"Yoga helped me cope with cancer, loss, fear and depression"

Meet Jen @iampixelated sharing #yogasavedmylife story with us. These are her words 📷

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. "I found yoga through a back injury in 2010. Waking one morning, unable to sit, stand, walk or lay down without searing pain cascading across my back into my legs & to the soles of my feet. My chiropractor at that time was unable to help (that has changed with my current chiropractor, though, who I love!) .

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Frustrated, I stumbled across a yoga program on TV. Immediately, I found relief in the gentle back bends & my body felt as if it was waking up after a long sleep. I was hooked .

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I continued practicing, loving the release but never connecting with the spirituality, until I encountered a series of very painful losses as my husband & I tried to start a family. I carried my daughter & my son both to 20 weeks: losing them early, delivering because of an incompetent cervix. Yoga found me on my mat, crying out in despair. It found me as I tried to grasp the failures of my body. It coaxed out the pain & raw feeling of loss.  Even after placement of a permanent transabdominal cerclage, we tried to conceive & lost again. My world was collapsing .

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One day I found positive mantra, linking it to my practice, movement to breath. Slowly I found peace within; love where I used to see fear & disgust in all that had failed me. I began to heal .

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In 2016, I was diagnosed with sarcoma, a cancerous tumor on my knee. My yoga practice stayed with me as I went into radiation 5x week for 5 weeks. Returning to my mantra, “Om namah shivayah” as I laid on the table, undergoing surgery, I felt safe & supported; waking with such gratitude that I was cancer free. As I healed, I returned to my mat, finding that familiar peace & surrender, grateful  I was able to move despite some limitations

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In 2017, I enrolled in 200hr YTT. I want to inspire others to not give up or give into fear, love your body, even in it’s darkest, weakest moments. Yoga taught me that your body is an amazing gift, but not all that we are. Through yoga, my heart has expanded. I am forever grateful for each day, each breath: a gift 📷📷