Sometimes the most important things in our lives arrive before we understand why we need them.
That’s how yoga came to me.
I wasn’t searching for a new identity.
I wasn’t trying to become a yoga teacher.
I certainly wasn’t imagining that yoga philosophy, meditation and Ayurveda would eventually become such important threads in the way I understand The Art of Living Well.
I simply walked through a door.
And something in me recognized home.
Yoga Became More Than Movement
Like many people, I first understood yoga primarily through the physical practice.
The poses.
The stretching.
The balance.
The strength.
The breath.
And all of those things still matter to me—especially as I grow older.
Yoga helps me maintain mobility, flexibility, balance and a relationship with my body that is based not on criticism, but on attention.
But somewhere along the way, I discovered that the poses were only the doorway.
Yoga was never simply about what I could do with my body.
It was teaching me how to live.
From Yoga Practice to Yoga Philosophy
Completing my 200-hour yoga teacher training opened an entirely different world to me.
I began learning about the deeper philosophy of yoga—the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, meditation, mindfulness and the ethical principles known as the yamas and niyamas.
Suddenly yoga wasn’t something that happened only on a mat.
Ahimsa—non-harming—asked me to examine how I treat other people and how I speak to myself.
Aparigraha—non-grasping—asked me to notice what I cling to.
The practice of mindfulness asked me to become present for the life actually happening rather than continually anticipating the next thing.
And meditation invited me beneath all of it.
Into stillness.
Into awareness.
Into listening.
The physical practice had quietly led me inward.
Yoga and Healthy Aging
At 78, I think about yoga differently than I might have decades ago.
I’m not interested in performing complicated poses.
I am interested in remaining fully engaged with life.
I want strength.
Balance.
Mobility.
Energy.
But I also want curiosity.
Peace.
Meaning.
Connection.
Joy.
And the ability to adapt gracefully when life changes.
This is what healthy aging increasingly means to me.
Not fighting the body.
Not pretending I am younger.
And not measuring myself against anyone else.
It means inhabiting the body I have today with respect and compassionate curiosity.
Some days the body says move.
Some days it says soften.
Some days it says rest.
Yoga has taught me that all three can be practice.
Ayurveda Deepened the Listening
Eventually my exploration led me to Ayurveda, yoga’s ancient sister science.
Ayurveda gave me another language for something I was already beginning to understand:
Balance is dynamic.
Our needs change.
The seasons change.
Our bodies change.
Our digestion changes.
Our energy changes.
Our lives change.
There isn’t one perfect formula that works forever.
That understanding resonates deeply with me now.
The late physician and neurologist Dr. David Simon integrated Ayurveda, yoga, meditation and Western medicine in a way that feels profoundly aligned with my own understanding of well-being.
Body, mind and spirit are not separate projects.
They belong to one life.
And Then Meditation Found Me
Yoga opened the door.
Meditation took me deeper.
My current meditation teacher training with Davidji feels less like a departure from yoga than a natural continuation of it.
The same questions remain:
Who am I beneath all the noise?
What is true for me?
What am I holding?
What can I release?
How do I remain present when life doesn’t unfold according to my plans?
How do I live with an open heart without grasping?
Meditation doesn’t give me a neat answer to every question.
It gives me something more valuable.
Space to listen.
And increasingly, I trust what I hear.
I Don’t Need to Know Where the Path Leads
This may be one of the greatest lessons yoga has given me.
I don’t need to see the entire path.
I need to take the next step.
That is very different.
There have been many chapters in my life when I thought I needed to know exactly where I was going.
Now I am much more interested in alignment than certainty.
I can teach what I love.
I can write.
I can meditate.
I can care for my body.
I can nurture meaningful friendships.
I can participate in community.
I can remain open to new opportunities, new experiences and new relationships.
I can remain open to a beloved.
And I can do all of that without forcing any particular outcome.
I can simply keep walking through the doors that feel true.
Yoga Found Me
Looking back, I smile at the idea that yoga found me when I wasn’t looking.
Perhaps many of the most important things in our lives happen that way.
A person.
A teacher.
A book.
A friendship.
A practice.
An unexpected ending.
Even a door that closes and sends us in an entirely different direction.
We don’t always recognize the significance of these moments when they happen.
Sometimes we have to live them first.
Yoga became part of my life before I understood what it was preparing me for.
Today it lives alongside meditation, mindfulness, Ayurveda, lifelong learning and my evolving understanding of conscious and healthy aging.
Together, these practices keep pointing me toward something remarkably simple:
Be here.
Listen.
Stay curious.
Care for this body.
Love wholeheartedly.
Release what you cannot control.
And trust the path enough to take the next step.
Yoga found me when I wasn’t looking.
Perhaps I was simply ready to be found.
With love,
Sandi
