When inspiration arrives we smile gratefully and begin the journey of reconnecting...
6am on June 29, 2001: Rhinebeck NY, Omega Institute…my first
Kundalini Yoga experience. But first, rewind 16 years…
For most of my life I was always had a passion for dance, aerobics or any practice that combined movement with sound. After being a student for many years I began to teach, loving the feeling and expression that was created through movement with music. Hoping to get my body somewhat back into shape after son #4, I joined a gym in New Zealand, where I was living at the time, thinking I would get back into shape through aerobics. Well, no way this body was going to do that - pain appeared to teach me and guide me through some necessary changes! In 1994 I found myself very challenged with a great deal of physical pain throughout my back, hips and neck - I was literally brought to my knees and completely humbled! Something needed to change, to shift, to be healed. It was in “The Land of the Long White Cloud”, New Zealand, that I did my first yoga practice and was completely humbled by the experience. I was determined to recover and reclaim my body and the joy of movement... but first the Universe had a few lessons in mind for me.
What I needed to learn more about was compassion, truthfulness, acceptance and tenderness. Not just to others, but also for myself… for how we treat ourselves is often how we treat others. And what we do unto others is what we do unto our own selves. I needed to learn to move from judgment, which constricts and stagnates, to evaluation, which allows for more possibilities and greater horizons. I needed to reclaim, to reveal and to accept all parts of myself, because only then my relationship to my life and to others would become richer and more meaningful.
Yoga has truly been one of the most transformational and sacred gifts I have received in my life. It has graced me with an eternal wisdom, a light filled energy and endless experiences of moving into Oneness, that space of knowing that all is connected. I feel as human beings; once we experience something that makes us feel more joyful and balanced, we then have a natural desire (as well as a responsibility) to share that with others. And so my journey as a Yoga teacher began...
In April 2001 I was extremely blessed and guided to have found a book called “Meditation as Medicine” by Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa. I really was guided. Because of searing pain in my body and finding no relief in what I was doing up to that point, I found myself in the “Self-Help” section at Border’s bookshop staring at about 300,000 books. I remember taking a very deep breath and consciously for the first time deeply asking for help. This book led me to the most amazing, effective and creative form of yoga, Kundalini Yoga, as taught by the late Master Yogi Bhajan. As I began to practice this yoga and the meditations, such profound changes occurred on all levels for me in a very short period of time. Physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually I was shifting, harmonizing and healing. My back, which for 7 years had been very painful and challenging, really began to heal. What I experienced and now know to be true is: even if we have structural misalignments in the physical body, as long as our internal energy is flowing, the experience of our body will be greatly eased, more comfortable and more harmonious. What a blessing to have been given this experience. How deeply grateful I am that I had such pain, for it led me to yoga, to great teachers, travels, transformations and the ability to teach with greater sensitivity and consciousness!
Like Mothering, teaching for me is unconditional. It’s where we give our very best, nurture and nourish because it is our nature and responsibility to do so. It’s where we create the space for growth, acceptance and joy. It creates the opportunity for expansion, for inner awareness and the Truth of the universal field, which connects us all.
Here are a few photos of my teaching, sharing and learning journey. So many memories, so many beautiful, people, places, experiences and friends have deeply touched my life.
I'm grateful for it all!