As a teenager, I taught myself yoga using a book titled 101 Essential Tips: Yoga, published by DK. My main motivation was to be as flexible and supple as I could be. Along the way, I discovered that yoga had the power to calm me down and help me get in touch with my body—a body I hated with a torrential force I can only describe as self-destructive.
In my 20s, I continued my daily yoga practice and challenged myself with the most complicated asanas (yoga poses). I achieved this goal: the only pose still on my list is the headstand and its variations. At that point, though, I thought I had everything covered. Conveniently, I even used yoga to help me complete the requirements for my master’s thesis in Clinical Psychology.
Approaching my thirties, I traveled to Bali to learn how to be a yoga teacher. Along the way, I was introduced to raw food and guided meditation. It became clear that yoga was about so much more than just toning the body. But at that age, it didn’t matter as much. I dismissed the idea of pranayama (breath control) as “woo-woo,” and struggled with maintaining a voluntary, daily meditation practice.
In my 30s, all I thought about in relation to yoga was my body. True, yoga kept me supple, and yes, I used yogic techniques to give birth without anesthesia, but yoga largely ran in the background as I spent ten years at home, raising children.
Now that I’m in my 40s, and having reentered the workforce, my relationship with yoga evolved yet again. Interestingly, while pursuing a path as a writer and author, I stumbled back into the psychology field and found myself working as a Wellbeing Coach. No denying it, yoga’s mental health benefits, both for me and my clients, are downright amazing.
At this point, I have made peace with the fact that moving meditation is the best for me. I’m learning breathing techniques bit by bit, and the headstand? I’m getting there.
Here are four snapshots from my yoga journey:
I am still the same person, but I’ve grown—and so has my yoga practice. Wonder what the next years would bring.
The featured image on this blog was AI-generated by me using a free tool, Leonardo AI. I use this image to support my written content creatively and cost-effectively. The images inside this article are genuine and mine.
