Meet Britta @wayward_yogini sharing her #yogasavedmylife story with us. These are her words 💚
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"My whole life I have struggled with severe anxiety & depression. Traumatic childhood events, an eating disorder, self harm, all things that just sort of became intertwined with who I was. I had a rocky start & had to grow up fast when I became a mother at 19. At 20 I met the man who is now my husband & everything began to fall in to place
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Over the next few years we were married & we had a beautiful baby girl together. I had 2 wonderful daughters, a loving husband & - for the first time in my life - a calm life. Things were good for a while
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But steadily my mental illness was rearing it’s ugly head, worse than ever. The depression was all consuming, there were delusions & voices, telling me to end my life: that my family would be better off if I was dead. Self harm became a regular occurrence & as much as he wanted to, my husband couldn’t help me. He didn’t know how. I was having trouble finding professional help & felt as though there was no light at the end of this tunnel
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One night I finally gave up, I wanted it to be over. Thankfully I was hospitalized before it was too late & I began to get the help I so desperately needed
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A few weeks after getting home, still feeling lost & scared, I convinced myself to go to a yoga class. The connection was immediate: like falling in love. There was a relief in yoga I had never experienced before. The thing that saved me was acceptance. Fully surrendering to the universe & accepting myself for every single thing. Even the mental illness. Accepting I would have to cope with this for the rest of my physical life. Yoga taught me that was okay. Accepting it felt like freedom
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I’m not a prisoner of depression any more. It’s something I happen to deal with, just like I'm still struggling with an eating disorder, but it is not who I am. My soul is my own & Yoga & meditation empowered me to take control & to accept everything the universe has for me. I’ve haven’t been the same since. Yoga saved my life and I am forever grateful 🙏🏻🙏🏻
