My History with Yoga

A yoga class in university

When I was in university, I remember for my birthday one year, I asked my friends to join me in taking a yoga class on campus. I was curious about yoga and interested in learning more about the practice back then. I remember talking to the yoga instructor, who was a fellow student in my university about how amazing she is - to be teaching yoga and studying whatever she was studying at the time. I'm not sure what captivated me so much about her, but looking back, I felt like there was a light emanating from her and it felt very peaceful and full of hope to be around her. 

Dahn Yoga

In 2014, I had a massive mental breakdown. After the crisis was over, my parents told me to try out yoga to help me cope with my mental health. That was when I joined Dahn Yoga. Looking back, Dahn Yoga isn't like your traditional yoga studio. I would describe their classes as a mix of movement, meditations, and release. I looked up Dahn Yoga today and it is described as a "Korean system of yoga that focuses on the developement of core body strength as a foundation for mental, physical and spiritual health." I enjoyed the classes and had great respect for all of the teachers there. The practices felt very free-ing and I really only have positive things to say about the teachers. That was where I was introduced a book that mentioned Sedona, Arizona. Since then, I wanted to visit that place. 

Yumcha Yoga

As with many mental illnesses though, healing is hard. In 2016, I had a relapse and had a very similar massive mental breakdown. My immediate family was more prepared this time and after I recovered from my period of crisis, I turned back to yoga again, at a different studio. Yumcha Yoga doesn't exist anymore, but that may be the first modern yoga studio I have joined in my yoga journey. The share of Asian yoga teachers are small in the USA, so looking back, I feel lucky to have had a Chinese yoga instructor at Yumcha Yoga. The owner of the studio was also Chinese. I remember enjoying the classes there a lot and wondering how beautiful the asanas looked when my instructors would demonstrate them to us. 

Random Yoga Classes

I would be practicing yoga on and off for some years while I was getting an education to become a certified math teacher. During theses years, I would go to random yoga classes at the New York Sports Club in my neighborhood and practice with diverse teachers. I still remember a beautiful older woman with starlight hair and white leggings teaching us how to get into "Bird of Paradise". She was really a star that shone so bright and brilliantly. 

Muse4Yoga

When I did eventually become a math teacher, I found out that I did not want to be a public school teacher. I switched my career, went through a data science bootcamp and eventually found a job as a data science consultant. When I was more stable in my new career, I took the chance to join another yoga studio as a hobby. That was when I practiced at Muse4Yoga, another studio that had a large Chinese student and teacher base. 

Sacred Space

However, it was when I moved out of Flushing into Astoria in 2022 that I took my yoga practice to another level. Living only about a 5 minute walk from Sacred Space, a yoga studio that offers yoga and many other workshops/classes in the wellness space, I decided to try it out. I loved the space! I bought a year membership there during the holiday sale. That was when I started to consistently practice yoga and throughout the year and a half I have been practicing, I knew I was getting stronger. I felt it too. I also finally felt that yoga is more than the physical training. I still don't think I fully get it yet, but I am starting to see the positive effects of yoga on my spiritual wellbeing and mental health.

Yoga as a lifestyle

THAT'S WHY...I will be doing yoga teacher training. The main reason is to get deeper in my practice. The secondary reason is to teach. It might sound a bit selfish to spend perhaps up to a few thousand dollars on teacher training with only a slight inkling of a desire to teach yoga. But, I think this is my next step and I am really excited about it. I really love yoga and perhaps I have been ignoring it for a while because I thought of it as just a hobby, just a stretch, just an exercise. I am realizing it is a LIFESTYLE. I also realize that I WANT that lifestyle more. 

Although my career right now is comfortable and I get to work from home for my job, it does not give me the joy yoga does. There is something in my yoga practice that I see and feel that is bigger than the practice. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it feels like in yoga lies part of my purpose.

"Why are we here?"

My 10 year old cousin asked me yesterday, "Why are we here?". To put her question in context, we were "playing" with my Oracle deck and I asked her to ask me an open-ended question she wanted an answer to. I pulled some cards and gave her my reading. The cards I pulled were "The Rose Phoenix", "Weightlessness", "Perception", "Involution", and "Direction". The "answer" I gave her was something along the lines of how the question might not be worthy to ask if it is weighing you down, everyone has a different answer to the question, and that your heart already knows the answer to the question and how being in service of others will help you find a direction in your life. I also added that we only get to see a tip of the iceberg, just part of the answer to the question, if there even is an answer, since we only live for so long. But, keep following that direction that your heart tells you to. To my relief, my cousin accepted my answer. 

The tip of the iceberg

For me, practicing yoga and dedicating hundreds of hours to the practice to learn how to teach yoga is really just the tip of the iceberg, but I see the light of purpose in it. It is the direction that is calling to me at this moment. It feels so clear...yet it is only the tip of the iceberg. There is much more to explore.