There came a time in my late twenties when I needed more out of life, and struggled to find my inner peace. I longed for happiness. My soul yearned for serenity. I found, and still continue to find these things through my yoga practice.
Yoga can be a lot of things to many people. For me, it is home. It is peace & tranquility. It is a way of life.
My first experience with yoga was in 1998, the year my second daughter was born. We lived in Katy, TX at the time. The resources for yoga were limitless being so close to Houston. I'm not even sure how I ended up choosing Devanand Yoga Center in Houston, but I did. And let me tell you, it was an experience.
Yoga can be a lot of things to many people. For me, it is home. It is peace & tranquility. It is a way of life.
My first experience with yoga was in 1998, the year my second daughter was born. We lived in Katy, TX at the time. The resources for yoga were limitless being so close to Houston. I'm not even sure how I ended up choosing Devanand Yoga Center in Houston, but I did. And let me tell you, it was an experience.
The first time I walked through the door of suite L, it was like stepping into another world. I immediately felt time warped into another era, ancient India. There was a large mural of Krishna on the far wall. For those of you who've never seen a picture of Krishna, he's a stunningly beautiful child. Krishna is the Hindu God. The name Krishna literally means “all-attractive”. Not only is Krishna/God all-powerful and all-knowing, he's the most beautiful person.
There were 20-30 rugs lined up against the walls of a long, rectangular room. It was quiet and the lighting was serene. Nag Champa incense burned throughout the room, stimulating the senses. The instructor and the other students were kind and gentle spirited. I picked a spot and followed the others in preparation for an incredible experience. With the incense burning, the chanting filling the air, it felt as if Patanjali was seated beside me, saying "follow me, my friend".
For the authentic yogic experience, I thank my first instructor, Rafael Sarango, ERYT and the Devanand Yoga Center. The enchanting yoga seed was planted through my experience under your guidance, and for that, I'm grateful. Namaste'
Two years later we moved to Brenham, TX where I quickly found a wonderful yoga class at our local health food store. Jessica, the daughter of the store owner, taught yoga upstairs of the store. She had the sweetest demeanor and softest voice. She made me want to learn yoga. I longed to do the poses like she did, but as a wonderful teacher, she encouraged us to be ourselves and practice for ourselves. After a couple of years, Jessica moved to California to complete her studies and I lost a great yoga teacher.
I yearned to teach, but couldn't imagine asking the family to give up $3,000 for teacher training. After a few more years of taking classes here and there, I found an opportunity to sign up for teacher training through Yoga Yoga in Austin.
Class was eight months long and intense. Guru Mehtab Benton and Guru Karam Benton run Yoga Yoga, and they offer one of the best teacher trainings in Austin. It is the real deal. The lead teachers for my segment were Prema and Ana Pilar along with other fascinating and extremely knowledgeable instructors. I love them for what they taught me and the all of the experiences I endured while under their teaching. I will never forget them.
I will also never forget the friendships made while on our journey of teacher training.
My long-term goal is to work with children & teens, working on their self-esteem and body awareness, confidence and self-love. I want to teach them to love themselves for who they are, not what society tells them to be. I feel it's important to teach our young people mindfulness and how to learn to manage stress, anger, and anxiety. Yoga can help them learn these things. I'm looking into teaching yoga as an alternative P.E. credit though the school district. Can you imagine what yoga could do to boost their confidence and those test scores?!
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Robin, my friend, my confidant and my teacher training buddy, thank you. You gave me advice months ago at lunch to get back into yoga, and now I've listened.
Thank you to all the sweet souls who invited me into their homes to stay the weekends while I was in training.
Jesse and the girls, thank you for allowing me to do this. And no, I will not be moving on to trapeze artist school. I've found my path.
Yoga Yoga and all the wonderful & helpful staff, thank you for providing a pleasant place to train.
Prema & Ana Pilar, I hope to make you two proud.
To all my future students, meet you on the mat!
Namaste'
