Starting at the beginning. Again. by Tanya King

I went to my first yoga class close to 20 years ago. It was in a small studio that looked like it was someone’s living room. It was cozy and intimate. The teachers were nice and generally helpful. However, after taking a few classes, I stopped going. I was a runner at the time and just didn’t feel at ease with group exercise or movement that didn’t involve impact. A few years later, my husband and I became pregnant with our first child and yoga was recommended by our natural childbirth instructor as a way to stay in shape while helping my body prepare for the upcoming birth. So, I made my return to yoga. I faithfully went to prenatal yoga classes each week until the birth of my son and was so grateful I did. The hours of labor were hard but not impossible with yoga’s meditation and squatting on my side. Over the next few years I would continue this dance with yoga; gathering what I would need from it for a span of time, moving away from it, but then, inevitably, always coming back. The birth of my third son would prove to be not only a near death experience but also a wake up call. Post delivery I was diagnosed with lupus, told that full recovery from the birth might take years, and that I would need to be on drugs for the rest of my life. The prospect of being unable to run, skate, exercise, or do any of the physical things that made me feel alive and quite frankly, made me feel like ‘me’ was extremely depressing and disheartening. After months of bed rest, struggling with sickness, and needing some physical outlet, I once again turned to yoga. I started small. I bought a 5 class card at Boundless Yoga. I told myself “Do what you can. Don’t get yourself sick. Don’t push too hard.” I attended my first class. My arms shook in downward dog and I thought about walking out.  I stayed that whole class, took nearly every modification, and felt drained and overjoyed all at once when I finished that night. I continued with yoga as I could over that first year. I would practice and let my body guide my movements. A few times I pushed my limits too far and ended up sick in bed for a few weeks.  Once I felt well enough to practice again I got right back on my mat. Sometimes just the act of sitting on my squishy blue mat gave me energy and joy and that was enough. I became incredibly humble as I learned what my body was incapable of doing and yet incredibly hopeful because I felt hope for a new beginning. Over the past two years I have learned to love my body, with all its limitations and I owe that to yoga entirely. Classes at Boundless challenge me, inspire me, force me to push my boundaries, and accept that my journey is unlike anyone else’s. I practice daily as a reminder to myself that every day is a fresh start and that it is an honor to wake up and be able to stand on my mat and begin again.