To talk about how Yoga has impacted my life, I have to start by talking about my first Yoga experience. It was May 2015 about 6 weeks out from major ankle surgery. On my way to the VA Hospital for a follow-up ankle visit, I called a local non-profit and they happened to be holding space for a gentle yoga and iRest class that day. My experience at the VA that morning was challenging; I had to beg many departments to allow me to have a knee scooter instead of a wheelchair. Very emotional to say the least. So, I wheel into this organization to take my first yoga class. To this day I can’t quite place a finger on what I was feeling after class, all I knew is I wanted more and more is what I went after and continue to go after. After about five years of practice, I have learned that the feeling afterwards was my body rejoicing to my mind that we had just experienced the most effective solutions to this thing we call life. Of course, the profoundness of my story does not stop there. Through this experience of not knowing but wanting more, I made a decision to commit to one to two gentle yoga and iRest classes per week. I was not trying to change anything but just committed to these one to two classes a week. After a few months of practice, I was hanging out with what I call my Village Family and my Sister says “bro whatever you are doing keep doing it”. To this day my eyes well up when discussing this even now as I am typing. I should mention this person also hounded me for two weeks to check out the local non-profit.
As anyone who has practiced yoga regularly knows, there are changes that occur. After about six to seven months of practicing yoga I was starting to feel stronger and my confidence kicking in. Since I was feeling so much better than I had before I came to my first Yoga class, I decided multiple yoga classes as well as a moderate work out per day is what was needed. You see the way my mind works is, if a little is good than a whole lot should be really good. Oh, I also forgot to mention I had started working at a job remodeling houses. Let’s just say at this point I almost gave up on yoga.
Before coming to yoga I was determined to be off all prescriptions. When I moved to Florida in 2013, I was on 9 prescriptions. Today, I have two active prescriptions that I may refill twice a year. Over doing life let’s say, caused my sciatica to flare up so bad I would have trouble walking and I had to go back on a high-powered nerve blocker that had a side effect of drowsiness. One thing that has always resonated with me about yoga is the welcoming factor of classes. I am oh so grateful for the love compassion and kindness of my first teacher who allowed me to show up as I am. There was a time for about two maybe three months after this that I would show up to class and sleep. At this point I knew yoga was my answer, but I wanted to be cautious and take care of myself. I vowed that I would only be able to practice gentle yoga. Not long after this incident my first teacher was hosting a Yoga Teacher Training at her studio. Many folks tried to encourage me to attend, but because I knew I could only practice gentle yoga there is no way I could be a teacher, at least that was how my mind was operating. Also, around this time, I was invited to a Hatha class and the teacher knew I had a nickname of the sleeping garden gnome in some yoga circles. She encouraged me to attend by letting me know her class would be welcoming me to sleeping. I did rest some in this class, but I found it was not as challenging as I allowed my mind to convince myself and I had the same felt sense as when I took my first class. Soon after, I was invited into an Ashtanga practice. I realized how intense the practice was and I decided to sleep most of this class, but inquired about the practice and started working with the teacher to develop an adaptive form of Ashtanga Yoga Series. It took me 9 months to get to seated postures, although for the first few months, I practiced the standing postures in a seated position. After a year I started finishing postures. What I am trying to say is that slow and deliberate has always been a tenant of my practice. Yes, it does feel nice to be in full expression or get the full practice in, however I want to make sure I don’t miss something along the way, and for me, the subtle adjustments seem to be more effective. At this point, I have exhausted all my rebuttals to attending Yoga Teacher Training and I tell my teacher I cannot afford the training. She says “just show up, we will figure it out”. I attended an Ashtanga based Yoga Teacher Training and graduated on 7/1/18 and was able to pay for the full training.
Today I teach mostly veterans yoga classes (12 per month). Through my efforts, I have achieved the following credentials, ERYT 200hrs Yoga Alliance, CEP 200hrs Yoga Alliance and iRest Yoga Nidra Mediation Level 2 Teacher. My adaptive yoga teacher said one day “everything we do in life is a solution, just some solutions are more effective than others”. You see all the certificates, credentials etc at the end of day don’t amount to anything however chasing all of that is way more effective than chasing the dragon. Namaste
Blog written by Forest Spall
@yoga_with_forest
