Healing My Dis-Ease

In 1996, I moved 5,000 miles away from home to Beijing, China. I had finished my International Studies degree in college and I went to China to teach English, to learn more about Chinese culture, and to try to find myself.

Of course, it wasn’t easy. In China, I was so stressed that a lot of my hair fell out. I was really alone in an unrecognizably different culture. I taught English at a medical school and was shocked when my adult students would cough and spit on the floor of the classroom. There were many sorts of unknown rules of protocol like you should say no three times when offered something and then finally say yes and so on.

I got sick a lot that first year and I was truly depressed. I turned to food, especially chocolate, for comfort. I also turned to calling my fiancée and we amassed thousands of dollars in phone bills. Maybe it was costing him too much because he started sending me self-help book in the mail like Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits for Highly Effective People and Dr. Andrew Weil’s Spontaneous Healing. I needed to get a grip.

I found the courage to show up and teach at the university everyday and seemed to be a natural teacher. However, I was riddled with self-consciousness, insecurity, and unhappiness. To the credit of my wonderful Chinese students, they really supported me in those days. On the weekends they took me to parks, to sing karaoke, to dance, and to eat nice food. I made some lasting friendships with many of them.

One day in my journal I wrote that it was my LIFE's GOAL was to find a way to deeply take care of my body, mind, and soul. I was 23 years old. I had a wish to heal myself on all levels. I started to pray for answers to help me with my dis-ease. Answers started coming in and I found yoga. First, yoga was for spiritual healing, then mental/emotional healing, and finally for the body.

It took about 10-15 years to heal the samskaras (old tendencies and patterns) that surfaced in Beijing. Through the spiritual, mental, and physical practices of yoga, I became healthier and less likely to fall ill, I gained enthusiasm for working and serving, I learned to eat healthier, exercise more, and turn to food less for emotional reasons, I learned to be less needy and more masterful in handling my own emotions, and I became less self-conscious, more secure, and very happy. This is why I developed the Yogic Diet program to help others with the same things that had troubled me.

Contact Monique@yogicdiet.com to find out more about our programs.