"I have experienced loneliness that I never thought possible & anxiety that I didn’t think would ever go away"
"I am not the person I was a year ago. I am more confused, more unsure of the plan, & more living life without attachment to the outcome
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A year ago when I moved to Salt Lake City, I thought & felt that life was coming together, and I had finally jumped the hurdle that I was always scared to jump. The last year has definitely not been like that. I put so much work into my asana practice & honestly stopped caring about getting additional postures when this switch happened. The practice was different for me, & life became yoga
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It’s as if all of the struggle of doing intensive backbending in kapotasana was being exercised in real life through breathing & continuing to press forward
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In the moment I felt like giving up, and some days I cried because I didn’t know what to do or how to handle life
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In practice we continue to breathe & just keep going while acknowledging what is happening in our body. We want to freak out, we want to just lay on the floor and give up, but we don’t... we continue
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Those fundamental practices have shaped my life the last year. Some days I wanted to give up, others I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack. But all in all, I pressed forward. I made it work, I learned the power of breathing & how to detach from problems that weren’t my own. Growing up is hard. Your life becomes your own and you make your own reality, which is great but scary
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I have experienced loneliness that I never thought possible & anxiety that I didn’t think would ever go away. Today I am so grateful for my asana practice, my pranayama practice, & the teachers who have taught me how to build a foundation that supports & grounds me
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From here we are on a trajectory that is never ending & no matter what life dishes out, I will never lose the foundation I have to stand on 🙏
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Ashlee 💚
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📸 @jannatrovato_photography
