How I Found Yoga and What It’s Taught Me

A Light in the Darkness

When my grandmother passed, grief felt like a tide I couldn’t resist. I was searching for something steady, something that could help me meet the world without losing myself. That’s when I found yoga.

At first, it was movement and breath. But very quickly, I realized it was something deeper. Yoga began offering a structure for understanding myself, a way of moving through loss with presence and honesty rather than shutting down.

“Yoga became a quiet light guiding me, even when the world felt overwhelming.”

Learning to Meet Myself Where I Am

The early days of my practice were far from graceful. My body resisted poses, my mind scattered the moment I tried to focus, and I often questioned what I was even doing there. But those moments of struggle became part of the path.

I started noticing that the lessons weren’t limited to the mat. The patience I practiced in a difficult posture echoed in moments of frustration outside the studio. The self-observation I practiced in meditation helped me understand my reactions, my patterns, and the ways I protected myself.

“The lessons weren’t in the poses—they were in the awareness yoga cultivated in me.”

Living the Eight Limbs

As my understanding grew, yoga unfolded as a full philosophy. It became clear that it was never meant to be only physical. The eight limbs offered a blueprint for living with integrity, intention, and awareness.

• Yamas nudged me to move through the world with honesty and non-harm.

• Niyamas taught me to care for my inner landscape with discipline and compassion.

• Asana and Pranayama helped me build steadiness in both body and breath.

• Pratyahara, Dharana, and Dhyana showed me how to withdraw inward, to concentrate, and to soften into presence.

• Samadhi reminded me of connection, even in quiet, fleeting moments.

Through these limbs, yoga became a guide for choices, relationships, and the way I meet each day with intention.

“Yoga is a guide for life, teaching us how to move through challenges with awareness and integrity.”

Patience, Consistency, and Awareness

Yoga reshaped my understanding of progress. It taught me that transformation is not a sudden awakening but a slow, steady cultivation of awareness. The smallest shifts matter. The quietest moments matter.

Each time I returned to my practice, I was reminded that showing up is an act of self-respect. That presence is powerful. That patience is a form of strength.

“Showing up for yourself consistently is the truest form of living your dharma.”

Returning to the Heart of the Practice

As the years have passed, yoga has woven itself into the fabric of my life. It has been a companion through grief, a mirror during moments of doubt, and a teacher when I needed guidance the most. What began as an attempt to steady myself in a difficult season has become the path that continually brings me home to who I am.

The more I learn, the more I realize that yoga is not something I complete or achieve. It is something I live. It invites me to show up with honesty, to stay curious, and to move through the world with steadiness and compassion.

Yoga did not take my pain away. It taught me how to hold it with tenderness. It did not make life easier. It made me more awake to it. It did not answer every question. It helped me listen more deeply.

In its own gentle way, yoga has become my dharma. Not a role or a label, but a way of being that guides me with intention and awareness. It reminds me that every breath is an invitation to return to myself, and every moment offers a chance to walk with a little more truth.

That is what yoga has given me, and what I continue to learn each time I meet myself both on and beyond the mat.