Yoga Teacher Certification

This past weekend I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher certification with Esther Vexler Yoga School. I started last September and have been meeting with my group of fellow teachers in training almost every other weekend for the last nine months. 

For our graduation I taught a rainbow themed yoga class in honor of Ellis; we made rainbow shapes with our bodies and visualized the spectrum of our emotions. I also shared a little about the significance of rainbows—that life will bring storms but there is always hope and beauty on the other side. 

The best part of the day was when we went downstairs afterwards to have lunch at the restaurant and there was a beautiful rainbow layer cake at the counter, which I had never seen offered before. It was as though Ellis was sending me a little congratulations. 

Getting certified to teach yoga has been a pipe dream of mine for about a decade—something I’ve always wanted to do but never really thought I would. However when Ellis was stillborn my whole world shattered and I was faced with the reality that life can change in an instant. I was no longer comfortable setting aside my hopes and dreams.

I’m so lucky to have encountered the opportunity to get certified through EVYS. Esther Vexler was one of the oldest living yoga teachers and known as the “Mother of Yoga” in San Antonio. Our director and teachers embody her virtues and are knowledgeable, passionate, and caring.

When I began the program just four months after Ellis was stillborn, I was still very fragile physically and emotionally. Now I emerge stronger and more resilient in my body, mind, and spirit. Yoga helped me heal from my c-section and postpartum aches and pains. Yoga helped me to heal my mind from the trauma of stillbirth. Yoga helps me to remember to live in and appreciate the present moment, which is all we really have.  

I’m so grateful for the friendships and community I have gained through yoga and look forward to passing along all the good it has brought into my life.