If you look at my life now, you’ll see rainbows and butterflies. No, really…if you check out my Instagram, you’ll be visually assaulted by pastel colors, butterflies, and 2000s-inspired memes. But that’s not what I mean. You’d see that I have a beautiful life, a career in fitness, an entrepreneurial spirit, a lovely little family, and the best friends a girl could ask for. Even now, let me be the first to say that I’m not immune to life’s challenges, problems, bad moods, and mistakes. However, who I am now can certainly handle it a lot better than the broken 20-year-old girl in a college dorm room, riddled with anxiety, an eating disorder, and self-medicating. Maybe everyone figures it out a little, grows up, and gains confidence as the years go by. But when I look back at the last 10 years, my yoga practice has been pivotal in nearly every shift I’ve experienced mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The first moment I realized that yoga was much deeper than a fitness practice was when I was that sad, broken girl in college. I struggled with serious body image issues, lacked self-worth, and made decisions rooted in those beliefs. Sound familiar? From all the students I work with in the fitness spaceWorking in the fitness space – I’ve noticed it’s a common theme for women in particular to struggle deeply with how they feel in their own skin.
One day, while standing in Warrior II pose, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. If you practice yoga, you know Warrior II is a powerful posture—feet wide and stable, arms outstretched, gaze forward. When I saw myself in the mirror that day, something shook me. For the first time, I liked the way I looked, which was a significant change of pace for me. Usually, a glance in the mirror was accompanied by nasty thoughts about my appearance. But that moment was different; I wasn’t focused on how my stomach looked or my arms. I saw strength and power, and I liked how it felt. That was the first moment I realized that yoga was about more than physical postures. Those postures were a gateway to a much deeper connection with my own mind, body, and spirit.
From that moment on, many pivotal experiences in my life happened in a yoga studio.I vividly recall the first time I taught a class and the joy it brought me—it shook me to my core. How had I gone so long without realizing how happy teaching made me? Then there was the day after I found out I was pregnant, when I walked into the yoga studio seeking the grounding presence of the community there. A couple of weeks later, I registered for an 85-hour prenatal yoga certification because I felt a need to understand pregnancy and birth through the lens of yoga.
So, to the broken 20-year-old who bravely walked into that yoga studio back then, thank you. It only takes one moment to change everything. One little flame can turn into a roaring, powerful fire that lights you up enough to transform your life. If you’ve been looking for a fitness practice that goes deeper than just the physical – I’m telling you, try a yoga class. Even if you’ve done it before – try it again. Get to the place where your mind, body, and spirit aren’t working against each other. Because from experience, when you start treating your mind, body, and spirit like the valuable gifts they are, life has a way of working from the inside out.
Tommie Burch
October 31, 2024
NY Fitness Expo 