3 years ago, I was living a life surrounded by big groups of people, going out clubbing and excessively drinking almost everyday, every activity planned revolved around drinking. Don’t get me wrong, it was fun, I still look back and think about the laughs and the ridiculous things my friends and I used to do, there were most definitely very interesting stories to tell until this day. However, this did not necessarily mean that I was happy. I often found myself feeling empty when I wasn’t around anyone and I quickly realised that it was because I was not working towards any goals, I graduated from University and haven’t found a job. All that time used to enjoy myself should have gone to internships, for better job opportunities, I could not find a job that I liked. It was very hard to motivate myself or even get myself out of the house.
Family members started getting worried and I am so thankful for them especially my father because one day he came into my room and said “Why don’t you jump back into yoga?” Those words stuck to me, even though it took me a week, I found myself on the mat after a very long time. I was really nervous because I was out of shape, yoga has always been a form of workout for me, until the end of this class. The yoga teacher for the class began the class by teaching us a pranayama called Nadi Shodhana “alternate nostril breathing” and all the stressful thoughts went away, throughout the whole class I was focused on my breath and by the end I started smiling, a genuine smile after so long. I was on the mat 5 times a week after that.
From then on, I started practicing Nadi Shodhana whenever I start getting stressed. I’ve set many goals for myself and when I do fail, I do what yoga has thought me, BREATH. I am forever grateful for finding yoga. Today, I am days away from achieving my goal that I set for myself this year, I am the happiest I have ever been.
