WARNING: I'm not an English major. If you see mistakes in grammar & spelling etc. Please feel free to be the first to receive my next post so you may edit my work before I publish. (send me an email). This of course is not a paid position. I will kindly do yoga in your honor. With love, Eileen.
I'll make a long story short. I moved to Burlington in 2009 and lets just say, things didn't pan out how we had imagined. I've been working as a massage therapist for the past 10yrs and this past April was suffering from pain in my hands, arm, neck etc. It was diagnosed as an "overuse" injury. I saw several different practitioners for treatment - Acupuncture, chiropractic, Osteopathic, Massage, PT, rolfing, EFT, and others. I took the recommendations from the various practitioners on exercises and other daily activity modifications to minimize pain. Nothing seemed to help for longer than 2-3 days. This is when I decided to practice yoga again.
Like many people, I go through phases of practicing yoga / exercise & eating well regularly for months, then, start eating heavier rich foods, wine and not a lot of yoga practice. This time was different. I was fed up, frustrated with being in pain, questioning my work and body mechanics and was determined to "fix" this. I had been practicing yoga over the years at home, following a DVD. Some days I found that I would FF the dvd, or just lie in savasana for longer than prompted by the instructor on the DVD. I decided I really needed to find a class near me that I liked. Not just any class either! I wanted a good class..
I'll rewind a little and let you know that my love affair with Yoga began in 2000-2003 I was on a quest to find my "calling" I had been a waitress for many years and knew I needed to do something else. I love people. I love talking. I love helping others.
I had found a yoga studio near me in Queens and began going regularly. It was not traditional yoga like Hatha yoga but more of a mish/mash of several types of techniques - yoga, tai chi, martial arts, meditation, etc. I decided this is what I wanted to do, so I signed up to become an instructor. Later finding out that you could only teach in "their" studios and the training itself was held in Arizona which flights/accommodations etc were all extra on top of the $10-15,000. A good friend tried to persuade me that maybe a traditional style yoga would be better and that I can teach that anywhere. I was reluctant to start a new search for a yoga studio that I liked.
I began searching for a yoga studio in NYC and went from place to place. Some studios, I didnt even make it in the front door, because it just didint "feel right". I guess instinct, intuition or just a sense that this place was NOT what I was looking for. I felt a little like goldilocks :studios were too smelly, too pretentious, too expensive, not the right location, class times didnt work, disliked the style, disliked the teacher etc. Until one day, I was walking on 3rd avenue and passed this place called Dharma Yoga, it was on the top floor of a walk-up, I passed it frequently and decided to look at their schedule. I stopped to read the schedule and this gentleman saw me and said "Come in and try for yourself!" This man was about late 50's/60yrs old and just went up the stairs. I thought to myself, even if I don't like the place, I'll get a workout just walking up the stairs!
to be continued.....
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