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Meet @anniekgelissen sharing her #yogasavedmylife story with us. These are her words 💚

"In 2013 my life, & that of my family, changed drastically. My mother, who worked as a nurse for people at their homes, was stabbed with a knife by a patient & died immediately"

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. "The grief was so intense. My heart physically ached. I felt so many things at once. Grief, sadness, depression, anxiety, deep pain. I felt unsafe & I didn’t understand what happened & what the purpose was of us all being alive if these bad things would happen to good people like my mom

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This mental state was also reflected in lots of stress & pain in my body. That’s when I went to a yogaclass

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I knew I needed to move my body, without it being in a group where it was necessary to talk or interact, because I already did that in therapy. I also wanted to do something my mother did in her life, which was yoga as well. So, in some sort of way I maybe tried to find a connection with her. Yoga was perfect 🙏

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I was still in university and they offered affordable yoga classes. Knowing what I know now, those classes with my first teacher were very trauma informed. Very slow, very mindful. I became aware of my bodily sensations, my thoughts and my reactions to it. I still felt anxious, sad and had all these thoughts about life, but I just was more aware of it and became very gentle and compassionate towards myself & my healing

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After that I tried different kinds of yoga & yin became my favorite practice. So slow & so meditative. I could go through things without overwhelm. Of course, I still feel the pain of my grief sometimes. But I’m much more aware of my thoughts and feelings and I’m so grateful for that

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I remember very clearly in one of the savasanas of those classes that I got this sudden feeling that I needed to do a teacher training. And so I did. And even more. That changed my life as well. In June I’m starting with a yoga therapy training and it’s my mission to guide people in a safe way to feel this healing & transformative power of yoga 💚

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