I Can't Do Yoga: At the Confluence of Pain and Healing

About a year after publishing my dissertation on Yoga as a Women’s Population Health Intervention, I was getting Achilles Tendon surgery from a chronic injury sustained during westernized Yoga. In July 2019, I attended a yoga class at the local studio. The teacher was a young woman who just started working there. She began the class by having us get into a downward dog pose. I hesitated because I knew I needed to warm up first, but I did the pose anyway. I felt a burning sensation in both Achilles tendons and knew something was wrong. As I lay on the gurney waiting for surgery, I thought about all the alternative methods of healing I had tried up to that point. I was in so much pain and hoped the surgery would bring relief. How could yoga bring healing and pain? My search for answers continued.
I had some experience with Shamanism and wondered if it connected to Ancient Yoga. I took several online workshops with Dana and Shana Robinson through The Foundation for Shamanic Studies. You can listen to my podcast episode Shamanism: A Journey of a Seeker to Discover More with Dana and Shana Robinson. for more information. Shamanic Journeying is a personal experience, and each is different. I learned that while Shamanism and Yoga are different, they help people connect with the Divine to find healing and joy. Through journeying, I found answers to my pain and started healing again.
I also learned more about Tara, the first female Buddha. This is where the story crosses over to different modalities of connecting to our spiritual self. Religious theology runs deep, and most believers are loyal to their beliefs. I’ve found God in every church and spiritual place I’ve been. How can that be if there is only one way to know the Divine? As a spiritual being, you must seek your path to connect with God, The Divine, a Higher Power, or the Universe. Your journey to discovering the love and positive light of the spiritual realm is YOUR search. And, if you talk to someone who’s been around for a while, you’ll find out that if you know that you don’t know, you’re on the right track. The search itself may hold the power to heal your pain and find your joy. Why not start now?