After moving to Norway to begin a new chapter of my life, I was unjustly fired from my job in the middle of the dark Norwegian winter. I had moved to Norway from NYC about two years before, so I was still new to the country, which can be stressful. No matter how worldy you may feel, getting used to a new culture always takes time. With the experience of being an athlete on 2 Olympic teams for Hungary and 16 years of coaching in the United States, I became a well-respected coach. Back in NYC, I felt loved and appreciated by my former gymnasts, parents, and employers.
My specialized skills were in high demand as clients fully booked me for private lessons on the weekends for many years. I was a "popular" coach. Anyway, let's get back to my yoga story. Honestly, I had never been a huge yoga fan before. I used to teach and practice pilates trying yoga from time to time; however, I didn't understand the process of the bigger picture. I never found a suitable class or teacher, resulting in me not dedicating enough time to fully exploring yoga. I had the misconception that yoga was only for becoming super flexible. As a former professional gymnast, I was not particularly eager to spend more time on flexibility since I did so much during those years. But now I know it is not that kind of flexibility.
When I lost my work, I had so much time on my hands. My self-esteem and mental health were in despair. I was being persecuted by my employer, although they had never actually seen my work before. Conversely, After receiving praise for my performance in the first two years of employment, my contract had just been renewed, making things even more emotionally confusing. I was in the middle of a legal battle with them to prove that I was fired without probable cause. I never imagined moving to a different country and ending up in such a situation. I couldn't search for another job due to the logistics of the ongoing case leaving me in a state of limbo.
Those six months was the most stressful time in my life. I became lost and depressed, feeling disappointed, angry, and sad. I often felt nauseous, my back muscles were getting very tight from feeling stressed out and I was in so much pain. I had to do something to feel better.
I read an article about how yoga and meditation can help with stress, as well as a fascinating autobiography about a woman and her personal experience with the healing power of yoga. She became a teacher and started an online platform. Inspired by the book and desperate to feel better, I started doing yoga with her. She was great, but I found two other teachers on her website who I felt were just a better fit for me.
I started enjoying yoga, beginning my days with a short meditation and breathing exercises, followed by a yoga practice that helped me feel better with nausea, stress, and body pain. I couldn't believe the fantastic benefits of the training. I always thought meditation and breathing exercises were useless and boring, but going through this awful period, I learned to understand and appreciate them so much. I had finally become open-minded about yoga and meditation. I loved the online platform, so I decided to reach out to one of my favorite teachers for private practice. Luckily he was offering 1:1 sessions online because he was in the U.S. I trained with him for a while, and it was fantastic to be able to talk to my teacher and get valuable personal feedback.
I loved the online platform, but it can't compare to training one-on-one with a teacher. He was impressed with my technique because I was a beginner, but not all of my asanas were correct because nobody had corrected me before. I was thrilled to improve and feel better week by week. I also increased my strength and stamina. That summer I traveled to the USA to choreograph floor routines. Every day I danced for 6-8 hours, and this can quickly become exhausting on the body at any age. Miraculously I found that I wasn't so sore, and my muscles didn't get as tight as in past experiences.
This inspired me to attend my first yoga teacher course, where I studied for 200 hours in Andalusia. It was a life-changing experience for me, and although it was challenging to learn and practice so much in a short period, I enjoyed every moment of it. I met many fantastic people there, including teachers, classmates, cooks, and the inspirational owner of the beautiful Spanish farm where the training took place. I fell in love with the site and how the owner Almu had lovingly restored it with respect for historical accuracy, especially the 300-year-old yoga shala that used to be a barn for animals. The hardest part was adapting to yin yoga as I mainly trained in Vinyasa, a faster dynamic practice, than Yin, a slow, meditative practice.
Coming from a gymnastics background, I was very focused on the asana, or the physical poses of the practice. To begin with, I wanted to hold a handstand for longer and get into all these funky poses you see on social media. I gradually realized that it is so much more of a self-practice and a practice of showing up for yourself no matter how you feel; that's so much more important. After my first Yin yoga practice during teacher training, I felt a difference in my body; I felt so loose, almost like after a massage session. After finishing my first teacher training, I started teaching right away and enjoyed it so much that I began moving away from my long-time job as a gymnastics instructor. Since then, I have taken more courses to educate myself in such fields as yoga therapy and myofascial release. I want to learn more stretching exercises to help my students feel better through self-care.
I am so glad to have been given another chance to study and practice yoga. It gave me so much more than just a workout, and now I aim to share my knowledge with others so that they, too, can experience the benefits of this ancient art form.
Namaste
