The Gift of Obstacles
Photo by Leigh Aschoff of OMAYARI
When I left the yoga world I was in a state of shock and disbelief.
Losing both a strong sense of purpose and community, I felt heartbroken.
Everything in my career I was actively working towards pretty much dissolved overnight due to circumstances out of my control.
These circumstances inevitably changed the fabric of the yoga community of which I was apart and impacted every teacher I knew.
Finding the practice of yoga was a breakthrough moment in my life. It was the first time I felt an undeniable calling and it was a gigantic leap in my own healing journey.
Becoming a teacher was a milestone.
I found purpose and joy.
I established a clear career path.
I felt valued and appreciated.
To lose faith in all that I thought was stable and true in my life felt catastrophic. I was not sure I’d be able to piece back together again. And I didn’t. I wasn’t able to. Nor was I meant to.
Leaving the yoga world sent me on a path to find myself.
To reclaim myself.
To heal myself.
It taught me my first hard lesson in how to surrender all I knew and have faith in the process.
When something in your life comes apart in this way the process is not to put all the pieces back in the same way as before. More often than not it is showing you where the old way needs to break down completely, so that a new, more life affirming way can be formed.
These catalytic moments of change have shaped the course of my career path more than once. Leaving my job as a yoga teacher was a significant and intentional choice, but it was far from easy.
I love the practice of yoga. I love teaching. I love guiding others deeper into the awareness of their body. Many yogic principles still weave through the healing and coaching work I do today. Yoga, and some of its spiritual teachings, were invaluable to my path and provided a stabilizing foundation for the way I move through the world.
What I came to realize with time was this break up with the yoga world was a break up with power dynamics that no longer aligned with who I wanted to be. It was a departure from what I thought I had to be in order to be seen, valued, happy, and successful.
This departure set me on a path of deeper inquiry. One I could’ve never anticipated.
After all these years I never imagined teaching again. When I think of why I love it so much I remember the essence of it. Yoga to me is about how we heal. How we come back home to ourselves. Again and again. Aware, awake, and fully embodied. It is a practice of moving our body with Spirit. A practice of welcoming wholeness. A practice of inviting mind, body, and heart to commune in harmony.
Stepping away from teaching gave me space and time to explore who I am as a practitioner and to know who I am as a healer. It provided a real and grounded framework for leading with heart in life.
No matter what life event it is that breaks everything apart for you, when everything comes undone, life is asking you to learn surrender.
With time, dedication, and an incredible amount of self-compassion, staying the course can offer immense blessing. These are the gifts of obstacles.
The more you learn how life is asking you to surrender the more self-aware you become. Often you will find in these moments of truly letting go you have a better chance of ending up in the right place at the right time
I could’ve never imagined I’d be where I am today from that small, eager frame of mind back then. My younger self could not have put the entirety of this picture together of what I’m living today. And yet somehow she felt back then what the essence was.
I am so very grateful for every ounce of support along the way. We do not find our way alone even though the work we need to do is ours alone.
The gift of obstacles is precisely the areas of uncertainty about yourself that grow you the most.
When you grow, you stretch beyond what you can fully see, know, and believe. You stretch beyond the limitations of what your current narrative of life holds. You step beyond who you think you are right now into a potential future self.
You may know this is the way for you and yet you question the leap of faith you have to take. You may wonder if I take this leap of faith will the ground rise up to meet me?
And it is by taking this leap you learn whether or not you need to fall or fly. Either way leads you to the next perfectly orchestrated step. And this is how you make the next move by staying with the process. You pay attention. You remain self-aware. You deepen your ability to stay discerning about what is right and true for you.
To see what choice is aligned for you in the bigger picture of your life takes knowing yourself. It takes trusting yourself. Trust in what you know for yourself even when others might disagree with your choices.
Staying the course requires patience and perseverance. No matter how much doubt there is, it is an invitation to see and to know yourself more than before.
Trust that what you seek unfolds from within you. Trust that what you don’t know yet about yourself is intuition that will guide you. Even if everything is not altogether clear, you have the starting point of discovery within you.
This isn’t about being certain. It is about being open, aware, and available for the next step to reveal itself to you.
Your everyday habits and practices support your ability to remain connected to and discerning of what choices will best support you. Healthy boundaries and honing a keen sense of discernment is paramount for continuous clarity, strategy, and grounding the vision you have for yourself.
All of which come from knowing yourself. Knowing yourself comes with feeling safe, connected, and in touch with yourself at your core.
How steady can you be within yourself as things change?
How clear and focused can you remain without being dissuaded by others opinions about what you are doing?
How can you find more commitment, grace, and ease in the moments that challenge you the most?
Trust that the obstacles being presented to you are the invitation to the way through.
Trust in your process.
With love always,
Andrea
P.S. Yes! I am teaching again starting May 6th I will be offering a Therapeutic Yoga class online at 4:15 PM CST | 5:15 PM EST. These classes will be live and broadcast on zoom via our studio classroom.
I hope you will join us!
To sign up from wherever you are in the world click here.