My Yoga Journey

Somewhere in the glorious and tired haze of parenting then-very young children, I knew I needed help—on the inside. I wanted to emanate calm and stability. I was wanted to tap an endless reservoir of patience. But starting smaller, I just didn’t want to descend into the same petulant, exasperated tantrum energy that showed up regularly in my parenting life.

I enrolled in a local Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course, and learned about meditation, body awareness and gentle yoga. I started attending a weekly meditation circle in town and practicing yoga several times a week at my local yoga studio. My kids surprised me with their knowing of when I had skipped practicing—they felt a palpable difference in my energy, presence and behavior.

I began attending immersive and intensive retreats—at Kripalu, the Himalayan Institute and Insight Meditation Society, among other venues—where I began to truly touch bliss. For a while, I struggled deeply with transitioning from the rarified experience of retreat space back into my householder life. Moving to formal practice daily helped (which meant some changes in my life to create the space), supported by classes online and coupled with more time in nature.

In that virtual space, I found my current teacher, Kia Miller, founder of Radiant Body Yoga, who introduced me to her holistic approach, with kundalini yoga at its center. Honoring the power of asana (poses) to help us bring our mind home to our body, that’s just the beginning. The approach helps me work deeply on my energy body, become aware of blockages and old patterns, and release what’s no longer helpful. It’s what I needed to help pursue an ever-evolving practice of self-reflection and self-correction, of making my life itself my practice.

I immersed myself in yoga teacher training with intent of simply deepening my own practice. But these teachings simply call to be taught. It’s an honor and joy to be part of a growing community, deeply and lovingly aware of our humanness, and also aware of our infinite capacity as conduits of the Divine. And so we practice—and enliven.