"Cystic Fibrosis: Hooked up to oxygen, IV antibiotics coursing through my veins, unable to walk up a flight of stairs, watching my life pass me by as my friends enjoyed what I so desperately wanted; a life worth living. I was 21 years old in college expected to be having the time of my life, but there I sat
This was not the time of my life; this was my rock bottom. In the 22 years I had dealt with Cystic Fibrosis, I had never felt its cold grasp on my life like I did that day. That is when I decided to take control back
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In an ironic life choice I decided to take a yoga class, which I knew was all about breathing, but yet breathing was the one thing I was least proficient at
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I hated it, I stayed in childs pose 90% of the time, but something in me told me to go back. It started with one class, then another, slowly I was no longer breathing from an oxygen tube, I was attending class, I was going out with friends, I was living
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Over two years I went from not walking up stairs to flowing my heart out, I was able to gain lung function back, and most of all, I was able to find myself again
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Yoga not only saved my life, but it saved me from my life; a life I was destined to be the victim, to be small, to surrender control to a disease I could not change, & a life I so desperately knew was not all this life had to offer me. It provided me an outlet to strengthen my body & also strengthen the relationship I have with my body
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I no longer look at my body & see its inabilities, its weaknesses, what it can’t do when everyone else can. I now look at my body & am astounded at what it is capable of with only 50% lung function & how it has outlived a life expectancy of 26 that has already come and gone
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I am inspired by its strength, determination, and resilience. Yoga has made me love myself again, inside and out. From someone who was barely living hooked up to tubes everyday, to a yoga teacher today. Yoga truly saved my life 🙏
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Chelsea x
