Yoga for the Blind and Disabled
From the day I was born, the doctors said that I would never be like other people. That I would never be able to accomplish much, and that a “normal life” was out of my reach. I grew up believing them because no one told me differently. I know now that they were wrong, but it took me several decades to believe that. I have learned that I do NOT have to settle for a normal life, I can be exceptional!
Yoga is how I got there. I am legally blind, and have hydrocephalus (which means water on the brain, I have had two brain surgeries for that), I have Aspergers (among other things) so no, I am not "normal" but I am phenomenal! It has taken years of home practice and classes, but yoga has helped me to learn to love myself and to become someone I was always told I could not be. Yoga has helped me to learn that even when I do not feel it, I am strong! Yoga has helped me learn just how extraordinary that I can be!
Yoga has shown me that no matter what "they" said, I AM GOOD ENOUGH just the way I am! It has allowed me to begin healing from a lifetime of traumas that resulted in PTSD. Yoga helps to connect your mind and body in such a way that it soon becomes impossible to feel anything but love for yourself. Just by getting on the mat you begin loving yourself! Getting onto the mat is like a gateway drug of positivity and light and love!
I want to share that gift with people who feel that they are not "enough" because of some illness, disability, or even just because someone told them so too early and too often and they believed it. I want to teach yoga to people who might not even think that they can do it and inspire them to love themselves and live the very best life possible, whatever that means to them. I want to help people realize that they don’t HAVE to settle for “normal”, that they too can reach unprecedented heights. To do that, I need financial help to become a certified yoga teacher through a Yoga Alliance 200 hour training program and I need support from all of you!
(Yoga Alliance is the nationally recognized certifiying body for training yoga teachers. https://www.yogaalliance.org/ Once I know more about which classes that I CAN attend I will update. Available classes for next year have not been announced yet. I am specifically interested in body positive yoga training because I feel that is where my focus lies)
I also have a dream, one that many people have told me I will NEVER achieve. I have a dream of financial independence. My physical limitations have left me dependent on others and often times that dependence has left me in physically threatening situations. Becoming a yoga teacher and opening my own studio one day will help me realize that dream. My dream is to teach at a local studio and save money to open my own studio on the beach and teach classes on the sand while hearing the calming sounds of the ocean, nature's stress reliever.
Not only will I be helping others overcome their own shortcomings, I will be moving towards unification of my own mind, body, and spirit. Not only will I be helping others towards their own enlightenment and edification, I will be building a lifetime of growth and positivity. Not only will I be helping others to understand and realize that they are capable of independence, I will be realizing my own. Not only will I be encouraging others to achieve more than they ever thought possible, I will be encouraging myself.
Please help me to achieve this greatness and to give back to my community in a way I never thought possible. Whatever help you can give me; be it financial, or positive thoughts or prayers or positive energy, light and love, or just sharing my page and telling your friends about my gofundme will be so much more than you could ever realize.
Thank you and Namaste,
Bekah
