Yoga: More Than Shapes and Poses
I took my first yoga class 5 years ago in 2013. It was a gym class that my high school put on to try and inspire more kids to work out. It was a video on a VHS tape, and they rolled in an old TV to play it. I was a gymnast at the time, and I thought yoga was an easier, non-competitive version of gymnastics. It involved stretching, and going upside down (kind of), and some funky movements. I remember leaving thinking, “that was kind of fun.” Little did I know that I would eventually fall in love with the yoga practice. Fast forward to 3 years ago when I started doing yoga at home by watching videos on YouTube. I had seen women with “cute butts” say that they practiced yoga and I assumed that was the only form of exercise they did. Maybe it was, but they probably put in a lot more effort and exercise than just yoga for that perfect butt. But I had fun with it and eventually decided that I wanted to do more of it. Well, life gets in the way, as it usually does, and that didn’t actually happen until about 2.5-3 years ago. I had just started college, and I wanted a way to stay active without going to the gym or really even sweating. And this served me, my body, and my routine for a bit. However, I realized that all of my friends were signing up for a “30 days of unlimited yoga for $30” deal at the local yoga studio. I thought that I could afford $30, and maybe I could even go every day to try and make each class worth $1. And that’s when I got hooked. I fell in love with being seen in the classroom and actually seeing what my body was doing in the mirror. I received cues from teachers about which muscles I should be activating and how I should feel in different poses. I had the thought that I was doing yoga all wrong in the past! I wanted to keep learning how everything should feel, and how to do the poses safely. I had previous injuries from gymnastics, and I wanted yoga to feel good, not stressful, in my body.
At the time I didn’t realize that I had started doing a form of a moving meditation. I started feeling better about myself (more than just a cute butt), and I could sense that there was a deeper feeling that yoga was giving me. It gave me a sense of community, a safe place to come home to, and the knowledge that I could take that feeling everywhere. I received a hands on assist from one of my teachers in class one night, and I just instantly flooded my mat with happy tears. I finally felt like my heart was open and I felt lighter.
It wasn’t until I kept going to classes that I realized that yoga was exactly what I was missing from my life. I decided to take a 200 hour teacher training as a way to balance out my crazy routine and school life. I had no intention of teaching afterwards except at my university because I didn’t think that I could. But yoga did it again. It shifted my perspective. I started feeling confident and comfortable in front of people. I became comfortable with asking for what I needed, and demanding nothing less. I was finally able to say no. I dropped out of engineering school, transferred to community college, and decided that I was going to live my truth, and not anyone else's. I wanted to live my life for myself, not what I thought was originally going to be a good idea.
For my whole life all I have known is that I want to help people. That is why I was put on this Earth because I have an incredible, empathetic heart. I thought that engineering was that pathway for awhile, but I realized that that’s not the only way to help others. Yes, technology is great, but I wanted to fix the root problem. What I’ve found is that technology is able to give us comforts in life, and sometimes necessities, like clean drinking water. However, technology is not able to give us real communication, a sense of community, or any deep feeling within ourselves. Social media is sometimes a great way to communicate, but it cannot replace face to face communication. The numbers of “followers” are not a community, and the feeling that you get when someone likes your post is temporary. To me, engineering was too similar to technology, and I needed to go back to the basics. I needed real genuine connection, and that’s what yoga gave me. And eventually, that’s what teacher training gave me.
I have something to share with the world. I may not be the next Martin Luther King Jr. or Maya Angelou, but I can be a teacher. I want to be a teacher. I want to empower others to live for themselves, be proud of themselves, and allow all kinds of people to meet and connect because they have a love for the same thing. I want to be able to help others, support others, and empathize with others because once you know better, you do better.
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Where your soul can feel light and empowered