I am a Highly Sensitive Person...

I am a highly sensitive person in every sense of the phrase. I deeply feel the full range of human emotions at my core, sometimes all of them in a single day.

I am sensitive to sound, to smell, to light. I feel EVERYTHING.

Sometimes that is beautiful and allows me a deeper experience of life than most people can probably imagine. And sometimes it is just completely overwhelming.

I am sensitive to other people’s energy. I am highly empathetic to the point that sometimes other people’s feelings feel like my own. It took me a long time to realize that most people don’t experience life this way, but this is my normal.

Would it surprise you to learn that a yoga teacher with 30 years of practice still struggles with anxiety? With depression? With feeling overwhelmed? I’ve struggled with these things since I was a child.

I don’t take any form of medication for my sensitivities. Yoga is my medicine.

I didn’t fall in love with yoga because I am a naturally calm, relaxed person. I fell in love with yoga because it taught me the tools to slow myself down when I’m spinning out of control. My yoga practice has allowed me to find peace and joy in what would otherwise be a constantly tumultuous world for me.

I’ve always been envious of people who seem to be so naturally optimistic, who don’t seem to have to work so hard to center or calm themselves, who can walk into a room confidently and talk to everyone without feeling overwhelmed.

But what I’ve learned is that it is these exact struggles that I carry that allow me to deeply understand and help other sensitive people. And that is my gift.