Yoga: A love story

Embracing the Practice

From Asana to Inner Peace

We sat down and talked to Mel and Keola, two of our graduates about their yoga love story and how their lives have changed since yoga teacher training.

Keola: We met at the yoga house in Hawaii, we met as a big group of friends. We both were going through a really tough time in our lives. I just wanted some peace and giving and I'm assuming Melanie was also searching for the same thing.

Mel: It wasn't like either of us were looking for anything. You know how it is with yoga teacher training, you meet this amazing group of yogis and everyone just automatically becomes family. That's how it was, and we were both going through the worst times in our lives. both going through divorces. I didn't share my struggles until about half-way through training. And it just so happened that me opening up led him to open up and because we had that in common, we could understand each other's pain.

So even after yoga teacher training was done, we would check in on each other to see how we were doing and how the divorces were going. But there was more to it than that, we started realizing there was a spiritual connection there as well. We started to develop a really close friendship.

Keola: Definitely yoga has helped us heal together and doing yoga together was helping us process our pains, our emotions, our struggles and through that, we became really close friends. I think the whole process of working with Zefea and Mark was an amazing time in our lives where we could let our guards down and let ourselves be kind of insecure.

Mel: We basically saw ourselves and each other at our worst and our lowest of lows, me crying with snot and tears in our eyes and probably the same for him.Coming back to yoga, meditating, being with our breaths and coming back to the knowing that we aren’t in control. Yoga teaches you to go with the flow.

I remember sitting across the table from each other at training and saying "oh yeah we are never ever going to get married or date anyone ever again" and we high-fived each other. (laughs)

Keola: Not knowing that our souls had something else planned for us.

Mel: Yeah, you can't see it when you're in it.

Keola: When you're doing yoga, the breathing practices and really getting into it, you become connected to who you are and who you want to be. The program that Zefea and Mark had for us, allowed us the space for us to open up and share, and heal together. So we are very grateful for the training and for Zefea and Mark.

Mel: The training really makes you so raw and vulnerable. It kind of strips you of everything. They ask you who you are at the beginning of training and then at the end and it just evolves so much because you're stripped of everything during the yoga teacher training.

And I had always heard of how life changing and transformative the trainings could be but I didn't realize it was going to push me out of the comforts of every single thing that I knew, and the attachments that I was holding onto. It really makes you release attachments and I remember it was the second or third day of training when my whole world came crashing down. It was during an  expand class that Zefea was leading and she read the poem "The Invitation" by Oriah Mountain dreamer at the end of that class and I had always told myself since the beginning, and had known this, but now it really hit me, that the way you practice yoga is the way you live your life. And I realized I was living one big lie and I wasn't being truthful in a big area in my life.

I remember at the end of each yoga class, I think Keola and I were always the last ones in the room, we were such a big mess. I was bawling my eyes out at the end of each class and probably so was he. You couldn't tell, and we didn't tell each other until way afterwards, that was the reason that we would stay so long after the yoga class. It was because I didn't want to have other people see me cry.

Keola: In that time we were just struggling and suffering and healing all at once, that's what yoga has to offer if you let it. As far as coming together as partners, you can really find yourself and look at who you are first and then move forward, if you're open to the universe and wanting love. Yoga helps you find that place where you really want to be. Find yourself first, then you can be yourself and find somebody else.

Mel: I think that's big, with the yoga teacher training, it's like we both found the voice inside ourselves and acceptance through all things and we fell in love with ourselves. It's funny because we both came from places where we couldn't find our voice and then in yoga training you HAVE to come into your voice and use that. It was this big transformation, finally finding our voice and opening up to have love for ourselves and the same love for everybody else. I think releasing all attachments and surrendering was what we were both doing in training. Being mindful in the present moment, just being here in the now and not attaching to the future or the past. It's not always an easy road but our friendship started off in a healing way, meeting each other in the worst time in our lives, worst and best time in our lives and just surrendering to the process. We did not foresee any of this happening. Now we are together, he is the love of my life and we have a beautiful baby together. Divine intervention for sure.

Keola: I would say the same. Definitely an experience that I was not expecting. I was just searching for a community and a healing space and I found the love of my life.

Mel: We kept in touch months after the training. And I was like "this is the worst timing, we are both healing from divorces." But timing is timing and I told myself I wasn't going to fight anything, and we were both kind of fighting this pull towards one another. (Laughs) It was like "okay if we are going to do this, we are stepping into this consciously, both knowing that we are still healing and being conscious of that and of our own emotions. Checking in with each other and being honest in where we stood, and not having any attachments. we just said  “Okay, we are just going to let spirit guide us and take it one day at a time”. So, all I can say about that is timing is timing. When the universe has something in mind, you have no control over the timing, you just know things line up for a reason.

Keola: I would like to encourage people who are looking to be teachers, just to go in openly. Not only going into it to be a teacher but using it as a time to explore your every wants and needs and to explore your spirituality and opening yourself up totally.

How is yoga a part of your relationship now and how does the yoga lifestyle affect your everyday lives together?

Keola: Yoga definitely influences our lives together. We are both very mindful.

Mel: We try to take that mindfulness to live a conscious lifestyle together. That's one of the things we said to each other was that we are only going to be together to live consciously and walk consciously to raise each other up and check in. I think one of the things that we do, and have learned from the yoga teacher training, is to constantly check in with each other and see what is working well and how we are doing, asking "how can I serve you better?"

Just being conscious of the way we move through life, how we treat people, what we eat and also reminding each other when we need to ground and center and come back to the breath.

Kaole: Yeah and yoga helps us check in with ourselves so we can be our true genuine Self and the teacher program gave us yoga to communicate better.

For a long time, communication can be a hard thing in any relationship but if you can look within yourself to find that communicator, without having all those emotional spasms come up, being able to breathe, take a step back and give yourself the right tools to communicate with love and compassion. Yoga helps open the doors to find your voice. Everyone has their own love language. We both know each other's love language and through yoga we are able to communicate that on a level where it's reciprocated.

Mel: Even disagreements. We are not just going to react with emotion, but to take a breath and a step back to see what's triggering us and communicate that calmly. We are not communicating to tear each other down but to either help bring light or just to agree to disagree. We just try to always stay true to ourselves and to help each other rise. I think that's what a partnership is. You're in a partnership to help grow one another. I think that's where we are at. We agreed to be together to raise consciousness and even now with our new baby on board, Malakai , that's what we want to do. To raise him consciously to help bring more light into this world. And to help him be conscious of his actions when he's older, using yoga and coming back to the breath. Always coming back to pranayama, the source of life.

Keola: I'd like to close with the fact that yoga has definitely influenced our life together, and still does today. Through yoga we can truly be healed. Take a breath, find some peace and time for yourself so you can regenerate and come back to the relationship to nurture it.

The best way to do that is to be calm and truthful. Through yoga we have learned that and still feel like we have so much to learn about yoga and about ourselves.

Mel: We truly think yoga contributes to a better world. (laughs)

Kaole: I would recommend to anyone who wants to do this...yoga training will help you navigate through life and all it has to offer in a great way.

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