Yoga and I had a rocky start, if I am being truly honest. I am a runner, dancer, skier and tennis player, so trust me when I say it was a rocky start, or more accurately starts. I would give it my all, but the whole stillness, breathing, and staying on a little mat for an hour just didn’t do it for me. In a world where Lululemon and yoga mat bags are every street corner, I was not on the Yoga train!

But even if Yoga and I hooked up reluctantly, I have come to cherish my time on my mat, and even more so, need my mat time and even more believe that Yoga in her wisdom has brought me peace, calm  and frankly saved me during times of adversity{ most notably after our car accident and Robin’s death}. Yoga in fact was part of my action plan, that I developed with my coach, after the car accident. I was stuck in many ways, husband with a broken neck, out in the country far from anything, scared to death to drive because of the accident and overwhelmed. The idea of going out to a Yoga class, was more or less as likely as driving to the moon, not going to happen. So I brought out my yoga mat, put on my favorite class from yogadownload.com and did my Gentle Hatha Class for 30 minutes. It did all the things that Yogis say it will do, calmed my mind, centered my heart, and in my words made me feel like “me” again, instead of accident victim and care taker in overwhelm.

What I know for sure, is that recovering form adversity and Building Resiliency, requires a multi pronged approach. It is because, when we are hurt, or experience loss. or are worn down, it is our whole selves that go through the experience. We can’t for example say, that it was only my husband’s neck that was broken in our accident, it was that his world was turned upside town and it all needed to mend. My friends and colleagues in the healing modalities such as massage, acupuncture and so on would say that the trauma gets stuck in the body. So as we heal, we need to get it out of our bodies and we need to get it it out of our hearts and minds. By practicing, yoga postures and breathing, we release tension in our bodies, in our hearts and in our minds. I can’t tell you how many times I sobbed in one posture called “Half- Pigeon” which is a hip opener, in our hips we store a lot of emotion, so quite literally by opening hips, tension and emotion spilled out and that is only one of many examples!     Half- Pigeon pose, sharing mat with Millie the Cat.

I am grateful to Yoga in her wisdom, for showing me the way out of darkness, and back to light! At the end of each yoga practice, we yogis say ( yes, I am now a yogi), Namaste, which means ” from the light in me to the light in you”. I know for sure that by bringing light to ourselves, others and the universe, we heal we grow stronger and we Build Resiliency. So for now to each of you I say, Namaste!

Special hug of gratitude to all my beautiful yoga teachers, daughter Katarina de La Cruz, Grace Mazzucco, and Molly O’Meara all of Cabarete, Dominican Republic.

Beautiful daughter and Yoga Teacher at Pure Pangea Yoga, Katarina de la Cruz