Reflection time
Do you think you know yourself?
This question has always been curious to me, how can I not know myself? Of course I know myself!
Well maybe not…..
Here’s a story about me that I can share to help us understand.
I HAD (happy to say) IBS for years during my 30’s and 40’s. It was irritating at best, debilitating at worst. Some days I just couldn’t work or function. As a fitness professional, this was an issue, being bloated and in pain most of the time.
So, off to the doctors I went and they put me on a drug that relaxed my colon so I wouldn’t have spasms. I didn’t really care what it was (the name escapes me at the moment) all I cared about was getting relief.
Can you relate?
And I went on like this for quite some time, not caring or understanding why I had IBS, just that the medication worked!
Then one day it stopped working. You see the imbalance that was at the root of the issue was never discovered or went away. But I didn’t know this at the time!
So I started investigating my choices and habits. I mostly focused on food as that is what I “thought” was the issue. Well I found that most of the foods I ate were problematic. The foods (at that time) that were supposed to be good for you, really didn’t work for me. I couldn’t find a doctor that could help me, so I just kept on doing the best I could.
This is where “getting to know yourself” is important.
You see what I didn’t know was how stressed out I was. I was working full time as a fitness professional (which I loved) raising 2 kids, and in a not so great marriage. Trying to “make my marriage work” along with all the other stressors, was just too much for my body to handle. So my “gut” was trying to tell me to shift, make a change, don’t keep doing the same things you always do.
Our gut is really smart, it has more neurons than our brain, and will many times be the first part of our body to communicate that something isn’t right.
So once I realized it was stress – now what????
This is where the harder part of knowing yourself comes in. You see, once you know something you can’t unknow it. Once you see something you can’t unsee it. So we have to make choices. We can either ignore our information, continue to do the same things we always do, and continue to move more and more out of balance. Or we can start to pivot, and see if a little shift helps bring us back toward balance.
And if you don’t already know….continued imbalance over time leads to dis-ease!
Getting to know yourself on a deep level, then doing something about it, takes courage. But the outcome can be very profound! We have the power to change and create the life we want, whether it is in our current situation, eating different foods, or completely changing our environment.
Isn’t that amazing? We don’t have to be victims of our situation.
So the end of my story is that once I started to understand myself on a deeper level, I started to make different choices, and over time, I healed my gut, changed my environment, got support, and today I’m so much healthier.
We can do this! All we have to do is stop, take a pause, breath, and check in. Getting support really does help. Other people can see things we can’t. I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have amazing strong women around me, supporting me, helping me see what I couldn’t.
This is why I think I love creating programs for women. Whether it be the annual Women’s Gathering that I hosted for almost 20 years, or my workshops and yoga retreats, or my private and group classes. My audience is and always has been women.
Are you interested in being connected with like minded women for support, guidance, fun?
If so, keep an eye out for my 2023 offerings…here are just a couple coming up
The Power of Muscle - coming in January, this course teaches women what muscle is and why it’s important to have as we age. Each session incorporates part lecture with part activity. Each week you’ll learn a different way to build muscle safely and by the end of the 4 weeks, you will not only have a new habit, you will be on your way to healthier living.
Yoga and the Santa Fe river
The Enchanted Yoga Retreat for Women - coming in April, this retreat experience in Santa Fe NM. otherwise known as the “land of enchantment” will give you the opportunity to get to know yourself, the culture, and the environment on a deeper level. This very special retreat will be like nothing you have experienced before. I’m finalizing details now, so watch for my announcement in the beginning of the year.
Lastly you can join the private FB group - Empowered Living: Self Care for Women through Yoga and Ayurveda. Hosted by myself and Chris Lean, we post weekly about simple things we can do for self care. Hope to see you there.