How did you get into yoga?
After I started a high school teaching job, I thought yoga would be a good way to find some peace from a stressful new job. I took a gentle/beginners class. I remember learning how to breath that night and thinking, “Wow, that’s how you do it!” I left the class feeling a sense of peace, calm, and warmth in my heart. I felt a sense of being home.
What parts of the yoga practice have benefited you most?
Meditation and breath work have been the most profound life changing aspects of yoga for me. Meditation provides many things to me. It helps relax my mind, gives me a pause, assists in mental focus and clarity, and it just feels so damn good. Breath work, or pranayama, has been a way for me to heal. I have been through a considerable amount of physical injury and pain. Deep healing breathing has assisted me to lessen pain and heal from injury.
What might your life be like if you had not found yoga?
My leg was deeply injured in an accident about 7 years ago. I truly feel that I would not be able to walk today, if it wasn’t for the meditation, breath work, and positive energy generated through yoga.
What does yoga look like in your daily life?
Yoga looks different for me now than it did a couple years ago; before a child, starting new jobs, broken bones. Like life, there are ebbs and flows. Sometimes my practice is more consistent and at other times I feel pressed to get 5 minutes of meditation in. But yoga is there as a foundational part of my life. It is the backbone of my decisions and actions. It is the reminder to live mindfully and fully. It is the relief from busy and from stress. It is clear and uncluttered. It is my direction and reflection.
Why did you decide to do yoga teacher training and eventually a yoga teacher?
In the midst of my injury and healing from the accident, I set the intention to be healthy enough to do yoga teacher training. This intention was part of my daily mediations. At this time of my life, I was so full of motivation to heal, nothing was going to stop me from taking teacher training. I was still in a leg brace and using crutches when I started teacher training! The training was a way that I continued my healing.
Becoming a yoga teacher was not my initial motivation for teacher training. However, teaching has always been a part of my life, so it was a natural transition for me to teach yoga. I am inspired to teach something that has impacted my life in such a big way.
