People come to their yoga mats for different reasons. For me, today, I would say that yoga keeps me grounded, balanced and sane. Literally. About 12 years ago, I wasn’t so balanced. I wasn’t feeling “normal” so I visited my doctor, who did a physical and ran blood work. I had symptoms that centered around fatigue, stress and anxiety and was diagnosed with postpartum depression, mono and Epstein-Barr syndrome. Believe me, it was not a fun time. I was trying my best to be a good wife, mother, and employee, and I just wanted to push it all away. My doc prescribed an anti-depressant and while I at least began to “level out,” I couldn’t say I felt fantastic either. After about 6 weeks of taking Zoloft I stopped taking it and decided I wanted to try some other alternatives to medicine.
I had seen some yoga DVDs in a catalog and thought that that would be a good starting point. I began with a basic yoga practice taught by Patricia Walden and Rodney Yee on a DVD I got from Gaiam. I found that I felt stronger physically, was smiling more often and was being pulled away from despair. I felt less scattered and more focused. I knew I was on the right self-care track, but also found that it was hard to stay motivated to practice at home.
About two months later, a friend invited me to join her at a “power yoga” class. The room was heated to a toasty 90 degrees, so the yoga practice I was growing to love was now a “real” workout. Boy, did I sweat! I felt I was melting with every asana. I realized that not only was this self-care a great workout, but it included practice for the mind too. After each class, my clothes and mat were saturated, and I felt clear-headed, but more importantly, I was feeling healed. There was no question that I was hooked. I felt empowered. I felt strong. I wanted to be a good wife and mother again.
During this time, I increased my study of the Law of Attraction. I increased my readings of inspirational and devotional books. Me, reading devotional books. I hadn’t been to church in years, but the readings and my yoga practice were providing the spiritual connection to God I was seeking. I was feeling much less negative about everything, constantly finding the silver lining to every cloud. I not only stopped gossiping, but I found that I only wanted to discuss positive things. I was changing on the inside much more than the outside. I was dropping judgment – of myself and others. I was open-minded. I was noticing how interesting it was that my new interest areas were overlapping.
Through a chain of events (or what I believe to be divine intervention), I left the only studio I had known. There had been several turn-overs of teachers there, the energy of the students and staff was changing and I could feel change was on the horizon. One of my favorite teachers decided she would open her own studio which was closer to my home, so I followed her. Eventually she convinced me to complete teacher training. One of the benefits of the course was that I could take as many yoga classes as I wanted for free. With more days of practice, I could be on the mat, simply breathing, and feeling benefit. And this is how I explain my yoga classes to people I try convince to try it. “Even if you just sit and breathe for an hour, you’ll get something out of it.”
These days, I enjoy taking class about 4 times a week and teaching 1 day a week. I read devotional stuff daily and Thank God every day for yoga. I am a great wife and mom, and now I’m a business owner. Yoga healed me and helped me find an inner confidence that was hidden.
Credits: This post is written by Carla Wilson. It has been reposted with permission. You can find the original post here.
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