Inspiring stories of everyday yoga practitioners.
“What I’m getting present to right now is community. I’m at a radically different place that I was in even a year ago- and that’s because of my community. I started yoga so long ago! I took my first teacher training about 12 years ago. My mom had just passed away and my world was…
Read More
“Going through a divorce, you think the world is going to end. I remember thinking “I’m going to die alone. I’m going to be an old man dying alone.” It’s of one of the first thoughts I had. The whole process; the negativity, the animosity, the break down and finally, the end of my marriage…
Read More
“My parents divorced when I was 20. In the long run it turned out to be for the best, but there was a whole lot of anger and angst and other emotions built up that came up from that. A couple years ago I started really taking yoga seriously, as more than just the physical…
Read More
“Years back, I witnessed my good friend’s transformation through yoga. As she dove deeper into the self-inquiry part of the practice, her life changed for the better. That’s not what yoga was for me…at first, at least. When I first walked into Yoga Body Shop, all I really wanted to do was stretch out my…
Read More
“I started out as a dancer. I felt very fortunate because my whole life I always knew what I wanted to be. When I was young I would see ballet dancers on TV and it really spoke to me, so I dedicated my whole childhood; really my whole life to it. I found dance as…
Read More
“When my family knew the end was near, I flew home to be with my mom for her last week before she passed away. It was in those moments at Hospice where I couldn’t do anything but sit and be with her. During this time, I had my first tangible experience with the power of…
Read More
“My yoga journey did not have the most profound start in the world. I started doing yoga because I was a runner and had really tight hamstrings… I couldn’t physically touch my knees and so I’d start doing yoga to get a “good stretch”. I vaguely knew that there was a spiritual element to it,…
Read More
“A few months before I started my yoga practice, I had been studying abroad in Italy and Austria where I gained 20lbs. As someone who always identified with being athletic and had grown up playing basketball and running track, I felt like my identity was at stake. So, my yoga journey then began when my…
Read More
“I started my yoga journey when I was in high school. At first, my practice was supplemental exercise to my classical dance training, which at the time was my entire world. By the time I was 16, I was already positive that I wanted to become a professional ballet dancer. I spent my summers alone…
Read More
“I was a reasonably active guy in my twenties, but became more sedentary as I got into my 30’s and time went on, naturally putting on some weight. Life happened! It really came at me during this time – I changed jobs and got married, and exercise wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. Jump…
Read More
“People are always surprised when they hear my story because where I am now is not anywhere near where I started. From the time I was in elementary school, up until college and even after, I was training as a competitive athlete. I played field hockey, volleyball, and did gymnastics. But, what I was most…
Read More
“This part of my life story began 4 years ago. I was working as a practice manager at a medical office, I had a home, and was supporting myself by working three jobs. I found New Hampshire Power Yoga, and it quickly became this really amazing place for me and for my life. When I…
Read More
“My yoga practice just started as this workout to get in shape, and the gradually became my happy place – evolving into a practice that is the best of both worlds for me. The physical part of it is wonderful, but it ultimately became my coping mechanism. I’ve gone off and on to therapy and…
Read More
“When I was 10 years old I had cancer. I’m 36 now, so it seems like forever ago, but it still affects me. It was a harrowing experience, more so for family and friends than for myself, but there was still suffering. It was my first brush with death, and mortality is hard to process…
Read More
“I was born in the Philippines and raised in Alaska. It wasn’t until I moved to New Hampshire – where I currently live, that I discovered yoga. During this time, I was training for a bodybuilding contest and was so focused on the physicalness and what I looked like. I got buried in a ton…
Read More
“I have this limiting belief that until I can sit cross-legged, I’m not a real yogi. I’ve convinced myself that because my hips are so tight, they’ll never open up. Recently in a class an instructor explained to me that, your hips and how tight they are correspond to not only how you treat others,…
Read More
“I got into yoga in 2013 – very untraditionally. I was studying abroad in New Zealand and wanted an exercise I could do in my apartment. I ran across DDP yoga, which is a program created by a professional wrestler, Diamond Dallas Page. Looking back on it, DDP is truly, a one-of-a-kind experience, which awakened…
Read More
