Leslie Wilbur- 15 years of Yoga Practice
How has yoga changed your life? This question was asked to some students at Bliss Yoga.Leslie Wilbur
I had practiced yoga inconsistently for about 15 years, although I was a regular exerciser (cardio and weights). Beginning around December, while in teacher training, I began practicing 6 days a week and meditating 7 days a week (without fail). What a difference! In the last 8 months, I have experienced the following improvements: my digestive system has been restored to complete health, I sleep like a baby, my "normal aches and pains of aging" are gone, my allergies are gone, my moods are very stable. And these are only the physical changes.
The other changes are more subtle and yet more profound. I feel more grounded. I feel more connected to everyone and everything. I feel more inner peace. I feel more deeply, and at the same time I am not swept away by feelings. I have more coincidences and synchronicities in my daily life. I feel more contentment and gratitude with things the way they are.
Overall, the changes I've experienced over such a short time are amazing!
Pam Hall
I first started coming to yoga class eight years ago, to "decompress" from the daily stresses of a high powered job in financial services industry, the challenges of raising three teenagers and to find an escape from the day-to-day grind. In the course of those eight years, I have happily abandoned the high powered stressful job. The three teenagers have grown up to be wonderful caring productive adults and I no longer feel I'm living in a day-to-day grind.
There are actually two quotes that seem to best sum up what yoga has done for me. The first, by Denis Waitley "Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude." Yoga is teaching me how to live life with love, grace and gratitude, thus bringing me a happiness that was in the past, elusive.
Yoga has brought more profound changes in my life on a physical, emotional and spiritual level. While the change has been profound, I wouldn't say it has been dramatic. Meaning, I feel I am the same person I have always been, just a much better version. This brings me to my second quote by Sting "The deeper you get into yoga you realize it is a spiritual practice. It's a journey I'm making. I'm heading that way."
