From a shopping addict fashionista in a quest for her true self to a desperate Californian housewife to a very happy yogini.
I think that I didn’t really find yoga. Yoga, definitely found me.
Growing up, I was always the calm and discreet kid. The one who doesn’t make too much noise, but excels in everything. The one who does what teachers and parents say and who doesn’t go much far from the safe path. The one who doesn’t make mistakes and wants to be the best. I was one of those who could do anything they want. Anything.
I jumped from high school directly to college without knowing where I was going. A leap in a pitch black ocean of unthinkable possibilities. This is where I started drifting away from myself, trying to decide exactly what I was going to do with my life. Trying to please others and do the right thing. What right thing? Yes, what RIGHT thing… So I studied in a field that bored me so much that I failed a class, pursued a university program in which I didn’t relate at all and ended up dropping everything in the hope of recentering myself.
What was I going to do with my life? No idea.
As graduating from university was the only reasonable option I could think of, I subscribed for a fashion marketing bachelor’s degree, letting the shopping addict fashionista in me shine full force for the world to see. I had so much fun working in clothing stores all these years and meeting amazing people. Though, in a way, I always knew, deep down, that it was not my path. My goal. My purpose. I just couldn’t figure it out! I couldn’t put together the pieces of that puzzle of life which seems to be so simple for so many.
And then, an illumination. A way out. A crazy plan.
My loved one, just like that, asked me if I would be willing to move to California, to which I answered an unthought, clear and loud yes. Months later, we landed in Silicon Valley, where I quickly understood that I wouldn’t be able to get a working visa soon. Desperate housewife I became. Desperate indeed. It took me six months to finally get out there and move forward. Six months to build some sort of self confidence and accept the fact that I wouldn’t be able to work for a while, so I’d better find something to do. And what did I decide to start with? Yoga.
From there, everything fell right into place. As if it was all supposed to be. Maybe it was.
The studio I signed up to first ended up being a wonderful place filled with amazing teachers who made me want to come to yoga every day. Then, I started traveling, crossing path with amazing humans who inspired me and ignited the spark of a very beginning spiritual journey. Completing a yoga teacher training was just a logical, natural, intuitive road to my ongoing exploration of my inner self. The desire to truly live the yoga followed naturally without even knocking on the door first.
Because of yoga, meditation, spirituality, energy work, veganism, minimalism and conscious living are now part of my everyday life and I feel amazing about it! In fact, not only did yoga taught me a healthy physical practice, but it also helped me find myself, my true self.
Who said that we had to follow a beaten path to be happy?
Hugs,
Andy L.
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