A couple years ago I started sharing a personal story in a shadow psychology workshop I’d been teaching because of it’s relevance to the class content…
The story starts something like this:
In 2012, just starting a yoga teacher training, an old injury near my right shoulder blade started flaring up out of nowhere. No matter how focused I was on proper alignment, the pain wouldn’t subside so I hired a yoga therapist to help me.
Unfortunately the yoga therapy did not help.
Over the course of 8 weeks, my pain mysteriously intensified and spread to my neck and shoulders along with cases of tingling, numbness, headaches, and major fatigue.
I sought out help and opinions from physical therapists, acupuncturists, medical doctors, naturopaths, cranio-sacral therapists, and had MRIs…Things got so intense I even visited the ER a couple times in the middle of the night.
NO ONE was able to tell me the cause of my symptoms. I thought I was either going crazy or developing fibromyalgia or something like it.
I took three weeks off from work, desperately trying to find some degree of comfort resting in bed or on my couch, during one of the coldest and snowiest (and personally isolating) winters in Michigan.
During this time, in what I imagine was a moment of Grace, the information I needed to resolve my symptoms came into my consciousness, something that I had that I hadn’t given much thought to, until that very moment…
What followed was a seriously impressive and intense personal process that lead to me ending my debilitating pain in a matter of weeks.
I was stunned.
The experience turned what I knew about the body and psyche upside down and ended up being one of the great teachers in my life…
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Just like my work with eating psychology and holistic nutrition is a combination of academic study and direct experience, my study of the human psyche has evolved the same way.
If you have an interest in your own psychological development and inner growth, are curious about the language of your own body and psyche, and love learning, I do encourage you to join me later this month at Cascade Yoga studio for my Shadow Work Workshop on the 19th. It is especially relevant at this point in time.
(And yes, if you’re interested, I can share more about my story there…)
With love & respect,
Laura