If you are kind enough to subscribe to our newsletter each month you may be able to guess what I am going to blog about this week….that’s right – YOGA.

In 2009 I was in a car accident that left me nearly unharmed. I blacked out as they used jaws of life to open up the car and get me out. I had a several minor cuts on my body from broken glass and went through two weeks of physical therapy that left me not quite 100%. I sure felt lucky to be alive, but my back was terrible tight and I was in constant pain.

People had all kinds of suggestions but for some reason I was struck by trying yoga. What was yoga really? I had no idea. I don’t think I had ever heard of it really. Just a bunch of stretching? I can do that, I was a cheerleader my entire childhood for god’s sake!

I walked into my first yoga class after smoking a quick cigarette, and little did I know I was about to get my butt kicked and my life forever changed.

Ash – what, yoga? Ashtanga. Why were people chanting in another language? Who in here had an oxygen tank blaring on full blast and why was every one so….ageless?!

I didn’t know that I had found a gem. An exclusive full Ashtanga Yoga studio. A very old traditional style of yoga that is rigid and so fast paced and tough that you have no other option than to be present and focus only on what you are doing at that moment. Ashtanga translates to “8 limbs” which I will spend the next several posts exploring each limb here (Of course you will have to wait every other week as Bob and I trade off blog weeks). But at the time, I chalked up 8 limbs to meaning you needed 8 limbs to get into some of these poses because it was wicked hard.

I was hooked from my first class. My teachers were tough and kind, always reminding me to not be lazy in my form, to remember to breath, and offering my hands on adjustments.

I knew that I wanted to take a yoga teacher training, but I never wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to do the training to learn more about yoga and learn more about myself. My teachers always encouraged me to go, but I was scared and I had too many bad habits. I mean, can I be a yoga teacher and smoke cigarettes and blackout drink? Can I be a yoga teacher and not teach? Can I be a yoga teacher and have roller-coaster emotions with violent tendencies? I think not!

When I moved from Kansas City, I didn’t practice Ashtanga consistently for almost 10 years. I thought about it constantly, and it tore me apart that I was being lazy in my spiritual well-being and in my physical body.

I finally cleaned up my act, mostly. Bob encouraged me to do my teacher training and I did. I even taught in Ninilchik, Homer, and online before deciding to teach from my home. But something was still missing.

On our trip home Bob and I made a plan and I committed to dedicating myself to my practice. I have spent this entire month immersed back into the world of Ashtanga and I feel revived. I’m only practicing 5 days a week. Traditionally done 6 days with a rest day on Saturday. I keep to tradition and do not practice Saturday, but I also do not practice on Sunday, as Sunday is our family day.

I can’t wait to share the journey with you as I continue to dive deeper into this passion of mine and hopefully inspire you to find what revives you. Don’t wait 10 years for the perfect time. The time is now. And in the saying of any true yogi

“And Now Yoga”.