Hello friends!
As many of you know I’ve been very busy opening the Oxygen studio in Aberdeen Village. This is not a shameless plug, but I would love for you to join us and experience what we offer because it is that… an experience… community within our community.
How did I get here? Sure the financing, the partnership, the redesign, the marketing. All of it relevant.. that tangible stuff that requires you to immerse yourself entirely until you almost forget where the path took a turn and lead you straight to this moment.
Mine… I know it now specifically… it’s deeply personal, and I have shared it more over the past two weeks than I have ever.
When my mom passed away unexpectedly in 2010 my heart shattered. If you’re fortunate enough to have a momma you adore, who is your BFF, then you know where I’m coming from. She was gone… just like that… snap.
I was left drowning in the wake of grief and sadness.. but mostly anger, that lived just under the surface of my façade I called life.
Life is beautiful, right? And it was (still is) but I wanted to share it with her so badly I often refused myself simple joys, because it busted me up not to be able to include her.
After two years of this poorly timed dance-off, I finally decided to try yoga after a friend suggested it for the 20th time.
It was Halloween 2012, which just happens to be my dear friend/cousin’s birthday. I thought of her, sending well wishes and hoping it would distract me as I gingerly stepped through the doors of Kamloops Hot Yoga for the first time totally out of my comfort zone and not buying into at all.
Meditation was already part of my life, so I didn’t think I needed yoga, especially a westernized version of it.
There was a sub that day, a woman named Deb. The stars aligned for our paths to cross as I’ve never seen her teach again.
She guided me… yes, I believe completely it was all meant for me that day, even though there were 15 others in the space. Guidance, acceptance … and those profoundly moving three words that cracked my heart wide open while in camel pose for the first time … ‘just let go’ she said with a soft exhale.
I had no idea I had been holding my breath or clenching my jaw through a smile.. faking my way through the beautiful new now that hurt so much. I was so raw and fragile.
She received my pain without judgement, without suggestion, she just carried it for me. She put her hand on the top of my head, then she touched my shoulders and whispered ‘let me hold that for you for a while’.
The symbolism of it, the kindness, the love, simply allowed me to finally weep from the depth of all that I am. No, it’s not ‘just yoga’, it can and will change your life if you allow yourself to let go.
Whether it’s a job you hate, an injury that’s nagging, loss of love… anything. It will ground you in a way you could never know until you experience it with an open mind and absorb everything it offers. The complete circle of wellness… body, mind, soul.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be out there running to my own beat and LOVE the fitness classes we offer here. But yoga… saved me.
I would not be sitting here right now, writing this with tears streaming down my face if my mom had not died. Such madness this path is, and how truly glorious and grateful I am to be blissfully exhausted with this new adventure.
The living wall we have in here, that my amazing business partner made, is an ‘art’ piece that encompasses the relationship my mom and I shared.
I am here because she died… there I said it again. Wow… I need a tissue. Life, eh?
No matter what, it’s worth living to the fullest expression… it’s yours… LIVE IT NOW!
