My Yoga Journey

Would it be a stretch to say that yoga saved my life? Perhaps. Perhaps not. My story is what it is. Whether you think yoga saved my life or not is up to you to decide. I can’t tell you what to think. But, me? I think yoga saved my life.

I began practicing yoga in 2015 after experiencing several different health problems, numerous trips to the ER, and three out-patient surgeries over the course of one year.  During this time, I was diagnosed with Premature Ventricular Contractions, Interstitial Cystitis (IC), anxiety, kidney stones, and gall stones. My doctor said I was just having a “run of bad luck.” To this day, I can’t help but feel frustration at that cavalier comment. But, his reductive reasoning did one good thing. It spurred me into taking control of my own health. My search for personal health and wellness began soon after.

It wasn’t long into my search before I came upon the practice of yoga and read about all of its many benefits. I bought a Rodney Yee beginners yoga DVD and began practicing on my living room floor. I fell in love and have practiced yoga nearly every day since and I am happy to report that I have not had any more trips to the emergency room since I began to have an interest in my own personal health. I suddenly realized that I was in the driver’s seat, not someone else. Why had I never seen that before? I now manage my health through yoga, meditation, self-Reiki, acupuncture, natural supplements, and a mostly vegetarian diet with what I like to call a “concentration in Ayurveda”.  

I am a mother of three grown children and when my youngest went off to college in the fall of 2019, a sadness and what can only be described as a sort of panic set in. I had been a stay-at-home mom for most of my adult life. Could I still qualify for that job title if all of my children were grown and out of the house? Where was my life going? Who was I? My daughter had gone off to chase her dreams and I couldn’t help wondering what my dreams were. What did I want to be when I grew up? I was over fifty! Shouldn’t I know all of this by now? I fell asleep with all of these thoughts swirling around in my brain one night and when I woke up the next morning, something inside my head said to me, “Why not become a yoga teacher?” It was a startling thought and I didn’t know where it came from. Me? A yoga teacher? How does one even become a yoga teacher anyway? My research began. 

Perhaps now is a good time to mention that I have an insatiable sense of curiosity and research is a great love of mine. I have, during various times in my life, decided to research and try all sorts of things. I wrote a newsletter for stay-at-home moms while living in Arizona, hand-delivering them door to door with my kids and a little green wagon. I decided to start a cookie baking business and baked a LOT of really delicious cookies while experimenting with that idea- and gained a bit of weight, as well, because… cookies. I raised a litter of Goldendoodle puppies and learned a lot about people and dogs. Dogs could teach us a thing or two. I wrote a blog about my life as a stay-at-home mom for our local newspaper’s website called, “A Mother’s Touch”. That one lasted four years- until my kids were old enough to know I was writing about them and asked me to stop. I thought about flipping houses and bought a set of DVDs off of the internet to show me how to go about it. I recently donated those DVDs to our local Habitat for Humanity store- so someone else seeking their purpose in life can maybe give that a whirl. Refinishing furniture was another venture I tried. I loved taking something old and worn out and restoring it to something new and beautiful. Unfortunately, the use of chemicals caused my Interstitial Cystitis to flare and I had to give that up. Yes. There have been a lot of different paths I’ve tried over the years. Some were just for fun. I made a beautiful mosaic stepping stone and found my first really zen-like moment working on that. It’s true when they say that anything can be meditative if you’re fully in the moment. I got into gardening and landscaping, researching flowers and herbs and vegetables. My husband is always on board for whatever I’m up to, so that’s fun. Except that we now have four dogs, a huge garden (that has mostly fallen on him to maintain),  a house-full of refinished or nearly refinished furniture, and I think we all carried around a few extra pounds for a while from the cookie baking escapade. 

I often wonder why I developed a chronic illness like Interstitial Cystitis. I suppose everyone wonders, why me?- after receiving a diagnosis for something that (according to modern Western medicine) can’t be cured. It caused me quite a bit of depression and anxiety in the beginning. Living with constant pain? For the rest of my life? I didn’t sign up for that. I suddenly had a whole new respect for all of the millions of other people living with chronic illnesses and diseases all over the world. 

Since I had decided to choose differently for myself and to take back control of my health, I was determined not to accept Western medicine’s diagnosis of living on medications to control my symptoms and pain for the rest of my life. Instead, I sought out a natural healing doctor in my small town. (I still can’t believe we have one and can’t help but think the universe planted him here just especially for me.) He helped me to manage my Interstitial Cystitis and between his care and my newfound yoga practice, I began to have more and more hours in which I had less and less pain and sometimes no pain. And those moments were incredible… because they gave me hope. And I realized that if I had to have something bad happen in my life, there was really no other choice but to find the positive in it and use it for something good. Yoga was that “something good” for me.

The stillness I found in yoga was something I had never experienced before. The flexibility, strength, and sense of balance I gained were incredible. Yoga helped me to reduce my anxiety, which was (and is) a big cause for inflammation and always sets off my Interstitial Cystitis, as it does so many other conditions for so many other people. And I couldn’t help but want to tell everyone else about yoga and how it helped make my life better, easier, steadier, more joyful, more peaceful.

So I suppose it really wasn’t that big of a surprise for me to wake up one day and say to myself, “Why not become a yoga teacher?” Because… why not? 

I began my research and this time. This time. It really took hold. I lived yoga. Breathed yoga. Ate and drank yoga. I went to Yoga Teacher Training to become a yoga teacher and all the while I devoured every book I could read on the subject of yoga. I watched every video I could find on yoga. And, if you’ve already been bitten by the yoga bug then you know this already, I went down the rabbit hole and found all the other cool stuff that goes right along with yoga. I read about energy healing, crystals, sound healing, Ayurveda, Reiki, tapping, meditation, yoga nidra, acupressure, candle gazing, chakras, meridians, essential oils, herbs. I discovered Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Hot Yoga (which I still have not tried), Power Yoga, Rocket Yoga, Gentle Yoga, Slow Flow Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Chair Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Yin Yoga, and most recently, Qigong yoga! There is so much to learn! It is thankfully, blissfully, never-ending! 

And, so, one morning, in the middle of a mid-to-late-life-crisis, I woke up and said to myself, “Why not become a yoga teacher?” and I went out and became a yoga teacher. And now I can share what I love with other people and I can help others find the peace and relaxation and wellness that I have found through the incredible practice of yoga. I have so much I want to learn and so much I want to share and I hope that you will join me as I continue on my yoga journey. If you’re in the Illinois area, come by my studio and take a class with me. I’d love to meet you. 

In the mean time, I hope you’ll follow along with me as I blog about yoga, my life, and lots of other random stuff I run across. I learn cool things every day and I can’t wait to share them with all of you and I hope that you will share the cool things you learn with me as well. 

Welcome to my yoga life. I’m so happy you’re here.

Namaste. With love.

Dana

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.

-Mark Twain