My Yoga, My Life

My Grandmother - Louise Zabranska Osius (1897 - 1986) circa mid-late 1950's

Yoga has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.  My grandmother's influence was always there and continues to be an inspiration.  Yoga was the earliest connection I had with my grandmother.  Because she was estranged with her son, my father, I didn't meet my grandmother until I was a teenager when she came to visit for the first time.  Before that, my family went to see her in Florida on a short trip while my mother was pregnant with me.  There were yearly phone calls at Christmas.  There were a few gifts early on but they stopped by the time I went to school.  My inquires about my grandmother were met with tension and short answers.  I was able to learn some basic facts about her and but I have much more to learn.  I will research and learn more about her life as I discover her family's story in my genealogy quest which will continue in the near future.

                                                                                 1972

What I know for sure is that yoga saved my grandmother's life in the mid-1950's.  The purpose of my family's visit to Florida was for my grandmother to meet my mother and my two older brothers before she went blind.  My father said she had been in a car accident.  She had been to many doctors all over the world and there was nothing anyone had been able to do to save her sight.  Then she began a life centered around yoga.  She became director and instructor of Sivananda Vedanta Joga in her native Prague, Czechoslovakia for six months of the year and then in Florida for six months.  She would send photos and postcards and it is that life that I thought of whenever I thought of my grandmother.  I wanted to learn everything about yoga even before I could read.  There was very little information available to me in the 50's and 60's but I had a few writings and pictures from my grandmother.  I tried to copy the postures.  I learned about controlled breathing and awareness and becoming centered.  It was as familiar to me as the prayers I learned in parochial school.

                                                                                  1974

After we met for the first time in the late 1960's, we connected.  We are both Sagittarius.  Our family was Catholic.  Her short one-week visit was filled with tension from my parents but she was kind to me.  I expressed my long-time interest in yoga and she was pleased.  She helped me with some basic postures and breathing exercises.  She began writing to me personally and we finally had a relationship.  Being a teenager, my life went in many directions.  I always had my core beliefs in my Catholic faith and my connection with yoga.  I believe my grandmother wanted to be connected to me as best she could.  She gave me a book in 1976, The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnudevananda which helped me greatly in the practice of Hatha and Raja Yoga.  This relationship continued until she passed away in the mid-1980's.  I still feel a spiritual connection with her every time I do yoga.

                                                                                1975

I continued to do yoga in some form as I found the time and defined a particular need.  By the time my children were in their teens, I began a more serious exploration into yoga and sought formal training in the late 1990's.  It took that long for information to become more readily available and attitudes to be more open to this eastern practice.  Yoga was finally becoming mainstream in the United States and now there's a flood of valuable information available and many teachers and many more people practicing.

My first formal class was in Bolivar, Missouri which took place above the Polk County Bank on the town square.  The teacher was a student of Loa Freeman who had a training center in Springfield, Missouri.   In Bolivar, I attained Level II in the Iyengar approach.  After a few years, I began going regularly to Springfield with Loa Freeman as my teacher at the new Success Naturally Yoga & Image Center located at 1440 E. Lark.  Information can now be found online:  successnaturally.com.  I had reached Level III and also took several additional issue-related classes by the time I had the confidence to developed my own personal routine which I could do in my home regularly.  I change it as needed.

Another great source now available online is: yogajournal.com.  I had subscribed to the magazine version for at least ten years up until 2002 and still consider it the best source to do yoga on your own.  I have noticed now that they make it very easy for one to put together a custom workout in the 'Poses' tab, click on 'Build a Sequence.'  I will be looking at this source more closely soon to refine my personal routine from time to time.

I try to do some form of yoga everyday.  Some days, it may be as little as breathing consciously and simple balance exercises while I go about my normal day.  Sometimes my 30 minute routine is done once a week and sometimes I do it everyday.  I am happy to know I can participate in a class at The Wellness Center at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar where I have a membership five months of the year for 20 years now.  This is where I use the exercise equipment and swimming pool mostly.  The class this year is called Pi Yo which combines yoga with Pilate's.  Lately, I go once a week.

One positive thing about an empty nest is the extra space available when children leave home.  This open area can also be used an an extra bedroom when guests stay overnight.  I have a nice air bed available to put up in minutes and very little needs to change in my Yoga Room.  I also have an elliptical exercise machine on the other side of the room with a large fan for intense aerobic workouts at home.  It is important to me to be facing east as the sun rises as I usually do my yoga early.  I must include my music from my MP3 player which has a good speaker setup.  Mostly I listen to New Age music such as The Narada Collection, Yanni, Enya, and Kenny G and others but I also have a variety of native-spiritual sounds.  I enjoy scented candles for focus and atmosphere and I sometimes use a scent diffuser for aroma therapy.  I have a large collection of essential oils.  I have several books and source information readily available in my bookcase.  In the beginning, I found videos useful but I haven't viewed any in a long time.

There are some basic items needed to have a variety workout.  I bought all my basics from Hugger Mugger ten years ago.  They can be found at:  huggermugger.com.  I am still using everything I got from them and do not need any replacement in the foreseeable future.  My basic items include a Sticky Mat (do not go cheap for this item!), cotton strap, and a bolster.  I already had a Mexican blanket and it works well as it it the right size to fold lengthwise and cover the mat.  I bought a cut-out padded stool that is made specifically for doing inversions.  I also use a rubber tubing length for aid in the strength moves.  Most of this can be packed into a backpack should I want to take my own stuff to classes.  Typically, classes provide everything you need on site.

With my yoga in my life, I can be open to my intuition.  I do not know that I would have progressed as well without it.  I don't know because I have never been without it.  I am as sure about this as I am that the Holy Spirit has always been with me and I was trained early enough in eight years of parochial school to know and love God in my life.  I don't know a life without Him and yoga helps me keep my body and heart in a spiritual place that He would want to be invited into.  He is my source of intuition.  It all comes together naturally for me.

Yoga Wall Hanging - Sun Salutation sequence decorates the west wall in my Yoga Room.  It is hand-made in a special process of burnishing the metal that makes it stunning in the morning sunlight.  The Sanskrit symbol "Om" is placed appropriately in the center.

I am so happy that My Yoga is in My Life for almost 60 years!  Thanks, Grandma!

                                                Namaste.