Why I Started Yoga
Everyone begins their yoga practice for different reasons. Maybe it was because Victoria’s Secret has models wearing their new yoga pants that say “PINK” across the butt. Or maybe it was because their friends were all trying classes so they thought, “why not?” Possibly their doctor recommended yoga as a part of their healing process from an injury or ailment.
I started a serious yoga practice at age 16 to relieve the mind obstacles I was dealing with at the time – anxiety and depression – and to heal from injuries.
Yoga Is My Medicine, and My Injuries Are My Best Teachers
From age 2 I was a ballerina and by my preteens I was in a company. Like any sport, ballet pushes your body with classes every day and rehearsals on the weekends, plus shows. When I received my first knee injury from dance at 12 years old, my mom suggested I go to yoga with her to help me stay active. I thought it was absurd to see my mom do a headstand in class, refused to attempt one myself, and never returned to a yoga class for another four years.
I ended up quitting ballet at age 16 due to toes, ankles, knees and back injuries, and developed IBS and mind obstacles from stressing my body. Going from all that activity to nothing, my mom became very worried that I wouldn’t ever be active again. She handed me a Rodney Yee yoga DVD and told me to “try it when I get a chance.”
Like all teenagers do, I didn’t listen to my mom and refused to try the tape. Eventually, I tried it in secret – whenever my mom wasn’t home – and was surprised by how great it made me feel immediately.
Everyday, I repeated the tape.
I had no idea what I was doing or what yoga actually was, but my body was becoming stronger and my mind felt clear.
By my senior year, I felt completely happy. It was so new to me, this happiness, the loss of stress. My friends noticed it too. They said I didn’t get mad as often, I could deal with stressful situations well, and adapted easily to change. Slowly, confidentially, my friends revealed they were beginning to have anxiety, panic, or depression, and I became the go-to-advisor.
My first actual class was when I was 17 at a small yoga studio. Immediately after class I asked the owner, “how do I become a teacher?” The instructor suggested I move on to practicing at YogaWorks and take their teacher training instead because it’s more known and detailed. Both my mom and I began taking classes three to five times a week at YogaWorks in the summer that I graduated high school.
I completed my YogaWorks 200 Hour Teacher Training in November 2012, but suffered from whiplash from a headstand and a car accident toward the end of my training. My injury challenged my mentors to find new ways for me to practice each yoga pose and blessed me with the tools to help anyone with chronic neck pain. After the training ended, I fell into another cycle of anxiety, panic attacks and depression due to the chronic pain, and self-treated myself holistically with yoga, self-massage and essential oils.
For three years I taught at LA Fitness and small studios. Afterward, I started the YogaWorks 300 Hour Professional Program and founded my mental health site The Strange is Beautiful. August 2014, I acquired arthritis, but overcame it within a year because of a change in my diet. Similarly, May 2017 I developed acid reflux and healed from it within months, again through revisions in the food I ate.
In January 2016 I graduated from my 300 Hour Professional Program at YogaWorks for a total of 500 hours. My final project, “6-Week Yoga for Anxiety and Depression programs,” impressed the co-creator of Trauma Informed Yoga training, Kyra Haglund, and she granted me a full scholarship for the training. At this time, I began substitute teaching at Monte Nido Vista eating disorder clinic.
A month later, I released The Strange is Beautiful Alternative Self-Help Guide and online yoga for anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Sold at L.A. and SF Zine Festivals, the guides are still available today at TheStrangeisBeautiful.com/Store.
Never Forget Your Roots
Today, I go to my mat to maintain balance and peace within myself. Before beginning my personal practice, I ask my body and mind “how are you doing today?” to decide what type of practice I need in that moment.
I’m so grateful for all the injuries I’ve had because it’s given me the tools to help myself and my students. Yoga is my medicine, and my injuries are my best teachers.