Hello, This is my first time posting here. My name is Brice and I am the only female in the state of GA to be authorized by KPJAYI in Mysore, India, to teach traditional yoga. I spent my 30s going back and forth to India studying one of the hardest forms of yoga (it's considered the 'punk rock' of yoga). Not only is the practice extremely difficult but coming back to the West always makes it so much harder as 99% of the yoga in the West isn't really yoga, but rather culturally appropriated nonsense. After years of intense study (up at 3AM, two plus hours of practice, learning to read and speak Sanskrit, etc), getting authorized and then trying to work against the yoga alliance (a company that has completely obliterated yoga), life has definitely been challenging. But the real practice of yoga was and is still worth fighting for. I feel honored to be a blue eyed, blonde haired, white girl from GA who has been entrusted by my teachers in India to share the real teaching in the West (and not the "stolen and fake" teaching the yoga alliance provides- as my Indian paramguru used to say all the time). I continue to honor all the Indian teachers and I hope I can be some small part of righting the wrongs that have been done to India in the name of yoga in the West.
I start with that to give a little information on why M/Body has meant so much to me. Back in 2016, at the age 33, I was in the USA for a few months before returning back to India. For those of us in traditional yoga, we spend YEARS in India. No one is allowed to teach unless they've been studying at the main shala for literally years. With that being said, for the few months you're back in the West, in between trips life can get really weird. You're super jet lagged, there is always a good bit of culture shock coming back to the West with all the lights and huge stores, etc. So, you can see how maybe you're not thinking too clearly...
I drove up to Ohio to meet my bestie, who lives in Canada. Ohio is a great halfway point for us. We were going to practice at a colleagues shala for a week before returning home and both packing up and heading back to India. While there, the Ohio colleague kept trying to get me to move to Ohio. I laughed it off because I have a long term boyfriend in Atlanta and that's where my family is... literally there is no reason for me to move to Ohio. None the less, the first morning at his shala, he sat on me while I had both my legs behind my head in a yoga asana. He then proceeded to pull my legs even further back, while compressing my spine down in an adjustment we are NOT allowed to do. Well, my sacrum broke. The pop that came out of my body is a sound I will never forget. My bestie, who was practicing beside me, jumped up and pushed the guy off of me. We got back to our hotel room and I collapsed. My Canadian bestie is a fabulous movement teacher and he immediately started working on my back. He got in touch with my boyfriend in Atlanta, etc.
After getting back to Atlanta, my bestie kept telling me I needed to do barre for recovery. They can't really cast your sacrum so the healing process looks a little different than most breaks. Even though my movement was limited, I did know that I needed some movement if I wanted my sacrum to heal properly. I tried some classes in Atlanta but was not impressed. Then it was back to India where I worked with my teacher there to help my sacrum.. However, needless to say, the recovery process was long.
While in India, the Ohio colleague who broke my sacrum's assistant was there. She asked me to lunch one day because she wanted to talk to me. I was told that this guy broke my sacrum on purpose and bragged about to her after I left. He did it because I would not move to Ohio. Unknown to me, he wanted an inappropriate relationship with me and I turned him down by not moving there. My heart broke realizing my break was an assault. Not once I had shown interest in him that way and learning the truth behind it really jaded me.
But... life went on. I got authorized, started teaching more, etc. My sacrum was still weak from the break and there would be mornings that I would wake up and not be able to get out of bed without help. This went on for a few years.
With my frustration, I remembered my bestie's recommendation of barre. I knew I didn't like the classes I had previously tried years before in Atlanta so I thought I would just YouTube something from home. That is how I found Marnie with popsugar (as many of you probably did too).
I thought "wow, this chick is different from the classes I did before." I started to do the youtube a couple of times a week on top of my regular practice. Before I knew it, I was getting my advanced practice back. I started following Marnie on IG and would do some of her lives. Then when lockdown happened, I signed up for her website (this website).
Marnie gave me practice back. I know that sounds cheesy to say but it is true. At 42, my practice is now stronger than it has EVER been. I also feel that on an emotional level Marnie helped me too. I'm so use to having male teachers. Most of traditional yoga is male. Granted, I've only had one bad experience with a male teacher, I feel like having a female teacher in Marnie subconsciously gave me a safe space to really heal my sacrum and my soul from the assault.
My boyfriend, who is the most advanced teacher in the SouthEast, and runs the busiest shala in the SouthEast, cannot get over how much Marnie's barre has changed and healed my body. He can't be my teacher because it's not ethical so he rarely adjust me... but when he does on occasion adjust me, he ALWAYS comments on how strong my back feels.
So... he now recommends Marnie to all his students AND at the age of 53, he is now doing Marnie's classes a few times a week.
I don't post much because frankly I like being "just a student" here. In the yoga world, I have a big voice and a lot of responsibility, but here, I get to be a student and learn not only form Marnie but also from "all y'all (as we say down here in the south)." I've been meaning to leave a review for a long time as this journey of healing for me (like many of you) has been deeply personal. They say what the devil will make for bad, God will use for good. My sacrum break was meant to destroy me, but as I tell my students now, it was the best thing that ever happened to me because it forced me to seek out another form of recovery and I found a deep/ life changing healing with M/Body.
For most of my adult life, I've worked my body like an athlete. In traditional yoga the joke is that you have to start giving poses back after 40, but for me, my second chapter is just getting started. Turns out, I'm the anomaly. When asked by my peers how this is possible, I tell them all it took was a broken sacrum, lost hope, and a barre teacher named Marnie Alton.
My now late teacher in India use to say "New body is making..." With every squeeze of the ball, I truly remember that teaching... New body is making...
And for those who feel hopeless, just know as long as you're breathing there is always hope! If I can recover my sacrum through this work, I promise you, there is NO stopping you from living out your healing too.
Thank you all for reading this. I will leave this with a very special Sanskrit chant that is meant to be chanted to bless a teaching, and since this teaching has blessed me and my practice, I feel it only right to pay it forward as the wheel of karma continues for us all...
"Om Sahana Vavatu Sahanau Bhunaktu. Sahaveeryam Karavavahai. Tejas Vinavati Tamastuma Vidhwishavahai.
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shantihi..."
Photo is from my balcony in Mysore, India, in Marichyasana D.
Lots of love,
Brice
