Lindsay's Roots

I found yoga in 2011, when my second year at Central Michigan University stirred up some caustic sleeping patterns. A professor suggested that I listen to guided meditations before falling asleep. These videos equipped me with my first tool from the traditions of yoga - meditation! Turns out, meditation lifted the curtain from the doorway of mindfulness. On the other side was a new perspective on all of the patterns in motion in my life.

For the next few years I wandered through my mind, honing in on my awareness of the habits I was supporting and how they did or did not support me. Slowly I learned how addicted I was to everything that I enjoyed - friendships, intimacy, sugar, cheese, whiskey, cigarettes, musicians, beer, stretching, laughing, attention - the list goes on and on. Everything that fueled my soul was being grasped like a handful of sand. The stronger I squeezed, the more sand would fall through my fingers. I’m eternally grateful for my friends who led me to the Mount Pleasant Hot Yoga Studio, where my asana practice began, and I learned to truly let go. I enjoyed the workout, but the sweet release of relaxation became my new addiction. I began understanding what nourishment felt like, smelled like, tasted like. This was my first exposure to consciously finding balance. I quickly learned that I could not provide for myself without caring for myself. Hence, I dove head first into the realm of self-care.

I dedicated my energy to dreaming up a lifestyle in which I could relax and nourish myself each day - a life of yoga, activism, and self-sufficiency. But, it took years for me to muster the courage to implement my plans. In 2014, I followed the stardust of my dreams to The Yoga Forest in Guatemala where I attained a Permaculture Design Certificate and 200 hours of Yoga Teacher Training from Awakened Spirit Yoga. For five weeks, I wove a cocoon and transformed into the unabashed, curious, compassionate, and nurturing woman that has always been inside me.

Since cracking out of my crystalis, I have been practicing and learning more about the tools of yoga, on a mission of living to my highest potential - transcending my addictive patterns. As I floated back to Michigan, I allowed judgment and fear to keep me from offering my teachings to a yoga studio for almost three years. One day, I looked into the light and saw more stardust dancing toward my dream lifestyle and I floated to The Hive Yoga in Grand Rapids. There, I found Kait - the most kind being I’ve ever met. She showed me what it looks like to be radically kind to myself - helping me realize how to really be my number one priority. This new-found respect shifted my perspective on the lifestyle I had been too scared to pursue. Her tenacity sparked a fire that I thought my judgements had snuffed out long ago. Kait’s ambitious Pitta nature creates steam and magma as it meets my Earthy and watery Kapha nature, fueling our spirits and inspiring us to start living our dreams.

I’m learning more each day just how excited I am to be a partner in The Collective, building the lifestyle that I know in my heart will serve my soul enough to overflow and nourish the world. It is such an honor to live this dream by Kait’s side.