I'm @ellenlovesyoga & this is my #yogasavedmylife story 💚

"I have never felt comfortable in my own skin. I spent the better part of my early life trying to keep the peace in my family. In my first year of high school, I was sexually assaulted which started a path of self-medicating. After a few more traumatic events in 2008 & 2010, I was lost, broken, & in need of a spiritual fix. I first tried yoga at community college in 2005, & then again in 2010, but it didn’t really stick until 2013. That is when I truly believe yoga began to save my life 🙏

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I'm @ellenlovesyoga & this is my #yogasavedmylife story 💚

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I was a runner & ran 5 to 8 miles a day. However, the winter weather in Columbus led me to try yoga with a friend. I started at a hot power studio, with loud pumping music, rigorous sequences, & left drenched in sweat. I began going to classes pretty much daily right from start. I'm an all or nothing kind-of gal

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At first yoga was a way for me to turn off life for an hour. I was at Ohio State University & under a TON of pressure. Yoga was a way for me to get out of my head. To turn off all of the negative self-talk. To stop comparing myself to everyone else, & just work on myself. As my practice grew, I moved on to a non-heated, non-power studio, fell in love with a teacher’s style, & signed up for her 200-hour YTT

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It was in that training when I came to terms with how affected I was by my past, though I still wasn’t sure how to move through it. I spent a few more years getting by, using my practice more & more as a way to tap into my inner self. However, it wasn’t until 2018 when everything came to a head & my life began to change. I had a mental breakdown, spent some time in a hospital, lost the job I gave my life to, & was at an ultimate low

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I quit self-medicating, & took a deep, dark look at why I was doing it. I used yoga & other programs to peel away all of the layers, & start rebuilding myself from the ground up. And I have done just that. So much so that I opened Zen Yoga in July of 2019.Got married in September 2019. And beat cancer in December 2019

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I am grateful every day that I get to live this dream we call life and spend each day trying to give back the gift of yoga 🙏

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