From Fitness to a Way of Life: My Journey with Yoga (So Far!)

I first discovered yoga when I was about sixteen years old, through a P90X workout DVD that included a 90-minute yoga class with Tony Horton. I did my best to follow along—no props, no supports, and no clue how to safely or kindly contort my body into shapes I’d never seen before (thankfully, that learning came later). What I could not have predicted was the trajectory this small beginning would set me on.

In university, I joined a yoga club and attended classes once or twice a week. As an artsy, academic introvert with friends who spanned the “jock,” “popular,” “nerd,” and “stoner” groups, I often felt out of place socially—never quite belonging anywhere. The anonymity of a large yoga class of 100+ students, paired with a surprising sense of belonging, was both familiar and entirely new. I was on the precipice of discovering a sense of home within myself that I’d never known before.

If Tony’s class was the spark, then the university club was the ember that carried me forward: to a local yoga studio membership, to classes at the CFB Kingston gym, and eventually to international yoga retreats. What began as an introduction to physical fitness for an otherwise gym-averse novice slowly evolved into a more embodied way of life—one with direction, depth, and a spiritual dimension.

Alongside my academic studies, yoga became a lens through which I could understand and soften the imprint of early life experiences. I was cultivating patience, discipline, flexibility, and—most importantly—compassion toward myself and others. These became the bedrock of a growing commitment to mindfulness, self-inquiry, and acceptance. Through the trials of young adulthood—love, loss, heartbreaks, and disappointments—my mat remained a steady place of solace. Again and again, it reminded me of the quiet wisdom within myself that had always been there.

In 2017, nearly ten years after suffering through my first frog pose with Tony (IYKYK), I found myself in Golden, BC, immersed in a Hatha yoga teacher training. With no intention of teaching, I was invested in deepening my understanding of what it means to live a yogic life and further weaving its practices into daily living.

Now, more than fifteen years later, yoga continues to shape how I show up in every role I hold—parent, partner, daughter, friend, therapist, and neighbour. Yoga asana, or the practice of physical postures, is only one small part of a much broader path for living.

The reflections that follow are inspired by journal entries I kept during teacher training, now expanded through the lens of nearly a decade more practice, teaching, and life—including my more recent roles as mother and therapist. My hope is to demystify yoga, share its relevance in modern life, and highlight the many ways it can complement and deepen the work of therapy. These writings are not the voice of an expert or someone who has it all figured out, but simply one human walking this path alongside others.