It all started with one Foundations class …
Back in 2018, I was a regular busy person – full-time job, 3 school-aged kids, wife, house, mortgage. I was fairly active, yet flexibility was a thing of the past – kind of like sleeping in. As my kids got bigger, I struggled to keep up with them in the park or at the beach. In particular my lower back and shoulders. I ended up at the physio/chiro a few times because my lower back was really grumpy.
I dabbled in meditation and mindfulness to try to help me be calmer, more focussed and generally more pleasant, but I never gave it a proper go.
Then my life got turned on its head. My wife got sick. Really sick. About as sick as you can get and still make it. She was on life-support in a coma for 10 days. She was in hospital for 10 weeks. It was chaos. But the hospitals and health care workers were amazing. They managed to get her back home to us. Unfortunately, she suffered brain injury during all of this and she now needs a lot of care and support.
I was suddenly looking after 4 people on my own. On top of that, we were down to one income.
This was a massive personal challenge. I needed to be the best version of me. Long days, full of pressure. I also needed to be able to care for and comfort my wife and my kids. Tired and grumpy Dad wasn’t going to be much use. I really needed to be the best version of me possible. So I decided to give yoga a proper try and I booked myself into a Saturday afternoon Foundations class.
It changed my life. It gave me some ‘me time’, focus, challenge, strength, flexibility, mindfulness, acceptance, improved diet, better sleep, and more calm. It was like a miracle pill. I’m not saying it was easy. It wasn’t. Just walking into the studio full of fit people who I imagined could tie themselves into pretzel shapes at will was a real challenge. But it felt fantastic afterwards. So I came back again, and again. I loved it. This is what everyone needs.
What the business needed was someone who could help it grow. What I needed was something meaningful to pursue that could give me the time and resources to look after my family.
So I bought This Is Yoga. Many of my friends thought I was nuts taking on the challenge of running a small business, on top of everything else. When COVID hit 4 months later, I started to think they may be right. But we handled that as best we could too, by focussing on the community – keeping the classes going for both the students and the teachers, and also to provide some wellness and connection during those challenging times. We gave away over 700 months of yoga to health care workers.
It has been a challenge taking on the business, but it was nothing compared to the rest of my life. Ironically, I wouldn’t have been able to get through my family challenges without yoga, but I also wouldn’t have had the courage or drive to take on the yoga business without having had the family challenges.
I’m still a busy person, just maybe not a regular one anymore. I’m certainly a much better version of me – pursuing meaningful goals to the best of my abilities and making a difference. Thanks to yoga I’m able to do this, and for that I am truly grateful.
