Warning: Naughty language ahead.

I was raised the daughter of a prominent doctor in the “High Class” part of San Juan and in private all girls schools for 11 years. These are only bio factoids…

The real story started at 13 years of age, like any (and almost every other) rebellious teenager I was at war with my mother, and became addicted to drugs—and by that I mean all of them. But mostly pills, which were readily available to me in my kitchen. Open a cabinet and boom! Samples of hard core medications all over the place.

And by age 14 I found myself a full blown drug addict.

Sad story right?

Nah, I was just a spoiled brat that didn’t understand my family life and felt misunderstood all the time…I spent most of High School grounded—with reason. My mother did her best but we were like two bucks just butting heads constantly! And my father preferred to spend his time with whores and drugs and be the life of the party somewhere other than at home.

By the age of 22 I had gotten arrested and my stomach had been pumped about two or three times to stop me from overdosing—still, I did not care.

I was angry that me, a junkie since the age of 13, would have survived to the age of 22, having never made plans for the future and felt like, “Fuck—what am I supposed to do now?!”

And off to rehab it was in 2003 at the age of 22.

I overdosed the night I got there.

I just didn’t care anymore.

I hadn’t cared for a very long time.

Reality=pain, vice, soulless, broken.

It took me until I got married at the age of 29, to start getting my life together, and that’s when yoga came into my path.

No one (including me) had any hope for me until yoga saved me. I quit drugs, my seizures stopped completely (oh yeah, I have epilepsy—well had) and the 19 years I spent on anti-depressives that made me a zombie, complete with uphadis (veils) that made my mind a fog, were over. I was free.

I fell so hard for Yoga that four months after my first class I was in teacher training. I was never an athlete—I was a lazy bum—and now I want to share the beautiful benefits of yoga with all my students, whom I adore!

Additionally, I am married to a disabled veteran, so I got into teaching not only because my life was a disaster, but also because I knew yoga would benefit my husband.
There is nothing more rewarding than my students telling me how good they feel.

All yoga instructors know.

(We don’t do it for the money.)

We do it for our students’ smiles and joy.

Be fearless!

Namaste.

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Apprentice Editor: Jess Sheppard/Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

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