With my 47th b-day fast approaching & 26 years of cardiac nursing under my belt, I found I had not learned to take care of myself. The rigors of caring for thousands of patients with a wide variety of critical cardiac problems had taken its toll. Caring so fully & deeply for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of others had left me with chronic low back pain & a myriad of other stress related complaints, emotionally off-centered & spiritually voided. In short, I was a real mess!
Then I was given the good fortune of finding Peter Sklivas and Yoga Passion. With loving-kindness and a nurturing hand, Peter has taught me to respect & appreciate my body. My chronic low back pain has all but vanished. For the first time in years, I feel confident that I can give my patients the demanding physical care they require without the previously ever-present fear of injuring myself. I am better able to enjoy my time off, because I spend less of it, trying with anti-inflammatory drugs & heating pads to recover from the rages of patient care without a fit strong body. My physician and I were thrilled to find at my last physical in November that my total cholesterol had dropped 30 points to the upper limit of normal, and that I had reversed my HDL/LDL ratio also to normal levels. She had to agree that “the yoga clearly was working.”
Spiritually I find myself so much more deeply centered that I have been in a long while. Of all the benefits of my experience with Peter and yoga, I am most grateful to him for helping me to rediscover what is sacred within me. To live mindfully in the present moment is a gift to be cherished; whether is be the momentary exquisite pain of a particular yoga posture, or during the intensely palpable experience of healing, brought on by Peter’s chanting of an ancient Sanskrit mantra.
So in the end, I’ve learned that the best thing I could do for my profession and my career, had nothing to do with continuing education credits, acquiring new knowledge or skills, or re-certification of old ones; but rather, in finding a knowledgeable & nurturing teacher to guide me in learning to heal my own self. While I am enormously proud of myself for taking the initiative to find some way to overcome my burnout, and my continuing commitment to the practice of yoga, and efforts at self healing, I will never be able to adequately express my profound gratitude to Peter Sklivas & Anne Kay for founding Yoga Passion & helping me literally turn my life around.
In peace, love, & all due sincerity,
Chris L. Sharrett, Cardiac Care, RN, MGH, Danvers, MA
Credits: This is a testimonial written by Chris L. Sharrett. This has been reposted with permission from Peter Sklivas of Yoga Passion. You can find the original here.
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