"I attempted suicide in 2018 when seemingly everything that could go wrong in my life did and my mental health got so bad"
.
"I knew that I needed to give myself some sort of purpose, a reason to stay alive, but it felt like everything I loved was taken from me and my world was crumbling around me. I bought a Groupon for yoga classes several months prior, since I broke my foot & thought it would be a way to get back into exercising for me, what I found was it was so much more than that
.
I like to say that I didn’t find yoga. Yoga found me. When I needed it most 💚
.
.
I decided one day deep in the throes of my depression to take myself to a beginner’s class. For the first time in months, and probably in my entire life, I could get out of my own head – the thoughts that told me I’m worthless, everyone will always leave me, I don’t deserve to be alive, for an hour. This house of peace meant everything to me
.
.
Right there, laying in savasana I decided I wanted to be a yoga teacher. I wanted to bring this sense of peace, and later healing, acceptance and comfort, to my students. Yoga held me at a time when no one else did, when I was utterly alone in the world. Through yoga, I found a community of love and acceptance, but above everything I slowly began finding that love and acceptance for myself. It has literally saved my life
. It helped me make peace with my body, my queer identity, and even my PTSD, depression, and anxiety
.
The lessons I learned on the mat, I take everywhere with me today
.
They’re what is keeping me afloat during a national pandemic. I am so grateful to be able to share all the healing elements of this practice and hold space for those who need them most – those in marginalized communities, those battling both large and small scale traumas, and to help folx find their way back to themselves, to find their own path to healing. Creating community, safe spaces, teaching LGBTQ+ affirming, body positive, trauma informed yoga 🙏
.