Yoga Day
Every day is yoga day when you’re a yoga teacher and student. When it’s the International Day of Yoga, however, it’s nice to take a moment and reflect a bit more on what this practice has given me over the past three years.
When I arrived at the yoga practice I was a hot mess. I had quit a job I hated, moved back home, and discovered I needed to immediately take a break from the impression of a drunk pirate I had been doing. AKA I needed to quit drinking and sober up. This was in March of 2020 which was of course, the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was quarantined at home, with no job and no real idea what I was going to do with myself or my life. The only thing I was able to keep coming back to that made any sense, was the yoga practice.
I began practicing daily. Sometimes for 20 minutes, sometimes for 45 minutes, sometimes all day. I took peloton yoga classes and quickly realized I wanted to go deeper into the practice. So I asked the teachers I had been practicing with for recommendations for a 200hr yoga teacher training. Anna Greenberg gave me one of the greatest gifts by recommending Yogamaya.
The 200hr yoga teacher training I took with Yogamaya in the summer of 2020 changed my life. I created relationships I will bring with me through the rest of my life, learned from teachers who had seemingly unlimited knowledge, and began to connect with myself in a way I hadn’t been able to in years. I will never forget during the restorative yoga day, I felt like I finally cracked open and I just fucking sobbed. I let so much shit go that day. Afterwards, I felt like I was breathing, like really really breathing for the first time in years. Katie Facada taught that yoga class, and the way she created a space for me to exist in a way I had been avoiding and truly terrified of for so long made me realize this practice truly was more than just making cool shapes with my body. It was being alive, fully. Physically yes, but mentally, spiritually and emotionally. After that, it was like I opened up enough to really begin absorbing the things I was learning. The day we learned about Ayurveda from my amazing mentor and dear friend Gina Benson, the world made sense to me. I felt like someone was finally explaining life and health to me in my language. Growing up in Maine I have always felt an incredibly strong connection to nature. Learning about Ayurveda felt less like learning something new, and more like I was returning to a way of life and living I had forgotten about. As soon as it was brought into my life, it became the way I lived. My life is still, and I truly hope will always be, led by Ayurveda.
My practice ebbs and flows, and I still have more to learn than I even know, but this is one of the great joys of yoga. It is a practice for life. It stays with you, for life. There is always more to learn, discover, and experience. As long as you are breathing, you can practice yoga. As long as I am breathing, I will.
