Wendy Kelly
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I'm a yoga instructor. You have no idea how happy it makes me to be able to say that. It’s been a dream of mine for several years now. In order to understand a little more about me, allow me to explain a little of how I got here.
I started practicing yoga about 11 years ago, at about the same time that I was starting what I thought would be a brilliant career in sustainable community development. What I had learned in school, about architecture, community planning and the public process, had led me to believe I would be able to use my knowledge and skills to make the world a better place. After a few positions in well-intentioned non-profit organizations, I began to suspect that it was nearly impossible to have a positive impact on a community or even a small neighborhood, without enduring a seemingly endless supply of politics, mean-spiritedness, and stress.
About five years ago, I started to fantasize about becoming a yoga teacher. I thought how happy and carefree my life would be, wearing comfy yoga clothes all the time instead of suits and high heels, teaching classes to help other people relax instead of presenting at contentious public meetings. I changed some aspects of my life at that point. I found the love of my life, the one that got away, and I didn’t let him get away again. I moved from Pittsburgh to sunny Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. I found a position in town planning, and thought perhaps I could be more effective in improving the world around me working on the side of government, the people that take public input and make the rules. I did look into yoga teacher training at the time as well, but the closest school was in Charleston, a little too far away for convenience.
Life was good. I was promoted a few times. I enjoyed the beach. We got married. I found a new yoga teacher training program in Savannah and signed up. But, the job was an enormous and constant source of stress. As the 9-month yoga teacher training program began, I began to make the shift from just dreaming of being a yoga teacher to drafting long range plan for how to make the transition. I thought after my husband’s real estate business picked up and we started a family, I would be able to retire from government work and start a blissful new life as a mother and yoga instructor.
At about this time, I found out about a job opening in a neighboring county, in a position similar to the one I held at the town. I had a feeling that this might be a case of jumping from the frying pan into the fire, or at least from one frying pan to another, but I still had hope that I could find fulfilling work in the field I spent so long studying at university. I interviewed, was offered the job and accepted. I was there about 3 months, before the impact of the recession on the county’s finances led them to start considering layoffs. Following the last-in, first-out rule of layoffs, I lost my job along with 19 other county employees.
It just so happened that that decision was finalized within a week of the completion of my yoga teacher training program. With the help of all my studying of yoga philosophy, I chose to see it as a blessing, a chance for me to make my life more the way I want it to be now. Change isn’t always easy, but I’m on my way and I’m not looking back.
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I've practiced yoga for 11 years, studied several styles and enjoyed renewal in my practice from a variety of sources. Recently I was looking for a little inspiration and purchased a DVD of Shiva Rea's live free flow vinyasa workshop from the Yoga Journal San Francisco Conference. I've felt so much positive change in my practice and teaching from this DVD, that I can't imagine how inspiring it would be to experience a workshop or retreat with her in person.
Being an adventurous and active kind of mother, grandmother and now "senior citizen," my mom has tried a variety of activities over the years to stay fit and youthful. So naturally she has done some yoga. She enjoyed a Gentle Yoga class at her local health club for a few years, but the class has since been discontinued, and not finding another one similar, her yoga practice has slacked off a bit.
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It seems, in my experience and that of many of my friends, that yoga begins as a live in-person experience. A friend convinces you to try a class, or after months or years of curiosity you walk into a yoga studio and try it on your own.
