When I first came to yoga it was to help my back pain, improve my posture, and improve my flexibility. I have scoliosis. When I was a child, adults were always trying to ‘fix’ my posture. They’re repositioning of my body was uncomfortable and not something I could maintain.

I took a yoga class in college to help with my stress level in dealing with assignments and deadlines. I found some relief and continued with yoga classes on an intermittent basis. I was finally able to commit to a more consistent yoga practice when I was in my early thirties. This led me to taking a kids yoga teacher training course and teaching yoga to my daughter and her friends.

A year later, I signed up for my 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training. On the first day of class, the instructor brought me up to the front of the class, got me to “lift my pelvic floor, pull my belly button in towards the spine, and roll my shoulders back.” (Cues I still use in class.) Then she said, “There, a new woman.” Finally, somebody did ‘fix’ my posture.

Over time, I have continued doing yoga because it quiets the racing thoughts going on in my head, allows me to deal with my life with a little more grace and patience (toward myself and others), and makes me more comfortable in my body.

You don’t have to be flexible to do yoga. You don’t have to be strong. You don’t have to have a certain kind of body or feel at your optimum health. Yoga is a practice. Yoga meets you where you are at.