What is yoga?

What is Yoga?

When you think of yoga what is it that comes to mind? I have heard them all but to me yoga is the unity of mind, body and spirit. There are so many ways you can define yoga and through this weekly blog, we are going to address them. As this is our first ever though, I am going to define our transformation. I recently read an amazing article in the yoga journal about how yoga leads to transformation. Tantra scholar Rod Stryker states, “we’re not transforming into something we aspire to, we’re transforming into the very thing that we are innately: our best Self.”

Transformation and Yoga

So, in the above picture what comes to your mind? Some may say they do not see a difference between photos but guess what, there are two huge differences.  The first is that between the two, the one on the right is 30 lbs lighters weight wise, which to be honest the first time I stepped foot in the studio, that was the goal.  The biggest transformation here however is the mental and spiritual transformation. 

Storytime, I was married for 17 years when I had decided that divorce was the only way out for which will save that drama for another post. Anywho, I went to talk to a therapist because something in my life needed to change. “Who is Angie?”, the therapist asked me and I told her, I am a single mother to three amazing teens and I work two jobs as my ex does not provide support.  She looked at me and again said, “no, who is Angie?” At this point I was angry so angry because I didn’t know how to answer that. Here I was 35 years old and unable to actually define myself other than being a mother.  So at this point the therapist suggested yoga which I totally laughed off.  How the hell was I going to afford yoga let alone make time for it and seriously, how was it really going to help me?

So let’s fast forward super speed about two years of spiraling out of control trying desperately to “Find Angie”, drinking a lot, eating a lot and getting angry that I was not happy and also uncomfortable in my own skin.  I decided to go check out a yoga studio one night because they had offered aerial yoga and to me that was something different. From that first class I was hooked.  My very first inversion, something changed in me, I felt light and airy.  I felt free! I decided to tiptoe over to the hot yoga class and boy, that sucked! It was hot and I couldn’t get in to any of these crazy poses all of the advanced yogis were getting in to. I left that day and said, no I am going to stick to aerial yoga but again, something changed that evening. I decided I wanted to go back and well folks, the rest is history. The owner of the studio encouraged me to practice more and more and then suggested I become an instructor.  Me an instructor? No way! You see, yoga is more than the physical practice, yoga actually encourages us to transform by shifting the patterns in our lives that we have developed over the years. For me I had developed a pattern of binge eating and drinking too much, but with the practice of yoga, I began mindfully eating and when it came to drinking, I had cut that down because no one wants to invert when feeling like crap after a night of drinking. Yoga teaches us how to handle situations by practicing breath work to calm our minds and body. After about a year of steady practice, I found that I had transformed and continue to transform in to my higher self.  I am more present at home and have developed healthy eating patterns as well as practicing the elimination of negative self talk.

As of today, I am now a 200 hour registered yoga instructor and working on my 300 hour to be able to teach other teachers and hone in on more of a specialty. I am also a certified aerial instructor as well as going through the training to be a reiki master. Back to the transformation of this story time, did I lose 30lbs?  Yes and now can I tell someone who Angie is when asked. Yoga transformed me inside and out and I feel during our current times we all could use a little time to be with ourselves and learn who we really are. Yoga builds up strength, confidence and discipline to change our lives for the better. So how would you like to start your transformation and what is important to you about transforming?