodies and we can find healing and connection in places we didn’t know existed, body, mind, and spirit. In Patanjali’s words, “…with a peaceful mind you can go out into the world and serve well.” Namaste.