My Yoga Journey
I started doing yoga when I was 14 years old. While growing up in a family that was rather strict, I didn’t have as much freedom to go out and do things as much as I wanted. I also suffered from depression and major self-image issues. So, as a means of taking control of my body, I got really into health and fitness. Yoga was my favorite form of exercise. I had no idea there was more to the practice than that.
Four years later, in college, I had been an avid practitioner of asanas. One night, during a fire drill at my dorms, I met another yoga practitioner. She started talking to me about the Yamas and Niyamas. I asked her, “what is that?” She told me, “It’s the yogi’s ethical code. If you are going to practice yoga, you need to read up on them”. This was the first moment I realized yoga was more than just a series of exercises. That was the moment my journey with yoga truly began. I started by reading the Yamas and Niyamas book she recommended by Deborah Adele. At that moment, I had a major spiritual awakening and began restructuring my life. Beginning with a nonviolent, vegan diet. I joined a meditation group and began working at a spiritual/metaphysical shop where I met many amazing people (and books) who shaped my path. Before long, I was taking a yoga teacher training course, and really diving deep into Patanjali’s 8 limb path. Through this course, I learned so much more about the deep, spiritual practice of yoga. Upon completion of my teacher training, I found a special interest in yin yoga and began teaching friends and family members.
At age 24, 10 years into my yoga journey, I decided to try to open my own yoga business. Though it wasn’t very profitable, it did open my eyes to even more experience. As I practiced longer and more often than I ever had before, something in me started to change again. One day, during my yin practice, I slipped into almost a trance- a quiet moment of complete bliss- almost as if I had left my physical body and entered the spiritual realm. As quickly as I slipped into it, I slipped back out. I had finally tasted the true state of meditation. From that moment on, it was my dream to find that state again.
Around the same time, I found out I was pregnant. I decided to pause my yoga career to focus on my pregnancy (though I did take a training on prenatal yoga). My pregnancy was beautiful yet complicated, and the birth even more so- ending in an emergency caesarean section despite having planned a natural home birth. During my pregnancy, recovery, and period of adjustment to my new mom body, my experience with yoga changed once again. Though I had been practicing yoga as a spiritual path for years, I never noticed how much my practice depended on having a thin, young, flexible body until I no longer had one. This experience deeply strengthened the meditative aspects of my practice. I learned a lot about how western yoga is geared towards thin, attractive women contorting their bodies rather than the spiritual path to unity it was meant to be. I began to listen to more South Asian voices and people with abundant bodies. I began to learn how I could share true peace with the world. I am now drawn to sharing and being an example of the true yogi lifestyle. All of this has culminated in my mission and creation of Boundless Roots.