“I’ve always struggled with depression and anxiety. I’ve treated both with medication on and off since my mid-30’s while also seeing a handful of therapists with minimal progress. As a registered nurse and someone who’s knowledgeable in psychology, I still don’t know why clinical treatments didn’t work for me. All I do know, is that…
Read More
“I was born with spina bifida, and have had a walking disability my entire life. When I was younger, I was constantly having surgeries, but none of this stopped my parents from treating me like any other kid. I still had to do my own laundry and help around the house like my younger brothers.…
Read More
“I wasn’t ever very comfortable in my own skin, so when I started yoga in college, I’d go in and compete with everyone because it was what I knew and what I was comfortable doing. I was stuck in a total athlete’s mindset. Michael Plasha was the first instructor who really got me excited about my…
Read More
“My mind wanders a lot. I’m always thinking about work – focusing on whatever happens there, and if not there, then in every other aspect of my life. I felt like here, in my first yoga class, I was finally in the moment. Yoga wasn’t something I would have typically tried in the past, but…
Read More
“Even though I’m not a young person, I’m a fairly young teacher – I’ve only been teaching a few years. Right after I graduated from yoga teacher training, I received a phone call from a friend asking me to take over several chair yoga classes at a senior center. When I was called to do…
Read More
“I’m now looking forward instead of back because there’s nothing I can change or do differently that’s happened. I just need to move forward. The fact that I have a blank canvas is exhilarating. I’m cleaning out the old and I’m moving in the new. It’s a huge sense of comfort knowing I have this…
Read More
“I was never very happy or confident in myself and had always struggled with being healthy overall. I’ve spent money on all these workouts and supplements over the years and nothing ever really stuck until I started doing yoga consistently. Once we hit the 40 Days to Personal Revolution (Baptiste Yoga program) and began doing…
Read More
“I see myself as being limitless. I feel empowered to make moves in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I still definitely get that feeling of being stuck sometimes, but now I know there’s a reason for it. Feeling stuck; going through what I’ve gone through emotionally – it’s all led me to the place…
Read More
“My daughter got me into doing yoga 14 or 15 years ago. Before that, I never really trusted my intuition, and wasn’t confident in many aspects of my life. Those are a couple things that yoga helped a lot with: being more comfortable in my skin, and trusting my intuition. My husband noticed a change…
Read More
“My yoga journey started purely in the realm of the physical to get in shape and push myself to a different level. It was like that for the first two years of my practice, and then I began to see the shift to something more. I was in a high stress job and began…
Read More
“When I first started practicing at Yoga Body Shop, I remember I couldn’t focus in class. My eyes would be looking all around the room at the other people, or just, anything. It was during the time I was taking my hardest classes, I was stressed, didn’t know what the future held for me, and…
Read More
“The first week, you die in hot yoga…like, you actually die in those classes. You’re in the middle of the class and thinking, ‘why did I come back here?’ But then all of a sudden you realize that the pose isn’t that bad, and then you’re able to try another, and another. One day I…
Read More
“I started yoga when my twin boys were 6 months old. Everything was so chaotic. I remember I kept thinking that if I worked out I’d feel better. I knew I had to find something that gave me strength, but peace at the same time. I searched and found a Gwen Lawrence yoga video and…
Read More
“I was an ICU nurse for many years, so I developed a strong personality from it. You become a tough babe in the ICU. There’s really no time to monkey around. You get what you need when you need it, and you get the job done. You call Dr.’s. on points, you’re stern and you…
Read More
“I’ve been working really hard to try to value my body in a type of way that I haven’t before. I’m trying, and it’s hard – and I felt like I was making a lot of progress but I just always end up setting myself back. I’m at a point where I know what I’m…
Read More
“I thought yoga was just stretching and it’s NOT. The way I felt after class was just amazing. I couldn’t get over that feeling (whatever it was), so I immediately signed up for the first month of unlimited yoga. Right off the bat I knew something was there, and realized that it wasn’t the physical I…
Read More
“I was introduced to a yoga teacher training and personal development program before I even started practicing consistently. I talked to one of the teachers at Yoga Body Shop, Jenn and had said, ‘I don’t know about this, it’s a huge commitment’ and she said, ‘Well, your life is a huge commitment, right?’ Man, it’s…
Read More