I once told a yoga teacher I had bad sciatica, and her response was: "don't worry, yoga will fix you."
I have never forgotten her or how my first yoga class changed my life. I was twenty-five and had trouble getting out of bed. Two herniated discs in my lumbar spine that led to such terrible sciatica that I could no longer do anything without feeling that jolting pain and numbness.
But yoga did fixe me. It got rid of my sciatica and opened up a whole new path for me.
I developed a fascination for movement at an early age, through playing sports and practicing martial arts. After my injury I became even more interested in studying anatomy and the human body. Through meditation and my own yoga practice -- testing postures, working specific muscles, pushing my own limits, using breath work, my passion for yoga bloomed.
When I first became a teacher, I was amazed at just how many people suffered from back problems. I had no idea my mother had mild scoliosis and my father's spinal stenosis eventually forced him to get surgery. In every class I taught there were at least two students with already identified spine ailments, and several others with bad posture, knee issues, shoulder pain, headaches, and conditions that are directly related to the spine.
Sadly, most people are not aware that everything relates back to the spine.
So it all fell into place for me. A small epiphany came one day when I adjusted a student in Warrior I. Just a slight tilt of the pelvis, more engagement in the quadriceps and the pinching feeling was gone. She was so ecstatic that she was on the verge of tears.
“My back always hurts in that pose,” she said, “but for the first time today, the pain went away and I felt SO strong!”
And that is when I began building back care techniques into each one of my classes. It wasn’t difficult at all, because for one, most yoga postures emphasize lengthening of the spine and proper alignment; and two, I had done so much spine work over the years that it came naturally.
I have so much to be grateful for. Yoga has healed me, given me hope, and set me on a mission to share my passion and knowledge with others. A friend once asked me: “don’t you get sick of saying: ‘step your right leg forward’ or ‘lift your sternum’ time after time?”
I thought of all of students I have been able to help, all of the people whom I’ve turned onto this wonderful journey of yoga, and the only answer I gave her was a big, contented smile.
