By: kbunsey

kbunsey — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:02:32 +0000

I was in college and felt crappy. I wouldn’t admit that then. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for 13 years, but I don’t do that any more. In high school I heard of yoga in a survey class called “Religions of the World” – yoga wasn’t taught as a religion, rather it was mentioned as a practice in India and other parts of the world where these other religions were practiced. Early in high school and through college, even into my early 20s, I was hungry for a lot, but I tried feeding the hunger with all sorts of the wrong food. I knew that part of my hunger was a deep spiritual and personal longing for something more. I had a very bad second year of college – I barely managed to acquire any credits – it was mesy. In the fall of my third year of college I took a workshop class called “Spirituality, Religion and Personal Transformation.” The teacher was waaay into yoga. He taught us how to meditate in our chairs. I didn’t latch onto that part so much – the sitting still part was way hard, but when I heard his guest speakers talk about finding relief from – well, everything – I wanted to find that too! We went to his beautiful house in the country on a Saturday. We ate, walked in the meadows and the woods, prayed, and listened to the professor and his wife talk about spiritual retreats with a guest lady who devouted her life to yoga – she lived in the ashram at Kripalu for several years – she totally ditched her family to go and be there and honestly, I thought she was kind of flaky – but she was also serene and I definitely wasn’t.

Like you, I bought some tapes. My mom had this old magazine cut-out of Sun Salutations taped in our bathroom when I was kid – I still remember it clearly. So she got back into yoga at my mere mention of it and now practices daily by going to classes and workshops. I also started taking a class in a wellness ceneter that is associated with my Catholic high school. I still go there now and have been blessed with a healer of a teacher and a wonderful sprirtual community there.

I practiced off and on – on and off – but when I became more dedicated to my practice – I started to see HUGE changes in my personal wellbeing and in just, simply – returning to myself.

The changes were gradual and happening in my on again/off again habits of yoga practice – but the changes were incredible and amazingly rapid during my steady practice. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with the way yoga helped free me of some very unhealthy habits – like smoking. I just quit and have no desire to smoke. There are others.

Now I teach yoga to children and other school teachers. School is such a stressful place for everyone – we need yoga. The kids LOVE it!

I’m learning this week to be a better yogi – meaning, teaching the classes doesn’t count as my own yoga practice. I need to practice my own self care by honoring me with a realistic schedule and some personal yoga.

I love your website ~ Thank you for asking this question and thank you for the site ~ Namaste.

By: Asia Nelson

Asia Nelson — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:46:29 +0000

This is honestly the kind of blog post that’s like a cold drink on a hot day. How refreshing to hear how real and relevant your yoga practice is.

I started yoga because the martial arts instructor I wanted to work with suggested it as a good place to get some flexibility and balance first. That was ten years ago. I’ve since left my corporate job and teach yoga full-time.

Thank you for sharing your experience with your online yoga community.

Comments on: Why did you start yoga?

By: kbunsey

By: Asia Nelson