My university required all students to take a physical education class, and I convinced a group of friends to do a yoga course with me. At the time I knew literally nothing about the practice, I was a nascent gym bro hoping this yoga thing would make me a little less stiff. That semester didn’t last much longer - the world suddenly shut down because of COVID-19, but 19 year old me was hooked.

As gyms closed down, I found myself pulled in by both the physical and meditative sides of the practice. For two years my yoga practice continued on, entirely at home via youtube videos. I was becoming stronger and more mobile, while also feeling more grounded through the inevitable challenges my life was throwing at me.

I discovered a thing called yoga teacher training while considering what to do before starting the corporate job I had lined up for myself. I liked the idea of spending a month in Bali doing yoga everyday, more than I cared about becoming a ✨200 hour certified yoga instructor from an accredited yoga alliance teacher training✨. At this point, I had still never taken a class in a legit yoga studio and was fairly sure this would just be something different to try before I realign myself with all my peers and start my career in the “real world.” Since then, my curiosity has led me further down the path of yoga and slowly pushed me to leave my life in New York City behind and pursue teaching yoga more seriously.

As I write this, everything I’ve just described and all the events in my life that have followed it feel a bit random to me. There was never one big aha moment that led me to take on the identity of “yoga teacher,” rather it’s been a series of choices filled with equal parts excitement and uncertainty. I don’t have any family members who practice yoga, I didn’t have any friends who pulled me in, and I certainly didn’t expect yoga to become such an important part of my life. What continues to bring me to my mat is the benefit I derive from my experience of yoga. And in truth, I think a long recounting of my journey into yoga may not mean all that much to you, the reader of this, because no amount of reading or intellectualizing can replace lived experience with the practice.

So, did I find yoga or did it find me? I’m not totally sure, but I do know that it has a magical way of meeting me where I’m at. My yoga can be done when I’m energized or tired, focused or distracted, moving or still. I also believe that the thing which draws someone in to a practice isn’t what they necessarily stay for many years later. What started as me seeking more flexibility and a workout has shifted with time. While those things still appeal to me, I’m equally captivated by the philosophical richness of the practice - the way it serves as a mirror between myself and my experience of the world outside myself. It has transformed my relationship to movement and my body from one of punishment, shame, and hatred to one of celebration, love, and exploration. It has increased my capacity to accept the contradictions of a developed life.

Yoga hasn’t just changed how I move—it’s changed how I live. It’s become a quiet teacher, not because it has given me all the answers, but because it’s helped quiet my mind enough to hear my own. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, verse 1.2 states: Yogas citta vritti nirodha—“Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” Through consistent practice, I’ve learned to turn inward with more patience, curiosity, and care. Yoga has become the way I continually return to myself—again and again.