"My daughter passed away of SIDS 4 years ago. She left behind her twin sister & her grieving, heartbroken mommy.
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I was born & raised on a farm in rural Indiana, earned myself a bachelors degree, then set off for a new life on the west coast. A lot of things happened in the in-between, but the most notable was attending my very first yoga class. It didn't have much of an impact on my life until much later, but the yogic seed had been planted
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Although I didn't develop an immediate, consistent yoga practice, I knew I loved it. As a former competitive gymnast, the physical component of yoga came quite easy to me. It would be several years before I would come to appreciate the mindfulness of meditation, the root of any yoga practice
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Moving to California, I adopted the ways of beach living, sun worshiping, yoga doing, granola eating people that I co-habitated with there. I dove deep into my new found form of exercise, trying out new yoga studios all over west LA. I even started working at a studio as a volunteer, trading my services for free yoga! Here is where I really found my home & center. I had the best mentors & the yoga knowledge bestowed upon me was received with so much gratitude and respect. I learned how to meditate, how to quiet my mind & most importantly, how to breathe. Like, really breathe
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It wasn't until my daughter passed away unexpectedly that I truly realized why I was called to that very first yoga practice
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Throughout the years I had been building my yoga foundation, I was gearing myself up & preparing mind & body for the tragedy I would one day endure
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The trauma of losing a child was too much for me to process alone. I developed anxiety & battled bouts of depression. Panic attacks consumed my daily life for almost 2 years. Instead of turning to medication, I turned to meditation, and soon I was able to combat the anxiety with my ujjayi pranayama, or yoga breath. The more I turned to yoga for healing and solace, the better I became. My relationship with yoga gave me my life back and I will forever be thankful for this amazing practice. Yoga definitely saved my life 🙏
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