My yoga journey started August 6, 2022.  I had my first practice and it was also the day I quit drinking alcohol. I remember the feeling of how great I felt afterwards and how excited I was, and how I wanted to go back. So I did and I did. The first few months consisted of me going back-and-forth between Bikram yoga and Yoga Shapeshifting about three times a week at a spot Jake Wilson rented out called Yoga Central. I took to yoga as I was athlete in high school and I felt like my body structure was there, I was over 200 lbs. (Side note: I hadn’t moved my body for 25 years). Overtime, I gained the confidence to take my first class at Sumits in Columbia. Jake told me he was teaching and that it wasn’t gonna be very crowded and I already knew everything that I needed to know and it wasn’t going to be that hot of a class. Wrong on all accounts lol, but that’s when I knew that I loved the hot room and that I loved what I was doing. I also loved that there was a bigger picture to all of this. So, I started practicing at Sumits and with Jake Wilson back-and-forth pretty much 3-5 times a week. Enough time had passed and I really started to take notice of some things. I started waking up and wanting to practice, I was going to bed early and consistently the same time, I was eating significantly less food, and I started noticing that everything in life wasn’t always about me. Instead of my own happiness, I was looking outward and thinking about how I could make other people happy. Jake was also testing this with me and teaching more and more about yoga philosophy.

In March of 2024, Jake talked me into going to teacher training in Nashville, Tennessee to get certified to teach Yoga Shapeshifting and study with Mary Jarvis and that’s when everything changed. I wasn’t prepared for the profound effect the long days were going to have on me. I wasn’t prepared for the connection that I was going to make with my fellow trainers, with Mary Jarvis, with the alumni that came back and with myself and my body. That’s when I decided that I had to do yoga every day. I try to go everyday between the couple of places I practice at and at home. I’m currently in teacher training at Sumits in Columbia getting my 200 hour RYT and I feel like I’m at the beginning of the game and my career as a teacher and as a yoga student, but that’s the exciting part, knowing that there’s so much more to learn. There’s so much more that your body and mind can do. There’s so much more to yoga than just the asanas. Everyday class is a stretch sometime but there are ways to move your body daily. I’m grateful for everyone that’s been a part of my yoga journey thus far and looking forward to making new connections with people as my yoga journey continues. 

Namaste.