Meet Shari V
Y4ED Community Member, Shari V
We are excited to introduce our Featured Community Member, Shari V. Shari shares her story of how the Y4ED community supports her in life and recovery.
"It’s Jennifer and the Y4ED community that gave me the gift of realizing I could show up while still doing the work, in all its awkward messiness, that I didn’t have to hide away until some mythical day when I was “recovered.” It’s the wise voices from members in this community that pop up in my head during challenging moments when the ED voice is loud, countering with encouragements like, ‘I’ve come too far to go back,’ ‘I can begin again,’ ‘peace begins with me,’ and ‘keep going!’
It’s the knowing that someone else believes in my recovery.
It’s finally learning after half a life of practicing yoga that besides asana, there are the powerful Yamas and Niyamas (thanks, Y4ED teacher @abbey.yogini !). When I stepped on a yoga mat for the first time more than 20 years ago, I don’t think I foresaw that yoga could be so key to recovery.
In those days—even though I discovered how truly connected I felt to my body during practice, in contrast to any other movement or exercise I forced—yoga was still just another way to control and manipulate my body. Only in the last five years of getting to know myself and learning to let go have I begun to understand what yoga actually is and truly fall in love with it.
Serendipitously, Jennifer and Y4ED showed up during that time, providing a safe community to connect and explore with. Not so long ago, if I even considered sharing this, the ED in my head would have screamed, ‘NO WAY!’ Now I am building the courage to challenge that voice, thanks to the help and hope this community has brought me.
To Jennifer and everyone here, from the bottom of my heart, thank you, and KEEP GOING!" Shari-Lyn is pictured here with the love of her life 😍 named Mojo.”