My older daughter, Samantha joined the PYC community earlier this year and encouraged me

to take my very first yoga class. This was the start of a new relationship with ME. Understand this was a monumental step. One and a half years earlier an MRI revealed a lower
back injury, which I had been suffering from for over nineteen years, so when I began yoga the timing was perfect! I didn't know it then but now I believe that was the first step to me finally listening to ME.

The first time I hit my mat, I was in child's pose half the class, but I walked away feeling 

empowered, physically and emotionally. Physically during that first class, I was not able to even go through the motions of sun salutations, let alone all the wonderful poses that I CAN do now, like wheel and headstand! Even though I could not do all of the poses nor were they perfect, my teachers said, "Yoga is not perfect. It is what you make it today. If you fall over, get back up. If you need to be in child's pose today then that is yoga today. If today is mountain pose then tomorrow may be tree pose." Emotionally, as I listened to Susan's voice for one hour, her words pulled me out of the chaos going on in my head. I was invited to be present and to just be. OMG! I was addicted! 

With each additional class, I experienced a sense of empowerment, fulfillment and success, and together with the encouragement from every teacher at PYC, the voice within me grew louder. I could hear ME and I was starting to listen. I am turning all the negativity around. Voices that used to say "This is hard, painful and wrong," or "This is bad for me," are becoming "This is good for me," "This is as easy as I make it," "This is right and is what I need right now," and "I am here because this is where I need to be." 

Then came the 40 Days Program! Leandra mentioned the program and sent me a text saying, "I really want you to do 40 Days. I think it would be really good for you! Will you consider it?" While crying, I texted back, "Yes! God brings people into our life for a reason. I must trust he has set his plan in motion with you being so persistent. I trust, as you say, that this will be good for me." 

Well, you can only imagine that the 40 Days Program with Leandra, Pino and Andrea pulled out items in my personal life that were causing me to go through life on autopilot, playing it safe or rather not playing at all and going numb. With every new week of 40 Days, my yoga and the PYC community brought me closer to rediscovering who I am and who I was meant to be. They have allowed me to find peace, strength, self-acceptance and re-connection with myself, my family and my friends. The bonus is, I have found new family and friends within the PYC community.

PYC and yoga have fulfilled aspects of my life that were missing for a long time. Leandra, Susan, Trish and John (the Fantastic Four) have given me the opportunity to shine, entrusting me with running the Energy Exchange Program at PYC Etobicoke. To be able to practise and share yoga alongside my daughters, Samantha and Natasha, and giving Daniel, my son, and husband, Sonny, the opportunity to experience the power of yoga is unbelievable. Our community is growing with every smile, every hug and every understanding and caring person who experiences this amazing PYC energy.

I am grateful for the amazing people in our PYC community - our teachers, the yogis and mostly the Fantastic Four for being BIG in every moment, on and off their mat. They have provided us all with a place to be and feel safe, to learn, to play and to grow in yoga and in life.

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you
truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs

-Dana Agius