My Healing Journey
In 1996 I was lying in a hospital bed beginning the slow recovery
from a serious back injury I incurred in a very traumatic car accident.
My first and second lumbar vertebrae were fused together with bone that was taken from my pelvis. At the age of 18 I had to learn how to walk again. After months and months of rest and physical therapy I was able to walk! I was hesitant to do much else. I was frightened by what the doctors told me then, discouraging me from any intense physical activity: no sports, no roller coasters, no standing for any long periods of time. They also warned me that I would most likely experience back pain for the rest of my life.
Yoga changed all that....
At the age of 22 I took my first class. It was rough. I had been very athletic my entire life, fond of physical activity and adventure which had abruptly been cut short. Not only was I extremely tight and stiff but I carried some emotional trauma with me from the accident. Pretty much every movement in the body originates from the spine--and mine had been damaged…repaired but the real damage was the fear and doubt it created for me mentally and emotionally.
That first class was painful to say the least. I went back. I breathed into the places that hurt. Sometimes I cried. I cried because yes, it could be physically painful, but the poses were also a constant reminder of my back injury. That I couldn't just fling myself into any pose I wanted to without thinking.
This was a great gift. My injury was a gift.
I had to learn to listen to my body, to be patient and compassionate with it's limitations (as I soon found out; that's the true Yoga anyhow). I had to learn to quiet my ego and refuse it's stubborn impulses to accomplish or achieve when I'm practicing. It's been over a decade since that first class and, to be honest, I STILL have to do this.
After a couple years of consistent practice, my flexibility and strength increased in ways that I hadn't expected. I was healing more than just my body. I knew that yoga would forever be an important part of my life.
I became a teacher not only to empower others along their own healing journey, but also to deepen my own.
It's been over a decade since my car accident and I have NO back pain. I play competitive beach volleyball. I run. I hike. I practice yoga daily. I do back bends and handstands--I mention this only to celebrate the body's amazing capacity to heal from even the most traumatic of events. I am honored to teach this powerful practice. More than that, I am grateful to learn.
And learn I do: every day, in everyway I can. The experience of watching my body heal in such miraculous ways led me to the field of nutrition, to discover just how much the body is able to do when given the optimum amount of nutrients.
As a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, I am both honored and humbled to colloborate with clients looking to revitalize, regenerate and activate the body’s innate heaing potential.