Yoga put me back in touch with someone important - myself

By DANIELA VELÁZQUEZ | TBO.com
Published: February 20, 2010
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Before I found yoga, I'd pop four or five ibuprofen just to get through a 3-mile run.

I'd come home with an angry, swollen knee, and an angry brain. Why were my body and I in such disagreement?

It was the summer of 2006, about a year after I had ACL reconstruction surgery and a meniscus repair on my left knee. I thought it was always going to hurt. I had invested time and energy into physical therapy, and instead of a lousy T-shirt, all I had to show for it was a big scar and little peace of mind.

Frustrated, I decided to see what the yoga studio near my place in Tallahassee was all about.

"You're right where you need to be," teacher Suzanne Harrell told our beginners' class.

Huh?

Instead of telling us to be fitter, faster, thinner, better - like every other gym or magazine - she simply said, "Practice, and all is coming."

It was a revolutionary thought. Forget the negative cycle of beating myself up for not doing something as well as I thought I should and then ending up on the couch with a pint of Häagen-Dazs in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. It was a revolution like the Beatles sang about: "You better free your mind instead."

At the time, I was working 60 hours a week as a reporter on the law enforcement beat in Tallahassee. You know what saved me? Yoga.

I later found out the knee pain that kept me from running was a result of a big chunk of cartilage that needed to come out. You know what helped me bounce back fast? Yoga.

And when I moved to Tampa and filled my life with extra-curricular activities - kickball, flag football, martial arts, ultimate Frisbee, bar hopping - I realized there was one I truly enjoyed. Yoga.

I realized I should focus on the quality of my life and not the quantity of my activities. I needed to simplify my world.

How was I going to do that? Yoga.

Yoga makes me more aware of how my body feels - and how I feel. Some days my brain and body battle it out, with one dominating and then erupting into some kind of fit - like a tweaked muscle or burst of anger.

Enlightenment is about finding what makes that light shine from inside you, whether it's running along a trail or dancing the night away. It's about finding what makes your body and your brain happy.

Now my revolution has turned into an evolution - from yoga student to yoga teacher. I started a 200-hour yoga teacher training program this month.

No, I can't do splits or wrap my leg behind my head or do a handstand, but in the end that's not what it's about.

In a world of shows such as "The Biggest Loser," where changing your life calls for the help of super-powered trainers and a national audience, we tend to forget that real change starts one step at a time. Or, for me, one deep-breathed yoga pose at a time.
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Daniela Velzquez is a breaking news producer at TBO.com. Her yoga column will run every other Saturday in 4you. She can be reached at dvelazquez@tbo.com or on her blog, thedailyepiphany.com.