How did you first get started in yoga?
At 17, I was diagnosed with five bulging discs and knew I had to find a way to heal myself. I was a teen trying to be an actress living in LA and had just graduated from high school in my native Australia. This diagnosis was the external circumstance that brought me kicking and screaming to yoga. I didn’t like my first classes; it was painful, kind of boring, slow and not me. Yet the universe had other plans and it didn’t take long before I fell in love with this ancient practice. Also, I know now I wasn’t settled within until I began to include the teachings of yoga and meditation into my whole life. Only then did I begin to heal my whole self, my body, mind, and spirit. This is the journey toward a life worth living that I share in my book, A Life Worth Living: A Journey Of Self-Discovery, through Mindfulness, Yoga and Living In Awareness.
Can you tell us more about your healing journey?
Throughout my younger years I had been harsh on my body, not listening to what it needed, pushing its limits, and as a result, creating pain. When the pain was triggered by an emotion, I’d be tough on myself, restricting my food intake and reinforcing messages that I’m not good enough, which only worsened it. I was a conspirator in my own self-destruction, unable to feel gratitude for all that my body gives me. I could only see what it wasn’t able to do, and it hurt.
I’m not as harsh on my body today as I was back then, but I still have moments where I have to consciously find what is working well in my body and focus
