My Journey With Yoga

My journey with Yoga began years ago, when I first popped in a DVD from the library.  I would say my earliest memory would have been about 14 years ago when I began having children.  I thought yoga would be a great supplement to running.  I had gained a lot of weight having my first two kids and thought I'd give yoga a try.  I didn't like it. I fell over a lot.  It didn't work me out or get my heart rate up like running.  I was very tight and frustrated with the postures. I didn't do it again for a long time.

Fast forward to after my 4th baby, 8 years ago and again, thought I'd give yoga a try. Tried several DVD's and didn't like it.  Again, not hard enough for me.  All during this time I had been running and had begun to lift weights.  I was always dieting.  Didn't continue yoga...

Fast forward again to March 2013.  Having made the decision in Feb of 2012 to eat a more plant based diet. I had lost a considerable amount of weight...slowly.  I didn't ever weigh myself as during this year I had made myself some promises.  My beauty and worth didn't come from the number on that scale.  Also, my body was my temple and an instrument given to me to accomplish great things!  I had worked hard on my thought processes over this year.  However, when it came to exercise, any exercise that took my heart rate above 165 beats per minute, gave me severe anxiety and heart arrhythmia began to happen for me quite frequently.  I took these frustrations to the Lord in prayer, as I am very Christian and believe from the bottom of my heart that I am not here on earth to figure things out by myself.  I am here to learn, grow, fail, succeed and grow with God by my side.  My answer was to work out less and keep my heart rate down.  In years past, anything under an hour for exercise was unacceptable.  I would often work out for 2+ hours a day in an effort to lose weight and become stronger.  My answer was to work out for about 15 minutes every day.  In my constant study regarding health, I read from several sources that the body doesn't need extensive daily exercise in order to be healthy.  It's a balance of many things that bring good health.  I also began to see many references to the significance of Yoga and how it had changed them.  My curiosity was piqued.

I pulled out P90X and determined to take that workout DVD 15 minutes at a time and put my all into it.  I did this for a few weeks, and memorized it.  I began to do it on my own.  Out of curiosity, I also began to follow some Yogis on Instagram.  I was astounded at what some people could do with their bodies!  I wanted to try it!  I looked up Sun Salutations many other harder poses, like headstand and Crow.  For me, I had to have a goal of something to work toward, something that drove me to keep coming back and those two postures were what kept me coming back.  So, I would do Sun Salutations, Warriors, Triangle, Boat Pose, Dancer and Pigeon Pose.  After that I would work on my Headstand and Crow.  It took me about 2 months to find balance in these postures.  I was thrilled!  I was hooked!  I felt great and began to look forward to practicing each day.

My very first Headstand, April 2013. Held this for about 15 seconds without the wall!  Big success!

Ruth trying with me.  She's my youngest and is 3 at the time.

Throughout the year of 2013, my practice deepened as I worked on new goals and my involvement in Instagram evolved.  I began participating in Yoga Challenges.  Certain Yogis would group together and give a month long challenge, where they would post daily pictures of  poses with explanations and advice.  We were then encouraged to post a picture and tag our pictures with their names and the name of the challenge.  I participated in many challenges, sometimes as many as 5 or 6 per month.  I'm sure my friends and family thought I was a little crazy.  Why post so many selfies doing yoga?  As the months passed, I would look back at these pictures astounded at my progress!  I was so excited!

Above: One of my first held Crow's or Bakasana.  Could hold this for about 15-20 seconds.

Recent Crow/Bakasana

I had a few friends and family that wanted me to teach them some things I'd learned and because I loved Yoga so much and felt so great, I wondered if teaching Yoga would be something I would enjoy doing.  In October of 2013, I began teaching a few close friends and my Mom.  I had many voices that would creep in...things like: "who would take yoga from you?" "You're not very good at this" "You aren't pretty" "You look fat in leggings" "what if you fall and lose your balance?" .  I wrote all these voices in a black book and wrote in my beautiful colorful journal, all of the things that I AM. I made them my mantras, and daily,
I would make these mantras part of my practice.  "I am beautiful, amazing, capable of achieving anything, important, loved, appreciated...".  I took these experiences with me as I taught each week.  I had a few close friends who stayed with me, gave me great advice and were very supportive.

Above: A couple of months into my practice working on Pigeon Pose (Spring 2013).  

Above: Working on King Pigeon with the strap (Summer 2013).

Below: In the last few months Bound King Pigeon (Summer 2014)

During this time of teaching, I began to make some phone calls and do research as to where I would get Yoga training.  What kinds of certificates were available?  Where? When? How long? Cost? What to do with it when I was done?  As I began to research this possibility, I found road blocks.  I have 5 kids!  I needed something that fit in with my life as a Mom.  Most places were intense with hours of training each day and other places were every weekend, and I needed Sundays with my family and to worship.  I was discouraged and prayed that if this was something for me, it would work out.  I met a woman through Instagram who was teaching at Infusion Yoga & Pilates Studio in Bountiful Utah and I went to her class and met her. This class was the first yoga class I had ever attended!  It was amazing! She stayed after her class and visited with me for about an hour. She informed me that the training at that studio would begin the next day!! I'm so grateful to her for her time and that she answered my questions.  I felt excitement and peace about our discussion.  I called the owner Corena Hammer the next day.  She answered all my questions.  I felt peace and comfort in my discussion.  I knew that I needed to take my Yoga Teacher Training from her at her studio.  I signed up for this that day, with the training beginning that first weekend in January.  Her classes would run month for one weekend - Thursday, Fridays and all day Saturdays.  That was doable.  I was so excited!  As this first post is August. I have been on this glorious journey deepening my practice finding an amazing connection between what was happening in my body as well as my spirit, and mind.  It is all connected and Yoga connects the mind, body, spirit.

2013 Yoga Progress - 1st  & 3rd rows are in the beginning months as I met these milestones. 2nd & 4th rows were all taken in December of 2013.

 I LOOOOVE teaching and feel that a very special gift has been entrusted to me.  It is a sacred thing to teach others.  I don't take it lightly.  I have a ever growing number of friends who come to my classes each week, that I'm currently offering for free, as I am "in training".  I also have had the wonderful opportunity to teach at Infusion Yoga & Pilates Studio where I'm taking my teacher training for this Summer. I have learned so much about myself and I fully believe that "unless we poses something, we can never really give it".

If you're still with me, I share my journey with you in hopes that it sparks something in you.  We all relate to each other in some way.  We all have something in this journey called "life", that links us together.  We all experience emotions like anger, hurt, jealousy, love, fear, peace, etc.  We all experience similar things with our bodies like sickness, injury, fatigue, etc.  We all have a desire to learn and grow as our minds take in something new.  In this, we all relate with each other as we share our unique experiences with each other.  This is my unique experience and maybe it will help you in your journey.  I share this blog with you in hopes that it helps you.  If anything I hope it will be a reference for you, to use as you learn how to "plant yourself", "root yourself" and produce beautiful branches, flowers and fruits that you will enjoy.  I will be posting postures with explanations, all of which I've learned from my amazing teacher and from my own practice.  In time I'd like to post video and classes online.  Let's get planted in Yoga!