Yoga gave me the strength to walk away from anything that no longer served me.

"My best friend is not alive today. On the same path of addiction, If I had not discovered Yoga my story may have ended like hers. YOGA SAVED MY LIFE!"

This is Jennifer Bridwell. A warrior. She wanted to share her story to inspire others & aims to see yoga introduced into every prison in the USA "My Yoga journey  began in 2007. I was 4 weeks clean & sober from a prescription pain killer addiction & clinging onto sobriety I did not like sober life. It felt void of fun & enjoyment! I begged God to help me stay sober. I did not want to go back to being dependent upon a pill to get through my day. A friend invited me to Hot Yoga. I made the best decision I ever made. It gave me the gift of life!  The first class kicked my ass & is exactly why I wanted to go back the next day & the next 🙏

God brought me to this practice. I could feel his presence in the room the same way I do at church. He spoke to my soul in Yoga class, helped me  grow & learn to love myself through this practice:  therapy for my lost soul Having to stand & look at myself, half naked in a mirror is therapy alone & is hard. Convincing myself that I was strong enough to move & breathe through countless poses in a room heated to 100+ degrees for 75 minutes is daunting for somebody who was using drugs to survive just a month prior. There is NO better way to retrain an addict mind than to practice Hot Yoga: it sped up my recovery in every aspect from detoxing my body to helping me cope with anxiety & depression,  regulating my sleep patterns I found a new reason to be excited about life, something to look forward to.  Challenging & rewarding at once! It made me feel attractive! I cared about my health again.

I gained a new set of  coping skills to replace the destructive ones! Yoga gave me the strength to walk away from anything that no longer served me. Yoga has led me down a perfect path in a divine manner.  This practice is sacred & life changing. I want to share it with everybody My ambition is to see to it that we have Yoga and Meditation in every prison across the U.S. But we'll share that story on here another day. Bless you all. Namaste 🙏 @stillblessedyogi