Share Your Story, Uncategorized
Back to Me – Featured Yogi – Colleen Boland
Yoga Medicine is happy to feature one of our 200hr teacher trainees, Colleen Boland, as our Share Your Story yogi of the month. Colleen recently relocated from Philadelphia to San Francisco with her fiancé for work. She is incredibly excited to finish up her 200hr and start teaching around the city. Colleen is a fierce athlete and her story is inspiring for all of us who have suffered from setbacks, both physically and mentally. Check out Colleen’s story below and remember to share your story with us at yogamedicine.com.
Back to Me
In a lot of ways, my path to yoga was a culmination of multiple life events. Retrospectively, I wouldn’t them trade for the world. Since age 3 I was a competitive swimmer & most of my life I identified as ‘athlete’…for most of both high school and college I accepted a path as a scholar-athlete didn’t leave room for a whole lot more. Along the way, I sustained 2 fractures in my lower lumbar spine (ages 14 & 19) which eventually ended my competitive career in the sport.
The next few years were frankly dark and it wasn’t until 22 that I started to build myself up…I started running with dreams of triathlon competitions – I was starting to feel like myself again. Unfortunately, I got in a car accident and fractured my lower lumbar spine for the 3rd time. I was totally devastated, and what felt like my climb out of the dark was derailed.
Making a Recovery
The first few months of recovery were difficult but I was determined to make a full recovery. A year later the doctors told me rehab was over but running was out of the question…I could go back to normal life but my activity would be limited to walking and maybe I should try yoga. I had never considered yoga but at this point felt like I had nothing to lose.
From the first class, I knew this yoga thing was something special. I felt a mind/body connection I had never experienced before & I dove in head first practicing nearly every day. I felt stronger both in body and in spirit after each practice and I couldn’t get enough…my whole life perspective shifted and it was like I was seeing the world through fresh eyes.
With the ebb and flow of life, I don’t practice every day; however, my practice has brought me back to the person I was when I was a little girl. The girl I was before the chaos of the world jaded my life perspective…I journal, I stop and smell the roses, I feel, and I find beauty just about everything BUT most importantly, I DON’T identify as ‘athlete’ because yoga has helped me remember I am so much more!
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