Meet @christytending sharing her #yogasavedmylife story with us š
- gardinerstacey2
- Aug 19, 2019
- 2 min read
"One evening in November 2007, I found myself lying on the floor of my apartment sobbing. I wasnāt sure how Iād gotten there"
.
. "I was having what I labelled, āa nervous breakdown.ā What I know now is that I was experiencing acute post-traumatic stress disorder & immense grief
.
From an early age, I was a quiet, sensitive, & intuitive child. In middle school, I developed both scoliosis & clinical depression
.
By college, I couldnāt ignore the pain & intensity anymore. I began meditating & practicing yoga at my universityās gym. I hated every moment of my first class. But I began a practice nonetheless
.
I also discovered activism, which gave my heartbreak an outlet. After I graduated college, I put all of my belongings into a storage unit & headed to the logging blockade at Grassy Narrows First Nation in Ontario
.
A group of us spent the summer supporting the blockade & getting to know the community as we witnessed their frontline fight for environmental justice & Indigenous sovereignty
.
After getting arrested for blocking a logging road, I was devastated to leave
.
Over the next year, things began to unravel, physically & emotionally, while my activism only escalated. Weeks after another intense arrest, I found myself on the floor weeping, convinced that I was going crazy
.
Shortly after, I started doing yoga regularly. I began taking diligent care of myself, diving deep into meditation & spiritual practice. I met my teachers & began navigating my grief
.
Yoga taught me that there is no destination to healing. It is forever a practice and a process. But in the midst of struggle & suffering, we can develop compassion & wisdom and a felt sense of well-being
.
Ultimately, I began mentoring healers & activists in self-care, knitting together the spiritual and political realms of my life that had felt estranged for so long
.
For me, the poses are a bonus. What yoga gives me is the perspective & framework to be in the world with compassionate presence
.
Itās obvious that yoga saved my life, & Iām proud that Iām able to share what itās taught me so that it can change othersā lives too

Comments