Yoga Power

It's hard to explain what yoga means to me... it has changed me in ways that are hard to describe.  I first tried yoga in 2000, as a means of stretching and relaxing.  I found it did a good job of helping me do both, but I had a husband, a baby, and was finishing up my bachelor's degree and time was something I never had enough of, so I couldn't justify an hour of what felt like (mostly) laying around.  I didn't try yoga again for almost 10 years.  At that point, most of my physical fitness goals were being achieved through running and weight lifting.  However, I had started experiencing a lot of joint pain and needed to find something restorative.  I looked into pilates and yoga and ended up going with yoga because it was offered at a gym where I could also access childcare for Derek (who was still a baby at the time).  The yoga there was not like any yoga I had ever done before, and the teachers were amazing.  The classes were athletic, physically demanding, and yet at the same time invigorating mentally and emotionally restorative.  The method that I came to love is Ashtanga Vinyasa, where physically demanding asanas flow together almost like dance.  Yoga became my therapy physically and emotionally; and I found that making that mind/body connection empowered me spiritually as well.  I was hooked and came to not only look forward to my 3 days a week yoga practices, but I needed them.

Well fast forward 5 years and we made the decision to move to Alice Springs, Australia.  We checked to ensure they had yoga here (it is that important to me), particularly Vinyasa, and were assured there was.  However, we arrived to find out yoga here is nothing like the yoga I had come to love and need.  To put it mildly I was seriously disappointed (more like devastated, but I'm trying to keep the dramatics at bay).  However, with some encouragement from Jeff and a new friend I started holding free yoga classes at the base community house (I was trying desperately to find my yogis where none seemed to exist).  Well people got excited about yoga and from there I ended up getting hired at a local gym where I started teaching classes on Saturdays.  Since I was now getting paid I felt the need to actually get certified to teach.  So Jeff, being the amazing and supportive companion that he is, started researching training options and found a 12 day intensive course that was available off the coast near Brisbane, so he made arrangement to send me there.  Then he arranged to work half days for the 2 weeks I was gone and Aubrey was great to take care of the little ones while he was at work.  So off I flew to Byron Bay to embark on my Yoga Teacher Training at the Byron Yoga Centre.  I thought I was going to learn how to teach yoga, and had no idea how this training would rock my world and further change me.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to attend teacher training at Byron Bay.  I am so grateful for the yoga family I became a part of there.  I'm so grateful for the friendships we developed; for the people I spent two weeks laughing, crying, living, and learning with.  All who came from very different backgrounds, yet who shared the same hopes and ideals that I do.  It was an amazing experience with such amazing people!  I admit that I am still trying to come to terms with the loss of my personal practice and the teachers and style I came to love and depend on back in Utah.  But the opportunity to teach has brought with it the joy of giving to others what has been so meaningful in my own life.  I love it when I am giving an adjustment in savasana and a small smile comes to the person's face or they mouth thank you as I finish.  I love it when someone comes up after class and tells me it is the highlight of their week or that my hands are those of an angel or that something I said during class helped them look at life in a different way.  So as hard as it is not be able to regularly attend classes for myself right now, I am grateful for the opportunity to share what I have learned and be a positive influence in others' lives.  Since getting back from my training my Saturday class more than doubled in size and the Health Club added two more Power Yoga classes to the schedule.  It is so fun to see the yoga community growing here in Alice!