My Yoga Beginnings

Namaste. For the past year and a half I've been training under the inspired mentorship of Syl Carson, founder of Bodhi Yoga (http://www.gobodhiyoga.com/) here in Provo. I'm literally a handful of hours away from completing my certification as a yoga instructor. And once I have that lovely little certificate in my hands, do you know what that will mean? That I'm an official student and lover of yoga! Seriously, I may be a "teacher" by title, but I'm first and foremost a student, eager to learn what you know and eager to share with you what I've learned so far.

Many things led to the decision for me to pursue yoga more in depth. I won't deny that the over-arching reason boils down to self-interest--I simply wanted to be immersed in it for my own personal benefit. I craved it. I needed it. I've dabbled in yoga off and on since I was young, first exposed to it while working out alongside my mom to some of her yoga tapes. Literally, tapes...not DVD's. It was a very Western approach to yoga, where the goal is burning calories more than raising kundalini (though I daresay you can't do one without doing the other), but it was a good place to start.  I also have fond memories of watching my uncle Dave and aunt Shanti meditate or practice yoga in the woods or on the sandy beaches of Lake Tahoe where we often vacationed with extended family. They were the official "yogis" of the family, if my aunt's name isn't a dead giveaway, who studied under Baba Hari Dass, the founder of the Mt. Madonna Center. But it wasn't until I was in college that I felt driven to seek out my very first yoga class with live instruction, having no idea what to really expect. Would you believe it that the quiet, sleepy town of Cedar City, Utah sported their very own Kundalini yoga studio? I couldn't even pronounce the name let alone knew what it meant. I just saw the word "yoga" and walked through the doors...and then continued to walk through the doors over and over and over for months to come. I had never done anything like it before, all of the repetitious kriyas, the meditations, the chanting, the pranayama--breath of fire, especially--the crystal bowls, the gong, the mudras, the mantras...I could go on. Where was downward facing dog? Warrior pose? Triangle? The wide, wide world of yoga was opening up to me, or rather, yoga was opening me. I couldn't get enough of it. I probably only attended classes there for a few months before I moved away (some handsome massage therapist had swept me off my feet and lured me up to Provo) but it made a lasting impression on my life.

Fast forward a few years and I suddenly found myself 7 or 8 months pregnant with my first child (see pic below). I was working full-time in a very physically demanding job. That was a tough combination for my body to handle--big belly + big stress = unhappy mama. Nic's massages were truly my salvation. But as my pregnancy advanced it started to become increasingly clear how tight I was, how stiff my muscles and joints felt. I would feel really good for a day or two after a deep massage but then it would seem my muscles would lock right back in place. Inexperienced with childbirth though I was, I sensed that tightness and stiffness were not simpatico with "easy delivery". I also sensed that it was as much an emotional tightness as it was a physical one. That's when the inspiration came to seek out yoga. Both Nic and I soon found ourselves inside the lovely, peaceful Bodhi Yoga studio.

That rekindled the flame. I won't say I had the "easy delivery" every mom yearns for, but I knew my body was responding to the work I had begun a little late in the game. I shuddered to think how much longer or harder the delivery could have been without regular massage and yoga and tried not to dwell on how much easier it could have been if I had started yoga earlier.

Truly, here I am writing this with not just one, not just two, but three little kiddos tucked into bed. My body's changed a lot since those early pregnancy days, and I don't mean for the worse, actually. Each delivery was progressively easier and faster. My first delivery with our daughter, Saidie--19 hours, major tearing, lots of sutures, painful recovery. My second delivery with our son, Avery--12 hours, no tearing, took a full year to drop the baby-weight. Then little Leif, our youngest, was born in a record-breaking 2 hours and 15 minutes, from start to finish and the weight was gone within the week. Is it a coincidence that I was in my yoga immersion courses all throughout that last pregnancy? That I practiced gentle kundalini twice a week his entire gestation? Don't I know, it's all very anecdotal. Who's to say how things would have been different or why they turned out the way they did. There are many factors, simple muscle-memory being a big one. But I feel comfortable giving a good portion of that credit to my increasing commitment to regular massage and yoga practice.

All of that explains just the first reason for my delving into yoga professionally, for my own self-interest as it were, yet from only one perspective, of how it aided me in pregnancy. Perhaps in future posts I'll explore some of the other physical and emotional benefits yoga brings to my life. The other major reason that I'll conclude with today is that I couldn't deny just how well massage therapy and yoga interplay with one another. Wouldn't it be a dream to work side by side with my husband guiding people in their journey to health and well-being?

Dreams come true.