The World Peace Yoga studio is the first place where I felt
back home in my body.
I spent years trying to cure my debilitating illness with
traumatic, invasive procedures and medications that made my quality of life
worse. It was through this repeated trial and error that I eventually sought
out more sustainable integrative therapies and healing modalities. It wasn’t
until after I acquired a disability that I discovered the amazing resiliency of
my body and spirit.
At 16, my self-worth was dependent on how busy I could make
my schedule. I thought I was eating “healthy” when I was barely feeding myself
low-carb and low-fat diet foods. I didn’t realize how poorly I was taking care
of myself until after I caught a virus and suddenly became very ill.
At my worst, my illness left me completely bed-ridden and only conscious for only several hours at a time. After the initial months without a diagnosis, I was desperate for relief. When my doctors stopped having any answers, I had to start looking elsewhere.
My healing first began with food. I have been privileged
with the resources to be more deliberate in my food choices. I learned that I
couldn’t separate the emotional response from what or how I was eating from my physical
body. As I started to understand food as my medicine, I found significant
improvements in my quality of life. It was only after I began to eat a more
plant-based diet that I was eventually able to work my way into using a
wheelchair for mobility so that I could attend the University of Cincinnati.
Unfortunately, my first year at UC was still detrimental to
my health. My spirit felt crushed by my increased severe pain as I was pushing
myself to meet the ableist institutional standards of success, and my
depression and anxiety were at their worst with the additional stress of
college.
The World Peace Studio was the first place I started to love
my body and myself again. The first time I slowly made my way up the stairs to
their peaceful sky-light lit studio, I was met with immediate community support
and resources for better self-care. In the quiet moments practicing there, I rediscovered
life-saving inner strength and hope.
5 years since the initial onset of my illness, I am now
completely mobile with a greatly improved quality of life. While I am still
living with my chronic illness, I am finally honoring and loving how I navigate
the world around me and learn from my experiences as a disabled woman. I will
graduate from UC next year, I continue to advocate for disability rights and
social justice, and I am enjoying a more mindful lifestyle full of nourishing
plant-based foods and creative community.
World Peace Yoga Cincinnati continues to be a powerful
source of great healing and inspiration. Their intimate studio, supportive
teachers, and dedication to achieve world peace have catalyzed profound physical,
emotional, and spiritual transformation in my life. I am humbled to have had
the opportunity to learn about yogic philosophy and an ahimsa, or non-violent, lifestyle
during my 300-hr
Foundational Spiritual Teacher Training + Yoga Teacher Training which I
will complete at the end of the summer.
I am proud to learn from a community that is committed to
intentional inclusivity. World Peace Yoga provides Silent Yoga in ASL and has
trained interpreters for their many other classes and events. They host anti-racist
and anti-violence workshops by local activists for the community and their yoga
teachers in training. They continue to offer classes for all bodies and
abilities and are working to increase access to the studio.
They continue to support me and others who are struggling
financially with 30-day Freedom Months of unlimited yoga, “karma yoga”
volunteers, and offering work-trade scholarships for their teacher training.
I feel good knowing that I can do my small part everyday to take better
care of our earth and the animals and people who inhibit it –including
myself.
Now, I am grateful for this opportunity to give back to this
amazing community and share with others.
World Peace is in the midst of an ambitious campaign to
raise money for more educational resources with two self-published books for
delicious vegan recipes and living a non-violent lifestyle. We are also
fundraising to update and improve the studio to make it wheelchair accessible.
I know that change is possible.
We are at a tipping point, and we are called to be more
conscious of our choices. We can vibrate higher, live in community, and love
and give more.
