Happy International Day of Yoga!!
I’m forever grateful for this practice and all it has taught me, and continues to teach me, about myself. Like many, I came to yoga purely for the physical practice. And like many, the more I practiced and studied the practice, the more I realized its impact on my life off of the mat.
Yoga came into my life when I was 21 years old. Growing up I was an avid athlete – I played soccer and basketball, I was a competitive surfer, and I loved to run and train. Slowing down, moving with compassion, and sitting in stillness were words that most definitely weren’t in my vocabulary, let alone things that I ever practiced regularly.
Until that fateful night I turned 21. I was out at a bar, in high heels, drinking and celebrating with my friends… When I ate sh*t… I mean I went down hard! Most likely due to the dangerous combo of high heels and booze. I ended up tearing my MCL and, to date, it’s still been one of the worse injuries that I’ve suffered.
I did months of PT. I couldn’t surf, I couldn’t run, I couldn’t ride my bike. I could barely even walk! And that was the first time I had been forced to stay off of my feet (and my surfboard) for that long. Needless to say, it freaked me out.
Eventually a good friend (hi Callie!) suggested I try yoga. I was very hesitant. And to be completely honest, I thought yoga was for rich people that paid way too much money just to stretch. And boy was I wrong. I’ll never forget that first class. It was more challenging than I anticipated, and when the teacher brought us out of savasana, I felt a peacefulness that I hadn’t felt in a long time. It felt similar to kicking out of a good wave, a kind of ‘blissfulness’ that comes from being completed immersed in the present moment. I felt connected, tuned in, like I had tapped into a state of flow that I only thought could be experienced in the ocean.
I ended up buying a month package and showing up for class nearly every day after that. Two years later I ended up completing my 200-hour Teacher Training at that same studio and with the same teacher from that very first class (hi MaryLyn!).
Like many who have dedicated their time to studying and practicing yoga, what was once a purely physical practiced quickly morphed into a way of living. Yoga has taught me more about myself than I could ever imagine. It’s also helped my surfing in more ways that I can count. And the beautiful thing about it is that there is no final destination. Every day that I roll out my mat I get to continue to learn and grow.
I’m truly grateful for that ‘incident’ on my birthday that lead me to yoga. And I’d like to extend a massive thank you to all of my teachers (and their teachers and their teachers) who have guided me, and still help guide me, along this path. Special shout outs to Jenny Brown (my first yoga influence and my surfing SHEro), MaryLyn Jenkins (my first teacher and 200-hour teacher trainer), Vivienne Miranda (my ‘boss’ and colleague that inspired me to find therapeutics), and Tiffany Cruikshank (my 500-hour teacher and the entire Yoga Medicine family).