How Yoga transformed my life

My career as a trauma informed yoga teacher and a pilates instructor originated from my personal experience with injury, trauma, and chronic pain.

Growing up overseas as a dancer, I was diagnosed with scoliosis during my adolesecnt years. The shock and the fear which accompanied the diagnosis, along with my extreme efforts to hide the fact I was "deformed" from my teenager friends, will always stay with me, forever to remember.

I challenged myself during my daily dance practices, sometimes to exhaustion, as if my diagnosis would fade away with every pirouette or arabesque.

I tried Physical therapy. I tried the Feldenkrais Method. My spine refused to straighten and remained twisted.

I entered my early twenties experiencing acute back pain and severe limitation in range of motion.

After the birth of my twins at age twenty six, I was experiencing a 42 degree curvature in my spine. My right shoulder was 2 cm higher than my left in a standing or a seated position. I could hardly bend over to attend the needs of my twins without feeling excruciating pain. The surgeons I consulted with recommended going through major surgery, which would lead to a long recovery, and would most likely not eliminate the pain I was feeling.

Almost sinking into great despair, I started attending Yoga classes at the local JCC.

Moving with the breath during my slow vinyasa flow practices, as a newbie practitioner, agreed immediately with my spine. I finally felt I found my peace, my home, my niche. I left the dance world, my first home, my childhood home, to enter another home - the Yoga world.

I started reading: The purpose of Yoga. The union of the physical body with with one's soul through the breath, and then with the divine. Pranayama the breath as our force of life. The meaning of life and eternity. The Brahman. We are all one. Intertwined. Connected. Everything is for a reason. Learning to accept.

learning to accept is a major principle in Yoga. Not to try to defy what is meant to be. Walk in one's path with humility and dignity until a brighter day comes along, and it always does.

I finally could let go. I let go of the shame, the hiding, the deny, the fear of my condition possibly getting worse, of not being able to stand, or eventually breathe due to the possible aggravation of my scoliosis.

I decided to delay surgery, and let my inner-self, through the Yoga practice, guide me in which movements to avoid, which movements to embrace, and to keep walking in my life path. I became grateful.

I invested time and energy learning how to stay healthy and function optimally. I started practicing Pilates in addition to Yoga, to strengthen the core and stabilize my back muscles. There is not a day that I can allow myself to get out of bed in the morning, without doing my "scoliosis stretches", which means stretching my right side of body more than the other, using three types of foam rollers, and different type of bands and straps.

My long journey led me to pursue a career as a Yoga and a Pilates instructor, helping clients work through the emotional weight of living with chronic pain and physical limitations. I am grateful for the ability contribute to their wellbeing, to accompany and lead them in their path of becoming healthier and happier. They enlighten me with their life stories everyday, making my job of teaching a very rewarding one.

The yoga book says that each one of us has a calling. Becoming a teacher was mine.