Hi, I’m Patricia Thompson, founder and instructor at Awareness Yoga Retreat. As a teacher, I get excited to introduce people to a way of living that has changed my body and mind 16 years ago. For three years I have been teaching a blend of vinyasa, ashtanga, and whatever else I feel inspired to teach. I’ve created this blog for you to get to know me and follow my yoga journey.

Why do I love Yoga?

Yoga started out as a unique, somewhat mysterious way to work out. Very quickly after I started attending an hour long class just once a week, I realized an unknown benefit: it took me some time to remember what was stressing me out prior to my class. My stress seemed to die down after yoga; things just worked themselves out. The stress I am talking about is not just the kind of stress you feel when someone says something mean to you, I was getting my second divorce from a man that I truly loved.

I never could figure out why yoga, a physical practice for me back then, could give me such a mental side effect. It didn’t matter, though, I was hooked. I was getting stronger, more flexible and happier. Does it get better than that?

Yoga was a logical place for me to land in my 30’s  as I spent my teens as a gymnast and a cheerleader. Back-bends, handstands, and splits are what I expected my body to do two decades prior. But now my body wasn’t the same, I was the mother of 3 children. My body was challenged by the athletic expectations I had put on it. Back-bends didn’t feel good and splits, that was a joke. I could run a profit and loss better than I could hold a handstand. What had happened to me? LIFE!

As I started back into yoga I realized this was where I need to be to keep my mobility for parts of my body and also gain more mobility for the areas of my body that aging was winning the war.

My mind quieted when I ran through the sequences my teacher taught. I concentrated on the poses and did my best. My body and mind responded by getting better at the demanding positions and my soul felt content.

I appreciated my yoga classes that there wasn’t any talking. My job had me talking full time. Being a single mother I was talking constantly at home, but at yoga, I could be quiet. I craved the time I gave myself at each yoga class and wanted more than just one class a week. I loved how I felt and I was loving how I looked.

Yoga was giving me everything I needed, and it still does. It makes me a better version of myself. 

 

I want to meet you in person! View upcoming retreats and register here.