Yoga Is Healing For Me

By Dominique, guest contributor

Yoga is healing for me. I was always a dancer. As long as I can remember, I would put on little performances for my mom in the living room. I took dance for several years, ballet mostly. It always felt so good for me to move in ANY way. My mom says even in utero, I was dancing when music would play. Later, I even wanted to be a dance movement therapist, as I pursued my major in psychology. My father encouraged me to do something a little more substantial with my career choice and branch off into that on the side should I still feel the need.

Now with my struggles trying to break up with Ed, I am learning and developing a better relationship with myself. My therapist helps me to heal some of the damage myself talk has done and reprogram that thinking. I feel that the fellowship of my 12 step program as well as my relationship with my Higher Power has helped me to heal my heart and soul. They continue to do so every day when I let them.

My relationship with my body has begun to heal with the help of yoga, and I feel this truly completes the necessary tools in my journey through my recovery. As I learn to understand what it feels like to be sober and present in my body and mindful of my movement, I am relearning my senses, and have found a place to express myself in a safe and creative way.

I find gratitude that my body can move the way it does, just as I find gratitude that my mind and soul (or spirit) have not been irreversibly damaged over the years of self-abuse. I find that yoga helps to ground me in my senses and connect me to my Higher Power at the same time. I can escape my mind, release my grip on the pain of the past, and work let go of clinging to that which I cannot control.

I cannot fully express how meaningful yoga has become for me in my journey of recovery from my eating disorder. I know that for me it is truly a gift that my Higher Power has given me, and I continue to give myself with each practice. I feel the pull from my Higher Power to continue this practice for myself, and also so that I may provide service to others who are also suffering.

Thank you, God, for my body, my mind, my spirit, and my soul, and for giving me a place to connect all of them in a safe and comfortable place of expression and creativity.

Dominique has been practicing Physical Therapy for 19 years. She received her graduate degree from Widener University and her bachelor’s from the University of Delaware. Her specialty is Lymphedema management, but she is also a certified LSVT therapist working with patients with Parkinson’s disease. She enjoys seeing a wide spectrum of diagnoses and is dedicated to providing comprehensive individualized treatment programs for all her patients with a focus on manual therapies. She is active member of her local community and has been a member of the local Rotary clubs for over 12 years. Dominique runs an Eating Disorders Anonymous group locally and hopes to become certified in Yoga for Recovery and share the healing it brings with others.