To Keep Showing Up
A share by Humble Haven student, Christina T.
“I hope we all have been blessed with one if not more “aha” moments in life. When the pieces finally fall into place. Life can have a low-key way of presenting opportunity, in the hopes you are listening, taking chances, and willing to deviate from the beaten path. My oatmeal routine was face-to-face with the spicy Humble Haven 2nd Annual March Bingo (“How could it already be March again?!”). I thought about the previous year’s grind to the destination: the end of the month, the checking of boxes. But this year, I was determined to take the various class offerings to connect to more layers of myself and my community.
And, yep, B-I-N-G-O. I was making time for myself to feel a different energy besides my normal high-intensity fuse-lit jive. Yin, the candlelight, the silent, the unheated asanas; all the offerings I thought I didn’t belong to scooped me up and the communal power created in those rooms measured up to all the sweaty energy of hot power and strength training. I was humbled by my reluctance to change gears, to accept and incorporate these layers. I look back on my life thus far, and the most exponential growth has occurred since starting my relationship with Humble Haven.
Why did it take me so long to find out about yoga? After all, I have a career that centers around the prevention of pain and promotes health and longevity. One would think it would have been a match made long ago: dental hygiene and yoga. Fifteen years ago, I took my first steps to becoming a dental hygienist. It was doom and gloom in our professional venting sessions, and frankly, it still is. “You won’t last more than ten, maybe fifteen years in that chair.” “Good luck, don’t work full-time, and invest in lots of Advil.” These sentiments from seasoned hygienists were a lot like my recent spring break airline flight; the crew was warning the newbies in the event of an emergency to help themselves to the oxygen-giving devices before helping others, but we were all stubbornly tuning out the advice. It will never impact me.
Five years ago, the pain hit my neck hard, and it took my breath away. I turned to my husband, Kienan, saying, “I never noticed how potholed this road was! Drive slower!” I could feel every bounce and jostle translating into a stab in the left trapezius. Looking back at my lack of ergonomics, my unstable core, and my tense demeanor… I don’t blame my patients, my boss, my kids, or my job. I was finally ready to take the advice of others, to do something profound. I had to be able to show up for my family, patients, community, and myself.
My dear friend Becky (hey girl!) introduced me to Humble Haven in 2019. It started as a way for me to get out of the house on Saturdays, a break from the three kids I had within three years. There are not many folks I get to see around Humble Haven who remember me from 2019, but they are some of my most cherished people. I have them to thank for all the warm, fuzzy, safe feelings that drew me into practice and overhauled my body and mind; you might not recognize me from how different I looked back then but I remember every helpful adjustment you queued.
The years went by, and the community kept showing up, even on Zoom at one point, and I was practicing nearly every day. There were pauses: illnesses, surgeries, graduations, moves, new jobs, and kindergarten enrollments. The key is always to keep showing up. The postpartum complaints and the stress, anxiety, and body pains that come along with being a working mother went from a daily struggle to a calculated balancing act. Forty hours leaning over some seriously anxious dental patients? Just tap into that deep breath. Maybe the patient will even want to try it with me (bingo, turns out it works great during those mutually unpleasant injections). A frazzling twin drop-off at school? A repairman that ghosts me and my broken dishwasher? A twinge in my neck? Missing my whole family living over six hundred miles away? Sun salutations with your neighbor can counteract a lot of the turbulence on this flight.” - Christina T.