My journey into yoga began in a way many can relate to: a car accident.
In August of 1999, I was stopped at a red light in San Jose when a station wagon rear-ended me. The collision was severe and left me with a significant back injury. The people who hit me had their air bags deployed and the passenger wasn’t wearing her seatbelt, so she was severely injured. That night I ended up in the ER where they xrayed my pelvis and found nothing wrong (they didn’t xray my spine). The pain got worse and worse over the next several days. I sought treatment from a chiropractor, which, in hindsight, may have exacerbated my condition.
For the following year, I endured excruciating pain and a deep sense of depression. When my prescription painkillers ran out, and the doctors refused to prescribe more, I turned to Tylenol, eating a few pills at a time like candy. Having practiced martial arts as a kid, I decided to try jujitsu at a local dojo. There’s a saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears,” and as luck would have it, a yoga teacher was also offering yoga classes at the dojo. I was skeptical, thinking I would fare poorly in yoga with my injured back. However, after my first class, I was hooked. I began taking yoga classes all over the Bay Area and never looked back.
A couple years later, I encountered my first true yoga teacher, Ana Forrest. She taught me more than just yoga; she transformed my perspective on life. During a retreat with her in Mexico, I finally solidified the connection between my mind and body.
Since then, I have been fortunate to study with many more teachers in various disciplines: meditation, shamanism, sacred plant medicine, massage, and numerous other modalities that have profoundly changed me.
My yoga journey is ongoing, with no end in sight.