Whenever I share the story of how I began practicing yoga I never really know where to begin, because the truth is my journey into yoga began before I ever stepped foot into a studio. Back in 2017 before the yoga ever started...

My husband Chris and I were expecting our first baby. My entire life all I ever wanted to be was a mom and I felt like all of my dreams were coming true. Until the unexpected happened. On March 11th, at just 22 weeks and 5 days pregnant, I went into labor and a few hours later delivered a beautiful baby boy, Canyon. Canyon took just a single breath earth-side before returning to his heavenly home.

There's no words to describe the amount of grief that I experienced after burying my first born child. I was broken from the inside out. I started to spiral. I became severely depressed and unexplainably anxious. I developed insomnia and suffered intense panic attacks. I fell into a dark, dark place and felt like there was no way out. Nothing seemed to help and if it wasn't for the unwavering love and support of my incredible husband I honestly don't know if I would be here.

Chris stood by my side and helped me in every way he could. He drove me to doctor appointments, picked up my prescriptions from the pharmacy, and went to therapy with me so I would actually attend. In early 2019 my therapist recommended trying yoga and my husband dragged me to a studio for my first class. The class felt physically impossible - it was hot, my body was unable to do what the teacher was asking, I couldn't keep up, and I felt out of place. As the class was ending I laid on my mat in my first savasana and I wept. I couldn't explain it but something inside of me had shifted. I knew in that moment that there was something more to this yoga thing than just a workout. After two long years of despair, I finally started to feel like I was climbing out of the darkness.

Then, on June 15, 2019 my older sister suddenly passed away. Once again I felt my world crumble beneath me. As the first few months after losing my sister went by I could feel myself slipping back, losing the progress I had made on my mental health. Chris and I went on a three week backpacking trip that August. While we were out there we had long conversations about my fear of regressing and slipping back into that dark hole. That's when he suggested I sign up for a yoga teacher training. Being a new and inexperienced yoga student I told him he was crazy, but he reminded me that yoga was the only thing that made me feel better. I owed it to myself to figure out why.

When we got off the trail I immediately signed up for a 200 hour teacher training that started just a few days after we returned home. The first practice during teacher training felt next to impossible. After class I went up to the instructor, Rob Hess, letting him know that I was signed up for his teacher training but I needed to drop out. He encouraged me to stay for a few more classes before making that decision. I never left.

I fought my way through teacher training - pushing myself to my edge physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I cried nearly every day, I was tired, beat down, and never once achieved a peak pose during class. But I continued to show up. I practiced everyday. I studied harder than any of my peers. I gave it my all. Because even though I couldn't explain it, I was healing every time I stepped on my mat. The growth on my mat soon began to spill over into growth in all areas of my life. Eventually I was able to stop my prescriptions, I could sleep again, my breath came easier, and I felt like I had moved out of the place of darkness and had transcended into a space of light.

After that first teacher training I was hooked. I had dedicated myself to the practice and knew I could no longer live without it. I started teaching right away. I went on to get certified in advanced hands on assists (2019) as well as prenatal and postnatal yoga (RPYT, 2020). I taught over 1,000 hours to become an experienced registered yoga teacher (E-RYT 200, 2022) and completed another 300 hour teacher training course (RYT-500, 2022). I am blessed to be a yoga student and honored to be a yoga teacher.

I firmly believe that yoga is a life altering practice. It can transform you. It can heal you. I know this because it happened to me.

With love and light,

Dani