Yoga Chose Me
“Yoga chose me (in a way) to be a speaker, a voice to those who wanted to try it but didn’t feel comfortable or confident.”
How Yoga Became an Integral Part of My Journey
I am not your typical "yogi." I am a 36-year-old Haitian-American woman who took a chance on something when she felt she was out of options. My journey has had a lot of positive and negative runs, and it took a life-threatening hospital visit at the age of 20 to think deeply about why I chose to allow yoga into my daily physical life as I grew into adulthood.
Some would say that the fear of being immobilized kicked this into gear for me, but it was more than that; nobody likes to be stuck. Not at a red light, in a corner, or on a difficult phone call. It's frustrating when we fail to get unstuck, even when the solutions seem so transparent and obvious. We humans tend to get in our own way mentally, impacting our daily functioning. And even redundant tasks such as driving, speaking, and eating can start to become more overwhelming than they need to be.
Yoga Principles I Embody and the Healing Power of Movement
As with most things that we try, which require a bit more attention than we'd like to give, the concept of "practice" helps one to truly adapt the yoga principles of patience, adjustment, breath, and effort to help you grow in all forms: emotionally, physically, and truthfully.
In yoga, we apply the practice of moving our bodies to create a growing cohesion between those three forms every time we move and adjust the body to deepen our awareness of the connections of muscle, bone, mind, and breath. Movement creates energy; that energy activates the power we need to physically and mentally strengthen ourselves naturally. What does this have to do with our daily lives? EVERYTHING.
Yoga gives our amazing bodies the keys to successful movement for life. From picking up your car keys to overcoming a life-threatening illness, each requires a strength that only you can cultivate, and that's why a yoga practice will provide you with so many styles of movements and mindfulness to prep and prime your body and mind for all types of daily life situations. This can be incredibly life-changing for individuals who experience chronic pain or have limited mobility or for those who have become numb to their life experiences.
Even automatic movements, such as jumping out of the way of a moving object or calmly walking through a crosswalk at an intersection, require your alertness, attention to your surroundings, and most importantly, your intention to get to where you want to be.
Did I Choose Yoga, or Did Yoga Choose Me?
As it all sums down to a fantastic conclusion of yoga being a great asset in anyone's life for a consistent lifestyle balance, it made me ask why I chose this route or why it 'chose' me. I have had highs and lows of inconsistencies, days when I would be too stiff to move, and my body would fight me in painful waves of discomfort. After work days feeling like I would be carrying an elephant on my back all day, it made me realize that it felt right to take the opportunity to dive into a yoga certification course and immerse myself in the needed and necessary knowledge to keep myself strong with such gentle ease. Yoga chose me (in a way) to be a speaker, a voice to those who wanted to try it but didn't feel comfortable or confident.
I began this path at 26, and it was awesome to help me and help others. Yoga felt solid and made me want to consider my future body as I created a better relationship with my current one. The amount of self-care that yoga provided me opened my heart and mind to many ways to teach others how to work with their bodies and minds to create a healthier relationship, one asana at a time.
Because You Are A Masterpiece, All Comes With Time
We all know Rome wanted to be built yesterday, but procuring such an elemental historical figure took time and progress. We may not be Rome, but yoga gave me the wisdom to understand that all comes with time and passes with time for the sake of growth and stability.
Engaging in a yoga practice with me will help you learn to build a space to grow within and blossom as we root down our energy and rise above our challenges as life presents them in all forms. As a Certified Yoga Teacher in the State of Florida, I have taught in three states and throughout the tri-counties of Broward, Miami-Dade, and West Palm Beach, helping those interested in transitioning from a semi-sedentary lifestyle into a healthier one with yoga as a helpful tool in their life kit. If you'd like to know more, feel free to contact me at saturnegoddess@gmail.com or visit my website at www.mardibyoga.com, and we can discuss how we can build your life into a more healthy-movement, inspired transition.
Wishing you lots of mental wealth, health, joy & blessings,
Mardi B.
About the Author
Image of Mardianita “Mardi” Berrouet, CYT-200 - www.mardibyoga.com
Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, to very ambitious Haitian-Caribbean parents, Mardi would have never assumed that the thought of yoga or teaching would have taken the place of their potential aspirations of her and her siblings becoming nurses, doctors, or even judges. After finally transplanting from NJ to Florida in 2001, life seemed to have its own plans for the future, with various learning experiences through different career paths.
After her parents separated in 2009, within the summer of that year, Mardi enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts to chase her culinary dreams and graduated with an Associate in Science and Le Cordon Bleu’s official Diplôme. After working in kitchens and other catering businesses, she felt there was more to be done for the community, aside from just cooking and catering throughout South Florida. By way of a good friend looking to help another, she stumbled into Red Pearl Yoga (Fort Lauderdale, FL). With endearing teachers casting their mantras of peace while incorporating their perspectives of their practices in asanas, it began the planting of a seed germinating into a yogini with every class she was able to experience personally.
It wasn’t until February 2017 that Mardi took the initial step forward into her 200-hour Teacher Training with Surendran Pandaran, Owner/Guru of Aananda School of Yoga (Fort Lauderdale, FL). Various teachers alike with diverse backgrounds aided in her advancement into becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher through Yoga Alliance, making the goal she set a solid reality.
Mardi currently teaches Hatha, core-inspired Vinyasa, as well as a new connection to Restorative classes with consideration of growing more with the studio she teaches within. With a heartfelt goal of becoming an always-learning Leader, her aspirations to teach with gratitude and compassion will continue to light the path for every student she will teach along her yogic journey.
