I found yoga about four years ago. Some of my friends had been practicing for over 20 years and trying to enlist me, but I just
never thought yoga was for me. Citing a lack of both time and patience, I put off exploring yoga for many years. "When I have the time,” I would always tell them.
As life so
often has a way of doing with its ironic sense of humor, the time was delivered. I found myself
with a strong need and burning desire to find a sense of peace, concentration, and union
of mind and body in my life. Life happens! We pick it up and carry on. In many of the conversations I'd had with my yogi friends, they promised "You'll
find inner peace, focus, confidence. Yoga will make you a stronger person, both
mentally and physically." Well, I was ready to see for myself.
With time now on my side, I sought out the closest yoga
studio I could find because I'd have to walk. My first class
was at a yoga & massage studio exactly 107 steps from where I was living. "Perfect!" I thought. "Here goes!"
The class was supposed to be a coed class, however, I was disappointed to find that I was the only male there. Despite it being my first time in a yoga class and being surrounded by 20 women, I told myself , "OK, You can do this." After a couple of
breathing exercises and a few asanas and savasanas, the instructor
puts us on our backs, heels to buttocks, knees in the air, and legs spread. “Ok, this is where we are,” she says. “If you don't feel comfortable exposing your
special place, you can use the blanket on the floor next to you to cover it
up and find your comfort.” On the way out, I did confirm with the instructor
that this was a typical coed class. Well needless to say, I didn't find my comfort or yoga home.
Although I realized I wouldn't find another
yoga studio within walking distance, I continued my search . A few days later when out with a friend,
we happened by the local Bikram Hot Yoga Studio. I was intrigued. In all my conversations with yogi friends, I didn't ever remember anyone mentioning hot yoga. I had to try it.
In my first class, I thought I would die and had a hard time believing that doing yoga in this crazy
hot room was actually going to do anything good for me. However, I still tried everything the instructor asked of me. By the end of that first class, I was
hooked and went on to practice every day of the week. I couldn't get enough. Some
days I even went twice. As promised, I began to enjoy many of the benefits of hot yoga.
Eighteen
months into my practice, I suffered a severe herniated L 4-5 disc injury on a project job site. The surgeons ordered bed rest, morphine
for the extreme pain, and time to allow the swelling to shrink. The injury took
me down completely , and I was on my back in a morphine coma for 4 weeks. I really thought the
morphine was going to kill me. At the scheduled pre-surgery visit with the
surgeon, he was amazed that I'd walked into his office
without a wheelchair or the aid of any support and asked about my pre-accident work-out routine. Upon looking at the
severity of the injury on the x-ray prior to seeing me that day, he was ready
to perform emergency surgery right then! After a short discussion about hot
yoga and a nerve reflex test, he sent me home to recover and keep doing yoga. Yoga works! Show up in
your yoga, it will show up in you.
By the time I was entering the second year of my practice,
my injury was under control. I was experiencing little to no pain and only on rare
occasions, did I feel discomfort as a result of the injury. Staying strong and true to yoga, I grew my practice while exposure to many different teachers helped strengthen it. On a weekend trip to see friends, I did a hot yoga class, but not Bikram, and discovered the catalyst to expand and broaden my yoga perspective. The studio offered a hot
vinyasa flow style of yoga in combination with the classic 26 postures of the
Bikram practice. Wow! Again, I was hooked. I'd found something new, something more, something
to further my yoga practice. Upon returning home, I shared my experience
with fellow yogis and got back into my Bikram practice, but knew I wanted more.
As RHY began to take shape, I became aware of Jimmy Barkan's yoga and another journey began. Jimmy, another yogi starting with Bikram, took his own journey outside the classic 26 and developed his own style of yoga. Jimmy’s teacher training was calling to me, and I completed the Level I teaching certification training in September of 2013 which took my yoga practice to whole different level. The teacher training was the most difficult task of my life, but also the most rewarding.
I have found my yoga home and yoga family at RHY. Namaste!
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| This is Kevin Scott's yoga story. |
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| Go to RHY website |
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